Question

I want to play some sound effects while animating an UI element (e.g. playing a movement sound while an UI object is moving), which requires precise timing and synchronization.

I really can’t figure out which framework I should be using from the descriptions in the Multimedia Programming Guide. So I need your kind help in choosing one.

What I want to do is:

• Play short (max 10 seconds) sound effects (e.g. a button tap sound).
• Being able to synchronize some of them with UI animations (e.g. a view appearance/disappearance).

I tried using the AudioServicesPlaySystemSound function from the AudioToolbox framework, sometimes it works great, but sometimes the sound won’t play instantly. For example when a button is clicked, its action is performed before the sound is played, even though the AudioServicesPlaySystemSound is called first in the button’s action method.

Thanks in advance,

Mota

Answer 1

Mixing audio waveforms into an already running RemoteIO Audio Unit configured with short buffers will have the lowest possible audio latency. The cost of this is a more complex to use API and the need for uncompressed audio assets.