Audio files on hotkeys?

[The Boston Dangler]

i'm looking for a way of assigning short audio files (any format) to keyboard buttons for instant playback. i want windows to play the file directly from RAM, instead of launching an audio player and loading the file. i can map the keyboard in any way necessary. any ideas?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Do you mean a "soundboard" app like radio stations use, or something that plays the sounds in addition to the keys working normally in whatever program that you are using at the time? (You hit the tab key, a "ding!" sound plays AND the tab is still added to your word document.)

The second one would be reasonably easy to do for a fixed set of WAV files using a "low level keyboard hook" and the Windows sound player API, some student in the Programming forum might be willing to write it for you free or cheap.