[Bug 17415] (JSWorkers): JavaScriptAudioNode processing in workers

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=17415

--- Comment #88 from Chris Rogers <crogers@google.com> 2012-07-31 06:20:54 UTC ---
(In reply to comment #87)
> (In reply to comment #85)
> > I think there's been a misunderstanding that somehow the JavaScript code
> > rendering audio in a JavaScriptAudioNode callback will block the audio thread! 
> > This is not the case.  An implementation should use buffering
> > (producer/consumer model) where the JS thread produces and the audio thread
> > consumes (with no blocking).  This is how it's implemented in WebKit.
> 
> How does this work in a subgraph similar to this?:
> 
> +------------+      +---------------------+      +------------------+
> | SourceNode |----->| JavaScriptAudioNode |----->| BiquadFilterNode |
> +------------+      +---------------------+   +->|                  |
>                                               |  +------------------+
> +------------+      +---------------------+   |
> | SourceNode |----->|    AudioGainNode    |---+
> +------------+      +---------------------+
> 
> (hope this ASCII art works)
> 
> I assume that without the input from the SourceNode, the JavaScriptAudioNode
> will not be able to produce anything (hence its callback will not be fired
> until enough data is available), and likewise the BiquadFilterNode can not
> produce any sound until data is available from both the JavaScriptAudioNode and
> the AudioGainNode.
> 
> In other words, if the JavaScriptAudioNode callback in the main thread is
> delayed by a setInterval event, for instance, i guess that at least the
> BiquadFilterNode (and all nodes following it?) will need to halt until the JS
> callback gets fired and finished so that it has produced the necessary data for
> the graph to continue?

No, this is not the case.  We're talking about a real-time system with an audio
thread having realtime priority with time-constraints.  In real-time systems
it's very bad to block in a realtime audio thread.  In fact no blocking calls
are allowed in our WebKit implementation, including the taking of any locks. 
This is how pro-audio systems work.  In your scenario, if the main thread is
delayed as you describe then there will simply be a glitch due to buffer
underrun in the JavaScriptAudioNode, but the other graph processing nodes which
are native will continue processing smoothly.  Obviously the glitch from the
JavaScriptAudioNode is bad, but we already know that this can be possible due
to things such as setInterval(), GC, etc.  In fact, it's one of the first
things I described in some detail in my spec document over two years ago. 
Choosing larger buffer sizes for the JavaScriptAudioNode can help alleviate
this problem.

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Received on Tuesday, 31 July 2012 06:21:02 UTC