Microsoft DirectX 8.1 (C++)

Music Files for Composition

When programming for DirectMusic composition, you will use a variety of files created in DirectMusic Producer or a similar application. You load these elements into the application as COM objects and obtain interfaces to them. See Loading Audio Data.

The following table summarizes the types of file objects you will encounter. Any of these objects can also be obtained from a container file or from a resource.

The Class GUID is the value that you put in the guidClass member of the DMUS_OBJECTDESC structure when loading the object.

Element	Class GUID	Interface	File type
Band	CLSID_DirectMusicBand	IDirectMusicBand8	bnd
Chordmap	CLSID_DirectMusicChordMap	IDirectMusicChordMap8	cdm
DLS collection	CLSID_DirectMusicCollection	IDirectMusicCollection8	dls
Segment	CLSID_DirectMusicSegment	IDirectMusicSegment8	sgt
Style	CLSID_DirectMusicStyle	IDirectMusicStyle8	sty

Note Bands can be authored as part of a style, in which case they are automatically loaded when the style is loaded. Similarly, styles and bands can be authored into a segment, in which case you don't need separate files for those elements.

Files can also contain references to other files. If a style contains a reference to a band file, the band is automatically loaded when the style is, provided the loader can find the band file.