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Audiopaths

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An audiopath specifies the route to be taken by data playing on a given set of performance channels after the data leaves the synthesizer. The audiopath consists of buses connecting the synthesizer to one or more DirectSound buffers.

The properties of the buses define the transmission of the data to the buffer or buffers. Left and right stereo buses, for example, transmit data for the left and right channels of a stereo sound. If only the left bus is used, the data for the right channel is not transmitted.

The properties of the buffers define what effects and controls are added to sounds. For example, a buffer with 3-D capabilities can be used to control the evident position in space of the sound source. Effects such as chorus and echo attached to a buffer give special characteristics to the sound.

Standard audiopaths are often created by applications that use DirectMusic Producer content, and it is not necessary for you to specify audiopaths for the segments you create. However, doing so does give you a greater measure of control over how your segments will sound. Also, DirectMusic Producer allows different groups of performance channels within a segment to be directed to different audiopaths. When an application plays a segment on a standard audiopath, all performance channels in that segment must play on the same path, making it impossible to apply effects only to certain channels, or to separate different parts in space by using multiple 3-D buffers for a single segment.

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