Audio programming and tone synthesis [duplicate]

This question already has answers here: 开发者_如何学JAVA Playing an arbitrary tone with Android (10 answers) Closed 9 years ago.

I am mostly a business programmer and I've not done anything in audio programming since the ZX Spectrum so I'm not sure how to even ask this question correctly.

I just need some pointers in the right direction with regards to writing (Android in this case, but it is really a general question) applications which deal with audio such as a Tone Matrix.

Are they based on generating lots of samples or are the tones generated on the fly?

Thanks

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See the answer here: Playing an arbitrary tone with Android

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Any mixture of both.

Interesting audio-related DSP discussions happen on the forums at http://www.kvraudio.com.

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Android provides two ways to perform sound output.

One is using AudioTrack class: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/media/AudioTrack.html

It's method write, allowes to output PCM data. AudioTrack can be used in streaming and static modes.

Another way is to use Android Native Development Kit, and OpenSL ES.