Audio tone player fails to generate short tones (Known Issue)

Article Metadata

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Tested with

Devices(s): All (S60)

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Compatibility

Platform(s): S60 3rd Edition
S60 5th Edition
Symbian^3

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Article

Keywords: CMdaAudioToneUtility

Created: User:Kbwiki (17 Jun 2010)

Last edited: hamishwillee (12 Mar 2012)

Description

The CMdaAudioToneUtility class enables the playback of tone sequences and DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency) strings.

The tones are generated by parsing the playback string and sending commands to the audio server note-by-note, causing a several-millisecond delay in starting the playback. Because of the way tone playback/stop commands are grouped together, trying to play very short tones (< 15 ms) may produce only a faint clicking noise or no sound at all.

Solution

When relatively quick playback of short sounds is needed, WAV files and Audio Streaming API should be used instead. Tone generator is not capable of reliably generating tones shorter than 10-15 ms.