Under the hood: practical audio processing in depth

This document is meant as a kind of loose tutorial on the implementation of different synthesis and effects algorithms and audio editing methods. As such, absolute accuracy or strict rigor are not issues here, just as they are not in the audio part. So, because this is not a formal document and I do not intend to take it too seriously, there might well be some mistakes or inaccuracies here. (To the best of my knowledge, there aren’t. But be forewarned and throw a note if you see something suspicious.) Consider this to be a disclaimer…

Chapters

Introduction: What is the audio DSP page all about?
Common issues in audio processing: Some common operations, algorithms and DSP considerations explained (empty)
Building blocks of audio DSP: Building blocks on which virtually all synthesis and effects algorithms are based (empty)
System level organization: Some concerns of higher level—how should one organize audio systems? (empty)
Concerns specific to realtime implementation: What makes realtime systems so special? And what are the common pitfalls? (empty)
Analysis and visualisation: Sound analysis and visualisation techniques implemented (empty)
Sound synthesis method internals: Synthesis methods internals explained and implemented (empty)
Effects algorithms and generic processing: Practical effects algorithms implementation (empty)
Setup, control and modulation: Control method internals (empty)
Sound storage. File formats, coding and compression.: Concerns specific to sound storage—what is stored, why and how? (empty)
Sound editing environments: What makes a good sound editing/producing environment (empty)
Audio signal processing hardware: Some consideration given to the hardware that exists for audio DSP (empty)
Vocabulary: Again, one needs to learn some new lingo before understanding all that jazz…
References and some further reading: Pointers to other sources of information are given here.

Appendices

APPENDIX: Common digital audio file formats: Interfaces are the essence of audio processing. Sound files are the most common way. (empty)
APPENDIX: Module file formats: Geeks encode music as modules. Format specifications are needed, then. (empty)
APPENDIX: Common instrument file formats: And before making music, one needs instruments—common formats are described here (empty)
APPENDIX: Standard MIDI files (SMFs): For the music, the most common format is a standard MIDI file, described here (empty)
APPENDIX: x86 and DSP: On the desktop, any DSP will be implemented on the x86 platform. Here’s how. (empty)
APPENDIX: Vector acceleration in desktop audio processing: Multimedia acceleration is included in many general purpose CPU’s—here’s how to use it (empty)