XMPlay Support - (4.09) Device options

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(4.09) Device options
by Thomas Radeke, 2006-04-20 02:15:00

Device options

Output

You can change which device (if you have multiple devices) to use, and what frequency, resolution, channels and buffer to use with the device. If the chosen device is not available then a free device will automatically be used instead, if there is one available.

You may also choose the "WAV Writer" device, to write the output to WAV files rather than a soundcard. External encoders ("External - ?") can also be used to write compressed audio files, eg. MP3 or OGG. See the next part: "setting up external decoders" for details.

The amplification slider on the "DSP" section controls the volume level of the WAV. Be careful not to use a too high amplification level as this may result in samples being clipped. You can avoid any amplification problems by using the "WAV Writer - normalized" device.

If the device does not support the settings you chose, XMPlay will use the closest settings that the device does support. When a track's sample rate is not supported by the device, XMPlay will automatically down-sample it to a rate that is supported.

Tip: If looping is enabled while using a writer device, the track will be looped only once in the written file, even if the "Only once" switch is not on. The sample rate option only affects MOD formats. See the "Output" text in the "General" info window for the exact format of the output.

Dither - Dithering is simply adding a low level white noise to the sound before it's converted (from floating-point) to the output resolution (8/16/24/32-bit). Adding noise may seem silly, but it actually effectively increases the resolution because it allows very low level signals to appear in the output that would not do otherwise (eg. they could have been rounded down to 0) - even though the noise level is higher than the low level signal, the brain can pick out the signal.
Noise shaping - Noise shaping moves the noise generated by dithering to frequencies that the human ear is less sensitive to, so that it becomes less audible.

File writing

From here you can select the default destination when using a WAV Writer, or External Device. Dithering and noise-shaping are recommended when writing to disk (eg. to burn on CD), but noise shaping is not recommenced if you intend to process the written file (whenever possible, use 32-bit instead).

Tip: When writing to disk (including external encoder), 32-bit is standard IEEE754 floating-point ("type 3" WAV).

Directory - This is the place where the written files will go.
Source - Writes files to the same directory as the source files.
Auto-filename - Enabling "auto filename" removes the need to select a filename when writing WAVs or using an external encoder. The files are written as the same name with the default extension added. Because no user interaction is required, writing is also continous in this mode - it automatically moves onto the next track when the current one ends (if the "auto advance" option is enabled).
Seperate MOD instruments - With this option enabled XMPlay will individually write each MOD instrument to disk.