Play Controls Functions

Play Controls

The Play Controls group (Figure 2.) has the following functions. Multiple sounds can be played at the same time. For example, start a sound of 'city street noise' in loop mode then on cue play a 'car horn honking'.

First, select a sound item in the list. These controls will operate on the selected sound item.

Figure 1. Play, Stop, Pause, Resume, Refresh , Stop All buttons (left to right)

Play - Click the Play button. The selected Sound Item plays from the beginning. If you hit Play multiple times, the audio file will play multiple times concurrently.
Stop - Click the Stop button to stop the selected Sound Item from playing. This also has the affect of resetting the sound to the beginning (a.k.a. rewind).
Pause - Click the Pause button to pause play of the selected Sound Item at the current position.
Resume - Click the Resume button to continue play from the postion it was paused.
Refresh sound - Click the Refresh button to apply edits that are saved with the Fx Effects Editor or markers.
Stop All - The Stop All button stops all sounds currently playing (not just the selected Sound Item).
Volume - Drag the Volume slider to lower or raise the volume of the sound. Can also be operated in automatic scroll mode (See below).
Pan - Drag the Pan slider to move the sound from left or right speakers. Can also be operated in automatic scroll mode (See below).

About Volume

Figure 2. Play Controls group

The Volume slider control (Figure 2.) does NOT change the master Windows volume setting. You set the master Windows volume as usual in the Windows Control Panel -- Sound and Audio Devices applet or via a Volume Control icon in the Windows taskbar. The master Windows volume can be changed while Sound Mill is running. Volume settings made in Sound Mill are relative to the master Windows volume setting. So if you set the Sound Mill volume at 100%, it will at 100% of the current master Windows volume setting. This can make a SoundList more portable from venue to venue since by simply adjusting master Windows volume setting, you can affect the relative volumes of the SoundList.

When the Volume slider is set to the Max value (100%), it represents the original recorded, unadjusted volume of the sound. The value minimum (0%) indicates an audio volume attenuated by 100 decibel (dB), which for practical purposes, is silence.

Playback real volume (volume as perceived by the human ear in dB ) will be somewhat different based on the sound driver used, DirectX driver or Windows Media Player (WMP) driver. DirectX uses a logarithmic algorithm (log 10) to produce sound, whereas WMP uses a linear algorithm. You only need to consider the difference if you switch the driver used to play the Sound Item. This difference in algorithms is shown in Figure 3.

So for the WMP driver, real volume rises at a consistent rate as the Volume Setting (in Percent) rises from 0% to100%.

With the DirectX driver, real volume drops to silence at a Volume Setting near 25% (will vary somewhat by how the Wav audio file was created). And at Volume Settings above 50%, the real volume rise becomes closer to linear.

So for example, if the Sound Mill Volume slider is set at Volume=25%, then the DirectX driver sound will be approaching silence but the MediaPlayer driver will produce 25% of full volume.

Figure 3. Playback Real Volume by Volume Setting in Percent(%)

Automatic Operation of Volume and Pan

You can perform a controlled fade or gain of volume or controlled pan left to right speaker as follows. The volume or pan slider will scroll automatically in a smooth motion at the current speed setting. Using these controls when fade-in or fade-out markers are enabled can cause unexpected results. It is best to use one or the other.

Set Scroll Speed - Set the Speed value. The valid range is 1 to 1000. See the discussion below about speed values. Invalid values entered here will cause an error icon to blink. Hold the mouse pointer over the error icon to see an error message.
Auto Scroll - Click the Auto Scroll Right ( ) or Auto Scroll Left ( ) to start the automatic movement of the slider in either direction. The slider position marker will traverse the track to the end and then stop. Clicking the button again will stop auto-scroll if it is in progress.
Auto Reverse - You can put the auto movement into a loop by clicking the Auto Reverse ( )button . When the slider position marker reaches either end of the track it will reverse direction and continue scrolling. When auto reverse is active, the button background will be highlighted. And at faster speeds the slider may not reach the end point of the track before it reverses direction.

Volume and Pan Quick Set Buttons

There are three buttons for quick setting of the slider position marker without having to drag the marker: Set Left( ), Center( ) and Set Right ( ) buttons . Clicking these buttons will stop auto-scroll if it is in progress.

About Speed Settings

Rule of thumb: A lower Speed takes longer for the Volume to rise (or fall) to its target volume. The auto scroll speed goes faster as the speed value increases.

As guidance, here are some sample speed values and the related number of seconds it will take for the slider position marker to traverse the width of the track. Times are not exact and will vary to a small degree depending on current processor load and your computer hardware speed.
Speed 1 = 1 minute 50 seconds to traverse the width of the track. (slowest)
Speed 10 = 11 seconds
Speed 100 = 1 seconds
Speed 1000 = 0.1 seconds (fastest)

For those who like charts, Figure 4 shows a sampling of how long a Fade-In will take to reach 100% Volume (starting at 0% volume) as a function of Fade-In Speed.

Figure 4. Sample Fade-In Volume Chart (WMP driver)

Applying Volume and Pan as Master Settings

The volume and pan settings can be applied to all Sound Items as master settings. See Behavior menu to select these modes.

Or you can save volume and pan settings with each individual Sound Item. In this mode, when you select a new Sound Item in the list, the volume and pan slider settings are adjusted based on the saved values for that Sound Item. This is useful if you want fine grained control over each Sound Item.

Also, be aware that these volume and pan settings are ignored when playing 3D sound with the 3D editor.