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-rw-r--r--docs/source/usingmame/mamemenus.rst108
1 files changed, 108 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/docs/source/usingmame/mamemenus.rst b/docs/source/usingmame/mamemenus.rst
index ebade1e5188..d58bfe3756e 100644
--- a/docs/source/usingmame/mamemenus.rst
+++ b/docs/source/usingmame/mamemenus.rst
@@ -110,6 +110,14 @@ Network Devices
Shows the Network Devices menu, where you can set up emulated network
adapters that support bridging to a host network. This item is not shown if
there are no network adaptors that support bridging in the running system.
+Audio Mixer
+ Shows the :ref:`Audio Mixer <menus-audiomixer>` menu, where you
+ decide how to connect your system audio inputs and outputs to the
+ emulated system's microphones and speakers.
+Audio Effects
+ Shows the :ref:`Audio Effects <menus-audioeffects>` menu, which
+ allows to configure the audio effects applied between the emulated
+ system's speakers and the actual system audio outputs.
Slider Controls
Shows the Slider Controls menu, where you can adjust various settings,
including video adjustments and individual sound channel levels.
@@ -285,3 +293,103 @@ graphical form below the menu. Digital control states are either zero
ID** to copy the device’s ID to the clipboard. This is useful for setting up
:ref:`stable controller IDs <devicemap>` in :ref:`controller configuration files
<ctrlrcfg>`.
+
+
+.. _menus-audiomixer:
+
+Audio Mixer menu
+----------------
+
+The Audio Mixer menu allows to establish connections between emulated
+speakers and microphones, and system audio inputs and outputs. It
+uses the standard up/down arrows to select a device and/or current
+mapping, left/right arrows to change a value (system audio port,
+level, channel...) and [ ] to change column. In addition the (by
+default) F key adds a full mapping, C a channel mapping, and Delete
+clears a mapping.
+
+A full mapping sends all channels of a speaker to the appropriate(s)
+channel(s) of the system output, and similarly retrieves all channels
+of a microphone from the appropriate(s) input(s) of a system input.
+For instance a mono speaker will send audio to both channels of a
+stereo system output.
+
+A channel mapping maps between one channel of speaker or a microphone
+and one channel of a system input or output. It can be a little
+tedious, but it allows for instance to take two mono speakers and turn
+it into the left and right channels of a system output, which is
+useful for some cabinets.
+
+Every mapping has a configurable volume associated. When changing the
+volume, optionally hold shift/ctrl/alt keys to adjust the step amount.
+
+The mapping configuration is saved in the system cfg file.
+
+Some OSes propose an external interface to change mappings and volumes
+dynamically, for instance pipewire on linux. Mame does its best to
+follow that and keep the information in the cfg file for future runs.
+
+
+.. _menus-audioeffects:
+
+Audio Effects menu
+------------------
+
+This menu allows to configure the audio effects that are applied to
+the speaker outputs between the speaker device and the audio mixer.
+In other words, the output channels as seen in the audio mixer are the
+outputs of the effect chains. Each speaker has an independant effect
+chain applied.
+
+The chain itself is not configurable it is always in order:
+
+* Filter
+* Compressor
+* Reverb
+* EQ
+
+The parameters of each are fully configurable though. A configured
+parameter shows as white, a default as grey, and Clear allows to go
+back to the default value. The default parameters for the chain of a
+given speaker are the parameters of the Default chain, and the default
+parameters of the Default chain are fixed. The default chain allows
+to create a global setup that one likes and have it applied everywhere
+by default.
+
+
+Filter effect
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This effect proposes an order-2 high-pass and order-2 low-pass filter.
+The high-pass filter allows to remove the DC offset some emulated
+hardware has which can create saturation when not needed. The
+low-pass filter (defaulting to off) allows to reproduce how muffled
+the sound of a number of cabinets and TVs were.
+
+The Q factor defines how sharp the transition is, the higher the
+sharper. Over 0.7 the filter starts amplifying the frequencies around
+the cutoff though, which can be surprising.
+
+
+Compression effect
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Not implemented yet.
+
+
+Reverb effect
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Not implemented yet.
+
+
+EQ effect
+~~~~~~~~~
+
+The 5-band parametric equalizer allows to amplify or reduce certain
+bands of frequency in the spectrum. The three middle filters, and
+also the extreme ones if configured as "Peak", change frequencies
+around the cutoff. The Q factor selects the sharpness of the peak,
+the higher the sharper. The extreme filters in "Shelf" mode move all
+the frequencies under (or over) the cutoff frequency.
+