Playing Sounds with AS3

By Blue_Chi | Flash CS3 | ActionScript 3.0 | Beginner

Playing sounds using ActionScript 3.0 is not as simple as we hoped it to be as it requires using more than
one class to perform even the simplest of tasks relating to sound such as pausing or changing the sound
volume. This tutorial will teach you all the basics you need to learn how to start playing local and external
sounds in Flash.
This tutorial will be divided into the following sections:
1. Introduction to Sound Related Classes.
2. Playing an Internal Sound.
3. Playing an External Sound.
4. Stopping a Sound.
5. Pausing a Sound.
6. Changing Sound Volume.
Introduction to Sound Related Classes

Sounds in ActionScript 3.0 are manipulated through the collaborative work of several classes together.
This is a much more complex structure than previous versions of ActionScript, but it is argued that this
format will provide you with greater control and the ability to micro manage sounds. Here are the relevant
classes related to sounds:
1. Sound Class  - This is the main class in which a sound will actually reside. This class is the
starting point of any sound related program and is used to start playing a sound.
2. SoundChannel Class  - A sound can be played through a sound channel which provides
additional controls over a sound object, the most basic of these additional controls is the ability
to stop the playback of a sound.
3. SoundTransform Class  - This class is responsible for altering sound volume and sound
panning (manipulating the balance between the left and right speakers).
4. SoundMixer Class  - This class has global control over all sounds played in the Flash player.
It's most basic function is to stop all playing sounds regardless of source.
We will provide you with practical examples on how to use all of these classes below, except for the
SoundMixer Class as it is not required to carry out a basic sound function and instead it collectively
controls all sounds playing in Flash. Review the ActionScript reference for more help on this class.
Playing an Internal Sound File

Flash is capable of only playing .mp3 files and no other sound format. Playing an .mp3 file is an easy task
that can be performed using the  Sound Class . The Sound Class can play internal sounds (mp3 files
imported into an FLA file) or external sounds (mp3 files loaded by the SWF at run time). We are going to
start by playing an internal .mp3 file imported into the Flash movie.
To follow this tutorial you will need to have an .mp3 file to play. You can legally download some free
sound tracks from this website. Download any track and save it on your computer.
Once you have your mp3 file ready, open up Flash and creating a new FLA in AS3 Format, and then go
through  File>Import>Import to Library , browse for your .mp3 file and then click on  Open .

Once your file is imported, open your library  (Ctrl+L)  to find your sound file in there. We are going to
make this file available for ActionScript by editing its  Linkage  properties,  right-click  the sound file,
select  Linkage  to open up the  linkage window . Check the box for  Export for ActionScript  and change
the  Class  name to  MyFavSong . Press  OK , you should get the same warning message you get for
creating any Class with external definition file. Simply press  OK  to continue. That should export our
sound file as an ActionScript Class called  MyFavSong .

We now have our .mp3 file readily available for ActionScript. It is time to start coding the
ActionScript.  Right-click  the only frame you have on the timeline and select  Actions  to open up the
Actions panel.
To play our sound we need to create a  new instance  of our sound class and then use the  Sound
Class  method  .play()  to play it. The code below is pretty self explanatory:
var mySound:Sound = new MyFavSong();
mySound.play();
The Sound Class  .play()  method is used to play a sound. By default it plays the sound from its beginning,
however you can start it from any other point by specifying the starting to position in milliseconds
(Example:  mySound.play(150) ).
Test your movie now ( Ctrl+Enter ) to hear your sound file playing!
Playing an External Sound File

Playing an external sound file is easier than playing an internal sound file because you are not required to
import your file or create a class out of it.
You can create a  new FLA  for this version,  save  your FLA somewhere on your desktop, then put
your  .mp3 file in the same folder , and rename it to  myFavSong.mp3 .

Now back to the FLA, open up the Actions panel to start coding. We are simply going to create a  new
generic instance  of the  Sound Class , and then will use the  .load()  method to load the external file.
Finally we will use the  .play()  method to play the sound:
var mySound:Sound = new Sound();
mySound.load(new URLRequest("myFavSong.mp3"));
mySound.play();
The Sound Class  .load()  method is used to load an external .mp3 file. The URL must be specified as an
instance of the URLRequest Class. Refer to the ActionScript Reference for more info on the URLRequest
Class.
You can test your movie now to hear your sound playing!
Stopping A Sound

In addition the ability to play a sound, you will obviously also want to know how to stop your sound after
you play it. The Sound Class does not have a method for stopping a sound. The  SoundChannel
Class  must be used to perform that task. A SoundChannel is a class that is used to hold a raw sound
object and then manipulate it using the methods and properties of the SoundChannel Class. The methods
and properties you should be aware of are:
 .stop()  - this method stops the sound playing through the channel.
 .position  - this property is used to retrieve the current playback position of the sound playing
through the channel.
 .soundTransform  - this property is used to set and retrieve sound transformations such as
volume and panning.
We are going to continue working with the FLA that loads an external sound file and will create a button
that stops the sound when clicked. In that same FLA, access the  Components
Panel  ( Window>Components ) and drag and instance of the  Button Component  under the  User
Interface  category. Access the  Properties Inspector  and assign the  instance name   stop_btn  to this
button. You can change the  label  of the button to say  Stop  by accessing the  Parameters  tab.

We will now make clicking on this button stop our sound. Right-click the only frame you have on the
timeline and select  Actions  to open up the Actions Panel. You should have this code from our previous
section:
var mySound:Sound = new Sound();
mySound.load(new URLRequest("myFavSong.mp3"));
mySound.play();
We will first create a new variable to hold an  new instance  of the  SoundChannel  channel:
var mySound:Sound = new Sound();
var myChannel:SoundChannel = new SoundChannel();
mySound.load(new URLRequest("myFavSong.mp3"));
mySound.play();
We need this SoundChannel instance to capture the sound when it starts playing so that we can
manipulate it through the channel. To do this, replace the line that tells the sound to play with the line
highlighted below:
var mySound:Sound = new Sound();
var myChannel:SoundChannel = new SoundChannel();
mySound.load(new URLRequest("myFavSong.mp3"));
myChannel = mySound.play();
Our SoundChannel now has our sound playing in it. We will register an event listener with our button to
tell this channel to stop when the button is clicked using the SoundChannel  .stop()  method.
var mySound:Sound = new Sound();
var myChannel:SoundChannel = new SoundChannel();
mySound.load(new URLRequest("myFavSong.mp3"));
myChannel = mySound.play();

stop_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClickStop);

function onClickStop(e:MouseEvent):void{
myChannel.stop();
}
Please check our AS3 Event Handling Tutorial to learn more about adding basic interactivity using AS3.
You can test your movie now to hear your sound playing automatically at the movie starts, when you click
on the button the sound should stop.
Of course once you stop your sound there is no way to get it to play again using our code. Doing that is
covered in our next section along with the trick on how to create a  pause  button.
Pausing a Sound

ActionScript does not provide a method with a  .pause  functionality, the functionality to pause a song and
play it again from that specific point will require the manual retrieval of the position of the song before it
was stopped and then playing it back from that point. We have talked about the
SoundChannel  .position  property and the ability to play a sound from a specific position using
the  .play()  method. We are going to use these together to complete this part.
Start off by adding a new button to your scene, access the  Components Panel  and add a new button to
the scene, set the instance name  play_btn  to it and change its label to  Play . Update the label of your
previous button so that it says  Pause  instead of Stop and change its instance name from stop_btn
to  pause_btn . You should end up with two buttons in your scene.
Now back to ActionScript. The first thing to do is delete all the code related to the  stop_btn . Remove the
code highlighted below.
var mySound:Sound = new Sound();
var myChannel:SoundChannel = new SoundChannel();
mySound.load(new URLRequest("myFavSong.mp3"));
myChannel = mySound.play();

stop_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClickStop);

function onClickStop(e:MouseEvent):void{
myChannel.stop();
}
In order for our pause button to function we need to create a variable to store the last position of our
sound file. We can easily create this variable and set the value  0  as its initial value, we will name this
variable  lastPosition :
var mySound:Sound = new Sound();
var myChannel:SoundChannel = new SoundChannel();
var lastPosition:Number = 0;
mySound.load(new URLRequest("myFavSong.mp3"));
myChannel = mySound.play();
Now we will make our  Pause Button , retrieve this value when it is clicked, and instantly stop the sound
afterwards. We are going to use an event handler similar to the one we used for our stop button:
var mySound:Sound = new Sound();
var myChannel:SoundChannel = new SoundChannel();
var lastPosition:Number = 0;
mySound.load(new URLRequest("myFavSong.mp3"));
myChannel = mySound.play();

pause_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClickPause);

function onClickPause(e:MouseEvent):void{
lastPosition = myChannel.position;
myChannel.stop();
}
We will now let our  Play Button  play the sound file from that last position. You should remember that
the  .play  method is an instance of the Sound Class and that it should be reinserted into the
SoundChannel again:
var mySound:Sound = new Sound();
var myChannel:SoundChannel = new SoundChannel();
var lastPosition:Number = 0;
mySound.load(new URLRequest("myFavSong.mp3"));
myChannel = mySound.play();

pause_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClickPause);

function onClickPause(e:MouseEvent):void{
lastPosition = myChannel.position;
myChannel.stop();
}

play_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClickPlay);

function onClickPlay(e:MouseEvent):void{
myChannel = mySound.play(lastPosition);
}
That should do it. You can test your movie now ( Ctrl+Enter ) and try out your pause and play buttons.
You can download the source file of this FLA from here.
Changing the Volume

In the final section of this tutorial you will learn how to alter the volume of a SoundChannel. Changing the
volume requires using the  SoundTransform Class  and the
the  SoundChannel   .soundTransform  property.
The SoundTransform Class has various properties, the most important one to us is the  .volume  property.
Using the SoundTransform is pretty simply, all we have to do is create an instance of it, set its properties,
and then set it as the value of the  .soundTransform  property of our targeted SoundChannel.
We are going to do this now. Start off by creating a  new instance  of the  SoundTransform Class :
var mySound:Sound = new Sound();
var myChannel:SoundChannel = new SoundChannel();
var myTransform = new SoundTransform();
var lastPosition:Number = 0;
mySound.load(new URLRequest("myFavSong.mp3"));
myChannel = mySound.play();

pause_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClickPause);

function onClickPause(e:MouseEvent):void{
lastPosition = myChannel.position;
myChannel.stop();
}

play_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClickPlay);

function onClickPlay(e:MouseEvent):void{
myChannel = mySound.play(lastPosition);
}
We will now set the value of the  .volume  property of this instance. The volume property can have any
floating value between 1 and 0 where 1 means max volume and zero means mute. We are going to set
the volume to medium by using  0.5  as our value:
var mySound:Sound = new Sound();
var myChannel:SoundChannel = new SoundChannel();
var myTransform = new SoundTransform();
var lastPosition:Number = 0;
mySound.load(new URLRequest("myFavSong.mp3"));
myChannel = mySound.play();
myTransform.volume = 0.5;

pause_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClickPause);

function onClickPause(e:MouseEvent):void{
lastPosition = myChannel.position;
myChannel.stop();
}

play_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClickPlay);

function onClickPlay(e:MouseEvent):void{
myChannel = mySound.play(lastPosition);
}
We will now set this transform as the  .soundTransform  property of our SoundChannel:
var mySound:Sound = new Sound();
var myChannel:SoundChannel = new SoundChannel();
var myTransform = new SoundTransform();
var lastPosition:Number = 0;
mySound.load(new URLRequest("myFavSong.mp3"));
myChannel = mySound.play();
myTransform.volume = 0.5;
myChannel.soundTransform = myTransform;

pause_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClickPause);

function onClickPause(e:MouseEvent):void{
lastPosition = myChannel.position;
myChannel.stop();
}

play_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClickPlay);

function onClickPlay(e:MouseEvent):void{
myChannel = mySound.play(lastPosition);
}
You must always remember to set the  .soundTransform  AFTER you insert a sound object into your
channel and NOT before. You can test your movie now to hear the volume lower. However, you will
notice that when you press pause and then play again, the volume will go high again. This is because
when you insert a new sound into a channel all the sound transformations are erased. We can fix that by
setting the  .soundTransform  property again from within the  onClickPlay  event handler this way:
var mySound:Sound = new Sound();
var myChannel:SoundChannel = new SoundChannel();
var myTransform = new SoundTransform();
var lastPosition:Number = 0;
mySound.load(new URLRequest("myFavSong.mp3"));
myChannel = mySound.play();
myTransform.volume = 0.5;
myChannel.soundTransform = myTransform;

pause_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClickPause);

function onClickPause(e:MouseEvent):void{
lastPosition = myChannel.position;
myChannel.stop();
}

play_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClickPlay);

function onClickPlay(e:MouseEvent):void{
myChannel = mySound.play(lastPosition);
myChannel.soundTransform = myTransform;
}