Subject: RE: [linux-audio-dev] name a realtime wave mixing library/program with an API
From: mikko.a.helin_AT_nokia.com
Date: Thu Jul 04 2002 - 16:11:32 EEST
Hello,
Is this the very same libsndfile which is required by Jack (can't install Jack without it)????
Btw, it would be very useful and make some audio task faster if you could fix some samples or short phrases into RAM. I think Samplitude allows you use this kind of files (that are loaded into RAM instead of streaming from HD) in it's projects. In Cubase the same system works transparently as Cubase reads the data first into the very large buffers (you can define the size of the buffers yourself as well as the scheme used by Cubase). For some songs the HD led never lights after the first playback, so during MIDI tracking or mixing there's practically no HD activity. Note also that some standalone digital recorders like Roland VS840 record to ZIP disks which vere limited to 128 Mb for the first ZIP's, later the 250 Mb disks have replaced the old ones, but computers for DAW usually have 256 Mb - 512 Mb of RAM.
-Mikko
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ext Erik de Castro Lopo [mailto:erikd_AT_mega-nerd.com]
> Sent: 04. July 2002 5:40
> To: linux-audio-dev_AT_music.columbia.edu
> Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] name a realtime wave mixing
> library/program with an API
>
>
> On Wed, 03 Jul 2002 18:45:33 -0700
> "robbins jacob" <jacobrobbins__AT_hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I am writing a sequencer application for performance use,
> sort of like a
> > tracker but with a more flexible pattern structure.
>
> An the Paul Davis <pbd_AT_op.net> wrote:
>
> > the fashion in the last few years has been specifically to *not* put
> > PCM files in memory, but to stream them from disk (see
> > gigasampler). by putting them in memory, you limit the size of the
> > samples you can use quite noticeably. even a machine with 2GB of
> > physical RAM wouldn't be particularly useful with contemporary grand
> > piano samples.
>
> If you head in that direction I encourage you to look at libsndfile:
>
> http://www.zip.com.au/~erikd/libsndfile/
>
> which is simply a library for doing audio file I/O from/to disk. Using
> libsndfile it should be relatively easy to cache whatever you *must*
> have in memory and retrieve the rest from disk as you need it.
>
> I have released release candidate 2 of version 1.0.0 and there should
> be very few very minor changes between now and the final release.
>
> One of the things I have been doing is benchmarking all file I/O and
> fixing any problems found. The final release will do faster I/O than
> all previous releases for all file formats. This is much more
> than any
> of the competition does as I am not aware of any benchmarking being
> done on those projects.
>
> By using libsndfile, you'd be joining some of the following
> luminaries:
>
> Conrad Parker (author of sweep) says:
> "..... to use libsndfile, which is easier than falling off
> a teflon
> log after drinking a bottle of vodka"
>
> Paul Davis (Ardour and more) says:
> "i'm a huge fan of libsndfile (its so much better than the SGI
> inspired API that does the same thing)."
>
> Cheers,
> Erik
> --
> +-----------------------------------------------------------+
> Erik de Castro Lopo nospam_AT_mega-nerd.com (Yes it's valid)
> +-----------------------------------------------------------+
> Moore's Law: hardware speed doubles every 18 months
> Gates' Law: software speed halves every 18 months
>
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