.DirectMusic Producer FAQ

This is not much of a FAQ yet, as I haven't had time to put everything together. But you need a starting point for this program, and, to be kind, Microsoft's DirectX web site is a little obscure to read, and much of the information is about the previous version, DirectMusic 7.0. Give me a week or three.

What is DirectMusic Producer?
What is DirectX?
Why use DirectMusic Producer?
Where can I get DirectMusic Producer?
What are the system requirements for DirectMusic Producer?
How do I install DirectMusic Producer?

What is DirectMusic Producer?

DirectMusic Producer (hereafter referred to as DMP) is the primary tool for working with the DirectMusic module of Microsoft's DirectX API. In English, DMP is a music creation tool of staggering power and scope, with the goal of making it easier for programmers to integrate music into their Windows programs.

One of DMP's specialties is creating interactive music -- music that changes smoothly according to what the user does -- using IMA (Interactive Music Architecture), an evolution of Blue Ribbon Soundworks' older SCORE and AudioActive technologies. For instance, a web site may have a song playing on its main page, and going to one of the sub-pages might trigger a seque into a different song. Or an adventure game may have a transition from questing music to a battle theme when the monsters show up.

DMP is not intended for beginners or casual musicians -- those would be better served by MIDI jamming programs such as SuperJAM!, or by .WAV arranging programs such as Acid Music or eJay. It's capable of just about anything you might want, if you can get past the steep learning curve -- or if you can get a few good tutorials for specific projects....

What is DirectX?

Microsoft's DirectX Application Programming Interface is a collection of software modules and related tools, giving programmers more access to the "guts" of Windows. A program wriiten using DirectX has all manner of software "hooks" in it, and a runtime package, installed by the user, makes use of those "hooks" to run the program faster and more efficiently than it would otherwise. For more information, please refer to the DirectX page.

Why use DirectMusic Producer?

DMP is not for everyone. It takes some dedication, and the learning curve is steep. More to the point, since it is a tool for programming, and its primary aim is integrating music into software -- usually game software -- it is not as geared towards the working musician as a dedicated sequencer program might be.

That said, DMP can do just about anything you want musically. The tricky part is defining exactly what you want....

Where can I get DirectMusic Producer?

DMP 7.0 was made available on the coverdisks for a few British computer magzines, but otherwise you had to download and install the entire DX7 SDK (Source Developer's Kit), all 128 MB of it. With DMP 8.0, Microsoft made it available separately as an 8 MB download, which you can get by first going here, and then clicking on the following sidebar menu items: Graphics & Multimedia, DirectX, DirectMusic

(Just so you know, while there is no easy way to put a direct link to the DMP Download page, I could indeed put a direct link to the program. I did not, because I feel this method introduces you, relatively gently, to the Microsoft Developers Network menu system, which users of DMP will likely go back to once in a while. Also, the Download page has a helpful, digestible introduction to DMP, and also a link to the Demo package, which we will eventually get to learn quite well.)

Remember that you also need the DirectX 8.0 runtime package, which you can get here if you haven't got it already.

What are the system requirements for DirectMusic Producer?

To use DMP, your computer must have DirectX 8.0, and Internet Explorer version 4 or higher. Most Windows-based computers sold in the last three years should easily handle them; if your chipset is any form of Pentium or AMD running at 266 MHz or faster, you have at least 32 MB of RAM, and you're running Windows95 or later, most likely you're golden. Beefier systems will of course run better.

How do I install DirectMusic Producer?

Download the file DMusicProducer.exe from the MSDN Download page (as described above), and then Run it from the Start menu. This will unzip the needed files into a temporary folder, which should default to C:\ MsSdkTmp \ dmusprod. Go to that folder and Run the program setup.exe.

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