[music-dsp] Comparing cross-platform audio APIs

[Earl Vickers]

Re: ASIO vs. WMME

How about if the user's PC just has audio built-in to the mother 
board? Do these systems usually provide ASIO drivers? I need 
something that will work for 98% of typical end users, not just audio 
people.

Earl

>I'd stay as far away from WMME as possible, even the Windows guys think
>those APIs are... ah... well, let's say "optimized for something other
>than what you need."
>
>OTOH any decent soundcard will have ASIO drivers for at least Windows
>and Mac. Don't know about Linux. I've yet to find anything better than
>the ASIO drivers for any of the soundcards I've owned. YMMV.
>Ian
>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: music-dsp-bounces at ceait.calarts.edu [mailto:music-dsp-
>>  bounces at ceait.calarts.edu] On Behalf Of Earl Vickers
>>  Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 9:02 AM
>>  To: music-dsp at ceait.calarts.edu
>>  Subject: [music-dsp] Comparing cross-platform audio APIs
>>
>>  (This is my N+1th try at sending this. Apologies if they all show up
>>  at once...)
>>
>>  I'm doing a comparison of some available cross-platform audio APIs.
>>  So far, the ones I'm considering are:
>>
>>  RtAudio		http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~gary/rtaudio/
>>  PortAudio		http://www.portaudio.com/
>>  JUCE		http://www.rawmaterialsoftware.com/juce/
>>
>>  My main criteria are:
>>  1. The need to be able to work with whatever sound card or driver the
>>  user happens to have (mostly an issue for PCs), and
>>  2. The ability for simultaneous sample-accurate microphone input and
>>  audio output.
>>
>>  Here's what I have so far:
>>
>>    RtAudio
>>  Platforms:        OS X, Windows, Linux, etc.
>>  Drivers:          DirectSound, ASIO, CoreAudio, Can query for
>available
>>  devices
>>  File formats:     Unknown (not supported?)
>>  Sample-accurate:  Unknown
>>  Mic Input:        ? (supports input, output streaming)
>>
>>    PortAudio
>>  Platforms:        OS X, Windows, UNIX, etc.
>>  Drivers:          DirectSound, WMME, ASIO, CoreAudio
>>  File formats:     No support, recommends using Libsndfile
>>  Sample-accurate:  Unknown
>>  Mic Input:        ? (supports streaming audio)
>>
>>    JUCE             (also does lots of other stuff besides audio)
>>  Platforms:        OS X, Windows, Linux
>>  Drivers:          DirectSound, ASIO, CoreAudio
>>  File formats:     Wav, AIFF (no MP3?)
>>  Sample-accurate:  Unknown
>>  Mic Input:        ? (supports input, output streaming)
>>
>>  Can anyone help flesh this out or provide general recommendations on
>>  which API might be best for a professional app? The main unknowns
>>  involve the sample-accuracy issue. Am I correct in thinking this is
>>  primarily a function of what driver is used, and that on Windows I'd
>>  be best off using WMME?
>>
>>  Thanks,
>>
>>  Earl
>>  The Sound Guy, Inc.
>>  sfx at sfxmachine.com
>>  --
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>--
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