Where to next?

We’re officially in beta now, which means that we think the Cricket Audio Engine has enough features to be useful, but here’s still a long list of features we’re eager to add.

Our development resources are limited, though, and we want to make sure we’re spending our time on features that our users actually need.  So here’s a brief summary of some of the major features that are on our wish list.  Which of these would like to see most?  (And what’s missing from this list that you’d really like?)

• Supported for compressed data in banks (actually, we’re already working on this one; expect support for ADPCM and 8-bit PCM in the next release).
• CPU optimizations (include NEON optimizations on hardware that supports them)
• Playback of MIDI data
• Real-time DSP effects (filter, reverb, compressor, etc)
• Support for easy ramping of parameters (volume, pan, etc); for example, so you can tell a sound to fade out over a specific amount of time.
• Graphical user interface for cktool
• Sound scripting, to embed higher-level behavior into sounds.  (For example, a “sound” that plays another sound at a random volume level.)
• Seamless stitching of sounds
• Better control over looping (for example, to support attack & release phase on a sound)
• Finer-grained control over the timing of a sound; for example, so you can tell a sound to play after a 5 ms delay, even though you’re only calling CkUpdate every 30 ms.  (This is particularly useful for sample-based music.)
• 3D positioning (that is, setting position in the stereo field based on 3D positions of the sound and listener)

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!