Forums > MaxMSP

Mp3 or Aiff (Computer fastness)


tedor
Aug 04 2009 | 6:30 am

Hello

I wonder whether someone could give me a tip.
I would like to have a simple drum machine, with about 5-10 5sec long audio samples. This is only going to be a very small part of the patch (sonification), the computer works already on high performance (fans are loud). Now I wonder whether I should import mp3’s or aif files to get the lowest CPU usage and the fastest performance. I guess it will be aif, as it is not compressed, but I am not sure, so I asked.

Thank you.
K


Matthew Aidekman
Aug 04 2009 | 8:54 am

I’m only 99% sure but max only stores uncompressed audio so having to convert it probably has to take up more cpu.


justin
Aug 04 2009 | 10:50 am

i second matthew’s reply… AFAIK max (as most DAW apps) decompress mp3 to uncompressed AIFF / WAV.

also it may be worth taking into account the sonic degradation of mp3, depending on whether sound quality is a key factor in your patch. drum sounds have lots of subtle characteristics which can easily be lost in the mp3 encoding process.

may or may not be an issue…

j


Gregory Taylor
Aug 04 2009 | 11:30 am

There no compelling reason to go anywhere near MP3 files, especially at the length you’re considering – their audio quality is inferior to either WAV or AIFF and you’re adding an extra conversion stage on reading the file using the "import" message.


tedor
Aug 04 2009 | 12:14 pm

hello all

thank you for all your responses.
Only one more question:

Does it matter if I import the aif file into the buffer instead of using the read message?

best
K


Peter Castine
Aug 04 2009 | 1:15 pm
tedor wrote on Tue, 04 August 2009 14:14
Does it matter if I import the aif file into the buffer instead of using the read message?

No.

I mean, it won’t change the near-zero overhead of reading an AIFF/WAVE doc, nor will it change the not insignificant overhead of decompressing an MPEG file.


tedor
Aug 04 2009 | 1:21 pm

thank you.
K

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
Forums > MaxMSP