Playing WAVE file in C# using DirectX and threading?

Question

Hi, at the moment im trying to figure out how i can manage to play a wave file in C# by filling up the secondary buffer with data from the wave file through threading and then play the wave file.

Any help or sample coding i can use?

thanks

sample code being used:

public delegate void PullAudio(short[] buffer, int length);

public class SoundPlayer : IDisposable
{
    private Device soundDevice;
    private SecondaryBuffer soundBuffer;
    private int samplesPerUpdate;
    private AutoResetEvent[] fillEvent = new AutoResetEvent[2];
    private Thread thread;
    private PullAudio pullAudio;
    private short channels;
    private bool halted;
    private bool running;

    public SoundPlayer(Control owner, PullAudio pullAudio, short channels)
    {
        this.channels = channels;
        this.pullAudio = pullAudio;

        this.soundDevice = new Device();
        this.soundDevice.SetCooperativeLevel(owner, CooperativeLevel.Priority);

        // Set up our wave format to 44,100Hz, with 16 bit resolution
        WaveFormat wf = new WaveFormat();
        wf.FormatTag = WaveFormatTag.Pcm;
        wf.SamplesPerSecond = 44100;
        wf.BitsPerSample = 16;
        wf.Channels = channels;
        wf.BlockAlign = (short)(wf.Channels * wf.BitsPerSample / 8);
        wf.AverageBytesPerSecond = wf.SamplesPerSecond * wf.BlockAlign;

        this.samplesPerUpdate = 512;

        // Create a buffer with 2 seconds of sample data
        BufferDescription bufferDesc = new BufferDescription(wf);
        bufferDesc.BufferBytes = this.samplesPerUpdate * wf.BlockAlign * 2;
        bufferDesc.ControlPositionNotify = true;
        bufferDesc.GlobalFocus = true;

        this.soundBuffer = new SecondaryBuffer(bufferDesc, this.soundDevice);

        Notify notify = new Notify(this.soundBuffer);

        fillEvent[0] = new AutoResetEvent(false);
        fillEvent[1] = new AutoResetEvent(false);

        // Set up two notification events, one at halfway, and one at the end of the buffer
        BufferPositionNotify[] posNotify = new BufferPositionNotify[2];
        posNotify[0] = new BufferPositionNotify();
        posNotify[0].Offset = bufferDesc.BufferBytes / 2 - 1;
        posNotify[0].EventNotifyHandle = fillEvent[0].Handle;
        posNotify[1] = new BufferPositionNotify();
        posNotify[1].Offset = bufferDesc.BufferBytes - 1;
        posNotify[1].EventNotifyHandle = fillEvent[1].Handle;

        notify.SetNotificationPositions(posNotify);

        this.thread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(SoundPlayback));
        this.thread.Priority = ThreadPriority.Highest;

        this.Pause();
        this.running = true;

        this.thread.Start();
    }

    public void Pause()
    {
        if (this.halted) return;

        this.halted = true;

        Monitor.Enter(this.thread);
    }

    public void Resume()
    {
        if (!this.halted) return;

        this.halted = false;

        Monitor.Pulse(this.thread);
        Monitor.Exit(this.thread);
    }

    private void SoundPlayback()
    {
        lock (this.thread)
        {
            if (!this.running) return;

            // Set up the initial sound buffer to be the full length
            int bufferLength = this.samplesPerUpdate * 2 * this.channels;
            short[] soundData = new short[bufferLength];

            // Prime it with the first x seconds of data
            this.pullAudio(soundData, soundData.Length);
            this.soundBuffer.Write(0, soundData, LockFlag.None);

            // Start it playing
            this.soundBuffer.Play(0, BufferPlayFlags.Looping);

            int lastWritten = 0;
            while (this.running)
            {
                if (this.halted)
                {
                    Monitor.Pulse(this.thread);
                    Monitor.Wait(this.thread);
                }

                // Wait on one of the notification events
                WaitHandle.WaitAny(this.fillEvent, 3, true);

                // Get the current play position (divide by two because we are using 16 bit samples)
                int tmp = this.soundBuffer.PlayPosition / 2;

                // Generate new sounds from lastWritten to tmp in the sound buffer
                if (tmp == lastWritten)
                {
                    continue;
                }
                else
                {
                    soundData = new short[(tmp - lastWritten + bufferLength) % bufferLength];
                }

                this.pullAudio(soundData, soundData.Length);

                // Write in the generated data
                soundBuffer.Write(lastWritten * 2, soundData, LockFlag.None);

                // Save the position we were at
                lastWritten = tmp;
            }
        }
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        this.running = false;
        this.Resume();

        if (this.soundBuffer != null)
        {
            this.soundBuffer.Dispose();
        }
        if (this.soundDevice != null)
        {
            this.soundDevice.Dispose();
        }
    }
}

}

The concept is the same that im using but i can't manage to get a set on wave byte [] data to play

Answer 1

You can use the DirectSound support in SlimDX: http://slimdx.org/ :-)

Answer 2

I have not done this.

But the first place i would look is XNA.

I know that the c# managed directx project was ditched in favor of XNA and i have found it to be good for graphics - i prefer using it to directx.

Answer 3

what is the reason that you decided not to just use soundplayer, as per this msdn entry below?

    private SoundPlayer Player = new SoundPlayer();
    private void loadSoundAsync()
    {
        // Note: You may need to change the location specified based on
        // the location of the sound to be played.
        this.Player.SoundLocation = http://www.tailspintoys.com/sounds/stop.wav";
        this.Player.LoadAsync();
    }

    private void Player_LoadCompleted (
        object sender, 
        System.ComponentModel.AsyncCompletedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (this.Player.IsLoadCompleted)
        {
            this.Player.PlaySync();
        }
    }

usually i just load them all up in a thread, or asynch delegate, then play or playsynch them when needed.

Answer 4

You can use nBASS or better FMOD both are great audio libraries and can work nicely together with .NET.