pctechguide.com

  • Home
  • Guides
  • Tutorials
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • Glossary
  • Contact

DirectMusic Technology

The establishment of the MIDI protocol in 1982 enabled independent composers to effectively control the entire recording process from home-based studios and contributed significantly to the sound of the 1980s – from sequenced industrial mixes to lush electronic soundtracks. Its contribution was marred by an imprecise timbral definition that can occur when MIDI files are played back on random sound cards. As the 1990s got underway, sampling technology became widespread and created two distinct directions for composers to follow. On one hand, it gave composers the ability to create richly layered digital recordings of acoustic and electronic instruments. On the other, it promoted a kind of creative thievery, where composers borrowed the licks and grooves of previously recorded artists to create new compositions.

Several formats that support sampling technology are available on the PC. The most common of these is the wave (WAV) format, which makes possible the high-bandwidth digital rendering of sound. A weakness of the wave file format has been the lack of a standard for the economical delivery of musical performances – and this is where DirectMusic comes in. Combining MIDI, support for hardware acceleration and software synthesis, and an integrated delivery system for custom samples, DirectMusic provides an economical means of delivering professional quality musical performances, addressing difficult timing issues with features such as buffered, time-stamped events and a global time reference.

One of the most powerful aspects of DirectMusic is its full implementation – as part of DirectX 6 – of the industry-ratified downloadable sounds (DLS) specification. In the past, it was impossible to get consistent playback with MIDI and performance quality varied depending on the sound card or playback device. DLS allows software developers to add sound samples to the General MIDI (GM) patch set of a wavetable synthesiser and has applicability both to the games developer and the musician. For example, it would allow the former to include a digital recording of a tyrannosaurus’ roar and have it associated with a specific instrument number within a wavetable synthesiser. Within the music realm, it allows the creation of custom sounds based on actual recordings of instruments. More generally, a DLS sample can essentially hold any sound, including spoken dialogue.

DLS collections are based on wave files – which can contain a single note, a musical phrase, a sound effect, dialogue, or anything else – and allow the composer to specify the exact timbres desired. The result is that they will get precise timbral definition in their scores – and what users hear in their products is exactly what the composer created in their studio. Using DLS wave files can be imported into a collection and manipulated in the same way that MIDI controllers manipulate any synthesised sound source and because DirectMusic features the compression of wave files within DLS collections, their use is more viable than ever.

In addition, DirectMusic supports two methods of synthesis: hardware synthesis, in which the sound card uses MIDI events to create the audio heard through a PC’s speakers, and software synthesis, in which the CPU itself creates the audio waveform. The DirectMusic software synthesiser acts like a sampler inside the user’s PC. Thanks to the software synthesiser, most users will hear scores that are created entirely inside the CPU itself and played back much like a recording of a performance. However, in those cases where a sound card provides capabilities beyond the software synthesiser, DirectMusic can use the sound card instead. That way, DirectMusic provides the best of both worlds: the excellent fidelity of the wave format and the compactness, flexibility, and interactivity of MIDI.

DirectX 8’s integration of DirectSound and DirectMusic into the DirectX Audio component paves the way for the processing of synthesised music fragments in the same way as normal audio tracks. The support of DLS2 (Downloadable Sounds Level 2) standard has made it possible to apply effects designed originally for synthesised (MIDI) music – such as reverb – onto standard sound files of WAV format. With DirectX 8, users can synthesise sound, mix it with normal audio tracks and then process the unified track within a common 3D audio interface.

Audio Scripting is another new feature introduced with DirectX 8. This gives the sound designer a great deal more control – independent of programming complexities – over how a game’s sound accompaniment is processed and how the sound responds to interactive inputs which themselves depends on the precise conduct of the game.

  • How Do Computers Make Pictures?
  • Graphic Card Resolution
  • Graphic Card Colour Depth
  • Graphic Card Components
  • Graphic Card Memory
  • Graphic Card Driver Software
  • 3d Accelerated Graphic Cards
  • Graphic Card Geometry
  • 3D Rendering
  • FSAA Graphic Card Technology
  • Digital Graphic Cards
  • DVI Graphic Cards
  • HDCP Technology
  • Graphic Card HDMI Ports
  • Graphic Card Display Port
  • Unified Display Special Interest Group
  • DirectX
  • OpenGL technology
  • Direct3D
  • Talisman
  • Fahrenheit Graphic Cards
  • SLI Technology
  • CrossFire Graphic Cards

Filed Under: Sound Cards

Latest Articles

Accessing the Linux Operating System on Dedicated Servers with PuTTY or SSH

We've already looked at some of the means to operating your server, but now we're actually going to look at how to operate it. Working with Linux as the dedicated server's operating system, we'll cover some basic steps including logging in, creating a user account, familiarising ourselves with … [Read More...]

404 Not Found Error

A 404 error is an HTTP status codemnuj0 that indicates the page you were trying to reach is not available on the web server you are accessing. It simply means that web server you are tying to reach is not able to locate the page you were trying to reach that comes after the domain extension .com, … [Read More...]

Search Engine Rankings for www.pctechguide.com

While the occasional favourable review can spur surges in visitor traffic, there's no denying the role played by Search Engines in achieving sustained levels of visitor traffic. This is an area in which the PCTechGuide has enjoyed considerable good fortune. A key factor in this was the … [Read More...]

Gaming Laptop Security Guide: Protecting Your High-End Hardware Investment in 2025

Since Jacob took over PC Tech Guide, we’ve looked at how tech intersects with personal well-being and digital safety. Gaming laptops are now … [Read More...]

20 Cool Creative Commons Photographs About the Future of AI

AI technology is starting to have a huge impact on our lives. The market value for AI is estimated to have been worth $279.22 billion in 2024 and it … [Read More...]

13 Impressive Stats on the Future of AI

AI technology is starting to become much more important in our everyday lives. Many businesses are using it as well. While he has created a lot of … [Read More...]

Graphic Designers on Reddit Share their Views of AI

There are clearly a lot of positive things about AI. However, it is not a good thing for everyone. One of the things that many people are worried … [Read More...]

Redditors Talk About the Impact of AI on Freelance Writers

AI technology has had a huge impact on our lives. A 2023 survey by Pew Research found that 56% of people use AI at least once a day or once a week. … [Read More...]

11 Most Popular Books on Perl Programming

Perl is not the most popular programming language. It has only one million users, compared to 12 million that use Python. However, it has a lot of … [Read More...]

Guides

  • Computer Communications
  • Mobile Computing
  • PC Components
  • PC Data Storage
  • PC Input-Output
  • PC Multimedia
  • Processors (CPUs)

Recent Posts

Serial ATA (SATA) interface guide

In 1999 the Serial ATA (SATA) Working Group was formed, a group comprising companies as illustrious as APT Technologies, Dell, IBM, Intel, … [Read More...]

Labelling your DVDs – tutorial on how to transfer your VCR tapes to DVD

Having now gone through the VHS video to DVD tutorial, you'll have transferred your video tapes to DVD and want to give your new digitised … [Read More...]

What’s Behind the Increasing Demand for VPNs

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have emerged as a must-have tool over the last year. VPN downloads surged in 2023 for businesses and personal use. … [Read More...]

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2025 About | Privacy | Contact Information | Wrtie For Us | Disclaimer | Copyright License | Authors