Merging (mixing, not concatenating) audio files dynamically

Question

I just need to be pointed in the right direction - I can research after knowing the best tools.

The idea is to have a list of audio tracks (guitars, bass, vocals...etc) which are uploaded by different users. I want a user to be able to select which tracks to listen back to then dynamically generate a new stream/file of the selected tracks which is played back or downloaded.

I have no idea where to start (use php to select tracks send to flash for playback?, or do I send it to a command line function? write some java?). It is essentially a very basic social web based DAW (digital audio workstation).

Thanks
Al

Answer 1

On the server side you can use php or java to feed the basic audio files, and to manage them (admin).

On the client side, you may have to write a flash application for playing those files. I preety sure flash knows basic mixing.

Basic playback in flash is easy to do. You need to learn some ActionScript 3.0 (there are tutorials with action script 2.x, but they are deprecated, as AS 2.x is not compatible with AS 3.x), and you need some designer skills to create the interface.

This tutorial may work, there are a lot of resources out there

http://www.thetechlabs.com/3d/create-a-as3-mp3-player-with-papervision3d-spectrum-display/