Question

I have a basic wave generator in java but I need something to remove the clicks I get from when the amplitude of a wave changes sharply. Namely when I start/stop playing a wave, especially if I have a beeping tone.

Phrogz’s answer on SO gave a really nice and simple function, but I’m not sure I’m implementing it right.

When I first tried to use it, I couldn’t get it to work, but then I seem to remember it working very well… I have since fiddled about a lot with my code and now it doesn’t seem to be working very well again.

So here’s the closest I could get to an SSCCE:

If you play this you will notice that when the filtering is on (filter = true) the wave is much quieter and the clicks slightly less, but this seems mainly due to the decrease in volume. There is still a noticeable “hit” on each beep, that I don’t want, and I don’t remember being there before…

import javax.sound.sampled.*;


public class Oscillator{

    private static int SAMPLE_RATE = 22050;
    private static short MAX_AMPLITUDE = Short.MAX_VALUE;   
    private static AudioFormat af = null;
    private static SourceDataLine line = null;
    private int frequency = 440; //Hz
    private int numLoops = 1000;
    private int beep = 100;

    // set to true to apply low-pass filter
    private boolean  filter = true;
    // set the amount of "smoothing" here
    private int smoothing = 100;
    private double oldValue;

    public Oscillator(){

        prepareLine();

    }


    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Playing oscillator");
        Oscillator osc = new Oscillator();
        osc.play();
    }


    private void prepareLine(){


        af =  new AudioFormat(AudioFormat.Encoding.PCM_SIGNED, SAMPLE_RATE, 16, 2, 4, SAMPLE_RATE, false);

        try {

            DataLine.Info info = new DataLine.Info(SourceDataLine.class, af);

            if (!AudioSystem.isLineSupported(info)) {
                System.out.println("Line does not support: " + af);
                System.exit(0);
            }
            line = (SourceDataLine) AudioSystem.getLine(info);
            line.open(af);
        }
        catch (Exception e) { 
            System.out.println(e.getMessage());
            System.exit(0);
        }
    }

    private void play() {

        System.out.println("play");

         int maxSize = (int) Math.round( (SAMPLE_RATE * af.getFrameSize())/ frequency );  
         byte[] samples = new byte[maxSize];

         line.start();

         double volume = 1;

         int count = 0;
         for (int i = 0; i < numLoops; i ++){


             if (count == beep) {
                 if(volume==1) volume = 0;
                 else volume = 1;
                 count = 0;
             }

             count ++;

             playWave(frequency, volume, samples);


         }

         line.drain();
         line.stop();
         line.close();
         System.exit(0);
    }  

    private void playWave(int frequency, double volLevel, byte[] samples) {

         double amplitude = volLevel * MAX_AMPLITUDE;

         int numSamplesInWave = (int) Math.round( ((double) SAMPLE_RATE)/frequency );

         int index = 0;

         for (int i = 0; i < numSamplesInWave; i++) {

             double theta = (double)i/numSamplesInWave;

             double wave = getWave(theta);

             int sample = (int) (wave * amplitude);


             if (filter) sample = applyLowPassFilter(sample);



             // left sample
             samples[index + 0] = (byte) (sample & 0xFF);        
             samples[index + 1] = (byte) ((sample >> 8) & 0xFF); 
             // right sample
             samples[index + 2] = (byte) (sample & 0xFF);
             samples[index + 3] = (byte) ((sample >> 8) & 0xFF);
             index += 4;
         }

         int offset = 0;

         while (offset < index){
             double increment =line.write(samples, offset, index-offset);
             offset += increment;
         }
    }

    private double getWave(double theta){

        double value = 0;

        theta = theta * 2 * Math.PI;

        value = getSin(theta);
        //value = getSqr(theta);

        return value;

    }

    private double getSin(double theta){
        return Math.sin(theta);
    }

    private int getSqr(double theta){
        if (theta <= Math.PI) return 1;
        else return 0;
    }

    // implementation of basic low-pass filter
    private int applyLowPassFilter(int sample){

        int newValue = sample;
        double filteredValue = oldValue + (newValue - oldValue) / smoothing;

        oldValue = filteredValue;
        return (int) filteredValue;
    }
}

The relevant method is at the end. If anyone does test this, please be careful of the volume if you have headphones!

So either:

1. It is working and I’m just expecting too much of such a simple implementation
2. I’m doing something wrong, stupid and obvious…

If it’s just 1. How should/could I get rid of that harsh beat/hit/click from sudden amplitude changes?

If it’s 2. good, should be a v short answer for a too long question.

Answer 1

A low pass filter will not remove clicks from sudden amplitude changes. Instead you need to avoid sudden amplitude changes.

You could use the lowpass filter to filter your amplitude level.

**Pseudo code**

for i = 0 to numSamplesInWave-1 do
begin
  theta = i / numSamplesInWave;
  wave = getWave(theta);
  currentAmplitude = applyLowPassFilter(TargetAmplitude);   
  Sample[i] = wave * currentAmplitude;
end;

Using a lowpass filter as above is fine for smoothing input values. For example when the user changes a volume control.

In other situations it might be more appropriate to create an envelope of some sort. For example synthesizers commonly use ADSR envelopes to smooth the amplitude changes when a new Voice/Sound starts and stops.