Re: Web Audio API Proposal

On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 11:01 AM, Chris Marrin <cmarrin@apple.com> wrote:

> It's an interesting idea to imagine an "audio processing language" for use
> here. But I don't think JavaScript is the appropriate candidate for such a
> language. OpenCL would do a good job of audio processing. Someday perhaps
> WebGL shaders will take the place of SVG filters. And perhaps in the future
> we will have WebCL, which can bring OpenCL capabilities to the browser. At
> that point, "programmable audio processing" might be possible. Until then, I
> think we need a set of fixed function audio processing capabilities.
>

Why not plan for that future now? Otherwise we'll end up saddled with a
vestigial fixed-function pipeline, much like OpenGL has now.

I disagree with the notion that SVG filters inevitably lead to horrible
> hacks. You can do very interesting things with chains of SVG filters. You
> can abuse them, too, and pay a hefty penalty for your sins.
>

I claim that stringing together a series of SVG filters to achieve the
effect you want is often more clumsy and lower performance than writing the
effect directly in a more programmable model --- even if you find the
simplest possible set of filters that work.

> Splines in 2D canvas are not as good an analogy because they are a simple
> abstraction that meets practically all path construction needs. I haven't
> seen people trying to hack around the limitations of splines.
>
> Many of the audio nodes described in Chris' proposal are similarly simple
> abstractions of existing audio functionality.
>

OK, but is there any evidence that they're complete? What fraction of use
cases would be forced to resort to JS-based sample processing?

I have never seen anyone implement their own kinds of curves in 2D canvas
because Beziers weren't adequate to describe their paths.

Rob
-- 
"He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are
healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his
own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." [Isaiah
53:5-6]