Sound Question

[SierraKen]

I'm 99% sure this is impossible in QB64, but is there a way to make a graphical display per ms of sound output? I'm talking about the same display some sound programs have like the old Winamp or others that show lines going up and down showing spikes of music volume and/or treble and bass output amounts. I looked into this deeply a few months ago but couldn't find this on the QB64.org Wiki page. I think all they have is the simple way to load, play, stop, FF, rewind, and pause. I started on a music player once that did these things but gave up because there's just so many better programs out there. I remember someone posting their sound player on my forum thread about it. I'm just wondering if there can be that graphical output. Thank you.
I wonder if a PORT command would work somehow? Although I do use a USB sound card.

[SMcNeill]

Petr has worked several programs which do this.  If you search the forums, you can probably find some nice examples of his stuff floating around a few of them.

[SierraKen]

Thanks but I couldn't find it. I think I've scoured the entire Google database just about as well. lol I've also tried _MEM with _MEMGET using the Wiki examples for memory blocks, but I'm guessing it doesn't use those addresses for sound. I also looked at the old fashioned way with OUT and INP but QB64 only uses INP for 2 addresses which I don't believe are sound ports. My USB sound card probably wouldn't use that anyway.
Petr does any of this sound familiar? Any help is always appreciated.

[Petr]

Hi SierraKen,
You can program the visualization of the sound with QB64. For the function of the program I highly recommend first to write a program that without visualization plays the sound in uncompressed WAV format. This music format is very easy to read and play, unlike compressed MP3 music for example. (Playing WAV is as easy as changing a bulb in a chandelier, playing MP3 is fundamentally, much more complicated.)
For visualization, you need detailed knowledge of the internal structure of the WAV file and the _SNDRAW, _SNDRAWLEN commands. Nothing more. But, at the outset, I have two important things to point out to you. First: There is an unknown, uncorrected bug that causes SNDRAW to play very strange stereo, rather mono sound, and that SNDRAW contains an internal buffer that you have to watch for audio and video synchronization, and that is not easy if you want precise visualization . If you look at my YouTube channel, there are some visuals written in QB64.
Another thing to note before writing a visualization is that the 16-bit stereo record contains 44100 samples (numbers). If you write the program incorrectly and want to display each sample, then the program will hang. It is necessary to take the mathematical average for the time period and use it for visualization.
To load a WAV music file, I recommend wikipedia to find the internal structure of the WAV file (it's not complicated, really) and then you'll read it using the GET command.

I also wrote MP3 playback, but I used a third-party decoder that can save MP3 to RAW format. The RAW format is the same as the WAV format, but without the file header, which is absolutely essential for proper file content playback. This program works only with some MP3 formats, it decodes the MP3 header, which is written so that individual bits of specific bytes carry the necessary information. MP3 is a compression format, so even the header is written in the smallest possible way. The header of the program must be read to know how the content in the RAW file is decompressed (is it mono or stereo sound ?, is it 8 bit, 16 bit, 24 bit sound?) Each such file is read differently, according to this information. After decoding, playback is the same as WAV format.

Unfortunately, there is no function in QB64 that allows direct access to music samples that are sent to the sound card. MEM commands are used only for graphical and array operations, they cannot be used to obtain RAW audio data, so to visualize you need this path to read data from a file + or write your own audio decoder. Apparently this is because QB64 uses third-party music decoders and does not allow licenses. Or, no one thought anyone wanted access to RAW audio data.

This is my audio PLAYER for WAV files WITHOUT visualization:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. wav "7.wav" 'insert uncompressed wav audio filename here
2.  
3. SUB wav (file$)
4.     TYPE head
5.         chunk AS STRING * 4 '       4 bytes  (RIFF)
6.         size AS LONG '              4 bytes  (?E??)
7.         fomat AS STRING * 4 '       4 bytes  (WAVE)
8.         sub1 AS STRING * 4 '        4 bytes  (fmt )
9.         subchunksize AS LONG '      4 bytes  (lo / hi), $00000010 for PCM audio
10.         format AS STRING * 2 '      2 bytes  (0001 = standard PCM, 0101 = IBM mu-law, 0102 = IBM a-law, 0103 = IBM AVC ADPCM)
11.         channels AS INTEGER '       2 bytes  (1 = mono, 2 = stereo)
12.         rate AS LONG '              4 bytes  (sample rate, standard is 44100)
13.         ByteRate AS LONG '          4 bytes  (= sample rate * number of channels * (bits per channel /8))
14.         Block AS INTEGER '          2 bytes  (block align = number of channels * bits per sample /8)
15.         Bits AS INTEGER '           2 bytes  (bits per sample. 8 = 8, 16 = 16)
16.         subchunk2 AS STRING * 4 '   4 bytes  ("data")  contains begin audio samples
17.     END TYPE '                     40 bytes  total
18.     DIM H AS head
19.     ch = FREEFILE
20.  
21.     IF _FILEEXISTS(file$) THEN OPEN file$ FOR BINARY AS #ch ELSE PRINT file$; " not found": SLEEP 2: SYSTEM
22.     GET #ch, , H
23.  
24.     block = H.Block
25.     RATE = H.rate
26.     chan = H.channels
27.     bits = H.Bits
28.  
29.     DO WHILE NOT EOF(ch)
30.         IF bits = 16 AND chan = 2 THEN
31.             REDIM lefi AS INTEGER, righi AS INTEGER
32.             GET #ch, , lefi
33.             GET #ch, , righi
34.             lef = lefi / RATE
35.             righ = righi / RATE
36.         END IF
37.  
38.         IF bits = 16 AND chan = 1 THEN
39.             REDIM leftMono AS INTEGER
40.             GET #ch, , leftMono
41.             lef = leftMono / RATE
42.             righ = leftMono / RATE
43.         END IF
44.  
45.         IF bits = 8 AND chan = 2 THEN
46.             REDIM lleft8 AS _UNSIGNED _BYTE, rright8 AS _UNSIGNED _BYTE
47.             GET #ch, , lleft8
48.             GET #ch, , rright8
49.             lef = lleft8 / 256
50.             righ = rright8 / 256
51.         END IF
52.  
53.         IF bits = 8 AND chan = 1 THEN
54.             REDIM mono8 AS _UNSIGNED _BYTE
55.             GET #ch, , mono8
56.             lef = mono8 / 256
57.             righ = lef
58.         END IF
59.  
60.         IF RATE > 44100 THEN frekvence = RATE ELSE frekvence = 44100
61.         FOR plll = 1 TO frekvence / RATE
62.             _SNDRAW lef, righ
63.         NEXT plll
64.  
65.         DO WHILE _SNDRAWLEN > 0: LOOP: REM comment this
66.     LOOP
67.     CLOSE ch
68. END SUB
69.  

Also see here: https://www.qb64.org/forum/index.php?topic=1399.msg105829#msg105829

[SierraKen]

Thanks Petr. But I am brand new with the GET command and I tried your WAV program, which works great by the way, but not knowing which variable to use or how to use the GET command, I just tried a bunch of things you had on there but couldn't get a variable that changed as the song went along. I also tried Wikipedia and other website about the .WAV file structure which is interesting, but without knowing how to use GET and what code to use, I'm at a loss. But it sure interests me a lot. It might be over my head, especially if I need to know what things to find within the .WAV file that I can't really see right now. I appreciate your help.

[Petr]

Hi SierraKen. For drawing music curve use my source code and variables LEF and RIGH. This are sound values read from WAV file, always in range -1 to 1 (and -1 to 1 is also valid value for _SNDRAW). You can study my code, which show you how GET works, program read music samples from WAV so as is writed now.

I add small upgraded source code, now with easy visualisation. Do some experiments with it :)

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(800, 600, 256)
2.  
3. wav "7.wav" 'insert uncompressed wav audio filename here
4.  
5. SUB wav (file$)
6.     TYPE head
7.         chunk AS STRING * 4 '       4 bytes  (RIFF)
8.         size AS LONG '              4 bytes  (?E??)
9.         fomat AS STRING * 4 '       4 bytes  (WAVE)
10.         sub1 AS STRING * 4 '        4 bytes  (fmt )
11.         subchunksize AS LONG '      4 bytes  (lo / hi), $00000010 for PCM audio
12.         format AS STRING * 2 '      2 bytes  (0001 = standard PCM, 0101 = IBM mu-law, 0102 = IBM a-law, 0103 = IBM AVC ADPCM)
13.         channels AS INTEGER '       2 bytes  (1 = mono, 2 = stereo)
14.         rate AS LONG '              4 bytes  (sample rate, standard is 44100)
15.         ByteRate AS LONG '          4 bytes  (= sample rate * number of channels * (bits per channel /8))
16.         Block AS INTEGER '          2 bytes  (block align = number of channels * bits per sample /8)
17.         Bits AS INTEGER '           2 bytes  (bits per sample. 8 = 8, 16 = 16)
18.         subchunk2 AS STRING * 4 '   4 bytes  ("data")  contains begin audio samples
19.     END TYPE '                     40 bytes  total
20.     DIM H AS head
21.     ch = FREEFILE
22.  
23.     IF _FILEEXISTS(file$) THEN OPEN file$ FOR BINARY AS #ch ELSE PRINT file$; " not found": SLEEP 2: SYSTEM
24.     GET #ch, , H
25.  
26.     block = H.Block
27.     RATE = H.rate
28.     chan = H.channels
29.     bits = H.Bits
30.  
31.  
32.     DO WHILE NOT EOF(ch)
33.  
34.         vz = 44100 / 80
35.         IF (SEEK(ch) - 40) MOD vz = 0 THEN
36.             visual lefVis / vz, righVis / vz
37.             lefVis = 0
38.             righVis = 0
39.         END IF
40.         lefVis = lefVis + ABS(lef)
41.         righVis = righVis + ABS(righ)
42.  
43.  
44.  
45.         IF bits = 16 AND chan = 2 THEN
46.             REDIM lefi AS INTEGER, righi AS INTEGER
47.             GET #ch, , lefi
48.             GET #ch, , righi
49.             lef = lefi / RATE
50.             righ = righi / RATE
51.         END IF
52.  
53.         IF bits = 16 AND chan = 1 THEN
54.             REDIM leftMono AS INTEGER
55.             GET #ch, , leftMono
56.             lef = leftMono / RATE
57.             righ = leftMono / RATE
58.         END IF
59.  
60.         IF bits = 8 AND chan = 2 THEN
61.             REDIM lleft8 AS _UNSIGNED _BYTE, rright8 AS _UNSIGNED _BYTE
62.             GET #ch, , lleft8
63.             GET #ch, , rright8
64.             lef = lleft8 / 256
65.             righ = rright8 / 256
66.         END IF
67.  
68.         IF bits = 8 AND chan = 1 THEN
69.             REDIM mono8 AS _UNSIGNED _BYTE
70.             GET #ch, , mono8
71.             lef = mono8 / 256
72.             righ = lef
73.         END IF
74.  
75.         IF RATE > 44100 THEN frekvence = RATE ELSE frekvence = 44100
76.         FOR plll = 1 TO frekvence / RATE
77.             _SNDRAW lef, righ
78.         NEXT plll
79.  
80.         DO WHILE _SNDRAWLEN > 0: LOOP: REM By commenting this row you DAMAGE SOUND / VIDEO synchronizing. TRY IT.
81.  
82.  
83.     LOOP
84.     CLOSE ch
85. END SUB
86.  
87. SUB visual (lef, righ)
88.     SHARED x, oldx1, oldx2
89.     STP = 5 ' TRY rewriting STP value to other
90.     x1 = lef * 200
91.     x2 = righ * 200
92.  
93.     IF oldx1 THEN
94.         LINE (x, 0)-(x + STP, 400), 0, BF
95.         LINE (x, 200 - x1)-(x - STP, 200 - oldx1), 15
96.  
97.         LINE (x, 100 - x2)-(x - STP, 100 - oldx2), 14
98.  
99.     END IF
100.     oldx1 = x1
101.     oldx2 = x2
102.     x = x + STP: IF x > _WIDTH THEN x = 0
103.  
104.     LINE (100, 600)-(300, 300), 0, BF
105.     LINE (100, 600)-(300, 600 - 500 * lef), 14, BF
106.  
107.     LINE (700, 600)-(500, 300), 0, BF
108.     LINE (700, 600)-(500, 600 - 500 * righ), 3, BF
109. END SUB
110.  

[SierraKen]

That is so awesome! Thanks Petr! I added 2 displays as well as yours and changed the way your line goes over the old line, I did a CLS as soon as it gets to the end of the screen.
Press the Space Bar to switch between displays.  :)

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. 'Almost all of this was made by Petr from the QB64.org forum.
2. 'Some of the displays added by SierraKen (Ken G.).
3. _TITLE "WAV Music Player - Space Bar Changes Display When Playing. Esc to Quit."
4. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(800, 600, 256)
5. DO
6.     CLS
7.     PRINT: PRINT: PRINT
8.     INPUT "Type .WAV music filename here or only Enter to quit:", nm$
9.     IF nm$ = "" THEN END
10.     CLS
11.     wav nm$ 'insert uncompressed wav audio filename here
12. LOOP
13. SUB wav (file$)
14.     TYPE head
15.         chunk AS STRING * 4 '       4 bytes  (RIFF)
16.         size AS LONG '              4 bytes  (?E??)
17.         fomat AS STRING * 4 '       4 bytes  (WAVE)
18.         sub1 AS STRING * 4 '        4 bytes  (fmt )
19.         subchunksize AS LONG '      4 bytes  (lo / hi), $00000010 for PCM audio
20.         format AS STRING * 2 '      2 bytes  (0001 = standard PCM, 0101 = IBM mu-law, 0102 = IBM a-law, 0103 = IBM AVC ADPCM)
21.         channels AS INTEGER '       2 bytes  (1 = mono, 2 = stereo)
22.         rate AS LONG '              4 bytes  (sample rate, standard is 44100)
23.         ByteRate AS LONG '          4 bytes  (= sample rate * number of channels * (bits per channel /8))
24.         Block AS INTEGER '          2 bytes  (block align = number of channels * bits per sample /8)
25.         Bits AS INTEGER '           2 bytes  (bits per sample. 8 = 8, 16 = 16)
26.         subchunk2 AS STRING * 4 '   4 bytes  ("data")  contains begin audio samples
27.     END TYPE '                     40 bytes  total
28.     DIM H AS head
29.     ch = FREEFILE
30.  
31.     IF _FILEEXISTS(file$) THEN OPEN file$ FOR BINARY AS #ch ELSE PRINT file$; " not found": SLEEP 2: SYSTEM
32.     GET #ch, , H
33.  
34.     block = H.Block
35.     RATE = H.rate
36.     chan = H.channels
37.     bits = H.Bits
38.  
39.  
40.     DO WHILE NOT EOF(ch)
41.  
42.         vz = 44100 / 80
43.         IF (SEEK(ch) - 40) MOD vz = 0 THEN
44.             visual lefVis / vz, righVis / vz
45.             lefVis = 0
46.             righVis = 0
47.         END IF
48.         lefVis = lefVis + ABS(lef)
49.         righVis = righVis + ABS(righ)
50.  
51.  
52.  
53.         IF bits = 16 AND chan = 2 THEN
54.             REDIM lefi AS INTEGER, righi AS INTEGER
55.             GET #ch, , lefi
56.             GET #ch, , righi
57.             lef = lefi / RATE
58.             righ = righi / RATE
59.         END IF
60.  
61.         IF bits = 16 AND chan = 1 THEN
62.             REDIM leftMono AS INTEGER
63.             GET #ch, , leftMono
64.             lef = leftMono / RATE
65.             righ = leftMono / RATE
66.         END IF
67.  
68.         IF bits = 8 AND chan = 2 THEN
69.             REDIM lleft8 AS _UNSIGNED _BYTE, rright8 AS _UNSIGNED _BYTE
70.             GET #ch, , lleft8
71.             GET #ch, , rright8
72.             lef = lleft8 / 256
73.             righ = rright8 / 256
74.         END IF
75.  
76.         IF bits = 8 AND chan = 1 THEN
77.             REDIM mono8 AS _UNSIGNED _BYTE
78.             GET #ch, , mono8
79.             lef = mono8 / 256
80.             righ = lef
81.         END IF
82.  
83.         IF RATE > 44100 THEN frekvence = RATE ELSE frekvence = 44100
84.         FOR plll = 1 TO frekvence / RATE
85.             _SNDRAW lef, righ
86.         NEXT plll
87.  
88.         DO WHILE _SNDRAWLEN > 0: LOOP: REM By commenting this row you DAMAGE SOUND / VIDEO synchronizing. TRY IT.
89.  
90.  
91.     LOOP
92.     CLOSE ch
93. END SUB
94.  
95. SUB visual (lef, righ)
96.     SHARED x, oldx1, oldx2, disp, tt
97.     STP = 5 ' TRY rewriting STP value to other
98.     x1 = lef * 200
99.     x2 = righ * 200
100.     a$ = INKEY$
101.     IF a$ = " " THEN CLS: disp = disp + 1: tt = 0
102.     IF a$ = CHR$(27) THEN END
103.     IF disp > 2 THEN disp = 0
104.  
105.     IF oldx1 AND disp = 2 THEN
106.         tt = tt + 1
107.         IF tt < 5 THEN GOTO skip:
108.         tt = 0
109.         c1 = RND * 255
110.         c2 = RND * 255
111.         c3 = RND * 255
112.         xx = RND * 800
113.         yy = RND * 600
114.         LINE (xx, yy)-((xx + x1) * 2, (yy + x2) * 2), _RGB32(c1, c2, c3), BF
115.         skip:
116.     END IF
117.     IF oldx1 AND disp = 1 THEN
118.         tt = tt + 1
119.         IF tt < 5 THEN GOTO skip2:
120.         tt = 0
121.         c1 = RND * 255
122.         c2 = RND * 255
123.         c3 = RND * 255
124.         xx = RND * 800
125.         yy = RND * 600
126.         CIRCLE (xx, yy), x1 * 2, _RGB32(c1, c2, c3)
127.         PAINT (xx, yy), _RGB32(c1, c2, c3)
128.         skip2:
129.     END IF
130.     IF oldx1 AND disp = 0 THEN
131.         IF x = 800 THEN CLS: x = 0
132.         LINE (x, 0)-(x + STP, 400), 0, BF
133.         LINE (x, 200 - x1)-(x - STP, 200 - oldx1), 15
134.  
135.         LINE (x, 100 - x2)-(x - STP, 100 - oldx2), 14
136.     END IF
137.  
138.     oldx1 = x1
139.     oldx2 = x2
140.     x = x + STP: IF x > _WIDTH THEN x = 0
141.  
142.     LINE (100, 600)-(300, 400), 0, BF
143.     LINE (100, 600)-(300, 600 - 500 * lef), 14, BF
144.  
145.     LINE (700, 600)-(500, 400), 0, BF
146.     LINE (700, 600)-(500, 600 - 500 * righ), 3, BF
147. END SUB
148.  

[SierraKen]

OK I got 7 displays on it now. I'm going to make a new thread so people can see this better and will post it there.