Editing PC speaker (section)

=== Software ===
Several programs, including music software, operating systems or games, could play [[pulse-code modulation]] (PCM) sound through the PC speaker using special ''Pulse-width Modulation'' techniques explained later in this article.

==== Games ====
{{listen
|type = music
|filename = Paratrooper (video game intro music).ogg
|title = "Paratrooper intro"
|description = 
A fragment of [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J.S. Bach]]'s [[Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565|BWV 565]] played through PC speaker as intro to the video game ''[[Paratrooper (video game)|Paratrooper]]'' (1982)}}
The PC speaker was often used in very innovative ways to create the impression of [[polyphony|polyphonic]] music or sound effects within computer games of its era, such as the [[LucasArts]] series of adventure games from the mid-1980s, using swift [[arpeggio]]s. {{Citation needed|date=May 2009}} Several games such as ''[[Space Hulk (1993 video game)|Space Hulk]]'' and ''[[Pinball Fantasies]]'' were noted for their elaborate sound effects; ''Space Hulk'', in particular, even had full speech.

However, because the method used to reproduce PCM was very sensitive to timing issues, these effects either caused noticeable sluggishness on slower PCs or sometimes failed on faster PCs (that is, significantly faster than the program was originally developed for). Also, it was difficult for programs to do much else, even update the display, during the playing of such sounds. Thus, when sound cards (which can output complex sounds independent from the CPU once initiated) became mainstream in the PC market after 1990, they quickly replaced the PC speaker as the preferred output device for sound effects. Most newly-released PC games stopped supporting the speaker during the second half of the 1990s.

==== Other programs ====
Several programs, including MP (Module Player, 1989), [[Scream Tracker]], [[FastTracker 2|Fast Tracker]], [[Impulse Tracker]], and even [[device driver]]s for [[Linux]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Sergeev |first=Stas |title=PC-Speaker PCM driver for Linux |url=http://geocities.com/stssppnn/pcsp.html |access-date=2009-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026062530/http://geocities.com/stssppnn/pcsp.html |archive-date=26 October 2009 |url-status=unfit }}</ref> and [[Microsoft Windows]], could play PCM sound through the PC speaker.

Modern Microsoft Windows systems have PC speaker support as a separate device with special capabilities – that is, it cannot be configured as a normal audio output device. Some software uses this special sound channel to produce sounds. For example, [[Skype]] can use it as a reserve calling signal device for the case where the primary audio output device cannot be heard (for example because the volume is set to the minimum level, the amplifier is turned off or headphones are plugged in).

In the 1990s, a [[computer virus]] for [[Microsoft DOS]] named "Techno" appeared, playing a melody through the PC speaker while printing the word "TECHNO" on the screen until filled.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nastasi |first1=Alison |title=The World's Worst Computer Viruses Illustrated |url=https://www.flavorwire.com/468318/the-worlds-worst-computer-viruses-illustrated |website=Flavorwire |access-date=11 September 2021 |language=en |date=2014-07-19}}</ref>