The DirectXTK for Audio components implement a low-level audio API similar to XNA Game Studio's Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Audio. This consists of the following classes all declared in the Audio.h header (in the Inc folder of the distribution):
Update() returns false if no audio is actually playing (either due to there being no audio device on the system at the time AudioEngine was created, or because XAudio2 encountered a Critical Error--typically due to speakers being unplugged). Calls to various DirectXTK for Audio methods can still be made in this state but no actual audio processing will take place. See AudioEngine for more information.
Note: A C++ exception is thrown if you call Apply3D for a SoundEffectInstance that was not created with SoundEffectInstance_Use3D
A SoundEffectInstance can be created from a wavebank referencing a particular wave in the bank:
One-shot sounds can also be played directly from the wave bank.
XACT3-style "wave banks" can be created by using the XWBTool command-line tool, or they can be authored using XACT3 in the DirectX SDK. Note that the XWBTool will not perform any format conversions or compression, so more full-featured options are better handled with the XACT3 GUI or XACTBLD, or it can be used on .wav files already compressed by adpcmencode.exe, etc.
DirectXTK for Audio does not make use of the XACT engine, nor does it make use of XACT "sound banks" .xsb or "cues". We only use .xwb wave banks as a method for packing .wav data.
DirectXTK_Desktop_2013, DirectXTK_Desktop_2012, and DirectXTK_Desktop_2010 do not include DirectXTK for Audio. To add DirectXTK for Audio support for a Win32 desktop application, you must also add one of the following projects from the Audio folder of the distribution to your solution and Add a Reference to it (see DirectXTK for more details).
When targeting Windows 8.x:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2728613
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee663275.aspx
DirectXTK makes use of the latest Direct3D 11.1 headers available in the Windows 8.x SDK, and there are a number of file conflicts between the Windows 8.x SDK and the legacy DirectX SDK. Therefore, when building for down-level support with XAudio 2.7, Audio.h explicitly includes the DirectX SDK version of XAudio2 headers with a full path name. These reflect the default install locations, and if you have installed it elsewhere you will need to update this header. The *_DXSDK.vcxproj files use the DXSDK_DIR environment variable, so only the Audio.h references need updating for an alternative location.
Note that IVoiceNotify::OnBufferEnd is called from XAudio2's thread, so the callback must be very fast and use thread-safe operations.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chuckw/archive/2012/04/02/xaudio2-and-windows-8-consumer-preview.aspx
- AudioEngine - This class represents an XAudio2 audio graph, device, and mastering voice.
- SoundEffect - A container class for sound resources which can be loaded from .wav files.
- SoundEffectInstance - Provides a single playing, paused, or stopped instance of a sound
- WaveBank - A container class for sound resources packaged into an XACT-style .xwb wave bank.
- AudioListener, AudioEmitter - Utility classes used with SoundEffectInstance::Apply3D.
Initialization
The first step in using DirectXTK for Audio is to create the AudioEngine, which creates an XAudio2 interface, an XAudio2 mastering voice, and other global resources.// This is only needed in Win32 desktop apps CoInitializeEx( nullptr, COINIT_MULTITHREADED );
AUDIO_ENGINE_FLAGS eflags = AudioEngine_Default;
#ifdef _DEBUG
eflags = eflags | AudioEngine_Debug;
#endif
std::unique_ptr<AudioEngine> audEngine( new AudioEngine( eflags ) );Per-frame processing
The application should call Update () every frame to allow for per-frame engine updates, such as one-shot voice management. This could also be done in a worker thread rather than on the main rendering thread.if ( !audEngine->Update() ) { // No audio device is activeif ( audEngine->IsCriticalError() ) { ... } }
Update() returns false if no audio is actually playing (either due to there being no audio device on the system at the time AudioEngine was created, or because XAudio2 encountered a Critical Error--typically due to speakers being unplugged). Calls to various DirectXTK for Audio methods can still be made in this state but no actual audio processing will take place. See AudioEngine for more information.
Loading and a playing a looping sound
Creating SoundEffectInstances allows full control over the playback, and are provided with a dedicated XAudio2 source voice. This allows control of playback, looping, volume control, panning, and pitch-shifting.std::unique_ptr<SoundEffect> soundEffect( new SoundEffect( audEngine.get(), L"Sound.wav" ) ); auto effect = soundEffect->CreateInstance(); ... effect->Play( true );
Playing one-shots
A common way to play sounds is to trigger them in a 'fire-and-forget' mode. This is done by calling SoundEffect::Play() rather than creating a SoundEffectInstance. These use XAudio2 source voices managed by AudioEngine, are cleaned up automatically when they finish playing, and can overlap in time. One-shot sounds cannot be looped, have positional 3D effects, or have individual volume, pan, or pitch control.std::unique_ptr<SoundEffect> soundEffect( new SoundEffect( audEngine.get(), L"Explosion.wav" ) ); soundEffect->Play(); ... soundEffect->Play();
Applying 3D audio effects to a sound
DirectXTK for Audio supports positional 3D audio with optional environmental reverb effects using X3DAudio.
AUDIO_ENGINE_FLAGS eflags = AudioEngine_EnvironmentalReverb
| AudioEngine_ReverbUseFilters;
#ifdef _DEBUG
eflags = eflags | AudioEngine_Debug;
#endif
std::unique_ptr<AudioEngine> audEngine( new AudioEngine( eflags ) );
audEngine->SetReverb( Reverb_ConcertHall );
...
std::unique_ptr<SoundEffect> soundEffect( new SoundEffect( audEngine.get(), L"Sound.wav" ) );
auto effect = soundEffect->CreateInstance( SoundEffectInstance_Use3D | SoundEffectInstance_ReverbUseFilters );
...
effect->Play(true);
...
AudioListener listener;
listener.SetPosition( ... );
AudioEmitter emitter;
emitter.SetPosition( ... );
effect->Apply3D( listener, emitter );Note: A C++ exception is thrown if you call Apply3D for a SoundEffectInstance that was not created with SoundEffectInstance_Use3D
Using wave banks
Rather than loading individual .wav files, a more efficient method is to package them into a "wave bank". This allows for more efficient loading and memory organization. DirectXTK for Audio's WaveBank class can be used to play one-shots or to create SoundEffectInstances from 'in-memory' wave banks.std::unique_ptr<WaveBank> wb( new WaveBank( audEngine.get(), L"wavebank.xwb" ) );
A SoundEffectInstance can be created from a wavebank referencing a particular wave in the bank:
auto effect = wb->CreateInstance( 10 ); if ( !effect ) // Error (invalid index for wave bank) ... effect->Play( true );
One-shot sounds can also be played directly from the wave bank.
wb->Play( 2 ); wb->Play( 6 );
XACT3-style "wave banks" can be created by using the XWBTool command-line tool, or they can be authored using XACT3 in the DirectX SDK. Note that the XWBTool will not perform any format conversions or compression, so more full-featured options are better handled with the XACT3 GUI or XACTBLD, or it can be used on .wav files already compressed by adpcmencode.exe, etc.
xwbtool -o wavebank.xwb Sound.wav Explosion.wav Music.wav
DirectXTK for Audio does not make use of the XACT engine, nor does it make use of XACT "sound banks" .xsb or "cues". We only use .xwb wave banks as a method for packing .wav data.
Platform support
Windows 8.x, Windows Store apps, Windows phone 8, and Xbox One all include XAudio 2.8. Therefore, the standard DirectXTK.lib includes DirectXTK for Audio for all these platforms:- DirectXTK_Windows81
- DirectXTK_Windows8
- DirectXTK_WindowsPhone8
- DirectXTK_XboxOneXDK
- DirectXTK_XboxOneADK
DirectXTK_Desktop_2013, DirectXTK_Desktop_2012, and DirectXTK_Desktop_2010 do not include DirectXTK for Audio. To add DirectXTK for Audio support for a Win32 desktop application, you must also add one of the following projects from the Audio folder of the distribution to your solution and Add a Reference to it (see DirectXTK for more details).
When targeting Windows 8.x:
- DirectXTKAudio_Desktop_2012_Win8 - DirectXTK for Audio using VS 2012 and XAudio 2.8
- DirectXTKAudio_Desktop_2013_Win8 - DirectXTK for Audio using VS 2013 and XAudio 2.8
- DirectXTKAudio_Desktop_2010_DXSDK - DirectXTK for Audio project for VS 2010 + Windows 8.1 SDK + legacy DirectXTK using XAudio 2.7
- DirectXTKAudio_Desktop_2012_DXSDK - DirectXTK for Audio project for VS 2012 + Windows 8.0 SDK + legacy DirectXTK using XAudio 2.7
- DirectXTKAudio_Desktop_2013_DXSDK - DirectXTK for Audio project for VS 2013 + Windows 8.1 SDK + legacy DirectXTK using XAudio 2.7
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2728613
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee663275.aspx
DirectXTK makes use of the latest Direct3D 11.1 headers available in the Windows 8.x SDK, and there are a number of file conflicts between the Windows 8.x SDK and the legacy DirectX SDK. Therefore, when building for down-level support with XAudio 2.7, Audio.h explicitly includes the DirectX SDK version of XAudio2 headers with a full path name. These reflect the default install locations, and if you have installed it elsewhere you will need to update this header. The *_DXSDK.vcxproj files use the DXSDK_DIR environment variable, so only the Audio.h references need updating for an alternative location.
// Using XAudio 2.7 requires the DirectX SDK
#include <C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft DirectX SDK (June 2010)\Include\comdecl.h>
#include <C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft DirectX SDK (June 2010)\Include\xaudio2.h>
#include <C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft DirectX SDK (June 2010)\Include\xaudio2fx.h>
#pragma warning(push)
#pragma warning( disable : 4005 )
#include <C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft DirectX SDK (June 2010)\Include\x3daudio.h>Threading model
The DirectXTK for Audio methods assume it is always called from a single thread. This is generally either the main thread or a worker thread dedicated to audio processing. The XAudio2 engine itself makes use of lock-free mechanism to make it 'thread-safe'.Note that IVoiceNotify::OnBufferEnd is called from XAudio2's thread, so the callback must be very fast and use thread-safe operations.
Further reading
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chuckw/archive/2012/05/15/learning-xaudio2.aspxhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/chuckw/archive/2012/04/02/xaudio2-and-windows-8-consumer-preview.aspx