Microsoft DirectX 9.0

DirectSound and DirectMusic

DirectSound and DirectMusic are separate components of DirectX with some overlapping functionality. Both play WAV sounds, and DirectMusic ultimately synthesizes all sounds into waveforms that are played through DirectSound buffers.

DirectMusic is a much more full-featured API that offers a complete solution for most audio scenarios in games and other interactive applications. Despite its name, DirectMusic plays all kinds of sounds including nonmusical sound effects. DirectSound is the API of choice for scenarios that require low-level management of hardware resources, such as games with many short sounds that must be played with the lowest possible latency and use of system resources.

You can use the DirectSound API independently to play WAV sounds, even in applications that use DirectMusic to play other content. You can also use DirectSound to manipulate sound buffers that are managed by DirectMusic. For example, you can obtain a DirectSound buffer from a DirectMusic audiopath and move it in 3-D space.

The following table summarizes the functionality offered by the two APIs.

Functionality	DirectMusic	DirectSound
Play WAV sounds	Yes	Yes
Play MIDI	Yes	No
Play DirectMusic Producer segments	Yes	No
Load content files and manage objects	Yes	No, but some support in sample code
Control musical parameters at run time	Yes	No
Manage timeline for cuing sounds	Yes	No
Use downloadable sounds (DLS)	Yes	No
Set volume, pitch, and pan of individual sounds	Yes, through DirectSound API	Yes
Set volume on multiple sounds (audiopaths)	Yes	No
Implement 3-D sounds	Yes, through DirectSound API	Yes
Apply effects (DMOs)	Yes, through DirectMusic Producer content or DirectSound API	Yes
Chain buffers for mix-in (send) effects	Yes, through DirectMusic Producer content	No
Capture WAV sounds	No	Yes
Implement full duplex	No	Yes
Capture MIDI	Yes	No
Control allocation of hardware buffers	No	Yes