Playback buffer length

The buffer length in milliseconds.
The default buffer length is 1500 milliseconds. Increasing the length, decreases the chance of the sound possibly breaking-up on slower computers, but also increases the latency for DSP/FX (e.g. equalizer).

Internet download buffer length

When streaming in blocks (e.g. listening to a Shoutcast/Icecast stream), this option determines the download buffer length (default value is 5000 ms).
Increasing the buffer length decreases the chance of the stream stalling, but also increases the time taken by Spider Player to create the stream, as it has to pre-buffer more data.

Proxy server

The proxy server settings, in the form of “user:pass@server:port”.
(empty string) = use the default proxy settings.
If only the “user:pass@” part is specified, then those authorization credentials are used with the default proxy server.
If only the “server:port” part is specified, then that proxy server is used without any authorization credentials.
Changes take effect from the next internet stream creation.
By default, Spider Player will use the Windows proxy settings, as set in the Internet Properties control panel.

Crossfading length

Crossfade - a process whereby one sound track is gradually faded out while a second sound track simultaneously replaces the original one.
Here you can configure the lenght of this effect. The default length is 5000 milliseconds.

32-bit sound processing

Channels can be made to use 32-bit floating-point sample data. When a channel uses floating-point sample data, Spider Player takes full advantage of the extra resolution when generating the decoded sample data, it does not simply convert 16-bit data to floating-point.

The main advantage of floating-point channels, aside from the increased resolution/quality, is that they are not clipped until output. This makes them particularly good for DSP/FX, because the quality is not degraded as the data passes through a chain of DSP/FX. So even if the output device is not capable of outputting the channel in its full quality, the quality is still improved.

When a floating-point channel is played, it is output in whatever resolution the output device supports.

Windows Vista audio is natively floating-point, so for optimum performance (not to mention quality), channels should also be floating-point. This particularly applies to formats that are decoded in floating-point anyway, ie. lossy formats like MP3 and OGG.

Software mixing

Check this to force the Spider Player to not use hardware mixing.
This option is useful when you hear clicks or distorted sound, especialy when you have a 32-bit sound processing enabled while using an integrated sound card for sound output.

Sound output device

Here you can specify which device Spider Player shall use for sound output.
Below you can see information on the device being used:

• Certified - The device driver has been certified by Microsoft. This flag is always set on WDM drivers.
• Emulated - The device's drivers do NOT have DirectSound support, so it is being emulated. Updated drivers should be installed.
• Min sample rate - The minimum sample rate supported by the hardware.
• Max sample rate - The maximum sample rate supported by the hardware.
• Hardware mixing - Mono, stereo, 8-bit and 16-bit samples are supported by hardware mixing.
• Hardware memory - The device's total amount of hardware memory.
• Free streams - The number of free sample slots in the hardware.
• Max number of speakers - The number of speakers the device/drivers supports.
• Driver name - The filename of the driver being used.
• DirectX version - DirectSound version.

MIDI SoundFont

Here you can specify which soundfont Spider Player shall use for MIDI playback. SF2 soundfonts are used to provide the sounds. There are several soundfonts available on the internet.

On Win32, the Creative 4MB (CT4MGM.SF2) or 2MB (CT2MGM.SF2) soundfont will be used by default when it's present (in the Windows system directory).

If it's not, you won't hear any sound while playing MIDI files, so you'll need to download a soundfont and point Spider Player to it.
Once you've downloaded a soundfont, press the “Replace…” button to choose it.

Above the “Replace…” button, there is a soundfont's information:

• Name - The name of the currently used soundfont.
• Copyright - Soundfont's copyright notice.
• Comment - Comment added by the author of a soundfont.