Where Did I Start?

The following were the starting points for all this:

• I have two karaoke machines, each with different capabilities.

• I wanted to build a “best of both worlds” machine from my computers.

• My initial attempt using the Java Sound API worked but suffered from latency, enough to make it unusable.

• Attempts to move any part of this Java solution to low-powered devices like the Raspberry Pi just failed miserably.

Where Did I Get To?

Well, I got most of the way there. I now have a system playing videos in the background and playing karaoke files using the TiMidity synthesizer. I didn’t get scoring systems working, but that involves a further exploration into digital signal processing.

I actually got it all working on the Raspberry Pi, but that meant digging into the Raspberry Pi’s GPU to handle the video effects, and I have dealt with its GPU programming in a separate book.

How Did I Get There?

Well, obviously I needed to play with sound. I started with the Java Sound API, and when that proved to have latency issues, I started hunting through all aspects of sound on Linux. That’s why this book has sections on ALSA, Jack, PulseAudio, and more. I couldn’t find the information I was looking for in a clear enough manner, so as I discovered more, I wrote it all down, and the result is this book.

I hope you find it to be of general value and not just something that fed my particular obsession. I’ve learned a tremendous amount in writing this book, and I feel confident that if you want to do anything with sound under Linux, then this book will give you at least some of the answers.

Regards, and good luck with your own projects!