Custom audio effects

This article describes how to create a Windows Runtime component that implements the IBasicAudioEffect interface to create custom effects for audio streams. You can use custom effects with AudioGraph, MediaCapture, and MediaComposition.

Add a Windows Runtime component for your audio effect

In Visual Studio, add a Windows Runtime Component (C#) project to your WinUI 3 solution:

1. Right-click your solution in Solution Explorer and select Add > New Project.
2. Select the Windows Runtime Component project template.
3. Name the project AudioEffectComponent.
4. Add a project reference from your main WinUI 3 app to this component project.
5. Rename the default class file to ExampleAudioEffect.cs.

Implement the IBasicAudioEffect interface

Your audio effect must implement all methods and properties of the IBasicAudioEffect interface.

using System.Collections.Generic;
using Windows.Media;
using Windows.Media.Effects;
using Windows.Media.MediaProperties;
using Windows.Foundation.Collections;

namespace AudioEffectComponent;

public sealed class ExampleAudioEffect : IBasicAudioEffect
{
    private AudioEncodingProperties _currentEncodingProperties;
    private IPropertySet _propertySet;
    private float _echoDelay = 0.5f; // delay in seconds
    private float _echoMix = 0.5f;   // mix level (0-1)

    public bool UseInputFrameForOutput => true;

    public IReadOnlyList<AudioEncodingProperties> SupportedEncodingProperties
    {
        get
        {
            var supportedProperties = new List<AudioEncodingProperties>();

            AudioEncodingProperties encodingProps1 =
                AudioEncodingProperties.CreatePcm(44100, 1, 32);
            encodingProps1.Subtype = MediaEncodingSubtypes.Float;
            supportedProperties.Add(encodingProps1);

            AudioEncodingProperties encodingProps2 =
                AudioEncodingProperties.CreatePcm(48000, 1, 32);
            encodingProps2.Subtype = MediaEncodingSubtypes.Float;
            supportedProperties.Add(encodingProps2);

            return supportedProperties;
        }
    }

    public void SetEncodingProperties(
        AudioEncodingProperties encodingProperties)
    {
        _currentEncodingProperties = encodingProperties;
    }

    public void SetProperties(IPropertySet configuration)
    {
        _propertySet = configuration;

        // Read custom properties if provided
        if (configuration != null &&
            configuration.TryGetValue("EchoDelay", out object delay))
        {
            _echoDelay = (float)delay;
        }

        if (configuration != null &&
            configuration.TryGetValue("EchoMix", out object mix))
        {
            _echoMix = (float)mix;
        }
    }

    public void ProcessFrame(ProcessAudioFrameContext context)
    {
        // Audio processing logic goes here.
        // See the echo effect example below.
    }

    public void Close(MediaEffectClosedReason reason)
    {
        // Clean up resources
    }

    public void DiscardQueuedFrames()
    {
        // Discard any cached frames
    }
}

Create an echo effect

The following example shows a ProcessFrame implementation that creates an echo effect. The effect stores previous audio data in a buffer and mixes it with the current audio data after a configurable delay.

To access the raw audio buffer, you need the IMemoryBufferByteAccess COM interface. Add the following definition in your effect namespace:

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

[ComImport]
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.Guid("5B0D3235-4DBA-4D44-865E-8F1D0E4FD04D")]
[InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIUnknown)]
unsafe interface IMemoryBufferByteAccess
{
    void GetBuffer(out byte* buffer, out uint capacity);
}

private float[] _echoBuffer;
private int _echoBufferPosition;
private float _echoDelay = 0.5f; // delay in seconds
private float _echoMix = 0.5f;   // mix level (0-1)
private Windows.Media.MediaProperties.AudioEncodingProperties _currentEncodingProperties;

public unsafe void ProcessFrame(ProcessAudioFrameContext context)
{
    AudioFrame inputFrame = context.InputFrame;

    using (AudioBuffer inputBuffer =
        inputFrame.LockBuffer(AudioBufferAccessMode.ReadWrite))
    using (IMemoryBufferReference inputReference =
        inputBuffer.CreateReference())
    {
        byte* dataInBytes;
        uint capacityInBytes;

        ((IMemoryBufferByteAccess)inputReference).GetBuffer(
            out dataInBytes, out capacityInBytes);

        float* dataInFloat = (float*)dataInBytes;
        int dataInFloatLength =
            (int)capacityInBytes / sizeof(float);

        // Initialize echo buffer on first call
        if (_echoBuffer == null)
        {
            int delaySamples = (int)(
                _currentEncodingProperties.SampleRate * _echoDelay);
            _echoBuffer = new float[delaySamples];
        }

        for (int i = 0; i < dataInFloatLength; i++)
        {
            float input = dataInFloat[i];
            float echo = _echoBuffer[_echoBufferPosition];

            // Mix the original signal with the echo
            dataInFloat[i] = input + (echo * _echoMix);

            // Store the current sample in the echo buffer
            _echoBuffer[_echoBufferPosition] = input;
            _echoBufferPosition =
                (_echoBufferPosition + 1) % _echoBuffer.Length;
        }
    }
}

Add the effect to an audio graph

To use the custom effect with an AudioGraph, create an instance of the effect definition and add it to a node:

using Windows.Media.Audio;
using Windows.Media.Effects;

var effectDefinition = new AudioEffectDefinition(
    typeof(AudioEffectComponent.ExampleAudioEffect).FullName);

audioFileInputNode.EffectDefinitions.Add(effectDefinition);

Pass configuration to the effect

You can pass configuration values to your effect by using a PropertySet:

var properties = new PropertySet();
properties["EchoDelay"] = 0.3f;
properties["EchoMix"] = 0.6f;

var effectDefinition = new AudioEffectDefinition(
    typeof(AudioEffectComponent.ExampleAudioEffect).FullName,
    properties);

In your effect's SetProperties method (shown earlier), read these values from the property set to configure the effect at runtime.

Add the effect to MediaCapture

You can also add the custom audio effect to a MediaCapture audio stream:

var effectDefinition = new AudioEffectDefinition(
    typeof(AudioEffectComponent.ExampleAudioEffect).FullName);

await _mediaCapture.AddAudioEffectAsync(effectDefinition);

Related content

• Custom video effects
• Camera
• Audio graphs