peek~

The canonical way to get cyclic "oscillator" behavior is, for every sample number (n), take a step of a certain size (increment) at a certain rate of speed (sample rate) wrapping around to stay within a specific range (length) such that you complete a certain number of cycles (frequency). What you get is an index (x) that you can use to look up values in a table, or as input to an equation, to get a result (y). What should the step size (the increment) be? It’s determined by the formula “increment = n * frequency * length/sample rate”.

Preloading sound into random-access memory (RAM)—as opposed to reading it off of a hard disk—allows you more easily to access any point in the sound file instantaneously, read backwards as well as forwards, access different points in the sound simultaneously, etc.

In signal processing, a "window" is a function (shape) that is nonzero for some period of time, and zero before and after that period. When multiplied by another signal, it produces an output of 0 except during the nonzero portion of the window, when it exposes the other signal. The simplest example is a rectangular window, which is 0, then briefly is 1, then reverts to 0. The windowed signal will be audible only when it is being multiplied by 1––i.e., during the time when the rectangular windowing occurs.

How would you go about playing a melody (or arpeggio) that has a sinusoidal shape? Using a steadily increasing number, you can step repeatedly through a sine function stored in a lookup table, and then scale and offset the result to be in the desired pitch range.