There currently isn’t a way to preview the audio in Hype. This is a great idea for a future update. Thanks for the suggestion!
Coming from the world of video (Final Cut, Motion, Premiere, AfterEffects) a timeline that doesn’t play audio is unimaginable.
New to Hype in the last couple days... I thought I was missing a program setting when I couldn't get sound to play in Hype's animation window.
I fully agree with David - not being able to hear sound when the timeline runs is a glaring feature omission and look forward to this state of affairs changing ASAP. Thank You.
It’s not what you say, but the way you say it …
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I found a way to play audio in the Hype interface - no need to Preview. QuickTime 7 Pro makes the following easy, but almost any video editor would suffice I imagine, though the exact steps would not be the same.
One possible routine:
• Open your soundtrack in QT7.
• Paste an image - doesn’t matter what - using “Add Selection & Scale”.
• Save.
• Extract the soundtrack out of the file & “Save as…” a .mp4 or .mov - basically avoid audio suffixes.
• Insert into Hype as a video (or drag’n drop).
In addition to playing audio in the Hype environment it also has a visible presence on the Timeline, look under “Properties” - You will see “Video Track” with your sound file’s duration accurately depicted. Though there is no waveform it is a step up from nada.
@David6816 @stephen and All!
In addition to getting the sound to play in the Hype environment (i.e. no Preview required) I have found a way to include the sound’s waveform as well. The process is tad kludgey but with a minimum of practice the whole procedure takes roughly a minute to perform for a given soundtrack, whatever its length. The benefit of having the waveform visible in extended tracks (along with hearing the sound) is it allows the animator to visualize where the inflections are in the track, making syncing other elements far easier~precise without have to trial & error in the Preview.
This procedure though requires a time based editor such as QuickTime 7 Pro (QT7). A frame based editor will not work, unless it allows a spec of seconds per frame, as opposed to the typical parameter of frames per second. Frames per second will create a series of images of the sound wave form across the sound’s timeline instead of one single long continuous image, which is what is needed.
- Open the soundtrack in an editor that can display its waveform.
- Take a screen shot of the waveform using the marquee method of selecting a specific
area (Cmd-Shift-4). - Open both the soundtrack & the waveform screenshot files in QT7.
- Copy the screenshot QT7 file & paste into the soundtrack QT7 file using the “Add Selection
& Scale” option. - Save the soundtrack QT7 file as a video based codec - .mp4 or .mov will do.
Note: The “Scale” in “Add Selection & Scale” references a temporal parameter not pixel dimensions. You are scaling the waveform screen shot to the timeline of the sound.
When You bring this file into Hype You can move it anywhere on the Timeline along with the matching waveform. Please see attachment below.
To Save you looking for a Waveform Editor app, here is a Hype Template that will display your Audio file in a waveform to use with @JimScott Tip.
It also has a play/pause button and a reload button.
The reload button can be used as the name implies but also if you change the size of the browser window you can use it to re scale the waveform to fit.
The Audio file is referenced with a Global var in the Head
waveform.hypetemplate.zip (1.4 MB)
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I appreciate the tip about wave surfer.js and taking the time to create an example; additionally, I picked up insights re: creating leaner code. Thanks!
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I have used the waveform generator in a new Tips & Tricks post to show how you can load your own files from a local device without having to edit the project.
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Thanks Mark - & as per usual - seeing the code (with explanation) was as useful as the functionality.
I was surprised as well and would REALLY LIKE to have an audio track in the timeline.
Here’s what I do to cope.
First install Homebrew from http://brew.sh (any serious mac user should).
Then from the Terminal, type: brew install ffmpeg
Once ffmpeg is installed you can use this command line to convert an audio file into a video file that Hype will put in your timeline.
ffmpeg -i "MyVideo.mp3" -shortest -b 1000k -c:a aac -ab 112k "MyVideo.mp4"
You can use the resulting .mp4 file in hype like @JimScott recommends. However, this will not show a waveform, but it doesn’t require any commercial video editing software.
Cheers!
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I converted mp3 to mp4 but i have 7 files.
But I dont understand how to put each file into separate timeline.
All files in Main timeline.
Can you help me, please?
The simple answer is to select the pop-up arrow on the Timeline (see below - magenta circle around it) and select “New Timeline…”. In the screen shot below I’ve already created “Timeline 1” & “Timeline 2”.
This may not be exactly the answer You are looking for. If this is the case giving a fuller description of what You are trying to accomplish would be helpful - i.e. how are these sound files going to be used in your project? What sort of interface will be used to access these files?
I also need this waveform functionality. We are creating a children’s book and when the narrator speaks a word, the word on the page needs to highlight. This is practically impossible to do without a waveform to use as reference.
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Thanks for the feedback!
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Hope this comes soon…
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I really need the audio in preview too… is not a good workflow open in browser every time you need to see if the audio in your project was synchronized 
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A good free tool for dropping in an audio file and outputting a waveform (for usage on Hype's timeline) is: Kapwing — Reach more people with your content
Drag your audio file in, and click 'convert to waveform'
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I can get audio into the document and it plays, when I play the timeline. However when I export to an MP4, there is no audio. I can't find any kind of setting or anything that is muting the output. Why doesn't the sound play in the final exported file if it plays ok in the timeline?
movieexport excludes audio. workarounds are recording a screencast or add the audio via a videoeditor ...