17.3 Downloadable Sounds
Downloadable sounds
(DLS) is an
extension to General MIDI that allows customizing the available MIDI
sounds by temporarily replacing standard ROM-based MIDI wavetable
instrumental sound samples with sound samples loaded from disk. DLS
samples can be instrumental sounds, sound effects suitable for games
(e.g., lion roars, tire squeals, or machine-gun fire), or even voice
clips. In addition to customizing the available sounds, DLS allows
software developers to ensure consistency across different sound
cards and platformsfor example, by replacing ROM-based piano
samples with DLS piano samples to make sure everyone hears the same
piano. DLS Level 2 is supported by the DirectMusic component of
Microsoft DirectX 7.0 and later running on Windows 95/98/2000/XP, and
is used by an increasing number of games, education packages,
multimedia encyclopediae, and similar software.
