Cavern.Format 2.0.2

Cavern.Format

Audio transcoder library for Cavern with object-based audio support. Supported codecs:

• E-AC-3 with Joint Object Coding (Dolby Digital Plus Atmos)
• Limitless Audio Format
• RIFF WAVE
• Audio Definition Model Broadcast Wave Format

Supported containers: .ac3, .eac3, .ec3, .laf, .m4a, .m4v, .mka, .mkv, .mov, .mp4, .qt, .wav, .weba, .webm

Quick start

This library handles reading and writing audio files. For custom rendering or transcoding, they can be handled on a lower level than loading a Clip.

Reading

To open any supported audio file for reading, use the following static function:

AudioReader reader = AudioReader.Open(string path);

After opening a file, the following workflows are available.

Getting all samples

The Read() function of an AudioReader returns all samples from the file in an interlaced array with the size of reader.ChannelCount * reader.Length.

Getting the samples block by block

For real-time use or cases where progress should be displayed, an audio file can be read block-by-block. First, the header must be read, this is not done automatically. Until the header is not read, metadata like length or channel count are unavailable. Header reading is accomplished by calling reader.ReadHeader().

The ReadBlock(float[] samples, long from, long to) function of an AudioReader reads the next interlaced sample block to the specified array in the specified index range. Samples are counted for all channels. A version of ReadBlock for multichannel arrays (float[channel][sample]) is also available, but in this case, the index range is given for a single channel.

Seeking in local files are supported by calling reader.Seek(long sample). The time in samples is relative to reader.Length, which means it's per a single channel.

Rendering in an environment

The reader.GetRenderer() function returns a Renderer instance that creates Sources for each channel or audio object. These can be retrieved from the Objects property of the renderer. When all of them are attached to a Listener, they will handle fetching the samples. Seeking the reader or the renderer works in this use case.

Writing

To create an audio file, use an AudioWriter:

AudioWriter writer = AudioWriter.Create(string path, int channelCount, long length, int sampleRate, BitDepth bits);

This will create the AudioWriter for the appropriate file extension if it's supported.

Just like AudioReader, an AudioWriter can be used with a single call (Write(float[] samples) or Write(float[][] samples)) or block by block (WriteHeader() and WriteBlock(float[] samples, long from, long to)).

Development documents

• Scripting API with descriptions of all public members for all public classes
• Limitless Audio Format for storing Cavern mixes in a CPU-effective spatial format
• Cavern DCP channel order compared to DCP standards