SoundManager 2 / API Demo and Code Examples

You can run the API demos with HTML5 enabled, Flash 8 (API default), Flash 9 (normal) or Flash 9 + highPerformance + fastPolling modes (higher JS callback frequency).

Wondering where to start? This page has inline executable code examples using the SoundManager 2 API.

If you're wondering "How to include SM2 in my page?", the basic template will get you started.

The basics (old-skool style): onload() + onerror()

Once you have SM2 included in your page, you merely need to hook into its onload()/onerror() events:

soundManager.onload = function() {
  // soundManager is ready to use.
  // createSound() / play() etc. can now be called
}
soundManager.onerror = function() {
  // Oh no! No sound support.
  // Maybe configure your app to ignore sound calls.
  // (SM2 calls will silently return false after this point.)
}

The modern method: Adding "onready" listeners

You can register listeners by passing a function to onready(), and it will be called when SoundManager has finished starting up:

soundManager.onready(function() {
    // createSound() / play() etc. can now be called
});

You may also listen for a startup timeout, a form of failure (eg., Flash was required, but was blocked from loading etc.):

soundManager.ontimeout(function() {
    // uh-oh, SM2 failed to start - error, unsupported etc.
});

SoundManager first processes the onready or ontimeout queue in the order items were added, and then fires soundManager.onload() or onerror(). If you call onready() after SM2 has loaded, your callback will be fired immediately.

A note about initialization

Keep in mind SoundManager's core methods (createSound, etc.) will not be available until soundManager.onload() fires. The initialization time for SM2 can vary across browsers/platforms, and should effectively be assumed to be "asynchronous." Because of this, it is recommended you write your code to handle soundManager.onload() being called either before or after window.onload().

If you wish to have SM2 always wait for window.onload() before calling soundManager.onload()/onerror(), you can apply the following:

soundManager.waitForWindowLoad = true;

Debug Output, disabling and minified versions

SoundManager 2 has debug mode enabled by default and will write to agents supporting console.log-style debugging, and/or a custom <div> element in the absence of a console.

To disable debug output, set soundManager.debugMode = false;

Alternately, you may use the no-debug, minified version of the SM2 javascript library (which has internal debug code removed, and will silently return false.)

Demo 1a: Create + play (simple method)

soundManager.play('mySound0','../mpc/audio/AMB_SN_5.mp3');

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Creates and plays a sound with ID "mySound0", at the specified URL. The sound can then be referenced by that ID later, eg. soundManager.play('mySound0');

Note that this method is only provided for convenience, and allows only ID and URL as parameters. If you want to specify other options (volume, loop, event handlers), you must use the object literal syntax as given below.

Demo 1b: Create + play (better method)

soundManager.createSound({
 id:'mySound1',
 url:'../mpc/audio/CHINA_1.mp3'
});
soundManager.play('mySound1');

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Creates, then plays a sound. This object literal method allows for other parameters to be used (see demo 2)

Variant: Use object returned from createSound() (best method)

var aSoundObject = soundManager.createSound({
 id:'mySound2',
 url:'../mpc/audio/CHINA_1.mp3'
});
aSoundObject.play();

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Creates, then plays a sound. This object literal method allows for other parameters to be used (see demo 2)

Demo 2: Create with onfinish event handler + play with volume argument

var demo2Sound = soundManager.createSound({
 id:'mySound4',
 url:'../mpc/audio/CHINA_1.mp3',
 onfinish:function() {
   soundManager._writeDebug(this.sID+' finished playing');
 }
});
demo2Sound.play({volume:50});

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(creates, then plays a new sound - a function is called when the sound finishes playing)

Demo 3: Play a pre-existing sound

soundManager.play('aDrumSound');

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This plays an existing sound which was created by soundManager.onload() (for reference, view source of this page.)

Demo 4a: Play a sequence of sounds via "onfinish", with multiShot*

soundManager.play('aDrumSound',{multiShotEvents:true,onfinish:function(){soundManager.play('aCymbalSound');}})

Differently formatted:

soundManager.play('aDrumSound',{
  multiShotEvents: true, // allow onfinish() to fire for each "shot" (default: only fire onfinish() for last shot.)
  onfinish:function() {
    soundManager.play('aCymbalSound');
  }
});

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This will play an existing sound (created in-page), and uses the "onfinish" handler to make a call to play a second, pre-existing sound.

Also note that the button can be clicked multiple times, and the sound will be "layered" as multiShot is enabled for both of these sounds when using Flash 9. An onfinish event will also fire as each sound finishes.

Bug/behaviour note: Whenever "play" is called on a SMSound object, any parameters passed in will apply to all currently-playing instances of the sound if multiShot is allowed. For example, the onfinish handler from demo 4a will apply to demo 3 if 4a is started while 3 is still playing.

* Multishot is Flash 9+ only.

Demo 4b: Create and play a sequence of new sounds via "onfinish"

soundManager.createSound({
 id:'aBassDrum',
 url:'../mpc/audio/AMB_BD_1.mp3',
 multiShot:false,
 onfinish:function() {
   soundManager.play('aRimSound','AMB_RIM1.mp3');
 }
});
soundManager.play('aRimSound');

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This will crate and play a new sound, using the "onfinish" handler to create and play a second, new sound.

It is recommended to create sound objects first, to simplify troubleshooting.

Demo 4c: Looping a sound (conventional, onfinish()-based)

var s = soundManager.createSound({
  id:'hhCymbal',
  url:'../mpc/audio/AMB_HHOP.mp3'
});

s.play({
  onfinish: function() {
    this.play();
    // or, soundManager.play('hhCymbal');
  }
});

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Note that there are issues with seamlessly-looping sounds, it is "close, but not perfect" with Flash 8/9 at this point.

Demo 4d: Looping a sound ("loops" parameter method)

var s = soundManager.createSound({
  id:'hhCymbal',
  url:'../mpc/audio/AMB_HHOP.mp3'
});

s.play({
  loops: 3
});

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Looping is possible as shown above using Flash 9. With flash 8, the sound must be preloaded before looping can begin - eg. autoLoad: true, onload: function() { this.play{loops:3} }. For tighter looping, see See Seamless Looping MP3 in Flash for further details.

Demo 4e: Sound timing notifications using onposition()

var s = soundManager.getSoundById('aCymbalSound'); // existing sound object

// register some listeners (only do this once, they will work for subsequent plays)

if (typeof addedListeners === 'undefined') {
  addedListeners = true;

  s.onposition(500, function(eventPosition) { // fire at 0.5 seconds
    soundManager._writeDebug('Sound '+this.sID+' has reached position '+eventPosition);
  });

  s.onposition(1000, function(eventPosition) {// fire at 1 second
    soundManager._writeDebug('Sound '+this.sID+' has reached position '+eventPosition);
  });
}

s.play({
  whileplaying:function() {
    // demo only: show sound position while playing, for context
    soundManager._writeDebug('position = ' + this.position);
  }
});

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onposition() allows you to add an event listener for a given time (in miliseconds, watching the position property); the event fires when that time has been reached while a sound is playing.

Note that for multiShot cases, the listeners will only fire for the original (first) shot because its position is the only one that is tracked within Flash.

Demo 5a: Set sound parameters, then play

var sound = soundManager.getSoundById('chinaCymbal'); // predefined/preloaded sound
sound.setPosition(500); // 500 msec into sound
sound.setPan(-75);      // 75% left pan
sound.play();

Do this | Play from position:0

This will set the position of an existing, pre-loaded sound, then play it.

Variant: play()

var sound = soundManager.getSoundById('chinaCymbal');
sound.play({position:500,pan:-75});

Do this | Play from position:0

Note that if planning to layer sounds with multiShot (Flash 9 only), this variant method will give best results as each new "channel" is started with parameters.

Demo 5b: Global sound muting

If not passed a sound ID, soundManager.mute() will mute all existing and newly-created sounds. soundManager.unmute() can also be passed a sound ID, and performs the inverse either on a single sound or all sounds.

In this demo, all sounds are globally muted and unmuted a few times. Different parameters are used to help audibly separate the sounds.

soundManager.mute(); // mute all sounds

soundManager.createSound({
 id: '880hz',
 url: '../_mp3/880hz.mp3',
 autoLoad:true,
 onload: function() {
   // soundManager.mute(); // mute all sounds
   // play (muted) cymbal sound..
   this.play({
     volume:75, // volume for when un-muted
     pan:-75,   // mostly on left channel 
     // .. and clean-up afterwards
     onfinish:function() {
       this.destruct();
     }
   });

   this.setVolume(25); // new volume for when un-muted..

   soundManager.play('s440hz',{
     pan:75,
     onfinish:function() {
       document.getElementById('btn-d5b').disabled = false;
     }
   });

   // once playing, toggle all sounds some more
   setTimeout(soundManager.unmute,500);
   setTimeout(soundManager.mute,1000);
   setTimeout(soundManager.unmute,1500);
   setTimeout(soundManager.mute,2000);
   setTimeout(soundManager.unmute,2500);
 }
});

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Demo 5c: Per-object sound muting

soundManager.createSound({
 id: '880hz',
 url: '../_mp3/880hz.mp3',
 autoLoad:true,
 onload: function() {
   soundManager.mute('880hz'); // mute this - alternately, this.mute() would work here
   soundManager.play('s440hz',{ // play another sound to demo muting
    onfinish: function() {
      document.getElementById('btn-d5c').disabled = false;
    }
   });

   // play 880hz (muted)..
   this.play({
     volume:75,
     // .. and clean-up afterwards
     onfinish:function() {
       this.destruct();
     }
   });

   this.setVolume(50); // still muted, however..

   // mute/unmute china cymbal some more
   // mute sound calls: soundManager.mute('880hz'), or soundManager.getSoundById('880hz').mute();
   setTimeout(this.unmute,250);
   setTimeout(this.mute,500);
   setTimeout(this.unmute,750);
   setTimeout(this.mute,1000);
   setTimeout(this.unmute,1250);
 }
});

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Demo 6: Create, play, unload and destroy a sound

var foo = soundManager.createSound({
 id: 'fooSound',
 url: '../mpc/audio/AMB_BD_1.mp3'
});

// soundManager.play('fooSound');

// (Some time later on...)
// soundManager.unload('fooSound'); - release the loaded MP3
// soundManager.destroySound('fooSound'); - destroy the sound, freeing up memory etc. Also calls unload().

// Alternate (demo) approach, call methods directly on sound object itself:
foo.play({
 onfinish:function() {
   // once sound has loaded and played, unload and destroy it.
   this.destruct(); // will also try to unload before destroying.
 }
});

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Demo 7: Create, manually pre-load and finally play a sound

var preload = soundManager.createSound({
 id: 'preloadSound',
 url: '../mpc/audio/AMB_HHOP.mp3'
});

preload.load(); // load the sound ahead of time
setTimeout(preload.play,1500); // and start playing it 1.5 seconds from now

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Demo 8: Create and play an invalid sound (404)

var bad = soundManager.createSound({
  id:'badSound',
  url:'badurl.mp3',
  onload: function(bSuccess) {
    soundManager._writeDebug('sound '+(bSuccess?'loaded!':'did NOT load.'));
  }
});
bad.play();

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Demo 9: Create and destroy a sound at once (unusual crash testcase)

var s = soundManager.createSound({
  id:'testcase',
  url:'../mpc/audio/AMB_HHOP.mp3'
});
s.play();
s.destruct();

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Demo 10: Sound timing (position accuracy testcase)

The Flash 9 version seems to resume the sound 1 msec earlier than it should, perhaps related to the timing/delay issue most noticeable on Windows.

var count = 0;
var pos = -1;
var s = soundManager.createSound({
  id: 's',
  url: '../mpc/audio/CHINA_1.mp3',
  whileplaying: function() {
    if (count == 0) {
      if (this.position > 1000) {
        this.pause();
        pos = this.position;
        count++;
        this.resume();
      }
    } else if (count == 1) {
      soundManager._writeDebug('old position: ' + pos);
      soundManager._writeDebug('new position: ' + this.position);
      // See that this.position is less than pos!
      count++;
    }
  },
  onfinish: function() {
    this.destruct();
  }
});
s.play();

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Demo 11: Inline whileplaying() event assignment

Note that when using the Flash 9 version of SM2 with Flash 9 and 10 plugins, flash/OS-related delay conditions may result in the position property being less than the duration property, even by the end of the sound.

var foo = soundManager.createSound({
  id: 'bar',
  url: '../mpc/audio/CRASH_1.mp3'
});
foo.options.whileplaying = function() {
  soundManager._writeDebug('whileplaying(): '+this.position+' / '+this.duration);
}
foo.play();

// note: assign .options before calling .play(), as that "bakes" the options into a play instance object.
// the below "late" event handler assignment will have no effect on the already-playing instance.
foo.options.onfinish = function() { soundManager._writeDebug(this.sID+' stopped.'); }

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Demo 12: 48 KHz MP3 sampling rate playback issue workaround

To work around a known "chipmunk" sampling rate issue with 48 KHz MP3s in Flash, one can apparently load a sound using Flash 9 with stream = false, and then call play() once the sound has fully-loaded. Exactly why this works is not known.

var fortyeight = soundManager.createSound({
  id: 's-48khz',
  url: 'http://freshly-ground.com/data/audio/48khz-test.mp3'
});

if (!fortyeight.loaded) {
  // first time loading/playing
  fortyeight.load({
    stream: false,
    onload: function() {
      // sound has fully-loaded
      this.play();
    }
  });
} else {
  // sound has already loaded
  fortyeight.play();
}

Do this Make it stop!

Demo 13: onbeforefinish() testcase

This event fires when the sound's position property is equal to or less than onbeforefinishtime msec from the end of the sound, as defined by duration. If unspecified, a default value is used (eg. 5000 msec.)

var d13 = soundManager.createSound({
  id: 'demo13',
  url: '../mpc/audio/CRASH_1.mp3',
  onbeforefinish: function() {
    soundManager._writeDebug(this.sID+'.onbeforefinish(): '+this.position+' of '+this.duration);
  },
  onbeforefinishtime: 1000
});
d13.play();

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Demo 14: autoLoad:true + play() testcase

Bug testcase (Flash 8 version-specific): creating a sound with autoLoad:true and immediately calling play() does not work.

var autoLoadTest = soundManager.createSound({
   id: 'autoLoadTest',
   url: getRandomMP3URL(),
   onload: function() {
	soundManager._writeDebug(this.sID+' loaded.');
   },
   onplay: function() {
     soundManager._writeDebug('Starting sound: '+this.sID);
   },
   autoPlay: false,
   autoLoad: true,
   stream: true
  });
  // autoLoadTest.play(); // sound will not start
  setTimeout(autoLoadTest.play,1000); // may work with a delay?

Under Flash 8, this case does not work as expected. Even with the delay, the sound does not begin playing as soon as expected - sometimes it fires after the sound loads, in fact. For this reason, avoid using autoLoad:true if you intend to play the sound shortly after creating it when using Flash 8.

Do this Make it stop!

Demo 15: autoPlay + onfinish() testcase

Bug testcase (Flash 8 version-specific): onfinish() does not fire with autoPlay:true

var sound = soundManager.createSound({
 id: 'demo15',
 url: '../mpc/audio/AMB_SN13.mp3',
 onfinish: function() {
  soundManager._writeDebug(this.sID+' finished (now destroying)');
  // destroy this sound
  this.destruct();
 },
 autoPlay: true,
 multiShot: false
});

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Demo 16: onstop() -> unload() testcase

Bug testcase: unload() from onstop() does not work

var sound16 = soundManager.createSound({
 id: 'demo16',
 url: getRandomMP3URL(),
 onstop: function() {
  soundManager.unload(this.sID);
 },
 onload: function() {
   soundManager._writeDebug('loaded');
 }
});
sound16.play();
setTimeout(sound16.stop,1500);

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Demo 17: Buffering event handler/property example (Flash 9 only)

Reporting the isBuffering property of a SMSound object

if (soundManager.flashVersion != 8) {
  var sound17 = soundManager.createSound({
    id: 'demo17',
    url: getRandomMP3URL(),
    onbufferchange: function() {
      soundManager._writeDebug('Buffering '+(this.isBuffering?'started':'stopped')+'.');
    },
    onload: function() {
      soundManager._writeDebug(this.sID+' loaded.');
    }
  });
  sound17.play();
}

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