[fluid-dev] Event Timing in FluidSynth

[ChordWizard Software]

Hi all,

Greetings from a new user of FluidSynth and thanks for the work that has made 
this great library available to all.

I am using it as a DLL to add soundfont support to the sound engine of my music 
application, Songtrix.  The sound engine handles the audio stream directly.

Typical use pattern on each audio callback (of typically 1024 frames) is:

1. Output pending midi events (for time interval) to fluid 
2. Render frames using fluid_synth_write_float 

Both steps are conducted serially via the same thread and this works fine.  

One thing I have noticed is that unlike other softsynths that I am supporting 
(such as VST and the DirectMusic synth) the fluid library has no concept of 
event timing for placing the pending events exactly into the forthcoming audio 
buffer.  Is there a specific reason for this?

I am aiming at sample accuracy of rendering, particularly for offline mixdown, 
the absence of timing information implies that all events are being rendered in 
the output buffer at the start of each rendered block.  For 1024-sized buffers 
@ 44100, this is a limit of resolution of 25ms, not so good.

One strategy I have tried to achieve sample accurary with fluid, is to 
interlace the event triggering and output rendering, in other words:

1. Output single pending event (or multiple if all at same time instant)
2. Render frames up to next event's time instant (or to the end of block if no 
more)

Trouble is, I get significant glitching with this approach and I can't 
understand why.  It happens with offline processing also, so it is not a 
processor capacity issue.

It seems there is something happening in fluid that works well with large 
buffers being rendered, but struggles when many smaller inter-event periods are 
rendered as described above.

Can anyone suggest what may be happening here, and what approach I should try 
to find a remedy?  I can send demo files if that is helpful.

Regards,

Stephen Clarke
Managing Director
ChordWizard Software Pty Ltd
address@hidden
http://www.chordwizard.com
ph: (+61) 2 4960 9520
fax: (+61) 2 4960 9580