Glitch-free High-quality Internet Audio Streaming [message #413689] |
Sun, 20 March 2022 18:23 |
ol.sc
Messages: 211 Registered: January 2013
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Hi,
The other day I finalized A2Stream, a program that simultaneously
receives a file from any HTTP server and plays it through the stock
Apple II speaker circuit.
Some personal background: For many years by now, I've developed and
maintained Ethernet software for the Apple II. My focus was always on
practicability, portability and reusablitiy. Often I've invested in
tools, trying to enable others to create something cool. However, for
once I wanted to do the opposite: Showing off with a tech demo that
pushes boundaries.
A2Stream follows the general concept of DAC522, but with an improved
audio quality using pulse-width modulation at 22050Hz sample rate with
~5.17 bit resolution. This sample rate is kept consistent during the
complete playback, so A2Stream is supposed to sound better than
everything else using Apple II speaker circuit so far.
Project site - https://github.com/oliverschmidt/A2Stream
Demo video - https://youtu.be/YcYEnYsI-_M
Have fun,
Oliver
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Re: Glitch-free High-quality Internet Audio Streaming [message #413723 is a reply to message #413689] |
Tue, 22 March 2022 22:00 |
Hugh Hood
Messages: 689 Registered: November 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Oliver,
Allow me to add my kudos to those that you've already received in the
comments section of your youtube video that demos A2Stream.
Moreover, I was very impressed by the production quality of the video
you prepared.
Nice work.
Hugh Hood
On 3/20/2022 5:23 PM, Oliver Schmidt wrote:
> Hi,
>
> The other day I finalized A2Stream, a program that simultaneously
> receives a file from any HTTP server and plays it through the stock
> Apple II speaker circuit.
>
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Re: Glitch-free High-quality Internet Audio Streaming [message #413730 is a reply to message #413723] |
Wed, 23 March 2022 05:45 |
ol.sc
Messages: 211 Registered: January 2013
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Hi Hugh,
> Allow me to add my kudos to those that you've already received in the
> comments section of your youtube video that demos A2Stream.
I really appreciate your nice feedback!
> Moreover, I was very impressed by the production quality of the video
> you prepared.
>
> Nice work.
Yeah, it's for sure a new dimension compared to my previous videos :-)
That's because one of my daughters produced it for me using Kdenlive.
I was barely providing the raw material...
This is her own channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6pwcfc4GHU9PVyGl5UNkLg
Regards,
Oliver
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Re: Glitch-free High-quality Internet Audio Streaming [message #413767 is a reply to message #413689] |
Fri, 25 March 2022 23:40 |
Michael J. Mahon
Messages: 1772 Registered: October 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Oliver Schmidt <ol.sc@web.de> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> The other day I finalized A2Stream, a program that simultaneously
> receives a file from any HTTP server and plays it through the stock
> Apple II speaker circuit.
>
> Some personal background: For many years by now, I've developed and
> maintained Ethernet software for the Apple II. My focus was always on
> practicability, portability and reusablitiy. Often I've invested in
> tools, trying to enable others to create something cool. However, for
> once I wanted to do the opposite: Showing off with a tech demo that
> pushes boundaries.
>
> A2Stream follows the general concept of DAC522, but with an improved
> audio quality using pulse-width modulation at 22050Hz sample rate with
> ~5.17 bit resolution. This sample rate is kept consistent during the
> complete playback, so A2Stream is supposed to sound better than
> everything else using Apple II speaker circuit so far.
>
> Project site - https://github.com/oliverschmidt/A2Stream
> Demo video - https://youtu.be/YcYEnYsI-_M
>
> Have fun,
> Oliver
>
Oliver, this is amazing!
When I was building DAC522, I felt constrained to using 11kHz samples
because of memory limitations, and even then only a few seconds of sampled
sound would fit. That’s one reason why I wrote the wavetable synthesizers,
since they only required a limited palette of samples.
Streaming sound was unthinkable at the time, so I was blown away by
A2Stream!
Doubling the sample rate of course doubles the bandwidth, but I was really
surprised by the great fidelity and the noise reduction. At first hearing,
I thought I was listening to the source sound, not the playback!
And to do this while managing network sample streaming and an animation is
a remarkable programming feat. You’ve set a new benchmark for 8-bit Apple
II sound!
Congratulations! I hope you’ve inspired others by showing what can be
accomplished with skill and vision.
--
-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://michaeljmahon.com
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Re: Glitch-free High-quality Internet Audio Streaming [message #413770 is a reply to message #413767] |
Sat, 26 March 2022 09:33 |
ol.sc
Messages: 211 Registered: January 2013
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Hi Michael,
> When I was building DAC522, I felt constrained to using 11kHz samples
> because of memory limitations, and even then only a few seconds of sampled
> sound would fit.
Yeah. Usually everything about the Apple II is about memory
limitations. So coming from programming the Uthernet cards, I was
asking myself: "What can be done with the Apple II if memory isn't
limited, if the CPU is the only limitation."
> And to do this while managing network sample streaming and an animation is
> a remarkable programming feat. You've set a new benchmark for 8-bit Apple
> II sound!
>
> Congratulations! I hope you've inspired others by showing what can be
> accomplished with skill and vision.
I really, really appreciate your kind acknowledgement :-)
Regards,
Oliver
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Re:Glitch-free High-quality Internet Audio Streaming [message #413855 is a reply to message #413689] |
Tue, 05 April 2022 03:53 |
barana
Messages: 92 Registered: March 2013
Karma: 0
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Member |
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ol.sc@web.de (Oliver Schmidt) Wrote in message:r
> Hi,The other day I finalized A2Stream, a program that simultaneouslyreceives a file from any HTTP server and plays it through the stockApple II speaker circuit.Some personal background: For many years by now, I've developed andmaintained Ethernet software for the Apple II. My focus was always onpracticability, portability and reusablitiy. Often I've invested intools, trying to enable others to create something cool. However, foronce I wanted to do the opposite: Showing off with a tech demo thatpushes boundaries.A2Stream follows the general concept of DAC522, but with an improvedaudio quality using pulse-width modulation at 22050Hz sample rate with~5.17 bit resolution. This sample rate is kept consistent during thecomplete playback, so A2Stream is supposed to sound better thaneverything else using Apple II speaker circuit so far.Project site - https://github.com/oliverschmidt/A2StreamDemo video - https://youtu.be/YcYEnYsI-_MHave fun,Oliver
I think youve just won kansasfest this year mate! The Sydney,
Australia club just got this running on a IIe at its WOZfest, and
im still digging bits of skull out of the plasterboard.
Your innovation deserves some high praise indeed.
Thanks.
--
die thensoar
----Android NewsGroup Reader----
https://piaohong.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usenet/index.htm l
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Re: Glitch-free High-quality Internet Audio Streaming [message #413858 is a reply to message #413855] |
Tue, 05 April 2022 14:30 |
ol.sc
Messages: 211 Registered: January 2013
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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Hi,
> I think youve just won kansasfest this year mate!
I hope to present a session on A2Stream.
> The Sydney,
> Australia club just got this running on a IIe at its WOZfest, and
> im still digging bits of skull out of the plasterboard.
Hm, I'm having a real hard time to guess which song you guys were
listening too ;-))
> Your innovation deserves some high praise indeed.
Thanks for the great feedback :-)
> Thanks.
You're welcome!
Regards,
Oliver
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