SD2 to AIF: Convert Audio from SD2(Sound Designer 2) to AIF(AIFF/AIFC Apple Audio) with River Past Audio Converter, SD22AIF converter, conversion

What is SD2?

SDII (Sound Designer II, sometimes seen abbreviated as SD2) is a monophonic/stereophonic audio file format, originally developed by Digidesign for their Macintosh-based recording/editing products. It is the successor to the original monophonic Sound Designer I audio file format.

An SDII file can be monophonic or stereophonic. When stereo is used, the tracks are interleaved (sample-001-left, sample-001-right, sample-002-left, sample-002-right, etc.) Files also store sample rate and bit depth information.

The SDII file has become a widely accepted standard for transferring audio files between editing applications. Most Mac CD-ROM writer software, for example, specifies SDII or Audio Interchange File Format as the file format needed when making audio CDs.

The SDII file has also become accepted among personal computer audio application developers. This makes transferring audio from Mac to PC platforms much easier. When used on a PC, the file must use the extension of ".sd2".

To convert SD2 files to other audio formats, please make sure Apple QuickTime is installed.

What is AIF?

Short for Audio Interchange File Format, a common format for storing and transmitting sampled sound. The format was developed by Apple Computer and is the standard audio format for Macintosh computers. It is also used by Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI).

The AIFF format is uncompressed so AIFF files tend to be large. However, there is another format called AIFF-Compressed (AIFF-C or AIFC) that supports compression ratios as high as 6:1.

AIFF files generally end with an .AIF or .IEF extension.

AIFC files generally end with an .AIFC extension.

AIFF and AIFC are standard audio format used on MacOS systems. AIFF is not compressed. AIFC is compressed.

To encode AIF audio, please make sure Apple QuickTime is installed.

Launch River Past Audio Converter

Once River Past Audio Converter is installed properly, launch Audio Converter.

Add File

Click on the "Add" button on the tool bar. The standard file open dialog appears. Select "SD2 - Sound Designer 2" in its "Files of type" combo box.

Select the file you want to convert and click "Open". The file will be added to the conversion file list.

Note: To convert from SD2 files, you must have Apple QuickTime installed.

River Past Audio Converter

Select output format

Use the setting panel on the bottom of the window to control the output format. Click on the toggle to the left of the "Format" label to expand the panel. Select "AIF - Audio Interchanged File Format" as the "Audio Type".

Troubleshoot

If you don't see the AIF output option, you have a problem with your QuickTime installation.

You need to have the latest QuickTime installed. Occasionally, QuickTime may be corrupted. In any case, reinstall QuickTime should fix this problem.

You can change the compressor, and depending on the compressor, you can change the sample rate, channel (stereo or mono), bits/sample, and bitrate.

When "16 bit LPCM" or "16 bit PCM" is selected as the "Compressor", the file is uncompressed, and satisfy the original AIFF specification. When other compressors are used, the file is compressed and is considered to be an AIFC file.