Learning Core Audio: A Hands-On Guide to Audio Programming for Mac and iOS

Audio can affect the human brain in the most powerful and profound ways. Using Apple’s Core Audio, you can leverage all that power in your own Mac and iOS software, implementing features ranging from audio capture to real-time effects, MP3 playback to virtual instruments, and web radio to VoIP support. The most sophisticated audio programming system ever created, Core Audio is not simple. In Learning Core Audio, top iOS programming author Chris Adamson and legendary Core Audio expert Kevin Avila fully explain this challenging framework, enabling experienced Mac or iOS programmers to make the most of it.

In plain language, Adamson and Avila explain what Core Audio can do, how it works, and how it builds on the natural phenomena of sound and the human language of audio. Next, using crystal-clear code examples, they guide you through recording, playback, format conversion, Audio Units, 3D audio MIDI connectivity, and overcoming the unique challenges of Core Audio programming for Mac and iOS.

Coverage includes

• Mastering Core Audio’s surprising style and conventions

• Implementing recording and playback with the Audio Queue architecture

• Using Audio Units to synthesize audio, perform effects on audio streams, capture from the mic, and mix multiple streams

• Managing file streams and converting formats with Core Audio’s helper APIs

• Creating positional audio in 3D space with OpenAL

• Using Core MIDI to synthesize audio on-the-fly

• Leveraging your Cocoa and Objective-C expertise in Core Audio’s C-based environment

When you’ve mastered the “black arts” of Core Audio, you can do some serious magic. This book will transform you from an acolyte into a true Core Audio wizard.

Kevin Avila (a.k.a. dogbert) is a smooth blend of carbon compounds, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, with some impurities for added flavor. Additionally, he has more than 15 years' experience developing for the Mac and, since its release, the iPhone. Kevin has been involved in every corner of the audio market, from being an engineer at Apple to configuring professional recording studios. He currently is a code mercenary for various clients while he sits in his underwear at home, sipping coffee.