Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] Another Annoying "How Do I Get Started"Question
From: Paul Winkler (slinkp23_AT_yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Jul 09 2001 - 05:29:53 EEST
Greg Berchin wrote:
> I am intentionally ABANDONING the concept that the Athlon is part of a
> "general purpose" PC, instead thinking of it as a standalone compute
> engine. There will be NO other applications.
Well, if you're really sure that this is the only way your code will ever be
used, then yes, my suggestion wouldn't help you much.
> >1) When writing dsp, write as much of it as possible as LADSPA plugins.
>
> I have been looking at that, and the impression that I get is that
> everything is treated as a 32-bit float. (Please correct me if this is
> wrong.) That is not sufficient for my needs.
I believe you are correct; it was decided that float was sufficient for the vast
majority of situations, and the S (Simple) part of LADSPA is important.
Why isn't that sufficient? Is it because you want to connect to a 16-bit
soundcard? That's not a problem. If all you want to do is make a simple DSP
system that runs without a GUI, you might consider writing LADSPA plugins and
connecting them with e.g. Ecasound (http://www.eca.cx) which would save you
writing the input/output stuff and provide you with a flexible framework for
connecting your filters together.
Or is it because 32-bit floats give audible degradation in your dsp algorithms?
You can still write double-precision code in LADSPA plugins as long as the
inputs and outputs are 32-bit floats. I believe that's more than adequate for
most purposes. But then, I don't know what you're doing, and I don't really know
anything at the nuts-and-bolts level of DSP.
> >2) If you're developing your own application, wait a bit until the dust
> >settles on all this LAAGA stuff.
>
> If I can find out the low-level information that I need, I can help bring
> that about. Where do I start?
The technical stuff is way over my head, but Kai did a nice job of summarizing
what LAAGA is about here: http://www.eca.cx/laaga/
Read the list archives of recent messages by Paul Davis to see how the API is
shaping up.
If you're truly developing a standalone black box that will never interact with
other apps, or if you don't need low-latency realtime processing, then you don't
need LAAGA.
--
................... paul winkler ....................
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