Best way to play short sound file?

[giomach 1]

Windows 10, Delphi XE

 

I want to play a short sound file in response to clicking a button (var SoundButton:TBitBtn).  I have two ways which work, but neither is fully satisfactory.

 

Method 1: with a WAV file — fast, but needs a lot of disk space to store the files

procedure TFocalForm.SoundButtonClick(Sender: TObject);                         // 2024/03/20     for .WAV
var ms: TMemoryStream;
begin
ms := TMemoryStream.Create;
try
    ms.LoadFromFile (SoundFileName);
    ms.Position := 0;
    sndPlaySound (ms.Memory, (SND_ASYNC or SND_MEMORY))
  finally
    ms.Free
  end
end;

Method 2: with a MP3 file (var SoundPlayer: TMediaPlayer) — saves disk space but there is a delay of several seconds before the sound starts

 

procedure TFocalForm.SoundButtonClick(Sender: TObject);                         // 2024/03/20     for .MP3
begin
SoundPlayer.Close;
SoundPlayer.Filename := SoundFileName;
SoundPlayer.Open;
SoundPlayer.Play;
end;

Is there a better way?

 

And a related question: these sound clips — there could be hundreds of thousands of them eventually — are extracted from a smaller number of larger sound files.  Is there an interface to play such a clip from the larger file, by supplying start and finish times?  And if there is, would it be any advantage at runtime?

 

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[DelphiUdIT 187]

Try to use PasLibVlc ... can play whatever you want and it's fast (you should have installed VLC).

 

You have the full control on the stream media.

 

https://prog.olsztyn.pl/paslibvlc/

 

Edited March 21 by DelphiUdIT

[David Duffy 0]

Use the Bass audio library (DLLs) ?

[giomach 1]

Thanks for both suggestions, but in both cases it looks like a steep learning curve would be involved!  Lots of technical jargon to be deciphered!

 

Actually, I think TMediaPlayer can do all that I need.  I now realise that it can handle WAV as well as MP3, and that it will extract a clip, given start and end times.  It's just a matter of finding out how to do it all.

 

I intend adding these sound files to a Windows VCL app which I distribute, and I have some decisions to make: store the sounds locally or remotely; store them as WAV or MP3; store them as many separate files or extract them on-the-fly from longer files.  I'll just have to try them all and see what works best.