Re: Getting Started with Core Audio ???
Re: Getting Started with Core Audio ???
- Subject: Re: Getting Started with Core Audio ???
- From: Ross Bencina <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:38:58 +1100
Hi Jake,
On 13/02/2012 1:04 PM, Jake Penton wrote:
> Anyway, I expect that this is all old news to
> anyone experienced with core audio programming.
Positively antediluvian.
> My question is: Is there some sensible way to
> get started with this stuff? Has Apple released
> any information about the state of the
> documentation?
Apple tends to apply a policy of silence with regards to discussing
their shortcomings.
> I see that there is a book coming out perhaps in the spring that
> might help me out. Is there another sensible way to try to move ahead
> in the meanwhile?
Historically the OS X CoreAudio documentation was not built in to XCode
(presumably because no one prioritised fixing it). I'm surprised it's
not in XCode 4.2 though. I still use XCode 3.2 and there is *some*
documentation in the documentation browser there. It does seem to be
available online:
https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/MusicAudio/Conceptual/CoreAudioOverview/WhatsinCoreAudio/WhatsinCoreAudio.html
That looks like a good place to start reading.
The "main API documentation" is located in comments in the header files
for the CoreAudio APIs. This is by far the best place to look for
detailed, authoratative technical information. This may or may not be
enough to get you started.
The AudioUnits documentation for iOS *is* in XCode if you have the iOS
SDK, and is mostly also vaid on OSX. It does provide a good overview, if
not the deatil you'll get from the header files.
There are a bunch of CoreAudio related "Technical Q & A" items you can
search for. These are good at clarifying specific issues and it's good
to know about what's there. I don't have a full list, but this gives you
an idea:
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=apple+technical+Q+&+A+CoreAudio
Historically members the CoreAudio development team have been active on
this list (William Stewart, Jeff Moore, Doug Wyatt, James McCartney). If
you search the list archives you will generally find that they have
provided answers to questions you probably need answering.
Alternatively, if you search google with your questions you will often
find the best responses coming from these people in list archive posts.
If you're looking to do real-time Audio I/O on OSX you need to know that
AUHAL is the OS X equivalent of RemoteIO on iOS. It's the component you
can use to do real-time Audio I/O. There is also a low level component
called the HAL which you might want to use although Apple generally seem
to advise against it, and there is also Audio Queues if you don't need
low latency i/o (probably it has some other benefts but I never used it.)
If you'd prefer not to directly participate in Apple's vendor lock-in
bonanza, depending on your needs, you could also consider using a 3rd
party layer such as JUCE, RTAudio or PortAudio.
Hope that helps,
Ross.
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