Keep looped Flash sound files playing across slide transitions?

[Steve Block]

I have created a music education activity in PowerPoint that requires a
looped sound to continue across various slide transitions. Whilst I can do
this with .wav files, the looping is not very secure, so I would like to use
Flash sound files. However, having embedded several of these so that they run
perfectly on my PC, they will not work properly on my laptop. They start fine
when the Flash button is clicked, and loop OK until I move to another slide,
when they stop. The Flash (.swf) file clearly thinks it is still running, as
its state still shows the 'stop sound' text programmed, even after the
presentation has been exited.

This PowerPoint activity/presentation HAS to work on any other computer in
various schools...............help me please! This is due to be published
very soon!

 

[Steve Block]

Thanks. The intention was to provide a free Flash player (and/or download
link) on the CD-ROM, and offer further guidance in the Teacher's Book. What
next please?

 

[Austin Myers]

Steve,

You just found one of the many gottchas with using Flash. As others pointed
out, Flash is not native to PPT so it must use an outside app (or control)
to play them. The problem you are going to run into is that you have no
idea how other machines are set up. You can NOT simply play the sounds by
including the player, it must be installed in order to register the activex
components. It must be the right player. And it can not conflict with
anything (anti-virus) on the machine. To add to it, you can NOT use the PPT
viewer as no code or activex controls are allowed in the viewer. And
finally, the activex control will NOT run if the user has their security
settings too high in PPT.

So assuming you have a user without the proper Flash control/player they
must install it, grant it permission in the AV software, and then change
their PPT settings accordingly. Simple and easy it's not...


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCMedia http://www.pfcmedia.com

 

[Steve Block]

Thanks Austin. As the other activities on the CD-ROM are all entirely in
Flash, I think we've got the Flash Player/ Activex installation angle
covered. However, in light of your warnings about PPT/Flash together, we're
going to have to go back to using looped wav samples in the presentations.
This brings me back to the issue of smooth looping - hopefully you or someone
else out there can help on this!

The wav samples (mostly 2-bar drum rhythms) loop correctly, including across
slide transitions, on both my PC and my laptop and using either internal or
external soundcards. The only problem now is that in PPT the very first loop
is uneven - the first repeat of the rhythm sample seems to jump in a fraction
early. AFTER the first loop, the rhythm runs smoothly. (Incidentally, there
is only ever one looped sample running at a time, so there should be no
conflict or competing for memory etc.)

Any thoughts about what's causing the "first loop glitch", and how I can
cure it??

 

[Steve Block]

Thanks Steve - please see my response to Austin's reply.

 

[Austin Myers]

PowerPoint and perfect timing should never be used in the same sentence. <g>

Can you send (email) me a small sample of the presentation with sound so I
can see what you mean?



Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCMedia http://www.pfcmedia.com

 

[Austin Myers]

Steve,

Got the file and tested it and you are correct, there is just a split second
"skip" when it goes into the loop. Your not going to like it but I don't
believe there is anything you can do to correct it.

1. Power Point loads the file into memory and starts the file playing.

2. It reachs the end of the file and hit's the "loop" flag.

3. There is a brief skip while it resets the memory (stack) pointer.

4. The flag to loop has been set so from then on it loops without the skip.

At least that is what I think is happening here. By the way, I converted
the file to a couple other formats and the problem remains. Why doesn't
this happen with flash? Because it's not PowerPoint playing it, it's the
activex control and it's looping flag is set the instant you begin playing
the file.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCMedia http://www.pfcmedia.com