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Message:

Java Synthesizer

Posted by malcolm Bailey on June 18, 2001 at 11:24 AM

> I have some concrete experience to offer here. I coded a software music synthesizer kernel in ANSI C++ using Microsoft VC++ 5.0 and in JDK1.1 using Symantec Visual Cafe on Windows 95. I did the Java program first, and the C++ second, based on the Java program. I then tested a frequency modulation instrument's performance in the Java synthesizer, the C++ synthesizer, and a similar instrument in Csound, a longstanding and powerful software synthesizer written in C. Csound was fastest, C++ was 1/2 as fast as Csound, and Java was 1/3 as fast as C++ (or 1/6 as fast as Csound).

> Note that Csound, though written in C, is itself a runtime compiler, and the fast synthesis code is itself a sort of byte code (threaded lists of calls to C functions).

> For sound synthesis, where performance is critical, this means that Csound (or C) is still the language of choice, C++ is usable, and Java is still too slow.

> The code involved a number of classes, many dynamic method invocations, and a lot of floating-point multiplications and array lookups.

> Interestingly, the Java synthesizer took 1/3 as long to write as the C++ one, in spite of the fact that I did the Java one first and had done similar C++ code in the past!

> As a result of this experience, I changed to using Java for all of my new software development except where performance is critical, where I continue to use C++ or C.

> > > So, where is the evidence that Java is 3 to 10 times slower
> > > with a JIT?
> > >
> > I believe I got those particular numbers from a Sun person who
> > was giving a talk either at JavaOne or at a pre-JavaOne talk
> > that I was invited to. I'd have to look back at my notes to
> > be sure.

Hi Michael,

I've just read the above. I'm an MSc student at Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland. I'm currently doing ap project looking into the sound capabilties of Java. What I would like to know is, what version of Java did you use?

Look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Malcolm Bailey