DirectSound Interfaces
[The feature associated with this page, DirectSound, is a legacy feature. It has been superseded by WASAPI and Audio Graphs. Media Casting have been optimized for Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft strongly recommends that new code use Media Casting instead of DirectSound, when possible. Microsoft suggests that existing code that uses the legacy APIs be rewritten to use the new APIs if possible.]
This section contains reference information about interfaces provided by the Microsoft DirectSound API.
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| IDirectSound8 | Used to create buffer objects and set up the environment. |
| IDirectSound3DBuffer8 | Used to retrieve and set parameters that describe the position, orientation, and environment of a sound buffer in 3-D space. |
| IDirectSound3DListener8 | Used to retrieve and set parameters that describe a listener's position, orientation, and listening environment in 3-D space. |
| IDirectSoundBuffer8 | Used to manage sound buffers. |
| IDirectSoundCapture8 | Used to create sound capture buffers. |
| IDirectSoundCaptureBuffer8 | Used to manipulate sound capture buffers. |
| IDirectSoundCaptureFXAec8 | Used to set and retrieve parameters on a capture buffer that supports acoustic echo cancellation. |
| IDirectSoundCaptureFXNoiseSuppress8 | Used to set and retrieve parameters on a capture buffer that supports noise suppression. |
| IDirectSoundFullDuplex8 | Represents a full-duplex stream. |
| IDirectSoundFXChorus8 | Used to set and retrieve effect parameters on a buffer that supports chorus. |
| IDirectSoundFXCompressor8 | Used to set and retrieve effect parameters on a buffer that supports compression. |
| IDirectSoundFXDistortion8 | Used to set and retrieve effect parameters on a buffer that supports distortion. |
| IDirectSoundFXEcho8 | Used to set and retrieve effect parameters on a buffer that supports echo. |
| IDirectSoundFXFlanger8 | Used to set and retrieve effect parameters on a buffer that supports flange. |
| IDirectSoundFXGargle8 | Used to set and retrieve effect parameters on a buffer that supports amplitude modulation. |
| IDirectSoundFXI3DL2Reverb8 | Used to set and retrieve effect parameters on a buffer that supports I3DL2 (Interactive 3D Audio Level 2) reverberation effects. |
| IDirectSoundFXParamEq8 | Used to set and retrieve effect parameters on a buffer that supports parametric equalizer effects. |
| IDirectSoundFXWavesReverb8 | Used to set and retrieve effect parameters on a buffer that supports Waves reverberation effects. |
| IDirectSoundNotify8 | Sets up notification events for a playback or capture buffer. |
| IKsPropertySet | Enables drivers to provide extended capabilities that can be used without API extensions. |
For DirectX 8.0 and later, only IDirectSound8, IDirectSoundBuffer8, and IDirectSoundCaptureBuffer8 are new interfaces that supersede interfaces with similar, unnumbered names. Other interface names ending in 8 are simple defines for unchanged or new unnumbered interfaces. For example, IDirectSoundCapture8 is exactly equivalent to IDirectSoundCapture.
All interfaces that have a defined name ending in 8 are documented under that defined name, and it is recommended that you always use this name in your code.
For information on which methods are supported by an earlier version of an interface, see the declaration of the interface in Dsound.h.
When a method takes an interface pointer as an in parameter, you can pass in the newer version even where the parameter type is declared as the earlier version. For example, a pointer to either IDirectSoundBuffer or IDirectSoundBuffer8 can be passed to IDirectSound8::DuplicateSoundBuffer as the pDSBufferOriginal parameter.
When a method returns an interface, however, it is usually the earlier interface, and to obtain the newer interface you must use QueryInterface. This is the case, for example, with the ppDSBuffer parameter of IDirectSound8::CreateSoundBuffer.