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ogc: rework audio driver to avoid clicks and gaps #38

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merged 1 commit into from
Jan 15, 2024

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mardy
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@mardy mardy commented Jan 15, 2024

When playing an audio stream the previous implementation was producing frequent clicks (also audible in the emulator). The reason is that SDL runs a thread that does these operations in a loop:

  1. Ask the driver for a buffer (GetDeviceBuf())
  2. Fill the buffer with audio data from the app
  3. Call PlayAudio() on the driver
  4. Call WaitDevice() on the driver

The clicks occurred because after a buffer had finished playing, our completion callback would set the condition variable, allowing the audio thread (which was blocking in point 4) to continue. However, since libaesnd does not offer an API to queue audio buffer, we were sending the next audio buffer only in PlayAudio(), that is after the points 1 and 2 were performed. And since point 2 involves copying buffers and possibly even converting them, this would often generate an audible delay.

The solution is to play the next buffer directly from the completion callback. The waiting logic has been rewritten to use a semaphore blocking on the availability of a buffer for writing (not for playback!).

The number of buffers has also been increase to protect against sudden spikes in CPU usage, although in the test applications 2 buffers are good enough too.

When playing an audio stream the previous implementation was producing
frequent clicks (also audible in the emulator). The reason is that SDL
runs a thread that does these operations in a loop:

1. Ask the driver for a buffer (GetDeviceBuf())
2. Fill the buffer with audio data from the app
3. Call PlayAudio() on the driver
4. Call WaitDevice() on the driver

The clicks occurred because after a buffer had finished playing, our
completion callback would set the condition variable, allowing the audio
thread (which was blocking in point 4) to continue. However, since
libaesnd does not offer an API to queue audio buffer, we were
sending the next audio buffer only in PlayAudio(), that is after the
points 1 and 2 were performed. And since point 2 involves copying
buffers and possibly even converting them, this would often generate an
audible delay.

The solution is to play the next buffer directly from the completion
callback. The waiting logic has been rewritten to use a semaphore
blocking on the availability of a buffer for writing (not for
playback!).

The number of buffers has also been increase to protect against sudden
spikes in CPU usage, although in the test applications 2 buffers are
good enough too.
@WinterMute WinterMute merged commit 2d53941 into devkitPro:ogc-sdl-2.28 Jan 15, 2024
16 of 17 checks passed
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2 participants