[NFBCS] Real-time sound generation on Windows/Mac/Linux

[Doug Lee]

In the days of DOS, and even Windows through XP, I wrote and used little background programs that generated
clicks for various system events, such as incoming bytes on a serial port, calls to a certain software or
hardware interrupt, etc. I also had a small program that helped me analyze file formats by producing extremely
short tones, one per byte, pitch representing the values of the byte from 0 through 255.

All of these utilities used direct PC speaker hardware access. Nowadays of course, that is no longer
practical; and ironically, as technology improved, my ability to do this little thing has wayned.

So now I finally get round to asking: Does anyone have a recommendation for a tool or package to use for these
two things? Compatibility with Windows. I want to do these things specifically:

1. Generate a small click for an event, with the understanding that thousands of these events may occur in one second.

2. Generate either a very short tone, or start a short tone with a way to shut it off or replace it on demand,
again with the understanding that this will be a continuous stream of sound.

A very nice-to-have would be the ability, for item 2, to pick the wave form - sine, exponential, sawtooth,
etc. Another nice-to-have, almost a requirement, is the ability to generate any number of these
simultaneously, possibly with a balance position between channels.

Now, for what I have tried or researched:

Sound Exchanger (SoX): Very good at making sounds to spec, but bad at real-time continuous updating of what to
produce, unless I missed a trick somewhere.

FluidSynth: Says it can do real-time sound but is based on MIDI, which seems like an unnecessary complication
for this.

CSound: Steep learning curve but says it can do real-time sound. This is my first intended attempt, if nobody
has a better idea.

Other packages I've heard of but not tinkered with or researched extensively:
Faust, which I believe is a redesign or wrapper for Supercollider.
Overtone.
Reaktor, but I believe that costs $200 and I don't know if it does what I want.

I also read of a project called Loomer but don't have enough info to know if that belongs in my list.

Any and all thoughts most welcome.

-- 
Doug Lee                 dgl at dlee.org                http://www.dlee.org
"The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit
of it. You have to catch up with it yourself." --Benjamin Franklin