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Steve Warburton · Guest

I am developing an app using MMTools Swiftsoft. There a settings for the
wave files of
BufferSize defaults to 4096
CallBackMode defaults to cmThread other options cmCallback cmThread.
NumBuffers defaults to 25.

What do these options actually do. My app uses 3 sound cards playing 12 MP3
files at once and I need to tweak the system to use the minimum of the main
processor time and less disk activity.

I have achieved the following successfully:

1 soundcard playing 4 MP3 files (cd-media card cheap 5 quid) on a AMD Athlon
128 meg. CPU using is between 15 and 40 %.

2 soundcards playing 8 MP3 files (Cd-media cards) on a Pentium P4 1.5 gig
768 meg. CPU using 34 and 86%.

3 soundcards playing 12 MP3 files (CD media cards) on a Pentium P4 1.5 gig
768 meg. CPU usage 70 and 100% ( this system fails after a few hours due to
timing errors and the following error messages) Error filing wave buffer,
Unable to read from file.

I have order some SoundBlaster 5.1 cards in the hope that these cards take
some of the processing away from the main processor

Do 'better' sound cards process the audio quicker, more efficiently or do
you pay for fidelity, surround sound etc. Bear in mind we only use the right
and left outputs.

Any thoughts or advice welcome.

Steve.