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Important: This document is part of the Legacy section of the ADC Reference Library. This information should not be used for new development.

Current information on this Reference Library topic can be found here:

QuickTime Music Architecture

Q Is it possible to have four simultaneous voices?

A Yes, you can have four simultaneous voices.

Q What load do four voices place on the CPU of a 25MHz 68030 Mac?

A Four voices are not a problem for a 25MHz 68030 Macintosh. On a Macintosh LC, we have measured approximately 30 percent CPU usage using 5 voices.

Q Does the load level depend on the number of instruments used simultaneously?

A Yes. The actual load depends on how many instruments are playing simultaneously.

Q Can we build our own instruments? If so, is there a tool available for this purpose?

A In QuickTime 2.0, there is no way to add user- instrument files. However, you can embed instruments into QuickTime movies. Future releases will add Musical Instrument Extensions to your system folder.

Q Are the answers to all the above questions the same for the Windows version of QuickTime as they are for the Mac version?

A On a Windows machine, the music in QuickTime movies plays through a sound card, with MIDI hardware support, using the MIDIMAPPER driver, with very minimal CPU load.

Q Are the instrument sounds the same on Windows?

A The sound of the instruments can vary with the sound card installed.

Q Are most PC sound cards supported?

A The music in your movies will play on any PC sound card that supports MIDI playback under Windows.

[May 01 1995]