Jass: a Java Audio Synthesis System for Programmers

We describe a unit generator based audio synthesis programming environment written in pure Java. The environment is based on a foundation structure consisting of a small number of Java interfaces and abstract classes, and a potentially unlimited number of unit generators, which are created by extending the abstract classes and implementing a single method. Filter-graphs, sometimes called “patches”, are created by linking together unit generators in arbitrary complex graph structures. Patches can be rendered in real-time with special unit generators that communicate with the audio hardware, which we have implemented using the JavaSound API.