SNDOPEN

The _SNDOPEN function loads a sound file into memory and returns a LONG handle value above 0.

Syntax

soundHandle& = _SNDOPEN(fileName$[, capabilities$])

Description

• Returns a LONG soundHandle& value to the sound file in memory. A value of zero means the sound could not be loaded.
• The literal or variable STRING sound fileName$ can be WAV, AIFF, AIFC, FLAC, OGG, MP3, IT, XM, S3M, MOD, RAD, AHX, HVL, MUS, HMI, HMP, HMQ, KAR, LDS, MDS, MIDS, RCP, R36, G18, G36, RMI, MID, MIDI, XFM, XMI & QOA file types.
• The literal or variable STRING capabilities$ is optional but can be one of the following. Anything else is ignored. Multiple capability strings can be specified separated by a comma.
  • NODECODE (NoDecode): This loads the sound into memory without decompressing it. Decompression is performed in small blocks at the final mixing stage.
  • STREAM: This will stream the sound into memory in small blocks instead of loading it entirely. Using NODECODE with STREAM will postpone the block's decoding until the final mixing phase.
  • NOASYNC (NoAsync): This option will block the caller until the entire sound (or a portion, if STREAM is utilized) is loaded and prepared in memory.
  • MEMORY: This will treat fileName$ as a memory buffer containing the sound file instead of a file name.
• Short sounds should not be loaded using STREAM. Use STREAM when you want to play long sounds as background music.
• Always check the handle value returned is greater than zero before attempting to play the sound.
• The handle can be used by most of the _SND sound playing functions and statements in QB64 except _SNDPLAYFILE which plays a sound file directly from the disk and does not use a handle value.
• Handles can be closed with _SNDCLOSE when the sound is no longer necessary.
• If a WAV sound file won't play, try it using the Windows Play WAV sounds library to check it or convert the sound file to FLAC, OGG or MP3.
• MIDI files can be played using a built-in 108 channel OPL3 FM emulation, which is ideal for retro-style music playback. Additionally, MIDI files can also be played using other FM Banks and SoundFonts. For more information, refer to _MIDISOUNDBANK.
• _MEMSOUND does not work for sounds loaded with _SNDOPEN when using the STREAM or NODECODE flags.

Availability

• 

  v0.610

• 

  all

• 
• 

  yes

• 

  yes

• 

  yes

• Available for Linux since QB64 v0.800 and for macOS since QB64 v0.900
• Until QB64 v0.954 various formats and capabilities are supported via the SDL audio backend.
  • See the historic page _SNDOPEN-v0.954 for reference.
• In QB64 v0.960 the underlying SDL library was exchanged by OpenGL (graphics) and OpenAL (sound) and as a result only the WAV, OGG, and MP3 formats are supported until today's current versions without any special capabilities.
  • See historic page _SNDOPEN-v0.960 for reference.
  • This limitation also applies up to QB64-PE v3.0.0 of the Phoenix Edition.
• Since QB64-PE v3.1.0 the new formats FLAC, MOD, S3M, XM, IT and RAD were added to that very limited list, in the move away from OpenAL to the Miniaudio library in combination with separate and extensible player libraries.
  • In this version also the new capability to STREAM the sound was added.
• With QB64-PE v3.2.0 the MID format was added, but needs explicitly to be enabled via the $MIDISOUNDFONT metacommand.
• In QB64-PE v3.5.0 the Amiga AHX and HVL formats were added to the list.
  • In this version also the new capability to load sounds from MEMORY was added.
• In QB64-PE v3.8.0 support for Apple's AIFF and AIFC formats was added.
• In QB64-PE v3.9.0 support for Quite OK Audio (QOA) format was added.
• In QB64-PE v3.9.0 the old OpenAL audio backend was finally removed.
• In QB64-PE v3.14.0 support for unrestricted MUS, HMI, HMP, HMQ, KAR, LDS, MDS, MIDS, RCP, R36, G18, G36, RMI, MID, MIDI, XFM, and XMI was added.
  • In this version also the NODECODE and NOASYNC capabilities were added.
  • The previous requirement to use $UNSTABLE:MIDI and $MIDISOUNDFONT has been removed.

Examples

Example 1

Loading a sound file to use in the program later. Only load it once and use the handle any time you want.

h& = _SNDOPEN("dog.wav") IF h& <= 0 THEN BEEP ELSE _SNDPLAY h& 'check for valid handle before using!

---

Example 2

Playing a sound from 2 different speakers based on program results.

' This examples load, plays and then bounces the sound between the left and right channels Laff& = _SNDOPEN("KONGlaff.ogg", "stream") 'load sound file and get LONG handle value IF Laff& > 0 THEN _SNDPLAY Laff& 'play sound ELSE PRINT "Failed to load sound file." END END IF PRINT "Press ESC to stop." dir = 0.01 DO IF laffx! <= -1 THEN dir = 0.01 IF laffx! >= 1 THEN dir = -0.01 laffx! = laffx! + dir LOCATE , 1: PRINT USING "Balance = ##.##"; laffx!; _SNDBAL Laff&, laffx! 'balance sound to left or right speaker _LIMIT 60 LOOP WHILE _SNDPLAYING(Laff&) AND _KEYHIT <> 27

---

Example 3

Loading a sound file from memory and then playing it.

OPTION _EXPLICIT DIM buffer AS STRING: buffer = LoadSlidingAwayData PRINT "Size ="; LEN(buffer) DIM h AS LONG: h = _SNDOPEN(buffer, "memory") PRINT "Handle ="; h PRINT "Length ="; _SNDLEN(h) PRINT "Looping audio..." _SNDLOOP h END ' This function reads the file directly from data and then returns the decompressed data FUNCTION LoadSlidingAwayData$ DIM AS LONG numL, numb, stroffs, i, dat DIM rawdata AS STRING RESTORE Sliding_Away READ numL, numb rawdata = SPACE$((numL * 4) + numb) stroffs = 1 FOR i = 1 TO numL READ dat MID$(rawdata, stroffs, 4) = MKL$(dat) stroffs = stroffs + 4 NEXT IF numb > 0 THEN FOR i = 1 TO numb READ dat MID$(rawdata, stroffs, 1) = CHR$(dat) stroffs = stroffs + 1 NEXT END IF LoadSlidingAwayData = _INFLATE$(rawdata) '--- DATAs representing the contents of file sliding_away.hvl '--------------------------------------------------------------------- Sliding_Away: DATA 192,10 DATA &H56A59C78,&H51134F5B,&H7766FE10,&HE96D0B6B,&HC5258202,&H5BAED8BA,&H840A956B,&HFBB240F8 DATA &H3E2483E0,&H4B3E24A0,&H018928C4,&H6217892F,&H9F813FA2,&H47E14FC0,&H3D1356F1,&HED9D9EB7 DATA &H9A78DA05,&HFB3399CE,&HCCE677CD,&HB3CE6ECC,&H7451CF57,&HDF05877E,&H02F0F2DF,&H0F297204 DATA &HA39E8435,&HF47BD182,&H9ED67297,&H95727A62,&HC2AD1C62,&HF6E174BD,&HFC52E2CC,&HCDF31E7B DATA &H8C1BFE31,&H0530CF3F,&HFC639FC6,&H767F8C33,&H3E117F0C,&H12FE196E,&HFC3551E6,&HC5602C65 DATA &H88B0E660,&H622FE19A,&HBF86AB19,&H6DB89B82,&H42588BF8,&HFF9CEADD,&HFE69F88E,&HFE8E0AA2 DATA &HB4151E28,&HB77813DB,&HC0F00F98,&HB1D0D7E2,&H6878BBF8,&HB23C0DF1,&H2DD626F8,&HE2D7443E DATA &HC5B1E1EF,&HF8B0D847,&H35213616,&H7DC6DF37,&HBF4CA16C,&H51D38F90,&H988C1126,&H6396662B DATA &H92BEE941,&H82D4AECA,&HAE19975A,&H84D3803F,&H78C59C84,&H2FDA3819,&H91FEB274,&HBD99B759 DATA &H696D74A3,&H9EC47B19,&HD31127F3,&H7BFBB907,&H55F2AF36,&H07F1906A,&H48D709CE,&H28535583 DATA &H14E43B7B,&H26A6E166,&HC5B6BE73,&H9987436B,&H4B9F9E0D,&H711ECA4F,&H1F8A569A,&H4C4C7F8E DATA &HD687B61D,&H169A5E4D,&H2C214CDF,&H606A9A4F,&H39E3E02F,&H19D3C0E2,&HBB2BA06B,&H44260BBA DATA &H36837A77,&HD7E5755B,&H8B6D5EB2,&HE2BD64E8,&H5DAFD7B6,&H511EC46B,&H28D99976,&HB2229E54 DATA &H119E361B,&H7F0D34A1,&H3F556E80,&H54E38DA8,&HB2C43EA2,&H4A6A18AA,&H6D68D8AE,&HDD4B1A0F DATA &HB08FCF44,&H9F93723A,&H9BF305C9,&H0940B334,&H77655317,&HCFA7E047,&H1FABC0EE,&HB2C99E6B DATA &H6938C69D,&HD2B70456,&H3A4AA7FE,&H9A5571BE,&H72E75DE4,&HC6436D54,&H63C88D17,&H3B1E4C6B DATA &H7D6DAFC6,&H2D781D78,&H551D6B43,&H6D631693,&H0CA258D9,&HC2AD8353,&HDBED2EA1,&HE7D494D6 DATA &HDB5D33AA,&HD774C635,&HB7B60E08,&HEA3C14D4,&HAE70F1F7,&H15274254,&H20DB7E57,&HDF3624DB DATA &HD967DE36,&H34FB694A,&H5CF3EAD5,&H3714A95D,&HDFB4B55D,&H8E1B15F5,&HD4C09FBB,&HB2E5593E DATA &HAE7965FB,&H1C50DEAF,&H4AADD413,&HCCF2D114,&H3C053CBE,&H2131FA2A,&HA86FB8EF,&H8B5EE49A DATA &H8E4EC59B,&H4A212712,&HE24DEF20,&H5CD1131F,&H8F7D3BC9,&HBACE8D52,&H48140715,&HF214BADF DATA &H2F5717E5,&HF0A5E631,&H5148A8A5,&HF4DD4296,&HDD4AEDD4,&HA3C4BD17,&HB991EF24,&H2C4E0200 DATA &HE1EE4B6F,&H5A527069,&H07B674FC,&HDA9EC13F,&H70AF9D0A,&HA12937B6,&H196D4427,&H8BD50886 DATA &H3422259D,&HE5FA7FC8,&HD1E1D1C3,&HE0E0BBF1,&H7C0FC1DB,&HE4F9FB7F,&H760F5838,&H63EEEE5F DATA &HA3,&HDB,&HDD,&H16,&HF8,&H7F,&HEE,&H68,&H18,&HB9 END FUNCTION

See also

• _SNDCLOSE, _SNDPLAY, _SNDSTOP
• _SNDPAUSE, _SNDLOOP, _SNDLIMIT
• _SNDSETPOS, _SNDGETPOS
• _SNDPLAYING, _SNDPAUSED
• _SNDCOPY, _SNDPLAYCOPY
• _SNDBAL, _SNDLEN, _SNDVOL
• _SNDPLAYFILE
• _SNDRAW, _SNDRATE, _SNDRAWLEN
• _MEMSOUND

---

Navigation: Main Page with Articles and Tutorials Keyword Reference - Alphabetical Keyword Reference - By usage Report a broken link