Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] multi-track audio files - what format ?
From: David Olofson (audiality_AT_swipnet.se)
Date: pe loka 08 1999 - 20:36:24 EDT
On Fri, 08 Oct 1999, Jörn Nettingsmeier wrote:
> one file per track:
> + easy offsetting, just add zeros at the beginning
> + easy to move parts around
> + tracks can be spread over different disks, thus speeding up disk
> i/o.
> - tracks will be read at differrent speeds depending on disk
> geometry and other fs related things, so i'd expect this needs
> larger buffers than interleaved files, thus greater latency.
> (does that make sense ?)
It does to some extent; N files means N head seeks/set of read buffers. That
is, you have to use bigger buffers (ie read more from each file at a time) to
keep seek overhead low.
However, you can *not* assume that the buffer size becomes irrelevant with a
single file. There is a low limit that depends on the file system, the drive
and other things. I'd guess you need some 3-6 tracks or so before the
difference justifies using bigger buffers than you'll need for reliability
anyway.
> it seems that the first way is more elegant to read from/write to in
> real time, while the latter is nicer for editing purposes.
That's about it, I guess. There's no such thing as a perfect solution...
//David
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