I'm a newbie to audio in linux. I can code in C, and I know that
if you $cat /dev/dsp you can see your microphone feeding weird
shit into this sound device. I've also read that this device is encoded
as 8-bit unsigned, and I know the binary math of that format. I'm
currently coding on Ubuntu Hardy.

I'm looking for some helpful tips on two simple processes, for which I'll be very grateful:

1. What are these weird "{{PP--"characters in /dev/dsp and how do I convert
them to some numerical form that I can understand and play with? Are they ASCII representations of 8-bit unsigned numbers? How do I convert this to
samples? (I know a "little" DSP theory, but kindly assume that I'm not very good).

2. I'd like to feed a pure sine wave to /dev/audio, and then another wave
and mix them together to hear some beats. Basically, I want to try out
raw additive synthesis using C and feeding cool arrays to either /dev/audio or /dev/dsp.

Any help would be appreciated, and as for karma, you know you're only
going to profit.

ta-da,
fadereu
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