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Baron83

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 6, 2008
6
0
Colorado
I have a bunch of old (system 7) sound files I can't use in X. They have no file names only the sound title. Command-I lists just the name and Unix Executable File. No wma, aaif, etc. Does anyone know a way to convert these to usable files?
 

Dan Appleby

macrumors newbie
Jun 11, 2013
1
0
Sorry to raise an old thread!

I am having a similar issue to the OP...

I recorded my old band ages ago (2003 - maybe earlier) using a classic iMac running OS 9 and Logic 5 (i think), and have just found the backups I made. The audio files appear as Unix Executable Files (see attachment), and I can't get any audio software to play them back for love nor money. I seem to remember the original file format being SDII (.sd2 or Sound Designer 2 format).

I have tried the system sound extension mentioned but it doesn't seem to work on OS X 10.8 and the original software developers email address just bounces every time I try to contact.

I have however, been able to extract the original audio from the files by importing the 'raw' data into audacity... but this is mega time consuming and would literally take me weeks!

I guess what I'm looking for is a bit of software that will batch convert the raw audio data into a readable .wav or .aif audio file, that will run on OS X 10.8.4.

Does anyone out there know a solution??

Any help would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks!
 

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benwiggy

macrumors 68020
Jun 15, 2012
2,382
202
Just to point out that any file without any file association to an application, that also has the x flag set, will appear as a Unix executable.

"Classic" Mac sound files were saved as AIFF on the resource fork, rather than the data fork.

I can't suggest an app for automation, but you might see if Automator and QuickTime Player will do anything.
 

switon

macrumors 6502a
Sep 10, 2012
636
1
RE: sox...

Sorry to raise an old thread!

I am having a similar issue to the OP...

I recorded my old band ages ago (2003 - maybe earlier) using a classic iMac running OS 9 and Logic 5 (i think), and have just found the backups I made. The audio files appear as Unix Executable Files (see attachment), and I can't get any audio software to play them back for love nor money. I seem to remember the original file format being SDII (.sd2 or Sound Designer 2 format).

I have tried the system sound extension mentioned but it doesn't seem to work on OS X 10.8 and the original software developers email address just bounces every time I try to contact.

I have however, been able to extract the original audio from the files by importing the 'raw' data into audacity... but this is mega time consuming and would literally take me weeks!

I guess what I'm looking for is a bit of software that will batch convert the raw audio data into a readable .wav or .aif audio file, that will run on OS X 10.8.4.

Does anyone out there know a solution??

Any help would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi Dan,

Have you tried "sox"? See the man page for "soxformat", it literally lists hundreds of sound file protocols that it will convert, including your sd2 format. I have used "sox" in batch mode before to automate the conversion of hundreds of sound files.

"sox" is available from MacPorts.

Good luck,
Switon
 
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