Audio Out CHOP
Summary
The Audio Out CHOP sends audio to any of the attached audio output devices using DirectSound. The audio channels can be routed to any speaker location that DirectSound uses, which is 7.1 and more. See Outputs section below.
The second input on the Audio Out CHOP can be used for volume control.
Parameters - Audio Out Page
Device /device - A menu of available audio devices to output to. Selecting default sets the audio device to that which is selected in Windows Control Panel>Sounds and Audio Devices>Audio>Sound Playback.
Minimum Target /mintarget - the lower end of the queue target range. The Audio Out CHOP will try to maintain a queue length greater than or equal to this number. Units are seconds.
Maximum Target /maxtarget - the upper end of the queue target range. The Audio Out CHOP will try to maintain a queue length less than or equal to this number. Units are seconds.
Maximum Queue /maxqueue - the maximum size of the queue when full.
Speed Variation /speedvar - the amount that the Audio Out CHOP will vary the speed of the audio playback to try to get the queue size back within the Minimum Target and Maximum Target range.
Volume /volume - 0 = mute, 1 = full volume.
Pan /pan - 0 = left, 0.5 = centered, 1 = right.
Recover Outside Range /recover - If the queue gets outside the Minimum/Maximum Recover range specified below, the queue jumps to get back within the correct range. If over the maximum range, samples will be discarded. If under the minimum range, samples will be skipped until the queue is back within the correct range.
Minimum Recover /minrecover - the minimum queue length allowed before the queue recovers.
Maximum Recover /maxrecover - the maximum queue length allowed before the queue recovers.
Clamp Output /clampoutput - clamps the output between -1 and 1 to avoid clipping and overdriving of the audio system.
Cook Every Frame /cookalways - Forces the CHOP to cook every frame. This should be checked on at all times when outputing audio. It can be turned off when the CHOP is not in use.
Parameters - Output 1 Page
Outputs - The outputs on this page and the following Output 2 page are for routing to an audio device's different speaker outputs. Not all devices will support all outputs.
When the Audio Out CHOP has multiple input channels, the channels are applied to the checked speaker outputs in order. The first input channel is output to the first speaker checked, the second input channel is output to the second speaker checked, and so on.
The following speaker outputs are found on this parameter page:
- Front Left
- Front Right
- Front Center
- Low Frequency
- Back Left
- Back Right
- Front Left of Center
- Front Right of Center
- Back Center
Parameters - Output 2 Page
The following speaker outputs are found on this parameter page.
- Side Left
- Side Right
- Top Center
- Top Front Left
- Top Front Center
- Top Front Right
- Top Back Left
- Top Back Center
- Top Back Right
Notes
ASIO not supported.
Looking at dropouts and pops - Connect an Info CHOP to the Audio Out CHOP and to any In CHOPs that lead to it... watch the channels of the Info CHOP to help understand what's being depleted and how. When the cook time exceeds the Timeslice size (default 150 msec), the Audio Out CHOP depletes and cannot recover it's queue size until it pops. You need to increase the timeslice size, but that may cause long cooks, or optimize your networks so that the cook time does not exceed the timeslice size.
To find out how long your time slices are: Perform CHOP channel timeslice_step times the frame rate.
