Capturing Waveforms

Microsoft DirectSound enables you to capture sounds from a microphone or other input to the sound card, for immediate playback or storage in a file. Data can be captured in Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) or compressed formats.

The Capture object is used to query the capabilities of sound capture devices and to create buffers for capturing sound samples.

The CaptureBuffer object represents a buffer used for receiving data from the input device. This buffer is conceptually circular: When input reaches the end of the buffer, it automatically starts again at the beginning.

The methods of CaptureBuffer enable you to retrieve the properties of the buffer, start and stop audio capture, and retrieve data. On operating systems that support capture effects, it also provides methods for retrieving effect objects and ascertaining the status of effects.

More information about WAV capture is found in the following topics.

• Enumeration of Capture Devices
• Creating the Capture Object
• Capture Device Capabilities
• Creating a Capture Buffer
• Capture Buffer Information
• Capture Buffer Notification
• Capture Buffer Effects
• Using the Capture Buffer