I had actually thought of switching to DX7 for that exact reason. The
marching band in mono doesn't sound like much, even with a 3d effect added.
It just sounds like a good radio playing the sound. There's no real depth.
Then i thought about what i'd lose if I went to DX7. I wouldn't be able to
add special effects, such as reverb, chorus, echo and the like. I'd also
have to rewrite the whole direct input section.
Since I didn't like either of those two ideas, I chose to simply split the
stereo sound into two identical wave files, a left mono sound and a right
one, and play them simultaneously. If you mess with Soundscape, you'll
notice that the marching band is in stereo, just like with DX7--but it's
really just two wave files playing.
This is all well and good except for two things. First, the waste of CPU
resources. This can be negated by checking the player's distance from the
object. The sound of the right channel could be stopped until the player is
a certain distance from the object. Then, you get the play position of the
first file, play the second starting at that position, and move the sounds
over to the minimum width and maximum width. I'm not sure how all this would
sound, and right now it's purely theoretical. I do intend to give it a go
eventually.
The other, and more serious problem in our time, since we have a lot more
CPU resources than ever, is the doppler problem. With doppler turned on, one
of the stereo files is sure to get out of sync with the other, and all you
have left is an echo effect. I suppose that in the main program loop I could
always get the position of the left channel and reset the right channel
accordingly, but I'm still hoping to find a good alternative.
Ken
---
Gamers mailing list __ [email protected]
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected].
You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at
http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org.
All messages are archived and can be searched and read at
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected].
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to [email protected].
