MPEG-4

Heavily influenced by Apple computer’s QuickTime™, MPEG-4 is aimed primarily at game applications. In addition to streaming video and digital audio, it allows for the transmission of MIDI, provides a GM-compatible synthesizer, facilitates the transfer and playback of DLS-2 and MIDI files, and incorporates a user-configurable synthesis language. This latter feature is called the Structured Audio Orchestra (SAOL) allowing the user to specify almost any existing synthesis method and create algorithms at one end, and have the sound played back identically at the end-user’s player. The MPEG-4 specification includes: DLS-2, MIDI/DLS sync, SAOL, digital audio transmission, audio spatialization, and text-to-speech.