Buffers and sample rate

A buffer is the rendered output of a patch: a contiguous block of audio samples, plus the sample rate they were rendered at. All buffers in sndlab are mono at synthesis time; stereo is applied by the mixer when the buffer plays.

Sample rate

By default sndlab renders at the audio device’s preferred sample rate (typically 48000 Hz on modern hardware, 44100 Hz on older hardware). Patches don’t need to know this — the DSL works in seconds and Hertz, not samples. The engine picks the right number of samples when the buffer is rendered.

If you need to override the rate (e.g. for offline rendering at a fixed rate for tests), the project manifest exposes a render_sample_rate field. See The project manifest.

Buffer lengths

Patch length is determined by the patch body. A one-shot is finite — it has a natural end (envelope decays, taps run out). An ambient patch can describe a fixed-length region that the mixer loops, or it can render a long buffer directly. The DSL has no concept of “infinite streams” yet; everything is pre-baked into a buffer at evaluation time.

Mono in, stereo out

The DSL produces a mono signal. The mixer applies panning per-source when the buffer is played (see The mix graph). This keeps the synthesis side simple and lets the same buffer be played at different positions in the field without re-rendering.