::| SUBSYNTH

lowlevel audio synthesis subsystem. modular analog synthesizer in software

: intro to subsynth (rhymes with "substance") :

what is SUBSYNTH?
- stands for SUBsystem for audio SYNTHesis
  - modular analog synthesizer in software
  - low level synthesizer subsystem based on the unit generator concept.
  - similar in fuction and form to hardware modular analog synthesizers, except this is all done in software.
The benefits?
- Very general. Construct arbitrary synthesis or filtering algorithms for use in realtime or offline.
- scalable. For more capability, you can reconfigure or even upgrade your hardware for more power. The software stays the same.
- Control. Allows complete control over audio through standard synthesis methods.
- Very portable. No dependance on special (or expensive) hardware. Everyone hears the same thing regardless of location.
- Extendable. OpenSource (LGPL), with a well defined framework to build on.

: motivation :

needed a base audio system in which to build higher level audio components
some examples of higher level components:
- sound engines (such as ones used in)
  - virtual reality
  - 3D games
- music composition tools
- scientific sonification tools
Design requirements for such components (is that the system should be)
- highly interactive
- highly expressive
- very configurable (flexible pluggable pieces)
- scalable (on PCs, workstations, supercomputers)

: realtime :

soft realtime
scalable
- can be configured to run on single thread, or multithread systems...
why is realtime important to SUBSYNTH
- software built on this API needs to be
  - highly interactive (and that means we need)
    - low latency
    - guarenteed delivery of signal data
  - scalable to handle larger configurations
    - multi processor task scheduling
why soft real time and not hard/firm?
- needs to run on popular operating systems
  - Win32, IRIX, LiNUX, MacOS, etc...

: opensource :

: documentation :