An Overview of the Sound and Music Kits for the NeXT Computer

The NeXT computer provides a powerful system for creating and manipulating sound and music. The software for this system is divided into two object-oriented class libraries known as kits. The Sound Kit provides object-oriented access to the basic sound capabilities of the NeXT computer, allowing sound recording, playback, display, and editing. The Music Kit provides classes for composing, storing, performing, and synthesizing music. It lets you communicate with external synthesizers or create your own software instruments. Both kits are implemented in the Objective-C object-oriented programming language. Although they are largely independent of each other, they can also be used to a unified end. The Sound Kit, for instance, can record sound data that can be used in a Music Kit performance. This paper gives an overview of the NeXT sound and music software. A brief description of the NeXT sound hardware is also included.