OpenAL Specification and Reference | ||
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To the programmer, OpenAL is a set of commands that allow the specification of sound sources and a listener in three dimensions, combined with commands that control how these sound sources are rendered into the output buffer. The effect of OpenAL commands is not guaranteed to be immediate, as there are latencies depending on the implementation, but ideally such latency should not be noticeable to the user.
A typical program that uses OpenAL begins with calls to open a sound device which is used to process output and play it on attached hardware (e.g. speakers or headphones). Then, calls are made to allocate an AL context and associate it with the device. Once an AL context is allocated, the programmer is free to issue AL commands. Some calls are used to render Sources (point and directional Sources, looping or not), while others affect the rendering of these Sources including how they are attenuated by distance and relative orientation.
![]() | Annotation (OpenAL and OpenGL use) |
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Often, OpenAL will be used to render a 3D audio environment matched by a 3D visual scenery. For this purpose, OpenAL is meant to be a seamlessly integrating complement to OpenGL. OpenAL state can be updated in sync with the OpenGL or video updates (synchronized), or in timesteps independent of the graphics framerate. Audio rendering loops usually update the current locations of the sources and the listener, updates global settings, and manages buffers. |
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What is the OpenAL Audio System? | Up | Implementor's View of OpenAL |