What is the difference between DirectSound and DirectMusic?

DirectSound and DirectMusic are separate components of DirectX with some overlapping functionality. Both play WAV sounds, and DirectMusic ultimately synthesizes all sounds into waveforms that are played through DirectSound buffers. DirectMusic is a much more full-featured API that offers a complete solution for most audio scenarios in games and other interactive applications. Despite its name, DirectMusic plays all kinds of sounds including nonmusical sound effects.

DirectSound is the API of choice for scenarios that require low-level management of hardware resources, such as games with many short sounds that must be played with the lowest possible latency and use of system resources.

The DirectSound API can be used to independently play WAV sounds, even in applications that use DirectMusic to play other content. You can also use DirectSound to manipulate sound buffers that are managed by DirectMusic. (For example you can obtain a DirectSound buffer from a DirectMusic audiopath and move it in 3-D space.) With DirectSound's latest low-latency sink for DirectMusic things are much more better!

For a compete comparison between two API's read this table

==========================================================
Functionality 	  	           DirectMusic	       DirectSound 
==========================================================
Play WAV sounds                        Yes                 Yes   
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Play MIDI                              Yes                  No 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Play DirectMusic Producer segments     Yes                  No 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Load content files and manage objects  Yes    No, but some support in sample code 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Control musical parameters at run time Yes                  No 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Manage timeline for cuing sounds       Yes                  No 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Use downloadable sounds (DLS)          Yes                  No 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Set volume, pitch,and pan              Yes,                Yes  
of individual sounds            through DirectSound API  
--------------------------------------------------------------------                       Set volume on multiple                 Yes                  No 
 sounds (audiopaths)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Implement 3-D sounds                   Yes,                Yes 
                            through DirectSound API 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Apply effects (DMOs)                   Yes,                Yes 
                         through DirectMusic Producer
                           content or DirectSound API
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Chain buffers for mix-in               Yes,                 No     
 (send) effects                through DirectMusic         
                                  Producer content 
-------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Capture WAV sounds                      No                 Yes 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Implement full duplex                   No                 Yes 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Capture MIDI                           Yes                  No 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Control allocation of hardware buffers  No                 Yes 
==========================================================

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