Please help me test Win98/ME sound

Hi, I've been investigating the BlitzMax sound drivers and have found that sound can be a bit rubbish on Windows 98 and Me but I'd like to do a wider test.

Please download this:

http://www.greyaliengames.com/misc/sounddrivertest2.zip (850k)

Run it. Then start clicking the mouse. Listen carefully to see if there is a lag between when you click the button and the sound occurs. Try the other drivers by pressing space.

On my XP PC, FreeAudio has a tiny lag, Direct Sound is instant, and OpenAL seems instant but a bit quieter. On WinMe the FreeAudio lag is bad.

Please post system specs. Thanks!

(Why am I posting here if it's about BMax? Because not all Win98/ME users on this forum have Bmax)

FreeAudio: a lag of a few tenths of a second. (same system specs as during HB)

Others: no lag, but the DirectSound one sounds noisy as hell :S

All the same here - instant. But the first sound with DX is fuzzy (okay thereafter) and as you say OpenAL is a bit quieter.

Dell desktop running XP SP 2 and what claims to be a Sigma Tel Audio device.

Unless I'm understanding this wrong, he just wants results from Win98/ME machines?

Ha - yeah, looks like you are indeed correct :)

Win98SE:

FreeAudio: slight delay.
DirectSound: no delay but sound quality is poor.
OpenAL: no delay, good sound quality but slightly lower volume.

Great testing thanks everyone! :-)

Iey I don't mind some other tests like Win 2000 and Vista! I already know XP is not too bad.

For the people experiencing the delay, is it tiny or quite noticeable. CS_TBL says few 10ths of second which is basically BAD. On my PC it's probably less than one 10th of a second (a couple of frames basically) and thus not hugely noticeable.

Yeah Direct sound is noisy and sometimes the first sound can be crackly.

I only notice it because I'm a coder (allegedly) and have been specifically asked to listen out for a delay. :) It's only very slight on my machine, probably a couple of frames, as you say - I doubt any casual gamer would even notice it, TBH.

Grey: is it possible to use 2 drivers at the same time? E.g. play the same sound using DX or OAL together with FreeAudio? Then you can easily measure the delay..

big10p: thx. On my winME machine the delay can be really hideous like 250ms or so.

CS_TBL: No you can only use one I'm afraid.

Would it somehow be possible to get the address of a function, and call that function from another app by forcing it to call that numerical 'address'? That way you could make 2 apps with 2 different audio drivers, you then do 2 function calls from one app and you'll have 2 external apps playing back, and you'll notice the delay by recording the result.

Or is this evil voodoo? :P

I could probably do it by having two apps running at once and have them both wait for a specific value in millisecs and then trigger the sound. Then I could record with "what u hear" and work out the delay. But I'm not sure it's worth it ... basically there is a dealy with FreeAudio and it's bigger on some PCs than others. DirectSound is noisy and OpenAL has sample retriggering issues. Take your pick :-( Fmod it is then ;-)

How much is an fmod commercial license anyone? I expect BFG might have a license already...

[edit]Found it: http://www.fmod.org/ $3000 for the old one or $6000 for the new one.

Oh right, forgot about the millisecs stuff. Still I wonder if it's possible to trigger a function from another blitz exe by hijacking its address somehow.. ^_^

Don't you fall into the $100 hobbyist?

No, I'm programming a game for Big Fish Games.

Even my own games wouldn't fall into that category:


Because they were sold through multiple websites, retail and did make high sales.

Shame though, $100 sounds fine :-)