ANY-maze Help > The ANY-maze reference > The Protocol page > The elements of a protocol > Inputs and outputs > Speakers > Setting up a speaker > Specifying whether the speaker should be playing at the start and/or end of the test

Specifying whether the speaker should be playing at the start and/or end of the test

In brief

You can use the buttons on the speaker's settings page to specify whether the speaker should start playing at the moment the test starts, or whether it should be silent when the test starts.

Details

If you want the speaker to start playing when the test starts, then select the Start playing when the test starts option.

If you want the speaker to be silent at the start of the test and to only start playing during the test, then you should not select the above option, but rather use a procedure to switch the speaker on at the appropriate moment.

Note that you can also use procedures to alter what the speaker is playing and to change its volume, while the test is running.

Starting the speaker playing BEFORE the test starts (legacy option)

In versions of ANY-maze prior to 5.20, there was an option to start the speaker playing before the test began (i.e. when the test was 'Ready'). If you used this option, and you open your experiment or protocol in version 5.20 (or later), then you will find that the option is still displayed and it will still work in the same way as it did previously. However, if you turn the option off, then it will disappear from the settings and you won't be able to turn it back on again.

In version 5.20 (and later), if you want to start a speaker playing before the test starts then the best method is to create a procedure to do this; as can be seen in figure 2, this is very simple.

Figure 2. This one-statement procedure will start the 'Cage speaker' playing before the test starts (because statements in the orange-shaded area are performed as soon as the test is ready)

The key point here is that statements in the orange-shaded area at the top of the procedure editor are performed as soon as the test is ready. So, if you add an Action statement (to start a speaker playing) to this area, then the speaker will start playing before the test begins.

ANY-maze help topic T0211