Web Audio API coming to Internet Explorer

The Next Web is reporting that Microsoft have announced that they are working on support for the Web Audio API in a future version of Internet Explorer, the browser that ships as standard with Microsoft Windows. This is great news for developers who want to build applications using the API, and good news for the technology itself as another inter-operable implementation will help drive the standardisation process. The W3C Audio Working Group haven’t had contact from Microsoft at this time, but the Modern IE status page is indicating that Web Audio is under development.

Chrome Cube Lab

The Chrome Cube Lab is a collection of hacks and variations of Google’s recent Rubik’s cube doodle. There’s a couple of experiments that use Web Audio. Synth cube synchronises music and visuals with the rotation of the parts of the cube, and I loved 808cube which turns the cube into a drum machine. Once you’ve created a pattern you like, spin the parts of the cube to create interesting variations.

An interview with Adrian Holovaty of Soundslice

I linked to Soundslice, the Web Audio-powered sheet music application, in a previous issue of this newsletter. I caught up with the founder Adrian Holovaty and asked him some questions about his experiences working with the technology on a large commercial project.

Sophisticated Analogue Synth in Soundtrap

Soundtrap, the collaborative digital audio workstation, have added a new instrument to their application. It’s a sophisticated analogue synthesiser featuring two oscillators and some interesting LFO possibilities (including noise and sample-and-hold waveforms). You’ll need a Soundtrap account to try it out, and sadly there’s no details on the technical implementation - but from playing around with it it seems rock-solid and very responsive, so it makes for a good example of what is possible with the Web Audio API at the moment.

BHUMP : an HTML5 Multitrack player

An experimental multi-track recording application from Michel Buffa. The application itself is in the early stages but Michel plans to tidy up and open-source the code shortly, so it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on if you’re thinking of building something similar.

-BHUMP

Laurie Spiegel plays the Alles synth

The Bell Labs Alles synthesiser was one of the first purely digital synthesisers. In this video from 1977, Laurie Spiegel, American electronic music composer, plays the synth and creates some wonderful analogue-sounding drones.