DirectSound Restrictions
DirectSound restrictions
Note: Some of the DirectX advanced feature are ONLY available for audio files in WAV format and the Play Modifier
Use DirectX checkbox must be checked.
Microsoft DirectSound has the following restrictions on Wav file formats. If a Wav file does not work with
Sound Mill
, try loading it into a Wav editing program and save a copy that meets these specifications.
Supported attributes
-
Wav only - Audio files must be in Wav format to be used with the DirectX audio drivers. Other formats (such as MP3, WMA etc) can be converted to Wav with any of the many free audio converters available. Or they can be played with the Media Player drivers.
-
Wav type - Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) Wav format is the supported format. Some other Wav formats have worked in our testing but are not officially supported by DirectX.
-
Samples per second - The Samples Per Second should be a common value such as 8.0 kHz, 11.025 kHz, 22.05 kHz, or 44.1 kHz.
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Channels - Must be either monaural (mono data uses one channel) or stereo (data uses two channels). More than two channels is not supported.
-
Bits per sample - All effects ( except Waves Reverb) can process 8-bit or 16-bit (Bits Per Sample) at any sample rate .
-
Fx Effects minimum size - Fx effects are not possible on Wav files of less than 150 milliseconds (0.15 seconds) in length.
Exceptions
-
3D Sound - Wav file must be monaural (mono data uses one channel).
-
Fx Waves Reverb - Waves Reverb does not support 8-bit samples.
-
File size limit - There is physical limit to the Wav file size that can be played and will vary by your system configuration (memory on the audio card, memory size of the computer, how much computer RAM is available when the program is run, bit depth of the Wav file, etc). In our testing, we got "Insufficient memory" errors with file sizes around 130 Megabytes in size (about 12 minutes of music, PCM, 16 bit, sample 44Khz, bit rate 1411Kbps) . Most music recording will not be that large and will play fine, but it is best to load and test the tracks. Memory errors are reported as soon as the file begins to play.
Viewing Wav file attributes
To view Wav file attributes, open Windows Explorer and browse to the folder where the audio file resides. Click on the file to select it, then
Right mouse click. From the resulting context menu, pick
Attributes. A attributes dialog will popup. The audio file format attributes are on the
Summary tab.
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