SOUND

SOUND sets frequency and duration of sounds from the internal PC speaker if the computer has one or the sound card in QB64.

Syntax

SOUND frequency#, duration#[, volume#][, panning#][, waveform&]

Description

• frequency# is any literal or variable value from 37 to 32767, but 0 is allowed for delays.
  • Just like QuickBASIC 4.5 frequencies on or above 20000 produces silence.
• duration# is any literal or variable number of TIMER ticks with a duration of 1/18th second. 18 = one second.
• Optional parameter volume# should be between 0.0 (muted) to 1.0 (full volume).
• Optional parameter panning# should be between -1.0 (hard left) to 1.0 (hard right). 0.0 being center.
• Optional parameter waveform& can be one of the following:
  • 1 for square waveform
  • 2 for sawtooth waveform
  • 3 for triangle waveform (default)
  • 4 for sine waveform
  • 5 for white noise
  • 10 for a waveform defined by the _WAVE statement (since QB64-PE v4.0.0)
• More waveform types may be introduced in the future.
• PLAY can be used for musical sounds.

Note

The last volume, panning and waveform settings will apply to subsequent calls to SOUND (when used without the optional parameters) and PLAY.

Errors

• Low frequency# values between 0 and 37 will create an Illegal Function call error.
• Out of range values for volume#, panning# and waveform& will create an Illegal Function call error.
• All audio related statements and functions work even if the program is not in focus. However, depending on the operating system and environment, this may not always be the case.
• SOUND may have clicks or pauses between the sounds generated.

Note

SOUND 0, 0 will not stop previous QB64 sounds like it did in QBasic!

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The Seven Music Octaves Note Frequency Note Frequency Note Frequency 1* D#1 ...... 39 G3 ....... 196 A#5 ...... 932 E1 ....... 41 G#3 ...... 208 B5 ....... 988 F1 ....... 44 A3 ....... 220 6* C6 ....... 1047 F#1 ...... 46 A#3 ...... 233 C#6 ...... 1109 G1 ....... 49 B3 ....... 247 D6 ....... 1175 G#1 ...... 51 4* C4 ....... 262 D#6 ...... 1245 A1 ....... 55 C#4 ...... 277 E6 ....... 1318 A#1 ...... 58 D4 ....... 294 F6 ....... 1397 B1 ....... 62 D#4 ...... 311 F#6 ...... 1480 2* C2 ....... 65 E4 ....... 330 G6 ....... 1568 C#2 ...... 69 F4 ....... 349 G# ....... 1661 D2 ....... 73 F#4 ...... 370 A6 ....... 1760 D#2 ...... 78 G4 ....... 392 A#6 ...... 1865 E2 ....... 82 G#4 ...... 415 B6 ....... 1976 F2 ....... 87 A4 ....... 440 7* C7 ....... 2093 F#2 ...... 92 A# ....... 466 C#7 ...... 2217 G2 ....... 98 B4 ....... 494 D7 ....... 2349 G#2 ...... 104 5* C5 ....... 523 D#7 ...... 2489 A2 ....... 110 C#5 ...... 554 E7 ....... 2637 A#2 ...... 117 D5 ....... 587 F7 ....... 2794 B2 ....... 123 D#5 ...... 622 F#7 ...... 2960 3* C3 ....... 131 E5 ....... 659 G7 ....... 3136 C#3 ...... 139 F5 ....... 698 G#7 ...... 3322 D3 ....... 147 F#5 ...... 740 A7 ....... 3520 D#3 ...... 156 G5 ....... 784 A#7 ...... 3729 E3 ....... 165 G#5 ...... 831 B7 ....... 3951 F3 ....... 175 A5 ....... 880 8* C8 ....... 4186 F#3 ...... 185 # denotes sharp

Availability

• 

  v0.610

• 

  all

• 
• 

  yes

• 

  yes

• 

  yes

• Support for volume#, panning#, waveform& was added in QB64-PE v3.8.0.
• Support for user-defined _WAVE waveforms (ID#:10) was added in QB64-PE v4.0.0.

Examples

Example 1

Playing the seven octaves based on the base note DATA * 2 ^ (octave - 1).

notes$ = "C C#D D#E F F#G G#A A#B " COLOR 9: LOCATE 5, 20: PRINT "Select an octave (1 - 7) to play (8 quits):" DO DO: octa$ = INKEY$ IF octa$ <> "" THEN IF ASC(octa$) > 48 AND ASC(octa$) < 58 THEN octave% = VAL(octa$): EXIT DO END IF LOOP UNTIL octave% > 7 IF octave% > 0 AND octave% < 8 THEN LOCATE 15, 6: PRINT SPACE$(70) LOCATE 16, 6: PRINT SPACE$(70) COLOR 14: LOCATE 15, 6: PRINT "Octave"; octave%; ":"; RESTORE Octaves FOR i = 1 TO 12 READ note! snd% = CINT(note! * (2 ^ (octave% - 1))) 'calculate note frequency COLOR 14: PRINT STR$(snd%); c0l = POS(0) COLOR 11: LOCATE 16, c0l - 2: PRINT MID$(notes$, 1 + (2 * (i - 1)), 2) LOCATE 15, c0l IF snd% > 36 THEN SOUND snd%, 12 'error if sound value is < 36 _DELAY .8 NEXT END IF LOOP UNTIL octave% > 7 END Octaves: DATA 32.7,34.65,36.71,38.9,41.2,43.65,46.25,49,51.91,55,58.27,61.74

Code adapted by Ted Weissgerber

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Example 2

Playing a song called "Bonnie" with SOUND frequencies.

SCREEN 13 _FULLSCREEN OUT &H3C8, 0: OUT &H3C9, 0: OUT &H3C9, 0: OUT &H3C9, 20 COLOR 1 FOR i% = 1 TO 21 LOCATE 2 + i%, 2: PRINT CHR$(178) LOCATE 2 + i%, 39: PRINT CHR$(178) NEXT i% FOR i% = 2 TO 39 LOCATE 2, i%: PRINT CHR$(223) LOCATE 23, i%: PRINT CHR$(220) NEXT i% COLOR 9 LOCATE 3, 16: PRINT CHR$(34); "MY BONNIE"; CHR$(34) SLEEP 3 FOR i% = 1 TO 34 SELECT CASE i% CASE 1: LOCATE 5, 5 CASE 10: LOCATE 10, 5 CASE 18: LOCATE 15, 5 CASE 27: LOCATE 20, 5 END SELECT READ note%, duration%, word$ SOUND note%, duration%: PRINT word$; NEXT i% SLEEP 2 LOCATE 23, 16: PRINT "Thank You!" SLEEP 4 SYSTEM DATA 392,8,"My ",659,8,"Bon-",587,8,"nie ",523,8,"lies ",587,8,"O-",523,8,"Ver ",440,8,"the " DATA 392,8,"O-",330,32,"cean ",392,8,"My ",659,8,"Bon-",587,8,"nie ",523,8,"lies " DATA 523,8,"O-",494,8,"ver ",523,8,"the ",587,40,"sea ",392,8,"My ",659,8,"Bon-",587,8,"nie" DATA 523,8," lies ",587,8,"O-",523,8,"ver ",440,8,"the ",392,8,"O-",330,32,"cean ",392,8,"Oh " DATA 440,8,"bring ",587,8,"back ",523,8,"my ",494,8,"Bon-",440,8,"nie ",494,8,"to ",523,32,"me..!"

Code adapted by Ted Weissgerber

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Example 3

Playing sound effects using the new QB64-PE SOUND extensions.

OPTION _EXPLICIT DIM Q AS STRING ' Sound effects menu DO CLS PRINT "Sound effects": PRINT COLOR 14, 0: PRINT " B";: COLOR 7, 0: PRINT "ouncing" COLOR 14, 0: PRINT " F";: COLOR 7, 0: PRINT "alling" COLOR 14, 0: PRINT " K";: COLOR 7, 0: PRINT "laxon" COLOR 14, 0: PRINT " S";: COLOR 7, 0: PRINT "iren" COLOR 14, 0: PRINT " Q";: COLOR 7, 0: PRINT "uit" PRINT: PRINT "Select: "; ' Get valid key DO Q = UCASE$(INPUT$(1)) LOOP WHILE INSTR("BFKSQ", Q) = 0 ' Take action based on key CLS SELECT CASE Q CASE IS = "B" PRINT "Bouncing . . . " Bounce 32767, 246 ' the 32767 will make the PSG generate silence (exactly like QB45 does) CASE IS = "F" PRINT "Falling . . . " Fall 2000, 550, 500 CASE IS = "S" PRINT "Wailing . . ." PRINT " . . . press any key to end." Siren 780, 650 CASE IS = "K" PRINT "Oscillating . . ." PRINT " . . . press any key to end." Klaxon 987, 329 CASE ELSE END SELECT LOOP UNTIL Q = "Q" END ' Loop two sounds down at decreasing time intervals SUB Bounce (Hi AS LONG, Low AS LONG) DIM count AS LONG PLAY "Q0" ' turn off volume ramping FOR count = 60 TO 1 STEP -2 SOUND Low - count / 2, count / 20, 1.0!, 0.0!, 1 SOUND Hi, count / 15 NEXT END SUB ' Loop down from a high sound to a low sound SUB Fall (Hi AS LONG, Low AS LONG, Del AS LONG) DIM vol AS SINGLE DIM count AS LONG PLAY "Q3" ' enable 3ms volume ramping FOR count = Hi TO Low STEP -10 vol = 1.0! - vol SOUND count, Del / count, vol, 0.0!, 3 ' triangle wave NEXT END SUB ' Alternate two sounds until a key is pressed SUB Klaxon (Hi AS LONG, Low AS LONG) PLAY "Q5" ' enable 5ms volume ramping DO WHILE INKEY$ = "" SOUND Hi, 5!, 1.0!, -1.0!, 4 SOUND Low, 5!, 1.0!, 1.0!, 4 LOOP END SUB ' Loop a sound from low to high to low SUB Siren (Hi AS LONG, Range AS LONG) DIM count AS LONG, pan AS SINGLE DIM dir AS SINGLE: dir = 0.01! PLAY "Q0" ' disable volume ramping DO WHILE INKEY$ = "" FOR count = Range TO -Range STEP -4 pan = pan + dir IF pan <= -1.0! THEN dir = 0.01!: pan = -1.0! IF pan >= 1.0! THEN dir = -0.01!: pan = 1.0! SOUND Hi - ABS(count), 0.3!, 1.0!, pan, 4 ' sine wave count = count - 2 / Range NEXT LOOP END SUB

Code by Samuel Gomes (a740g).

See also

• PLAY, BEEP, _WAVE
• _SNDOPEN, _SNDRAW

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