RtAudio or PortAudio, which one to use?

Rafael Vega picture Rafael Vega · Mar 2, 2011 · Viewed 12.5k times · Source

I'm considering RTAudio + RTMidi and PortAudio + PortMidi for a new project that requires realtime audio and midi procesing. Can anyone with experience using both libraries recommend one over the other? why? I prefer a C++ API over a C API but this is not enough for me to make a decision.

Answer

dzada picture dzada · May 5, 2011

I have been locking for the perfect match with that need for a quite long time. For now I prefer

  • port audio:

    • (+) on Windows, supports asio, DirectSound, MME, WASAPI (with header headaches)
    • (+) on Linux, supports ALSA, OSS, Pulse, JACK
    • (+) on Mac, supports Core Audio
    • (+) very active project,and some good gurus are developing it).
    • (+) used by many very successful apps + the C++ is not native but there is a binding that is integrated to the main branch (since last year i think)
    • (+) It's really reliable with libsdnfile (which is great)
    • (-) It's not native c++
    • (-) the projects, configure, integration is pretty annoying
    • (-) working well for multiple platforms (debian, osx, seven : my own experience)
    • (-) much of the documentation sucks and is mostly outdated and contradictory when googling for answers
  • rt audio

    • (+) on Windows, supports asio, DirectSound, WASAPI (as of 10-04-2014)
    • (+) on Linux, supports ALSA, OSS, Pulse, JACK
    • (+) on Mac, supports Core Audio
    • (+) native c++,
    • (+) really easy to get into it
    • (-) not so much active
    • (-) much of the documentation sucks and is mostly outdated and contradictory when googling for answers

other solutions :

  • Qt :

    • (-) heavy, not exactly what i'm looking for
    • (-) real time audio support is recent and not stable
    • (+) easy to use if you use QtCreator (and less if using QtAddon with visual, and less with xcode)
    • (+) midi integrated
  • Juce:

    • java like design
    • heavy, not exactly what i'm looking for
    • simple, and working pretty well (used professional audio)
    • midi integrated, file reading of aiff and wave, and flac