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
• More waveform types may be introduced in the future.
• 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 function works even if the program is not in focus. However, depending on the operating system and environment, this may not always be the case.
• Note: SOUND 0, 0 will not stop previous QB64 sounds like it did in QBasic!
• SOUND may have clicks or pauses between the sounds generated.
• PLAY can be used for musical sounds.

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

• 

  all

• 

  all

• 
• 

  yes

• 

  yes

• 

  yes

• Support for volume#, panning#, waveform& was added in QB64-PE v.3.7.1.

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 from code in "Running MS-DOS QBasic" by Microsoft Press

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 from code "Running MS-DOS QBasic" by Microsoft Press

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

See also

• PLAY, BEEP
• _SNDOPEN
• _SNDRAW

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