Auditioning with XACT for Windows

This topic gives step-by-step instructions for auditioning content on Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT) for Windows using the Audio Console application (AudConsole.exe). Follow these steps to begin auditioning.

  1. Launch the Audio Console Application
  2. Connect to the Audio Console Application with XACT
  3. Begin Auditioning

Launch the Audio Console Application

The Audio Console application (AudConsole.exe) is a program that supports auditioning of sounds by the XACT tool. You may use this tool to audition your sounds with XACT.

Note    The Audio Console application is provided as a means to get up and running with XACT early in the development process. Title applications may support auditioning by linking with an appropriate XACT library. For more information, see XACT Libraries.

To launch the Audio Console application

  1. Click Start.

  2. Select All Programs, Microsoft DirectX SDK, DirectX Utilities, and finally Audio Console.

Once the Audio Console has started, it will display a message indicating that it is waiting for the XACT Tool to connect. Once this message is displayed, proceed to the next step.

Connect to the Audio Console Application with XACT

Once the audio console application is running, you may connect to it using the XACT authoring tool.

To start the XACT authoring tool

  1. Click Start.

  2. Select All Programs, Microsoft DirectX SDK, DirectX Utilities, and finally Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT) .

  3. Once the XACT authoring tool is running, load a project containing the wave resources to audition.

  4. From the View menu, click View Windows Properties.

  5. From the Audition menu, click Connect to Default Windows Machine.

    Figure 1.  XACT's Audition menu

  6. When XACT has successfully connected to the development kit, the Audio Console Application will display a message indicating success.

Begin Auditioning

Once the XACT authoring tool on the PC and the Audio Console Application are connected, auditioning may begin.

The toolbar in the main XACT window contains a set of auditioning controls that allow you to play, repeat, and stop waves, sounds, and cues.

To start playback of a wave, sound, or cue

Figure 2.  Play Button

  1. Select the sound, wave, or cue you wish to play by left-clicking on it in the appropriate sound bank or wave bank.
  2. Click the Play button on the Auditioning Toolbar.

- OR -

  1. Right-click the sound, wave, or cue you wish to play, and select "Play" from the menu that appears.

Auditioning items may be played once, or repeated continuously.

To repeat playback continuously

Figure 3.  Repeat Playback Button

  1. Select the sound, wave, or cue you wish to play continuously by left-clicking on it in the appropriate sound bank or wave bank.
  2. Click the Repeat Playback button on the Auditioning Toolbar so that the button remains depressed.
  3. Click the Play button on the Auditioning Toolbar.

- OR -

  1. Right-click the sound, wave, or cue you wish to play, and select the "Repeat Playback" item from the menu that appears so that a check appears next to it.
  2. Right-click the same sound, wave, or cue again and select the "Play" item from the menu.

More than one sound, wave, or cue may be playing at a time. A playing sound, wave, or cue will be denoted by a lit icon in its corresponding sound bank or wave bank.

At any point you may choose to stop the playback of one or more auditioning items.

To stop a single sound, wave, or cue

Figure 4.  Stop Button

  1. Select a sound, wave, or cue that is currently playing by left-clicking on it in the appropriate sound bank or wave bank.
  2. Click the Stop button on the Auditioning Toolbar.

- OR -

  1. Right-click the currently playing sound, wave, or cue you wish to stop, and select "Stop" from the menu that appears.

With this stop mode, certain settings on cues and sounds may prevent playback from stopping immediately:

To stop a single sound, wave, or cue immediately

Figure 5.  Stop Immediately Button

  1. Select a sound, wave, or cue that is currently playing by left-clicking on it in the appropriate sound bank or wave bank.
  2. Click the Stop Immediately button on the Auditioning Toolbar.

These first two Stop options only apply to a selected sound, cue, or wave. You can stop all playing items by clicking the Stop All Button.

To stop all playing sounds, waves, and cues

Figure 6.  Stop All Button

  1. Click the Stop All button on the Auditioning Toolbar.

Stop Auditioning

To stop auditioning, press the 'Q' key from the Audio Console application window. This will stop any auditioning in progress and close the Audio Console.

See Also

XACT Audio Authoring, XACT Overviews, XACT Reference