Development of a Simulator Audio System Based on COTS Sound Synthesis Software
Soeren Hamann, Walter Waldraff, Reinhard Finsterwalder · 2004
Early 2003 started the development of a simulator audio system as part of the project ”MASTER” at the ”University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich”, Germany. The primary objective of this project is the realization of a modular vehicle simulator for educational and research purposes. In literature it has been shown, that there is a need for realistic communication simulations in aircrew training. Therefore, apart from the simulation of typical aircraft related noises, realistic communication simulation was taken as a requirement for the audio system development. Investigations have shown that only a few specialized software products for simulator audio systems are available on the market. A view beyond the simulator market indicates that all the required functionality is also covered by COTS sound sampling and synthesis software used in the music industry. The advantage of this market is that it has more users, which results in further developed software products and lower software prices. Based on a list of requirements, the COTS software ”REAKTOR 4” from Native Instruments was selected to be the basis of the audio system development. With this software it is possible to set up large audio models by hierarchical block diagrams. Therefore, a variety of function blocks is provided by a block library. These functions include audio/control inputs and outputs, frequency and amplitude controlled samplers, oscillators, filters, shapers and mixers, as well as basic mathematical operators and event handling. In order to control the audio system application at a high control rate and with low latency the standardized OSC interface is used. Latency problems are avoided by using the ASIO 2.0 standard for interfacing audio software and audio hardware. This enables the usage of COTS audio hardware. The described approach was used to realize a simulator audio system, that meets all requirements for a professional training simulator.