This is an unofficial document for the SDL_mixer library API.

Copyright © 2009 Jonathan Atkins

Permission is granted to distribute freely, or in a distribution of any kind. All distributions of this file must be in an unaltered state, except for corrections.

The latest copy of this document can be found at http://www.jonatkins.org/SDL_mixer

SDL_mixer 1.2.10
****************

Overview
********

A Little Bit About Me

I am currently, as I write this document, a programmer for Raytheon.  There I do all sorts of communications, network, GUI, and other general programming tasks in C/C++ on the Solaris and sometimes Linux Operating Systems.  I have been programming sound code in my free time for only a little while now.  Sound is an integral part to any game.  The human senses are mostly starved during video game play.  there's only some tactile feedback on some controlers, and of course the eyes are in use but only for about 30% of their viewing area.  So to add more we do need sound to help the game player feel more in the action, and to set certain moods as the game progresses.  Sound ends up accounting for perhaps 50% or more of a gamers experience.  Music and sound effects are all integral parts of the gaming experience.  While this document doesn't explain how to get music and samples to use, it will explain how to use them with SDL_mixer.

Feel free to contact me: JonathanCAtkins@gmail.com

I am also usually on IRC at irc.freenode.net in the #SDL channel as LIM

This is the README in the SDL_mixer source archive.

SDL_mixer 1.2

The latest version of this library is available from:

SDL_mixer Homepage (http://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_mixer/)

Due to popular demand, here is a simple multi-channel audio mixer. It supports 8 channels of 16 bit stereo audio, plus a single channel of music, mixed by the popular MikMod MOD, Timidity MIDI and SMPEG MP3 libraries.

See the header file SDL_mixer.h and the examples playwave.c and playmus.c for documentation on this mixer library.

The mixer can currently load Microsoft WAVE files and Creative Labs VOC files as audio samples, and can load MIDI files via Timidity and the following music formats via MikMod:  .MOD .S3M .IT .XM. It can load Ogg Vorbis streams as music if built with the Ogg Vorbis libraries, and finally it can load MP3 music using the SMPEG library.

The process of mixing MIDI files to wave output is very CPU intensive, so if playing regular WAVE files sound great, but playing MIDI files sound choppy, try using 8-bit audio, mono audio, or lower frequencies.

To play MIDI files, you'll need to get a complete set of GUS patches from: Timidity GUS Patches (http://www.libsdl.org/projects/mixer/timidity/timidity.tar.gz) and unpack them in /usr/local/lib under UNIX, and C:\ under Win32.

This library is available under the GNU Library General Public License, see the file "COPYING" for details.

Getting Started
***************

This assumes you have gotten SDL_mixer and installed it on your system. SDL_mixer has an INSTALL document in the source distribution to help you get it compiled and installed.

Generally, installation consists of:

     ./configure
     make
     make install

SDL_mixer supports playing music and sound samples from the following formats:

- WAVE/RIFF (.wav)

- AIFF (.aiff)

- VOC (.voc)

- MOD (.mod .xm .s3m .669 .it .med and more) requiring libmikmod on system

- MIDI (.mid) using timidity or native midi hardware

- OggVorbis (.ogg) requiring ogg/vorbis libraries on system

- MP3 (.mp3) requiring SMPEG or MAD library on system

- FLAC (.flac) requiring the FLAC library on system - also any command-line player, which is not mixed by SDL_mixer...

You may also want to look at some demonstration code which may be downloaded from:

http://www.jonatkins.org/SDL_mixer/

Includes
========

To use SDL_mixer functions in a C/C++ source code file, you must use the SDL_mixer.h include file:

  #include "SDL_mixer.h"

Compiling
=========

To link with SDL_mixer you should use sdl-config to get the required SDL compilation options.  After that, compiling with SDL_mixer is quite easy.

Note: Some systems may not have the SDL_mixer library and include file in the same place as the SDL library and includes are located, in that case you will need to add more -I and -L paths to these command lines.

Simple Example for compiling an object file:

  cc -c `sdl-config --cflags` mysource.c

Simple Example for compiling an object file:

  cc -o myprogram mysource.o `sdl-config --libs` -lSDL_mixer

Now myprogram is ready to run.

Conflicts
*********

When using SDL_mixer functions you need to avoid the following functions from SDL:

SDL_OpenAudio
     Use Mix_OpenAudio instead.

SDL_CloseAudio
     Use Mix_CloseAudio instead.

SDL_PauseAudio
     Use Mix_Pause(-1) and Mix_PauseMusic instead, to pause.

     Use Mix_Resume(-1) and Mix_ResumeMusic instead, to unpause.

SDL_LockAudio
     This is just not needed since SDL_mixer handles this for you.

     Using it may cause problems as well.

SDL_UnlockAudio
     This is just not needed since SDL_mixer handles this for you.

     Using it may cause problems as well.

You may call the following functions freely:

SDL_AudioDriverName
     This will still work as usual.

SDL_GetAudioStatus
     This will still work, though it will likely return SDL_AUDIO_PLAYING even though SDL_mixer is just playing silence.

It is also a BAD idea to call SDL_mixer and SDL audio functions from a callback. Callbacks include Effects functions and other SDL_mixer audio hooks.

Functions
*********

These are the functions in the SDL_mixer API.

General
=======

These functions are useful, as they are the only/best ways to work with SDL_mixer.

Mix_Linked_Version
------------------

const SDL_version *Mix_Linked_Version()

void SDL_MIXER_VERSION(SDL_version *compile_version)

This works similar to SDL_Linked_Version and SDL_VERSION.

Using these you can compare the runtime version to the version that you compiled with.

     SDL_version compile_version;
     const SDL_version *link_version=Mix_Linked_Version();
     SDL_MIXER_VERSION(&compile_version);
     printf("compiled with SDL_mixer version: %d.%d.%d\n",
             compile_version.major,
             compile_version.minor,
             compile_version.patch);
     printf("running with SDL_mixer version: %d.%d.%d\n",
             link_version->major,
             link_version->minor,
             link_version->patch);

See Also:

Mix_OpenAudio, Mix_QuerySpec

Mix_Init
--------

int Mix_Init(int FLAGS)

flags
     bitwise OR'd set of sample/music formats to support by loading a library now.  The values you may OR together to pass in are:

     MIX_INIT_FLAC

     MIX_INIT_MOD

     MIX_INIT_MP3

     MIX_INIT_OGG

Initialize by loading support as indicated by the FLAGS, or at least return success if support is already loaded.  You may call this multiple times, which will actually require you to call Mix_Quit just once to clean up.  You may call this function with a 0 to retrieve whether support was built-in or not loaded yet.

Note: you can call Mix_Init with the right MIX_INIT_* flags OR'd together before you program gets busy, to prevent a later hiccup while it loads and unloads the library, and to check that you do have the support that you need before you try and use it.

Note: this function does not always set the error string, so do not depend on Mix_GetError being meaningful all the time.

Returns: a bitmask of all the currently initted sample/music loaders.

     // load support for the OGG and MOD sample/music formats
     int flags=MIX_INIT_OGG|MIX_INIT_MOD;
     int initted=Mix_Init(flags);
     if(initted&flags != flags) {
         printf("Mix_Init: Failed to init required ogg and mod support!\n");
         printf("Mix_Init: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         // handle error
     }

See Also:

Mix_Quit

Mix_Quit
--------

void Mix_Quit()

This function cleans up all dynamically loaded library handles, freeing memory.  If support is required again it will be initialized again, either by Mix_Init or loading a sample or some music with dynamic support required.  You may call this function when Mix_Load functions are no longer needed for the MIX_INIT_* formats.  You should call this function for each time Mix_Init was called, otherwise it may not free all the dynamic library resources until the program ends.  This is done so that multiple unrelated modules of a program may call Mix_Init and Mix_Quit without affecting the others performance and needs.

     // indicate that we are ready to unload the dynamically loaded libraries
     Mix_Quit();

NOTE: Since each call to Mix_Init may set different flags, there is no way, currently, to request how many times each one was initted.  In other words, the only way to quit for sure is to do a loop like so:

     // force a quit
     while(Mix_Init(0))
         Mix_Quit();

See Also:

Mix_Init

Mix_OpenAudio
-------------

int Mix_OpenAudio(int FREQUENCY, Uint16 FORMAT, int CHANNELS, int CHUNKSIZE)

frequency
     Output sampling frequency in samples per second (Hz).

     you might use MIX_DEFAULT_FREQUENCY(22050) since that is a good value for most games.

format
     Output sample format.

channels
     Number of sound channels in output.

     Set to 2 for stereo, 1 for mono. This has nothing to do with mixing channels.

chunksize
     Bytes used per output sample.

Initialize the mixer API.

This must be called before using other functions in this library.

SDL must be initialized with SDL_INIT_AUDIO before this call. FREQUENCY would be 44100 for 44.1KHz, which is CD audio rate.  Most games use 22050, because 44100 requires too much CPU power on older computers. CHUNKSIZE is the size of each mixed sample.  The smaller this is the more your hooks will be called.  If make this too small on a slow system, sound may skip.  If made to large, sound effects will lag behind the action more.  You want a happy medium for your target computer.  You also may make this 4096, or larger, if you are just playing music. MIX_CHANNELS(8) mixing channels will be allocated by default. You may call this function multiple times, however you will have to call Mix_CloseAudio just as many times for the device to actually close.  The format will not changed on subsequent calls until fully closed.  So you will have to close all the way before trying to open with different format parameters.

FORMAT is based on SDL audio support, see SDL_audio.h. Here are the values listed there:

AUDIO_U8
     Unsigned 8-bit samples

AUDIO_S8
     Signed 8-bit samples

AUDIO_U16LSB
     Unsigned 16-bit samples, in little-endian byte order

AUDIO_S16LSB
     Signed 16-bit samples, in little-endian byte order

AUDIO_U16MSB
     Unsigned 16-bit samples, in big-endian byte order

AUDIO_S16MSB
     Signed 16-bit samples, in big-endian byte order

AUDIO_U16
     same as AUDIO_U16LSB (for backwards compatability probably)

AUDIO_S16
     same as AUDIO_S16LSB (for backwards compatability probably)

AUDIO_U16SYS
     Unsigned 16-bit samples, in system byte order

AUDIO_S16SYS
     Signed 16-bit samples, in system byte order

MIX_DEFAULT_FORMAT is the same as AUDIO_S16SYS.

Returns: 0 on success, -1 on errors

     // start SDL with audio support
     if(SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_AUDIO)==-1) {
         printf("SDL_Init: %s\n", SDL_GetError());
         exit(1);
     }
     // open 44.1KHz, signed 16bit, system byte order,
     //      stereo audio, using 1024 byte chunks
     if(Mix_OpenAudio(44100, MIX_DEFAULT_FORMAT, 2, 1024)==-1) {
         printf("Mix_OpenAudio: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         exit(2);
     }

See Also:

Mix_CloseAudio, Mix_QuerySpec, Mix_AllocateChannels

Mix_CloseAudio
--------------

void Mix_CloseAudio()

Shutdown and cleanup the mixer API.

After calling this all audio is stopped, the device is closed, and the SDL_mixer functions should not be used. You may, of course, use Mix_OpenAudio to start the functionality again.

Note: This function doesn't do anything until you have called it the same number of times that you called Mix_OpenAudio. You may use Mix_QuerySpec to find out how many times Mix_CloseAudio needs to be called before the device is actually closed.

     Mix_CloseAudio();
     // you could SDL_Quit(); here...or not.

See Also:

Mix_OpenAudio, Mix_QuerySpec

Mix_SetError
------------

void Mix_SetError(const char *FMT, ...)

This is the same as SDL_SetError, which sets the error string which may be fetched with Mix_GetError (or SDL_GetError). This functions acts like printf, except that it is limited to SDL_ERRBUFIZE(1024) chars in length.  It only accepts the following format types: %s, %d, %f, %p.  No variations are supported, like %.2f would not work. For any more specifics read the SDL docs.

     int mymixfunc(int i) {
         Mix_SetError("mymixfunc is not implemented! %d was passed in.",i);
         return(-1);
     }

See Also:

Mix_GetError

Mix_GetError
------------

char *Mix_GetError()

This is the same as SDL_GetError, which returns the last error set as a string which you may use to tell the user what happened when an error status has been returned from an SDL_mixer function call.

Returns: a char pointer (string) containing a humam readble version or the reason for the last error that occured.

     printf("Oh My Goodness, an error : %s", Mix_GetError());

See Also:

Mix_SetError

Mix_QuerySpec
-------------

int Mix_QuerySpec(int *FREQUENCY, Uint16 *FORMAT, int *CHANNELS)

frequency
     A pointer to an int where the frequency actually used by the opened audio device will be stored.

format
     A pointer to a Uint16 where the output format actually being used by the audio device will be stored.

channels
     A pointer to an int where the number of audio channels will be stored.

     2 will mean stereo, 1 will mean mono.

Get the actual audio format in use by the opened audio device.  This may or may not match the parameters you passed to Mix_OpenAudio.

Returns: 0 on error. If the device was open the number of times it was opened will be returned.  The values of the arguments variables are not set on an error.

     // get and print the audio format in use
     int numtimesopened, frequency, channels;
     Uint16 format;
     numtimesopened=Mix_QuerySpec(&frequency, &format, &channels);
     if(!numtimesopened) {
         printf("Mix_QuerySpec: %s\n",Mix_GetError());
     }
     else {
         char *format_str="Unknown";
         switch(format) {
             case AUDIO_U8: format_str="U8"; break;
             case AUDIO_S8: format_str="S8"; break;
             case AUDIO_U16LSB: format_str="U16LSB"; break;
             case AUDIO_S16LSB: format_str="S16LSB"; break;
             case AUDIO_U16MSB: format_str="U16MSB"; break;
             case AUDIO_S16MSB: format_str="S16MSB"; break;
         }
         printf("opened=%d times  frequency=%dHz  format=%s  channels=%d",
                 numtimesopened, frequency, format_str, channels);
     }

See Also:

Mix_OpenAudio

Samples
=======

These functions work with Mix_Chunk samples.

Mix_GetNumChunkDecoders
-----------------------

int Mix_GetNumChunkDecoders()

Get the number of sample chunk decoders available from the Mix_GetChunkDecoder function.  This number can be different for each run of a program, due to the change in availability of shared libraries that support each format.

Returns: The number of sample chunk decoders available.

     // print the number of sample chunk decoders available
     printf("There are %d sample chunk deocoders available\n", Mix_GetNumChunkDecoders());

See Also:

Mix_GetNumMusicDecoders, Mix_GetChunkDecoder, Mix_LoadWAV

Mix_GetChunkDecoder
-------------------

const char *Mix_GetChunkDecoder(int INDEX)

index
     The index number of sample chunk decoder to get.

     In the range from 0(zero) to Mix_GetNumChunkDecoders()-1, inclusive.

Get the name of the INDEXed sample chunk decoder. You need to get the number of sample chunk decoders available using the Mix_GetNumChunkDecoders function.

Returns: The name of the INDEXed sample chunk decoder.  This string is owned by the SDL_mixer library, do not modify or free it.  It is valid until you call Mix_CloseAudio the final time.

     // print sample chunk decoders available
     int i,max=Mix_GetNumChunkDecoders();
     for(i=0; i<max; ++i)
     	printf("Sample chunk decoder %d is for %s",Mix_GetChunkDecoder(i));

See Also:

Mix_GetNumChunkDecoders, Mix_GetMusicDecoder, Mix_LoadWAV

Mix_LoadWAV
-----------

Mix_Chunk *Mix_LoadWAV(char *FILE)

file
     File name to load sample from.

Load FILE for use as a sample.  This is actually Mix_LoadWAV_RW(SDL_RWFromFile(FILE, "rb"), 1).  This can load WAVE, AIFF, RIFF, OGG, and VOC files.

Note: You must call SDL_OpenAudio before this. It must know the output characteristics so it can convert the sample for playback, it does this conversion at load time.

Returns: a pointer to the sample as a Mix_Chunk.  NULL is returned on errors.

     // load sample.wav in to sample
     Mix_Chunk *sample;
     sample=Mix_LoadWAV("sample.wav");
     if(!sample) {
         printf("Mix_LoadWAV: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         // handle error
     }

See Also:

Mix_LoadWAV_RW, Mix_QuickLoad_WAV, Mix_FreeChunk

Mix_LoadWAV_RW
--------------

Mix_Chunk *Mix_LoadWAV_RW(SDL_RWops *SRC, int FREESRC)

src
     The source SDL_RWops as a pointer.  The sample is loaded from this.

freesrc
     A non-zero value mean is will automatically close/free the SRC for you.

Load SRC for use as a sample.  This can load WAVE, AIFF, RIFF, OGG, and VOC formats. Using SDL_RWops is not covered here, but they enable you to load from almost any source. Note: You must call SDL_OpenAudio before this. It must know the output characteristics so it can convert the sample for playback, it does this conversion at load time.

Returns: a pointer to the sample as a Mix_Chunk.  NULL is returned on errors.

     // load sample.wav in to sample
     Mix_Chunk *sample;
     sample=Mix_LoadWAV_RW(SDL_RWFromFile("sample.wav", "rb"), 1);
     if(!sample) {
         printf("Mix_LoadWAV_RW: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         // handle error
     }

See Also:

Mix_LoadWAV, Mix_QuickLoad_WAV, Mix_FreeChunk

Mix_QuickLoad_WAV
-----------------

Mix_Chunk *Mix_QuickLoad_WAV(Uint8 *MEM)

mem
     Memory buffer containing a WAVE file in output format.

Load MEM as a WAVE/RIFF file into a new sample.  The WAVE in MEM must be already in the output format.  It would be better to use Mix_LoadWAV_RW if you aren't sure.

Note: This function does very little checking.  If the format mismatches the output format, or if the buffer is not a WAVE, it will not return an error.  This is probably a dangerous function to use.

Returns: a pointer to the sample as a Mix_Chunk.  NULL is returned on errors.

     // quick-load a wave from memory
     // Uint8 *wave; // I assume you have the wave loaded raw,
                     // or compiled in the program...
     Mix_Chunk *wave_chunk;
     if(!(wave_chunk=Mix_QuickLoad_WAV(wave))) {
         printf("Mix_QuickLoad_WAV: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         // handle error
     }

See Also:

Mix_LoadWAV, Mix_QuickLoad_RAW, Mix_FreeChunk

Mix_QuickLoad_RAW
-----------------

Mix_Chunk *Mix_QuickLoad_RAW(Uint8 *MEM)

mem
     Memory buffer containing a WAVE file in output format.

Load MEM as a raw sample.  The data in MEM must be already in the output format.  If you aren't sure what you are doing, this is not a good function for you!

Note: This function does very little checking.  If the format mismatches the output format it will not return an error.  This is probably a dangerous function to use.

Returns: a pointer to the sample as a Mix_Chunk.  NULL is returned on errors, such as when out of memory.

     // quick-load a raw sample from memory
     // Uint8 *raw; // I assume you have the raw data here,
                     // or compiled in the program...
     Mix_Chunk *raw_chunk;
     if(!(raw_chunk=Mix_QuickLoad_RAW(raw))) {
         printf("Mix_QuickLoad_RAW: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         // handle error
     }

See Also:

Mix_LoadWAV, Mix_QuickLoad_WAV, Mix_FreeChunk

Mix_VolumeChunk
---------------

int Mix_VolumeChunk(Mix_Chunk *CHUNK, int VOLUME)

chunk
     Pointer to the Mix_Chunk to set the volume in.

volume
     The volume to use from 0 to MIX_MAX_VOLUME(128).

     If greater than MIX_MAX_VOLUME,
      then it will be set to MIX_MAX_VOLUME.

     If less than 0 then CHUNK->volume will not be set.

Set CHUNK->volume to VOLUME.

The volume setting will take effect when the chunk is used on a channel, being mixed into the output.

Returns: previous CHUNK->volume setting.  if you passed a negative value for VOLUME then this volume is still the current volume for the CHUNK.

     // set the sample's volume to 1/2
     // Mix_Chunk *sample;
     int previous_volume;
     previous_volume=Mix_VolumeChunk(sample, MIX_MAX_VOLUME/2);
     printf("previous_volume: %d\n", previous_volume);

See Also:

Mix_Chunk

Mix_FreeChunk
-------------

void Mix_FreeChunk(Mix_Chunk *CHUNK)

chunk
     Pointer to the Mix_Chunk to free.

Free the memory used in CHUNK, and free CHUNK itself as well. Do not use CHUNK after this without loading a new sample to it. Note: It's a bad idea to free a chunk that is still being played...

     // free the sample
     // Mix_Chunk *sample;
     Mix_FreeChunk(sample);
     sample=NULL; // to be safe...

See Also:

Mix_LoadWAV, Mix_LoadWAV_RW, Mix_QuickLoad_WAV,

Channels
========

These functions work with sound effect mixer channels.  Music is not affected by these functions.

Mix_AllocateChannels
--------------------

int Mix_AllocateChannels(int NUMCHANS)

numchans
     Number of channels to allocate for mixing.

     A negative number will not do anything, it will tell you how many channels are currently allocated.

Set the number of channels being mixed.  This can be called multiple times, even with sounds playing.  If NUMCHANS is less than the current number of channels, then the higher channels will be stopped, freed, and therefore not mixed any longer.  It's probably not a good idea to change the size 1000 times a second though.

If any channels are deallocated, any callback set by Mix_ChannelFinished will be called when each channel is halted to be freed. Note: passing in zero WILL free all mixing channels, however music will still play.

Returns: The number of channels allocated.  Never fails...but a high number of channels can segfault if you run out of memory.  We're talking REALLY high!

     // allocate 16 mixing channels
     Mix_AllocateChannels(16);

See Also:

Mix_OpenAudio

Mix_Volume
----------

int Mix_Volume(int CHANNEL, int VOLUME)

channel
     Channel to set mix volume for.

     -1 will set the volume for all allocated channels.

volume
     The volume to use from 0 to MIX_MAX_VOLUME(128).

     If greater than MIX_MAX_VOLUME,
      then it will be set to MIX_MAX_VOLUME.

     If less than 0 then the volume will not be set.

Set the volume for any allocated channel.  If CHANNEL is -1 then all channels at are set at once.  The VOLUME is applied during the final mix, along with the sample volume.  So setting this volume to 64 will halve the output of all samples played on the specified channel.  All channels default to a volume of 128, which is the max.  Newly allocated channels will have the max volume set, so setting all channels volumes does not affect subsequent channel allocations.

Returns: current volume of the channel. If channel is -1, the average volume is returned.

     // set channel 1 to half volume
     Mix_Volume(1,MIX_MAX_VOLUME/2);

     // print the average volume
     printf("Average volume is %d\n",Mix_Volume(-1,-1));

See Also:

Mix_VolumeChunk, Mix_VolumeMusic

Mix_PlayChannel
---------------

int Mix_PlayChannel(int CHANNEL, Mix_Chunk *CHUNK, int LOOPS)

channel
     Channel to play on, or -1 for the first free unreserved channel.

chunk
     Sample to play.

loops
     Number of loops, -1 is infinite loops.

     Passing one here plays the sample twice (1 loop).

Play CHUNK on CHANNEL, or if CHANNEL is -1, pick the first free unreserved channel. The sample will play for LOOPS+1 number of times, unless stopped by halt, or fade out, or setting a new expiration time of less time than it would have originally taken to play the loops, or closing the mixer.

Note: this just calls Mix_PlayChannelTimed() with TICKS set to -1.

Returns: the channel the sample is played on.  On any errors, -1 is returned.

     // play sample on first free unreserved channel
     // play it exactly once through
     // Mix_Chunk *sample; //previously loaded
     if(Mix_PlayChannel(-1, sample, 0)==-1) {
         printf("Mix_PlayChannel: %s\n",Mix_GetError());
         // may be critical error, or maybe just no channels were free.
         // you could allocated another channel in that case...
     }

See Also:

Mix_PlayChannelTimed, Mix_FadeInChannel, Mix_HaltChannel, Mix_ExpireChannel, Mix_ReserveChannels

Mix_PlayChannelTimed
--------------------

int Mix_PlayChannelTimed(int CHANNEL, Mix_Chunk *CHUNK, int LOOPS, int TICKS)

channel
     Channel to play on, or -1 for the first free unreserved channel.

chunk
     Sample to play.

loops
     Number of loops, -1 is infinite loops.

     Passing one here plays the sample twice (1 loop).

ticks
     Millisecond limit to play sample, at most.

     If not enough LOOPS or the sample CHUNK is not long enough, then the sample may stop before this timeout occurs.

     -1 means play forever.

If the sample is long enough and has enough loops then the sample will stop after TICKS milliseconds. Otherwise this function is the same as Mix_PlayChannel.

Returns: the channel the sample is played on.  On any errors, -1 is returned.

     // play sample on first free unreserved channel
     // play it for half a second
     // Mix_Chunk *sample; //previously loaded
     if(Mix_PlayChannelTimed(-1, sample, -1 , 500)==-1) {
         printf("Mix_PlayChannel: %s\n",Mix_GetError());
         // may be critical error, or maybe just no channels were free.
         // you could allocated another channel in that case...
     }

See Also:

Mix_PlayChannel, Mix_FadeInChannelTimed, Mix_FadeOutChannel, Mix_ReserveChannels

Mix_FadeInChannel
-----------------

int Mix_FadeInChannel(int CHANNEL, Mix_Chunk *CHUNK, int LOOPS, int MS)

channel
     Channel to play on, or -1 for the first free unreserved channel.

chunk
     Sample to play.

loops
     Number of loops, -1 is infinite loops.

     Passing one here plays the sample twice (1 loop).

ms
     Milliseconds of time that the fade-in effect should take to go from silence to full volume.

Play CHUNK on CHANNEL, or if CHANNEL is -1, pick the first free unreserved channel.

The channel volume starts at 0 and fades up to full volume over MS milliseconds of time.  The sample may end before the fade-in is complete if it is too short or doesn't have enough loops. The sample will play for LOOPS+1 number of times, unless stopped by halt, or fade out, or setting a new expiration time of less time than it would have originally taken to play the loops, or closing the mixer.

Note: this just calls Mix_FadeInChannelTimed() with TICKS set to -1.

Returns: the channel the sample is played on.  On any errors, -1 is returned.

     // play sample on first free unreserved channel
     // play it exactly 3 times through
     // fade in over one second
     // Mix_Chunk *sample; //previously loaded
     if(Mix_FadeInChannel(-1, sample, 2, 1000)==-1) {
         printf("Mix_FadeInChannel: %s\n",Mix_GetError());
         // may be critical error, or maybe just no channels were free.
         // you could allocated another channel in that case...
     }

See Also:

Mix_PlayChannel, Mix_FadeInChannelTimed, Mix_FadingChannel, Mix_FadeOutChannel, Mix_ReserveChannels

Mix_FadeInChannelTimed
----------------------

     int Mix_FadeInChannelTimed(int CHANNEL, Mix_Chunk *CHUNK,
                                int LOOPS, int MS, int TICKS)

channel
     Channel to play on, or -1 for the first free unreserved channel.

chunk
     Sample to play.

loops
     Number of loops, -1 is infinite loops.

     Passing one here plays the sample twice (1 loop).

ms
     Milliseconds of time that the fade-in effect should take to go from silence to full volume.

ticks
     Millisecond limit to play sample, at most.

     If not enough LOOPS or the sample CHUNK is not long enough, then the sample may stop before this timeout occurs.

     -1 means play forever.

If the sample is long enough and has enough loops then the sample will stop after TICKS milliseconds. Otherwise this function is the same as Mix_FadeInChannel.

Returns: the channel the sample is played on.  On any errors, -1 is returned.

     // play sample on first free unreserved channel
     // play it for half a second
     // Mix_Chunk *sample; //previously loaded
     if(Mix_PlayChannelTimed(-1, sample, -1 , 500)==-1) {
         printf("Mix_PlayChannel: %s\n",Mix_GetError());
         // may be critical error, or maybe just no channels were free.
         // you could allocated another channel in that case...
     }

See Also:

Mix_PlayChannelTimed, Mix_FadeInChannel, Mix_FadingChannel, Mix_HaltChannel, Mix_ExpireChannel, Mix_ReserveChannels

Mix_Pause
---------

void Mix_Pause(int CHANNEL)

channel
     Channel to pause on, or -1 for all channels.

Pause CHANNEL, or all playing channels if -1 is passed in.  You may still halt a paused channel.

Note: Only channels which are actively playing will be paused.

     // pause all sample playback
     Mix_Pause(-1);

See Also:

Mix_Resume, Mix_Paused, Mix_HaltChannel

Mix_Resume
----------

void Mix_Resume(int CHANNEL)

channel
     Channel to resume playing, or -1 for all channels.

Unpause CHANNEL, or all playing and paused channels if -1 is passed in.

     // resume playback on all previously active channels
     Mix_Resume(-1);

See Also:

Mix_Pause, Mix_Paused

Mix_HaltChannel
---------------

int Mix_HaltChannel(int CHANNEL)

channel
     Channel to stop playing, or -1 for all channels.

Halt CHANNEL playback, or all channels if -1 is passed in.

Any callback set by Mix_ChannelFinished will be called.

Returns: always returns zero. (kinda silly)

     // halt playback on all channels
     Mix_HaltChannel(-1);

See Also:

Mix_ExpireChannel, Mix_FadeOutChannel, Mix_ChannelFinished

Mix_ExpireChannel
-----------------

int Mix_ExpireChannel(int CHANNEL, int TICKS)

channel
     Channel to stop playing, or -1 for all channels.

ticks
     Millisecons until channel(s) halt playback.

Halt CHANNEL playback, or all channels if -1 is passed in, after TICKS milliseconds. Any callback set by Mix_ChannelFinished will be called when the channel expires.

Returns: Number of channels set to expire.  Whether or not they are active.

     // halt playback on all channels in 2 seconds
     Mix_ExpireChannel(-1, 2000);

See Also:

Mix_HaltChannel, Mix_FadeOutChannel, Mix_ChannelFinished

Mix_FadeOutChannel
------------------

int Mix_FadeOutChannel(int CHANNEL, int MS)

channel
     Channel to fade out, or -1 to fade all channels out.

ms
     Milliseconds of time that the fade-out effect should take to go to silence, starting now.

Gradually fade out WHICH channel over MS milliseconds starting from now. The channel will be halted after the fade out is completed.  Only channels that are playing are set to fade out, including paused channels. Any callback set by Mix_ChannelFinished will be called when the channel finishes fading out.

Returns: The number of channels set to fade out.

     // fade out all channels to finish 3 seconds from now
     printf("starting fade out of %d channels\n", Mix_FadeOutChannel(-1, 3000));

See Also:

Mix_FadeInChannel, Mix_FadeInChannelTimed, Mix_FadingChannel, Mix_ChannelFinished

Mix_ChannelFinished
-------------------

void Mix_ChannelFinished(void (*CHANNEL_FINISHED)(int channel))

channel_finished
     Function to call when any channel finishes playback.

When CHANNEL playback is halted, then the specified CHANNEL_FINISHED function is called.  The channel parameter will contain the channel number that has finished.

NOTE: NEVER call SDL_Mixer functions, nor SDL_LockAudio, from a callback function.

     // a simple channel_finished function
     void channelDone(int channel) {
         printf("channel %d finished playback.\n",channel);
     }

     // make a channelDone function
     void channelDone(int channel)
     {
         printf("channel %d finished playing.\n", channel);
     }
     ...
     // set the callback for when a channel stops playing
     Mix_ChannelFinished(channelDone);

See Also:

Mix_HaltChannel, Mix_ExpireChannel

Mix_Playing
-----------

int Mix_Playing(int CHANNEL)

channel
     Channel to test whether it is playing or not.

     -1 will tell you how many channels are playing.

Tells you if CHANNEL is playing, or not.

Note: Does not check if the channel has been paused.

Returns: Zero if the channel is not playing.  Otherwise if you passed in -1, the number of channels playing is returned.  If you passed in a specific channel, then 1 is returned if it is playing.

     // check how many channels are playing samples
     printf("%d channels are playing\n", Mix_Playing(-1));

See Also:

Mix_Paused, Mix_Fading, Mix_PlayChannel, Mix_Pause,

Mix_Paused
----------

int Mix_Paused(int CHANNEL)

channel
     Channel to test whether it is paused or not.

     -1 will tell you how many channels are paused.

Tells you if CHANNEL is paused, or not.

Note: Does not check if the channel has been halted after it was paused, which may seem a little weird.

Returns: Zero if the channel is not paused.  Otherwise if you passed in -1, the number of paused channels is returned.  If you passed in a specific channel, then 1 is returned if it is paused.

     // check the pause status on all channels
     printf("%d channels are paused\n", Mix_Paused(-1));

See Also:

Mix_Playing, Mix_Pause, Mix_Resume

Mix_FadingChannel
-----------------

Mix_Fading Mix_FadingChannel(int WHICH)

which
     Channel to get the fade activity status from.

     -1 is not valid, and will probably crash the program.

Tells you if WHICH channel is fading in, out, or not.  Does not tell you if the channel is playing anything, or paused, so you'd need to test that separately.

Returns: the fading status.  Never returns an error.

     // check the fade status on channel 0
     switch(Mix_FadingChannel(0)) {
         case MIX_NO_FADING:
             printf("Not fading.\n");
             break;
         case MIX_FADING_OUT:
             printf("Fading out.\n");
             break;
         case MIX_FADING_IN:
             printf("Fading in.\n");
             break;
     }

See Also:

Mix_Fading, Mix_Playing, Mix_Paused, Mix_FadeInChannel, Mix_FadeInChannelTimed, Mix_FadeOutChannel

Mix_GetChunk
------------

Mix_Chunk *Mix_GetChunk(int CHANNEL)

channel
     Channel to get the current Mix_Chunk playing.

     -1 is not valid, but will not crash the program.

Get the most recent sample chunk pointer played on CHANNEL.  This pointer may be currently playing, or just the last used.

Note: The actual chunk may have been freed, so this pointer may not be valid anymore.

Returns: Pointer to the Mix_Chunk.  NULL is returned if the channel is not allocated, or if the channel has not played any samples yet.

     // get the last chunk used by channel 0
     printf("Mix_Chunk* last in use on channel 0 was: %08p\n", Mix_GetChunk(0));

See Also:

Mix_Chunk, Mix_Playing

Groups
======

These functions work with groupings of mixer channels.

The default group tag number of -1, which refers to ALL channels.

Mix_ReserveChannels
-------------------

int Mix_ReserveChannels(int NUM)

num
     Number of channels to reserve from default mixing.

     Zero removes all reservations.

Reserve NUM channels from being used when playing samples when passing in -1 as a channel number to playback functions. The channels are reserved starting from channel 0 to NUM-1. Passing in zero will unreserve all channels. Normally SDL_mixer starts without any channels reserved.

The following functions are affected by this setting:

Mix_PlayChannel

Mix_PlayChannelTimed

Mix_FadeInChannel

Mix_FadeInChannelTimed

Returns: The number of channels reserved.  Never fails, but may return less channels than you ask for, depending on the number of channels previously allocated.

     // reserve the first 8 mixing channels
     int reserved_count;
     reserved_count=Mix_ReserveChannels(8);
     if(reserved_count!=8) {
         printf("reserved %d channels from default mixing.\n",reserved_count);
         printf("8 channels were not reserved!\n");
         // this might be a critical error...
     }

See Also:

Mix_AllocateChannels

Mix_GroupChannel
----------------

int Mix_GroupChannel(int WHICH, int TAG)

which
     Channel number of channels to assign TAG to.

tag
     A group number Any positive numbers (including zero).

     -1 is the default group.  Use -1 to remove a group tag essentially.

Add WHICH channel to group TAG, or reset it's group to the default group tag (-1).

Returns: True(1) on success. False(0) is returned when the channel specified is invalid.

     // add channel 0 to group 1
     if(!Mix_GroupChannel(0,1)) {
         // bad channel, apparently channel 1 isn't allocated
     }

See Also:

Mix_GroupChannels, Mix_AllocateChannels

Mix_GroupChannels
-----------------

int Mix_GroupChannels(int FROM, int TO, int TAG)

from
     First Channel number of channels to assign TAG to.  Must be less or equal to TO.

to
     Last Channel number of channels to assign TAG to.  Must be greater or equal to FROM.

tag
     A group number.  Any positive numbers (including zero).

     -1 is the default group.  Use -1 to remove a group tag essentially.

Add channels starting at FROM up through TO to group TAG, or reset it's group to the default group tag (-1).

Returns: The number of tagged channels on success. If that number is less than TO-FROM+1 then some channels were no tagged because they didn't exist.

     // add channels 0 through 7 to group 1
     if(Mix_GroupChannels(0,7,1)!=8) {
         // some bad channels, apparently some channels aren't allocated
     }

See Also:

Mix_GroupChannel, Mix_AllocateChannels

Mix_GroupCount
--------------

int Mix_GroupCount(int TAG)

tag
     A group number Any positive numbers (including zero).

     -1 will count ALL channels.

Count the number of channels in group TAG.

Returns: The number of channels found in the group.  This function never fails.

     // count the number of channels in group 1
     printf("There are %d channels in group 1\n", Mix_GroupCount(1));

See Also:

Mix_GroupChannel, Mix_GroupChannels

Mix_GroupAvailable
------------------

int Mix_GroupAvailable(int TAG)

tag
     A group number Any positive numbers (including zero).

     -1 will search ALL channels.

Find the first available (not playing) channel in group TAG.

Returns: The channel found on success. -1 is returned when no channels in the group are available.

     // find the first available channel in group 1
     int channel;
     channel=Mix_GroupAvailable(1);
     if (channel==-1) {
         // no channel available...
         // perhaps search for oldest or newest channel in use...
     }

See Also:

Mix_GroupOldest, Mix_GroupNewer, Mix_GroupChannel, Mix_GroupChannels

Mix_GroupOldest
---------------

int Mix_GroupOldest(int TAG)

tag
     A group number Any positive numbers (including zero).

     -1 will search ALL channels.

Find the oldest actively playing channel in group TAG.

Returns: The channel found on success. -1 is returned when no channels in the group are playing or the group is empty.

     // find the oldest playing channel in group 1
     int channel;
     channel=Mix_GroupOldest(1);
     if (channel==-1) {
         // no channel playing or allocated...
         // perhaps just search for an available channel...
     }

See Also:

Mix_GroupNewer, Mix_GroupAvailable, Mix_GroupChannel, Mix_GroupChannels

Mix_GroupNewer
--------------

int Mix_GroupNewer(int TAG)

tag
     A group number Any positive numbers (including zero).

     -1 will search ALL channels.

Find the newest, most recently started, actively playing channel in group TAG.

Returns: The channel found on success. -1 is returned when no channels in the group are playing or the group is empty.

     // find the newest playing channel in group 1
     int channel;
     channel=Mix_GroupNewer(1);
     if (channel==-1) {
         // no channel playing or allocated...
         // perhaps just search for an available channel...
     }

See Also:

Mix_GroupOldest, Mix_GroupAvailable, Mix_GroupChannel, Mix_GroupChannels

Mix_FadeOutGroup
----------------

int Mix_FadeOutGroup(int TAG, int MS)

tag
     Group to fade out.

     NOTE: -1 will NOT fade all channels out.  Use Mix_FadeOutChannel(-1) for that instead.

ms
     Milliseconds of time that the fade-out effect should take to go to silence, starting now.

Gradually fade out channels in group TAG over MS milliseconds starting from now. The channels will be halted after the fade out is completed.  Only channels that are playing are set to fade out, including paused channels. Any callback set by Mix_ChannelFinished will be called when each channel finishes fading out.

Returns: The number of channels set to fade out.

     // fade out all channels in group 1 to finish 3 seconds from now
     printf("starting fade out of %d channels\n", Mix_FadeOutGroup(1, 3000));

See Also:

Mix_HaltGroup, Mix_FadeOutChannel, Mix_FadingChannel, Mix_ChannelFinished

Mix_HaltGroup
-------------

int Mix_HaltGroup(int TAG)

tag
     Group to fade out.

     NOTE: -1 will NOT halt all channels.  Use Mix_HaltChannel(-1) for that instead.

Halt playback on all channels in group TAG.

Any callback set by Mix_ChannelFinished will be called once for each channel that stops.

Returns: always returns zero. (more silly than MIX_HALTCHANNEL)

     // halt playback on all channels in group 1
     Mix_HaltGroup(1);

See Also:

Mix_FadeOutGroup, Mix_HaltChannel, Mix_ChannelFinished

Music
=====

These functions work with music.  Music is not played on a normal mixer channel. Music is therefore manipulated separately, except in post-processing hooks.

Mix_GetNumMusicDecoders
-----------------------

int Mix_GetNumMusicDecoders()

Get the number of music decoders available from the Mix_GetMusicDecoder function.  This number can be different for each run of a program, due to the change in availability of shared libraries that support each format.

Returns: The number of music decoders available.

     // print the number of music decoders available
     printf("There are %d music deocoders available\n", Mix_GetNumMusicDecoders());

See Also:

Mix_GetNumChunkDecoders, Mix_GetMusicDecoder, Mix_LoadMUS

Mix_GetMusicDecoder
-------------------

const char *Mix_GetMusicDecoder(int INDEX)

index
     The index number of music decoder to get.

     In the range from 0(zero) to Mix_GetNumMusicDecoders()-1, inclusive.

Get the name of the INDEXed music decoder. You need to get the number of music decoders available using the Mix_GetNumMusicDecoders function.

Returns: The name of the INDEXed music decoder.  This string is owned by the SDL_mixer library, do not modify or free it.  It is valid until you call Mix_CloseAudio the final time.

     // print music decoders available
     int i,max=Mix_GetNumMusicDecoders();
     for(i=0; i<max; ++i)
     	printf("Music decoder %d is for %s",Mix_GetMusicDecoder(i));

See Also:

Mix_GetNumMusicDecoders, Mix_GetChunkDecoder, Mix_LoadWAV

Mix_LoadMUS
-----------

Mix_Music *Mix_LoadMUS(const char *FILE)

file
     Name of music file to use.

Load music file to use.  This can load WAVE, MOD, MIDI, OGG, MP3, FLAC, and any file that you use a command to play with.

If you are using an external command to play the music, you must call Mix_SetMusicCMD before this, otherwise the internal players will be used.  Alternatively, if you have set an external command up and don't want to use it, you must call Mix_SetMusicCMD(NULL) to use the built-in players again.

Returns: A pointer to a Mix_Music.  NULL is returned on errors.

     // load the MP3 file "music.mp3" to play as music
     Mix_Music *music;
     music=Mix_LoadMUS("music.mp3");
     if(!music) {
         printf("Mix_LoadMUS(\"music.mp3\"): %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         // this might be a critical error...
     }

See Also:

Mix_Music, Mix_SetMusicCMD, Mix_PlayMusic, Mix_FadeInMusic, Mix_FadeInMusicPos

Mix_FreeMusic
-------------

void Mix_FreeMusic(Mix_Music *MUSIC)

music
     Pointer to Mix_Music to free.

Free the loaded MUSIC.  If MUSIC is playing it will be halted.  If MUSIC is fading out, then this function will wait (blocking) until the fade out is complete.

     // free music
     Mix_Music *music;
     Mix_FreeMusic(music);
     music=NULL; // so we know we freed it...

See Also:

Mix_LoadMUS

Mix_PlayMusic
-------------

int Mix_PlayMusic(Mix_Music *MUSIC, int LOOPS)

music
     Pointer to Mix_Music to play.

loops
     number of times to play through the music.

     0 plays the music zero times...

     -1 plays the music forever (or as close as it can get to that)

Play the loaded MUSIC LOOP times through from start to finish.  The previous music will be halted, or if fading out it waits (blocking) for that to finish.

Returns: 0 on success, or -1 on errors.

     // play music forever
     // Mix_Music *music; // I assume this has been loaded already
     if(Mix_PlayMusic(music, -1)==-1) {
         printf("Mix_PlayMusic: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         // well, there's no music, but most games don't break without music...
     }

See Also:

Mix_FadeInMusic

Mix_FadeInMusic
---------------

int Mix_FadeInMusic(Mix_Music *MUSIC, int LOOPS, int MS)

music
     Pointer to Mix_Music to play.

loops
     number of times to play through the music.

     0 plays the music zero times...

     -1 plays the music forever (or as close as it can get to that)

ms
     Milliseconds for the fade-in effect to complete.

Fade in over MS milliseconds of time, the loaded MUSIC, playing it LOOP times through from start to finish.

The fade in effect only applies to the first loop.

Any previous music will be halted, or if it is fading out it will wait (blocking) for the fade to complete.

This function is the same as Mix_FadeInMusicPos(MUSIC, LOOPS, MS, 0).

Returns: 0 on success, or -1 on errors.

     // play music forever, fading in over 2 seconds
     // Mix_Music *music; // I assume this has been loaded already
     if(Mix_FadeInMusic(music, -1, 2000)==-1) {
         printf("Mix_FadeInMusic: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         // well, there's no music, but most games don't break without music...
     }

See Also:

Mix_PlayMusic, Mix_FadeInMusicPos

Mix_FadeInMusicPos
------------------

int Mix_FadeInMusicPos(Mix_Music *MUSIC, int LOOPS, int MS, double POSITION)

music
     Pointer to Mix_Music to play.

loops
     number of times to play through the music.

     0 plays the music zero times...

     -1 plays the music forever (or as close as it can get to that)

ms
     Milliseconds for the fade-in effect to complete.

position
     Posistion to play from, see Mix_SetMusicPosition for meaning.

Fade in over MS milliseconds of time, the loaded MUSIC, playing it LOOP times through from start to finish.

The fade in effect only applies to the first loop.

The first time the music is played, it posistion will be set to POSISTION, which means different things for different types of music files, see Mix_SetMusicPosition for more info on that.

Any previous music will be halted, or if it is fading out it will wait (blocking) for the fade to complete.

Returns: 0 on success, or -1 on errors.

     // play music forever, fading in over 2 seconds
     // Mix_Music *music; // I assume this has been loaded already
     if(Mix_FadeInMusicPos(music, -1, 2000)==-1) {
         printf("Mix_FadeInMusic: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         // well, there's no music, but most games don't break without music...
     }

See Also:

Mix_PlayMusic, Mix_FadeInMusic, Mix_SetMusicPosition

Mix_HookMusic
-------------

     void Mix_HookMusic(void (*MIX_FUNC)(void *udata, Uint8 *stream, int len),
                        void *ARG)

mix_func
     Function pointer to a music player mixer function.

     NULL will stop the use of the music player, returning the mixer to using the internal music players like usual.

arg
     This is passed to the MIX_FUNC's udata parameter when it is called.

This sets up a custom music player function.  The function will be called with ARG passed into the udata parameter when the MIX_FUNC is called.  The stream parameter passes in the audio stream buffer to be filled with len bytes of music.  The music player will then be called automatically when the mixer needs it.  Music playing will start as soon as this is called.  All the music playing and stopping functions have no effect on music after this.  Pause and resume will work.  Using a custom music player and the internal music player is not possible, the custom music player takes priority.  To stop the custom music player call Mix_HookMusic(NULL, NULL).

NOTE: NEVER call SDL_Mixer functions, nor SDL_LockAudio, from a callback function.

     // make a music play function
     // it expects udata to be a pointer to an int
     void myMusicPlayer(void *udata, Uint8 *stream, int len)
     {
         int i, pos=*(int*)udata;

         // fill buffer with...uh...music...
         for(i=0; i<len; i++)
             stream[i]=(i+pos)&ff;

         // set udata for next time
         pos+=len;
         *(int*)udata=pos;
     }
     ...
     // use myMusicPlayer for playing...uh...music
     int music_pos=0;
     Mix_HookMusic(myMusicPlayer, &music_pos);

See Also:

Mix_SetMusicCMD, Mix_GetMusicHookData

Mix_VolumeMusic
---------------

int Mix_VolumeMusic(int VOLUME)

volume
     Music volume, from 0 to MIX_MAX_VOLUME(128).

     Values greater than MIX_MAX_VOLUME will use MIX_MAX_VOLUME.

     -1 does not set the volume, but does return the current volume setting.

Set the volume to VOLUME, if it is 0 or greater, and return the previous volume setting.  Setting the volume during a fade will not work, the faders use this function to perform their effect!  Setting volume while using an external music player set by Mix_SetMusicCMD will have no effect, and Mix_GetError will show the reason why not.

Returns: The previous volume setting.

     // set the music volume to 1/2 maximum, and then check it
     printf("volume was    : %d\n", Mix_VolumeMusic(MIX_MAX_VOLUME/2));
     printf("volume is now : %d\n", Mix_VolumeMusic(-1));

See Also:

Mix_FadeInMusic, Mix_FadeOutMusic, Mix_SetMusicCMD

Mix_PauseMusic
--------------

void Mix_PauseMusic()

Pause the music playback.  You may halt paused music.

Note: Music can only be paused if it is actively playing.

     // pause music playback
     Mix_PauseMusic();

See Also:

Mix_ResumeMusic, Mix_PausedMusic, Mix_HaltMusic

Mix_ResumeMusic
---------------

void Mix_ResumeMusic()

Unpause the music.  This is safe to use on halted, paused, and already playing music.

     // resume music playback
     Mix_ResumeMusic();

See Also:

Mix_PauseMusic, Mix_PausedMusic

Mix_RewindMusic
---------------

void Mix_RewindMusic()

Rewind the music to the start.  This is safe to use on halted, paused, and already playing music.  It is not useful to rewind the music immediately after starting playback, because it starts at the beginning by default.

This function only works for these streams: MOD, OGG, MP3, Native MIDI.

     // rewind music playback to the start
     Mix_RewindMusic();

See Also:

Mix_PlayMusic

Mix_SetMusicPosition
--------------------

int Mix_SetMusicPosition(double POSITION)

position
     Posistion to play from.

Set the position of the currently playing music.  The POSITION takes different meanings for different music sources.  It only works on the music sources listed below.

MOD
     The double is cast to Uint16 and used for a pattern number in the module.

     Passing zero is similar to rewinding the song.

OGG
     Jumps to POSITION seconds from the beginning of the song.

MP3
     Jumps to POSITION seconds from the current position in the stream.

     So you may want to call Mix_RewindMusic before this.

     Does not go in reverse...negative values do nothing.

Returns: 0 on success, or -1 if the codec doesn't support this function.

     // skip one minute into the song, from the start
     // this assumes you are playing an MP3
     Mix_RewindMusic();
     if(Mix_SetMusicPosition(60.0)==-1) {
         printf("Mix_SetMusicPosition: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
     }

See Also:

Mix_FadeInMusicPos

Mix_SetMusicCMD
---------------

int Mix_SetMusicCMD(const char *COMMAND)

command
     System command to play the music.  Should be a complete command, as if typed in to the command line, but it should expect the filename to be added as the last argument.

     NULL will turn off using an external command for music, returning to the internal music playing functionality.

Setup a command line music player to use to play music.  Any music playing will be halted. The music file to play is set by calling Mix_LoadMUS(filename), and the filename is appended as the last argument on the commandline.  This allows you to reuse the music command to play multiple files.  The command will be sent signals SIGTERM to halt, SIGSTOP to pause, and SIGCONT to resume.  The command program should react correctly to those signals for it to function properly with SDL_Mixer.  Mix_VolumeMusic has no effect when using an external music player, and Mix_GetError will have an error code set.  You should set the music volume in the music player's command if the music player supports that.  Looping music works, by calling the command again when the previous music player process has ended.  Playing music through a command uses a forked process to execute the music command.

To use the internal music players set the COMMAND to NULL.

NOTE: External music is not mixed by SDL_mixer, so no post-processing hooks will be for music.

NOTE: Playing music through an external command may not work if the sound driver does not support multiple openings of the audio device, since SDL_Mixer already has the audio device open for playing samples through channels.

NOTE: Commands are not totally portable, so be careful.

Returns: 0 on success, or -1 on any errors, such as running out of memory.

     // use mpg123 to play music
     Mix_Music *music=NULL;
     if(Mix_SetMusicCMD("mpg123 -q")==-1) {
         perror("Mix_SetMusicCMD");
     } else {
         // play some mp3 file
         music=Mix_LoadMUS("music.mp3");
         if(music) {
             Mix_PlayMusic(music,1);
         }
     }

See Also:

Mix_PlayMusic, Mix_VolumeMusic

Mix_HaltMusic
-------------

int Mix_HaltMusic()

Halt playback of music. This interrupts music fader effects. Any callback set by Mix_HookMusicFinished will be called when the music stops.

Returns: always returns zero. (even more silly than MIX_HALTGROUP)

     // halt music playback
     Mix_HaltMusic();

See Also:

Mix_FadeOutMusic, Mix_HookMusicFinished

Mix_FadeOutMusic
----------------

int Mix_FadeOutMusic(int MS)

ms
     Milliseconds of time that the fade-out effect should take to go to silence, starting now.

Gradually fade out the music over MS milliseconds starting from now. The music will be halted after the fade out is completed.  Only when music is playing and not fading already are set to fade out, including paused channels. Any callback set by Mix_HookMusicFinished will be called when the music finishes fading out.

Returns: 1 on success, 0 on failure.

     // fade out music to finish 3 seconds from now
     while(!Mix_FadeOutMusic(3000) && Mix_PlayingMusic()) {
         // wait for any fades to complete
         SDL_Delay(100);
     }

See Also:

Mix_HaltMusic, Mix_FadingMusic, Mix_PlayingMusic, Mix_HookMusicFinished

Mix_HookMusicFinished
---------------------

void Mix_HookMusicFinished(void (*MUSIC_FINISHED)())

music_finished
     Function pointer to a void function().

     NULL will remove the hook.

This sets up a function to be called when music playback is halted.  Any time music stops, the MUSIC_FINISHED function will be called.  Call with NULL to remove the callback.

NOTE: NEVER call SDL_Mixer functions, nor SDL_LockAudio, from a callback function.

     // make a music finished function
     void musicFinished()
     {
         printf("Music stopped.\n");
     }
     ...
     // use musicFinished for when music stops
     Mix_HookMusicFinished(musicFinished);

See Also:

Mix_HaltMusic, Mix_FadeOutMusic

Mix_GetMusicType
----------------

Mix_MusicType Mix_GetMusicType(const Mix_Music *MUSIC)

music
     The music to get the type of.

     NULL will get the currently playing music type.

Tells you the file format encoding of the music.  This may be handy when used with Mix_SetMusicPosition, and other music functions that vary based on the type of music being played.  If you want to know the type of music currently being played, pass in NULL to MUSIC.

Returns: The type of MUSIC or if MUSIC is NULL then the currently playing music type, otherwise MUS_NONE if no music is playing.

     // print the type of music currently playing
     switch(Mix_GetMusicType(NULL))
     {
         case MUS_NONE:
         MUS_CMD:
             printf("Command based music is playing.\n");
             break;
         MUS_WAV:
             printf("WAVE/RIFF music is playing.\n");
             break;
         MUS_MOD:
             printf("MOD music is playing.\n");
             break;
         MUS_MID:
             printf("MIDI music is playing.\n");
             break;
         MUS_OGG:
             printf("OGG music is playing.\n");
             break;
         MUS_MP3:
             printf("MP3 music is playing.\n");
             break;
         default:
             printf("Unknown music is playing.\n");
             break;
     }

See Also:

Mix_MusicType, Mix_SetPosition

Mix_PlayingMusic
----------------

int Mix_PlayingMusic()

Tells you if music is actively playing, or not.

Note: Does not check if the channel has been paused.

Returns: Zero if the music is not playing, or 1 if it is playing.

     // check if music is playing
     printf("music is%s playing.\n", Mix_PlayingMusic()?"":" not");

See Also:

Mix_PausedMusic, Mix_FadingMusic, Mix_PlayMusic

Mix_PausedMusic
---------------

int Mix_PausedMusic()

Tells you if music is paused, or not.

Note: Does not check if the music was been halted after it was paused, which may seem a little weird.

Returns: Zero if music is not paused.  1 if it is paused.

     // check the music pause status
     printf("music is%s paused\n", Mix_PausedMusic()?"":" not");

See Also:

Mix_PlayingMusic, Mix_PauseMusic, Mix_ResumeMusic

Mix_FadingMusic
---------------

Mix_Fading Mix_FadingMusic()

Tells you if music is fading in, out, or not at all.  Does not tell you if the channel is playing anything, or paused, so you'd need to test that separately.

Returns: the fading status.  Never returns an error.

     // check the music fade status
     switch(Mix_FadingMusic()) {
         case MIX_NO_FADING:
             printf("Not fading music.\n");
             break;
         case MIX_FADING_OUT:
             printf("Fading out music.\n");
             break;
         case MIX_FADING_IN:
             printf("Fading in music.\n");
             break;
     }

See Also:

Mix_Fading, Mix_PausedMusic, Mix_PlayingMusic, Mix_FadeInMusicPos, Mix_FadeOutMusic

Mix_GetMusicHookData
--------------------

void *Mix_GetMusicHookData()

Get the ARG passed into Mix_HookMusic.

Returns: the ARG pointer.

     // retrieve the music hook data pointer
     void *data;
     data=Mix_GetMusicHookData();

See Also:

Mix_HookMusic

Effects
=======

These functions are for special effects processing. Not all effects are all that special. All effects are post processing routines that are either built-in to SDL_mixer or created by you.  Effects can be applied to individual channels, or to the final mixed stream which contains all the channels including music.

The built-in processors: Mix_SetPanning, Mix_SetPosition, Mix_SetDistance, and

Mix_SetReverseStereo, all look for an environment variable, MIX_EFFECTSMAXSPEED to be defined. If the environment variable is defined these processors may use more memory or reduce the quality of the effects, all for better speed.

Mix_RegisterEffect
------------------

     int Mix_RegisterEffect(int CHAN, Mix_EffectFunc_t F, Mix_EffectDone_t D,
                            void *ARG)

chan
     channel number to register F and D on.

     Use MIX_CHANNEL_POST to process the postmix stream.

f
     The function pointer for the effects processor.

d
     The function pointer for any cleanup routine to be called when the channel is done playing a sample.

     This may be NULL for any processors that don't need to clean up any memory or other dynamic data.

arg
     A pointer to data to pass into the F's and D's udata parameter.  It is a good place to keep the state data for the processor, especially if the processor is made to handle multiple channels at the same time.

     This may be NULL, depending on the processor.

Hook a processor function F into a channel for post processing effects.  You may just be reading the data and displaying it, or you may be altering the stream to add an echo.  Most processors also have state data that they allocate as they are in use, this would be stored in the ARG pointer data space.  When a processor is finished being used, any function passed into D will be called, which is when your processor should clean up the data in the ARG data space.

The effects are put into a linked list, and always appended to the end, meaning they always work on previously registered effects output.  Effects may be added multiple times in a row.  Effects are cumulative this way.

Returns: Zero on errors, such as a nonexisting channel.

     // make a passthru processor function that does nothing...
     void noEffect(int chan, void *stream, int len, void *udata)
     {
         // you could work with stream here...
     }
     ...
     // register noEffect as a postmix processor
     if(!Mix_RegisterEffect(MIX_CHANNEL_POST, noEffect, NULL, NULL)) {
         printf("Mix_RegisterEffect: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
     }

See Also:

Mix_UnregisterEffect, Mix_UnregisterAllEffects

Mix_UnregisterEffect
--------------------

int Mix_UnregisterEffect(int CHANNEL, Mix_EffectFunc_t F)

channel
     Channel number to remove F from as a post processor.

     Use MIX_CHANNEL_POST for the postmix stream.

f
     The function to remove from CHANNEL.

Remove the oldest (first found) registered effect function F from the effect list for CHANNEL.  This only removes the first found occurance of that function, so it may need to be called multiple times if you added the same function multiple times, just stop removing when Mix_UnregisterEffect returns an error, to remove all occurances of F from a channel.

If the channel is active the registered effect will have its Mix_EffectDone_t function called, if it was specified in Mix_RegisterEffect.

Returns: Zero on errors, such as invalid channel, or effect function not registered on channel.

     // unregister the noEffect from the postmix effects
     // this removes all occurances of noEffect registered to the postmix
     while(Mix_UnregisterEffect(MIX_CHANNEL_POST, noEffect));
     // you may print Mix_GetError() if you want to check it.
     // it should say "No such effect registered" after this loop.

See Also:

Mix_UnregisterAllEffects, Mix_RegisterEffect

Mix_UnregisterAllEffects
------------------------

int Mix_UnregisterAllEffects(int CHANNEL)

channel
     Channel to remove all effects from.

     Use MIX_CHANNEL_POST for the postmix stream.

This removes all effects registered to CHANNEL. If the channel is active all the registered effects will have their Mix_EffectDone_t functions called, if they were specified in Mix_RegisterEffect.

Returns: Zero on errors, such as CHANNEL not existing.

     // remove all effects from channel 0
     if(!Mix_UnregisterAllEffects(0)) {
         printf("Mix_UnregisterAllEffects: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
     }

See Also:

Mix_UnregisterEffect, Mix_RegisterEffect

Mix_SetPostMix
--------------

     void Mix_SetPostMix(void (*MIX_FUNC)(void *udata, Uint8 *stream, int len),
                         void *ARG)

mix_func
     The function pointer for the postmix processor.

     NULL unregisters the current postmixer.

arg
     A pointer to data to pass into the MIX_FUNC's udata parameter.  It is a good place to keep the state data for the processor, especially if the processor is made to handle multiple channels at the same time.

     This may be NULL, depending on the processor.

Hook a processor function MIX_FUNC to the postmix stream for post processing effects.  You may just be reading the data and displaying it, or you may be altering the stream to add an echo.  Most processors also have state data that they allocate as they are in use, this would be stored in the ARG pointer data space. This processor is never really finished, until the audio device is closed, or you pass NULL as the MIX_FUNC.

There can only be one postmix function used at a time through this method.  Use Mix_RegisterEffect(MIX_CHANNEL_POST, mix_func, NULL, arg) to use multiple postmix processors.

This postmix processor is run AFTER all the registered postmixers set up by Mix_RegisterEffect.

     // make a passthru processor function that does nothing...
     void noEffect(void *udata, Uint8 *stream, int len)
     {
         // you could work with stream here...
     }
     ...
     // register noEffect as a postmix processor
     Mix_SetPostMix(noEffect, NULL);

See Also:

Mix_RegisterEffect

Mix_SetPanning
--------------

int Mix_SetPanning(int CHANNEL, Uint8 LEFT, Uint8 RIGHT)

channel
     Channel number to register this effect on.

     Use MIX_CHANNEL_POST to process the postmix stream.

left
     Volume for the left channel, range is 0(silence) to 255(loud)

right
     Volume for the left channel, range is 0(silence) to 255(loud)

This effect will only work on stereo audio.  Meaning you called Mix_OpenAudio with 2 channels (MIX_DEFAULT_CHANNELS).  The easiest way to do true panning is to call Mix_SetPanning(channel, left, 254 - left); so that the total volume is correct, if you consider the maximum volume to be 127 per channel for center, or 254 max for left, this works, but about halves the effective volume.

This Function registers the effect for you, so don't try to Mix_RegisterEffect it yourself.

NOTE: Setting both LEFT and RIGHT to 255 will unregister the effect from CHANNEL.  You cannot unregister it any other way, unless you use Mix_UnregisterAllEffects on the CHANNEL.

NOTE: Using this function on a mono audio device will not register the effect, nor will it return an error status.

Returns: Zero on errors, such as bad channel, or if Mix_RegisterEffect failed.

     // pan channel 1 halfway to the left
     if(!Mix_SetPanning(1, 255, 127)) {
         printf("Mix_SetPanning: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         // no panning, is it ok?
     }

See Also:

Mix_SetPosition, Mix_UnregisterAllEffects

Mix_SetDistance
---------------

int Mix_SetDistance(int CHANNEL, Uint8 DISTANCE)

channel
     Channel number to register this effect on.

     Use MIX_CHANNEL_POST to process the postmix stream.

distance
     Specify the distance from the listener, from 0(close/loud) to 255(far/quiet).

This effect simulates a simple attenuation of volume due to distance.  The volume never quite reaches silence, even at max distance.

NOTE: Using a DISTANCE of 0 will cause the effect to unregister itself from CHANNEL.  You cannot unregister it any other way, unless you use Mix_UnregisterAllEffects on the CHANNEL.

Returns: Zero on errors, such as an invalid channel, or if Mix_RegisterEffect failed.

     // distance channel 1 to be farthest away
     if(!Mix_SetDistance(1, 255)) {
         printf("Mix_SetDistance: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         // no distance, is it ok?
     }

See Also:

Mix_SetPosition, Mix_UnregisterAllEffects

Mix_SetPosition
---------------

int Mix_SetPosition(int CHANNEL, Sint16 ANGLE, Uint8 DISTANCE)

channel
     Channel number to register this effect on.

     Use MIX_CHANNEL_POST to process the postmix stream.

angle
     Direction in relation to forward from 0 to 360 degrees.  Larger angles will be reduced to this range using ANGLES % 360.

     0 = directly in front.

     90 = directly to the right.

     180 = directly behind.

     270 = directly to the left.

     So you can see it goes clockwise starting at directly in front.

     This ends up being similar in effect to Mix_SetPanning.

distance
     The distance from the listener, from 0(near/loud) to 255(far/quiet).

     This is the same as the Mix_SetDistance effect.

This effect emulates a simple 3D audio effect.  It's not all that realistic, but it can help improve some level of realism.  By giving it the angle and distance from the camera's point of view, the effect pans and attenuates volumes.  If you are looking for better positional audio, using OpenAL is suggested.

NOTE: Using ANGLE and DISTANCE of 0, will cause the effect to unregister itself from CHANNEL.  You cannot unregister it any other way, unless you use Mix_UnregisterAllEffects on the CHANNEL.

Returns: Zero on errors, such as an invalid channel, or if Mix_RegisterEffect failed.

     // set channel 2 to be behind and right, and 100 units away
     if(!Mix_SetPosition(2, 135, 100)) {
         printf("Mix_SetPosition: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         // no position effect, is it ok?
     }

See Also:

Mix_SetPanning, Mix_SetDistance, Mix_UnregisterAllEffects

Mix_SetReverseStereo
--------------------

int Mix_SetReverseStereo(int CHANNEL, int FLIP)

channel
     Channel number to register this effect on.

     Use MIX_CHANNEL_POST to process the postmix stream.

flip
     Must be non-zero to work, means nothing to the effect processor itself.

     set to zero to unregister the effect from CHANNEL.

Simple reverse stereo, swaps left and right channel sound.

NOTE: Using a FLIP of 0, will cause the effect to unregister itself from CHANNEL.  You cannot unregister it any other way, unless you use Mix_UnregisterAllEffects on the CHANNEL.

Returns: Zero on errors, such as an invalid channel, or if Mix_RegisterEffect failed.

     // set the total mixer output to be reverse stereo
     if(!Mix_SetReverseStereo(MIX_CHANNEL_POST, 1)) {
         printf("Mix_SetReverseStereo: %s\n", Mix_GetError());
         // no reverse stereo, is it ok?
     }

See Also:

Mix_UnregisterAllEffects

Types
*****

These types are defined and used by the SDL_mixer API.

Mix_Chunk
=========

     typedef struct Mix_Chunk {
         int ALLOCATED;
         Uint8 *ABUF;
         Uint32 ALEN;
         Uint8 VOLUME;     /* Per-sample volume, 0-128 */
     } Mix_Chunk;

allocated
     a boolean indicating whether to free ABUF when the chunk is freed.

     0 if the memory was not allocated and thus not owned by this chunk.

     1 if the memory was allocated and is thus owned by this chunk.

abuf
     Pointer to the sample data, which is in the output format and sample rate.

alen
     Length of ABUF in bytes.

volume
     0 = silent, 128 = max volume.  This takes effect when mixing.

The internal format for an audio chunk. This stores the sample data, the length in bytes of that data, and the volume to use when mixing the sample.

See Also:

Mix_VolumeChunk, Mix_GetChunk, Mix_LoadWAV, Mix_LoadWAV_RW, Mix_FreeChunk, Mix_Music

Mix_Music
=========

     typedef struct _Mix_Music Mix_Music;

This is an opaque data type used for Music data. This should always be used as a pointer. Who knows why it isn't a pointer in this typedef...

See Also:

Mix_LoadMUS, Mix_FreeMusic, Mix_Chunk

Mix_MusicType
=============

     typedef enum {
         MUS_NONE,
         MUS_CMD,
         MUS_WAV,
         MUS_MOD,
         MUS_MID,
         MUS_OGG,
         MUS_MP3, /* using SMPEG */
         MUS_MP3_MAD,
     	MUS_FLAC
     } Mix_MusicType;

Return values from Mix_GetMusicType are of these enumerated values.

If no music is playing then MUS_NONE is returned.

If music is playing via an external command then MUS_CMD is returned.

Otherwise they are self explanatory.

See Also:

Mix_GetMusicType

Mix_Fading
==========

     typedef enum {
         MIX_NO_FADING,
         MIX_FADING_OUT,
         MIX_FADING_IN
     } Mix_Fading;

Return values from Mix_FadingMusic and Mix_FadingChannel are of these enumerated values. If no fading is taking place on the queried channel or music, then MIX_NO_FADING is returned. Otherwise they are self explanatory.

See Also:

Mix_FadingChannel, Mix_FadingMusic

Mix_EffectFunc_t
================

     typedef void (*Mix_EffectFunc_t)(int CHAN, void *STREAM, int LEN,
                                      void *UDATA);

chan
     The channel number that this effect is effecting now.

     MIX_CHANNEL_POST is passed in for post processing effects over the final mix.

stream
     The buffer containing the current sample to process.

len
     The length of STREAM in bytes.

udata
     User data pointer that was passed in to Mix_RegisterEffect when registering this effect processor function.

This is the prototype for effect processing functions. These functions are used to apply effects processing on a sample chunk. As a channel plays a sample, the registered effect functions are called. Each effect would then read and perhaps alter the LEN bytes of STREAM. It may also be advantageous to keep the effect state in the UDATA, with would be setup when registering the effect function on a channel.

See Also:

Mix_RegisterEffect Mix_UnregisterEffect

Mix_EffectDone_t
================

     typedef void (*Mix_EffectDone_t)(int CHAN, void *UDATA);

chan
     The channel number that this effect is effecting now.

     MIX_CHANNEL_POST is passed in for post processing effects over the final mix.

udata
     User data pointer that was passed in to Mix_RegisterEffect when registering this effect processor function.

This is the prototype for effect processing functions. This is called when a channel has finished playing, or halted, or is deallocated. This is also called when a processor is unregistered while processing is active. At that time the effects processing function may want to reset some internal variables or free some memory.  It should free memory at least, because the processor could be freed after this call.

See Also:

Mix_RegisterEffect Mix_UnregisterEffect

Defines
*******

SDL_MIXER_MAJOR_VERSION
     1

     SDL_mixer library major number at compilation time

SDL_MIXER_MINOR_VERSION
     2

     SDL_mixer library minor number at compilation time

SDL_MIXER_PATCHLEVEL
     9

     SDL_mixer library patch level at compilation time

MIX_CHANNELS
     8

     The default mixer has this many simultaneous mixing channels after the first call to Mix_OpenAudio.

MIX_DEFAULT_FREQUENCY
     22050

     Good default sample rate in Hz (samples per second) for PC sound cards.

MIX_DEFAULT_FORMAT
     AUDIO_S16SYS

     The suggested default is signed 16bit samples in host byte order.

MIX_DEFAULT_CHANNELS
     2

     Stereo sound is a good default.

MIX_MAX_VOLUME
     128

     Maximum value for any volume setting.

     This is currently the same as SDL_MIX_MAXVOLUME.

MIX_CHANNEL_POST
     -2

     This is the channel number used for post processing effects.

MIX_EFFECTSMAXSPEED
     "MIX_EFFECTSMAXSPEED"

     A convience definition for the string name of the environment variable to define when you desire the internal effects to sacrifice quality and/or RAM for speed. The environment variable must be set (else nonexisting) before Mix_OpenAudio is called for the setting to take effect.

Glossary
********

Byte Order

Also known as Big-Endian.  Which means the most significant byte comes first in storage.  Sparc and Motorola 68k based chips are MSB ordered.

(SDL defines this as SDL_BYTEORDER==SDL_BIG_ENDIAN)

Little-Endian(LSB) is stored in the opposite order, with the least significant byte first in memory.  Intel and AMD are two LSB machines.

(SDL defines this as SDL_BYTEORDER==SDL_LIL_ENDIAN)