CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptweb-audio-api
drenl
drenl

Reputation: 1333

Performance Lag with ToneJS with Keyboard entry

The follow code ( https://codepen.io/anon/pen/JvoVxb ) plays pitches, however, I've found them to be "slow" or "gummy"; if you try playing along with some other music, you will hear that they lag a bit and it is hard to get the rhythms right.

I've not found this to be the case when working directly with the WebAudio API (where I've found QWERTY-keyboard performance to be nearly as good as a digital piano.) I'm wondering if this an intractable problem with ToneJS (and why is it happening?) ... or if I am 'doing something wrong' in my attempts to create this functionality with it. 

    var keyToPitch = { " ":" ", "z":"C3", "s":"C#3", "x":"D3", "d":"D#3", "c":"E3", "v":"F3", "g":"F#3", "b":"G3", "h":"G#3", "n":"A3", "j":"A#3", "m":"B3", ",":"C4", "q":"C4", "2":"C#4", "w":"D4", "3":"D#4", "e":"E4", "r":"F4", "5":"F#4", "t":"G4", "6":"G#4", "y":"A4", "7":"A#4", "u":"B4", "i":"C5", "9":"C#5", "o":"D5", "0":"D#5", "p":"E5", "[":"F5", "=":"F#5", "]":"G5", "Backspace":"G#5", "\\":"A5" }

    var synth = new Tone.Synth()
    synth.oscillator.type = "sawtooth"
    synth.toMaster()

    window.addEventListener('keydown', this.onkeydown) 
    window.addEventListener('keyup', this.onkeyup) 

    // This is "slow", relative to WebAudio, it's not playing the pitch in a timely fashion...  
    function onkeydown(e){
        console.log(e.key)
        synth.triggerAttack(keyToPitch[e.key])      
    }
    function onkeyup(e){
        console.log(e.key)
        synth.triggerRelease()
    }

Upvotes: 0

Views: 877

Answers (1)

drenl
drenl

Reputation: 1333

Per the Q&A here: https://github.com/Tonejs/Tone.js/issues/306, the code can be fixed by passing in the currentTime (as opposed to relying on Tone's default lookahead.)

function onkeydown(e){
    synth.triggerAttack(keyToPitch[e.key], Tone.context.currentTime)      
}

Upvotes: 2

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