Astsharp.exe
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Astsharp.exe was programed by the user Kamimatt and was released on Jul 11, 2011. It is written in C#. The first version (v.0.1) was released on Feb 25, 2011 (11:19am) and had a different name (astconvert.exe). The program allows you, to convert from the wav audio format to the Wii specific .ast format.

History:
On Feb 05, 2011 the user Icespike started a new thread named "AST Music Conversion". He asked for programers and someone who knew about file structures. Kamimatt was the first and the last one who programed a converter. The first version had problems that caused some .ast files not to play on the Wii. The second version of astconvert.exe was released just about seven hours later (06:44pm) on the same day and could handle .wav files of one or two channels. But the problem that caused some .ast files not to play on Wii, wasn't solved. Version 0.3 (which was released one day later) fixed that problem. Another problem was, that some .ast files crashed while they were played. Version 0.4 (which was released on Apr 29, 2011) solved this bug. But this version still didn't have a function to manipulate the loop point (which is important for converting). Kamimatt decided to write his new program in C# (instead C). Finally he renamed astconvert.exe to astsharp.exe, removed the ast to wav function (which was included in earlier versions, but removed in this version, "I might add that functionality in the future, though it shouldn't be needed. There are a few programs that exist which can convert .ast to .wav.", he commented it) and added a function to manipulate the loop point. That's astsharp.exe. It is the newest version of the astconvert familiy.

To use:
At the beginning many people had problems using the program. Thats because astsharp.exe (and the earlier versions of it) don't have a graphical user interface (GUI).They are "command line" tools. This means that they must be started from the command line (cmd.exe). The parameter to start is: astsharp.exe -a [wavfile] [astfile]. To set loop points it must be typed: astsharp.exe -a [wavfile] [astfile] —loop-start M:S.m —loop-end M:S.m (M= minutes; S= seconds; m= milliseconds). Also the user Gen has made a batch file (which is compiled to exe) for astsharp.exe, to make it easier for some people to use it. And also the user Anthe has made something to make it easier: A GUI (graphical user interface) for astsharp.exe (latest version: 1.3.1).

Future plans:
Some users questioned (after Kamimatt released version 0.4) whether it would be possible to add a function that could convert two wav files into one multi ast file (which is important for some galaxies). He commented this with: "might include that feature next release". Although this could not be met (because the next release was astsharp.exe), the probability is high that this will be a function in a new version of astsharp.exe.

See also: Custom Music

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