On 19 February 2015 at 18:59, Perry Cook <prc@cs.princeton.edu> wrote:

Ack! This is a common problem, and I thought I had caught all of
the clipping/distortion cases on Windows/Linux with our last
passes on checking the source code. I'll check it all again and
put it in our Errata file for future ChucK/Mini releases, and future
printings of the book.

Perry, now that you mention the OS's I'd like to share a thought. I wanted to postpone debating OS audio infrastructure because debates on OS features tends to lead to debates on OS preferences and the next step is likely to be total war and so I thought I'd try to figure out what was going on on my own. ;-)

Am I correct in understanding that you are saying the files could have been made on OSX with the system audio gain set to -say- 0.5? Then ChucK's output could reach peaks of -say-1.5 , it's get attunated and be at .75 when hitting the DAC; perfectly fine. In this case the audio reaching such amplitudes at ChucK's output might go unnoticed by the file's author. Under OS's with a audio infrastructure expressed in int's a output of 1.5 at the ChucK dac would clip at 1 at hitting the OS's audio rating and the final output (assuming identical system volume) would end up at a 0.5 amplitude while being heavily clipped. Is that correct?

Yours,

Kas.