Ambrosia Software today announced the release of Soundboard. Like cart machines in broadcast radio studios, Soundboard lets users map sound effects, audio clips, or musical accompaniment to keys on the Mac keyboard, easily triggered with a single tap.

Soundboard answers the needs of podcasters and broadcasters everywhere looking for an elegant way to instantly incorporate sound clips into their live performances, or to quickly and efficiently use onboard audio to create custom musical mashups.

Soundboard’s elegant interface is designed to be used “live,” scaling up visually so you can see your triggers from a distance. When you import audio into Soundboard, it is converted to Apple Lossless format so playback will be instant. This avoids any delay caused by decoding either MP3 or AAC files on the fly. You’ll be able to find your desired sounds at a glance, and triggering them will quickly become automatic. Triggers can be renamed at will, color-coded, and shuffled around the board to suit your needs. Assign up to 32 sounds per tab, and create as many tabs as you need, and you can share ‘boards with other Soundboard users.

Soundboard’s 32 triggers can also be used to quickly and efficiently build custom mashups from your onboard audio. Combine this easy-to-adapt workspace with the recording power of WireTap Studio – or WireTap Anywhere and your favorite high-end editor – and your creative and recording potential is boundless.

You can control Soundboard via any MIDI device, and MIDI effects such as panning and gain are automatically applied to Soundboard’s output. Have your sound play in its entirety with a tap, or have it run only while holding down your chosen MIDI trigger. With Soundboard, it’s your audio, your way.

Soundboard is available now via direct download from Ambrosia for $29, and requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later. A 1.25GHz G4 with 1G RAM or better is recommended. Registered users of WireTap Studio and WireTap Anywhere can enter their respective license codes during purchase for an additional 25 percent discount.

Discuss Soundboard in our Applications forum, where Detective John Kimble might just ask a bunch of questions and expect to have them answered immediately. Questions such as “Who is your daddy and what does he do?“