Best way to handle sounds?

[dixondean25]

I'm getting to the point where I think I should start managing my sounds better. While I don't have many sounds now, I will eventually, and I want to start a good sound system before it's too late. I have 2 ideas for managing sounds.

First idea : manage them like a sprite sheet. Put all sounds into one file (soudbuffer) like a texture, and just set the playing offset to whichever sound I need, and stop it when that specific sound ends, like setting the texture rectangle. The thing is I have to have a sf::Time variable to comper to where the sound is constantly to stop it. But it's doable.

Second idea : make a lot of soundbuffers for each sound, and just have one sound that switches between them.

I understand that both of these methods mean you can't play multiple sounds at once, but that's how i want it. I will have multiple sounds, but each sound buffer or group of soundbuffers will be related somehow. So...anybody have any ideas or suggestions?

[Nexus]

Third idea: each sf::SoundBuffer represents a distinct sound, multiple sf::Sound instances share the same soundbuffer. Don't optimize in sprite-sheet style unless it brings clear advantages.

For sound management, you could have a look at Jesper Juhl's jukebox.

[dixondean25]

I tried that once. I made a list or set of sf::Sound, and just inserted a new sound when i needed it, then erased it from the list when it was done. But for some reason it wouldn't work. I should probably try again, because that to me was the best way to manage as well.

[Nexus]

std::set is only useful if you need an ordering. When the sounds have the same length, std::queue is ideal, otherwise you could use std::list with its remove_if() member function.

The problem with std::vector (and std::deque if you manipulate it in other places than on the ends) is that sounds can be copied/moved while playing, leading to destruction of the playing sound.

[Laurent]

If your app is constrained to a single sound at once, then I'd say that a single sf::Sound and multiple buffers will be a better idea, since it will enforce that constraint.