architecture and sound

Question 1

how do we mechanically replicate sound with large speakers

Answer 1

an electronic signal which is usually analogue causes surfaces inside the speaker to move
the signal encodes how the surfaces should move

Question 2

what are pure tones

Answer 2

sound waves of pressure

Question 3

frequency

Answer 3

waves per second

Question 4

sample rate

Answer 4

how many times per second do we want to represent the values in our sound

Question 5

nyquists frequency/theoreom

Answer 5

the sample rate should be twice the frequency

Question 6

storage need for a sample

Answer 6

bit depth x sample rate

Question 7

bit depth

Answer 7

gives the window size of how much of a range is being enclosed in your sample

Question 8

sound cards

Answer 8

have amplifiers; input and output; multiple sound channels and polyphony; midi support which created better sound as pc speakers could only beep for warnings

Question 9

how does streaming audio work

Answer 9

a buffer is filled and you let the audio subsystem “drain” then its refilled before its empty
with large samples without an end point you can’t wait until they’re generated to start playing
if its fast enough it never completely drains so there’s no skips

Question 10

what is a ring buffer and what data structures could be used to implement it

Answer 10

ordered sequential data structure with no end
could be implemented with an array or linked list