[LAD] Guide to Linux Sound APIs

[Emanuel Rumpf]

2008/9/25 Lennart Poettering <mzynq at 0pointer.de>:
>
> http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/guide-to-sound-apis
>
> I'd be very thankful for comments!
>

Thank you for this effort.
I think it's a good idea, but
I feel it's to biased too.

For example you write:
"I don't think that PortAudio is very good API for Unix-like operating
systems. I cannot recommend it, but it's your choice."
That's your opinion only, without any why.
I would prefere a pro/contra style with facts instead,
maybe with some clearly separated opinion-statements at the bottom of it.

You tend to recommend alsa, where I would not.
You write "ALSA isn't portable!  -  That's not true! " but alsa has
not been ported yet AFAICT, so this is almost a non-sence statement.

It's a lot of opion involved in the audio API scene, so it's not bad
in general to mention opinions there,
but that should be made more clear and not be mixed or titled as a guide.

**I** would not recommend anyone to use alsa directly. **My** list:
If you have professional ambitions, use jack (and do it right:
rt-thread,  non blocking)
In every other case use an abstraction layer as PortAudio / Phonon.
It's more simple to write and can be used with different backends.
For games, SDL audio layer might be a choice.

Another point, that should be mentioned:
How well does the API play together with graphics,video, does it syncronize?


Emanuel