1007778 - Add a devtools API for disabling effect processing AudioNodes

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Core :: Web Audio, defect)

Description

[Jordan Santell [:jsantell] [@jsantell]]

AudioNode's should be able to be "circumvented" or disabled, as if all incoming connections routed directly to all of it's outgoing connections.

Comment 1

[Jordan Santell [:jsantell] [@jsantell]]

How possible would it be to have a chrome-only way of disabling an AudioNode, as in the audio stream flows through the node being unaltered?

Comment 2

[(no longer active)]

Shouldn't be that hard.  I'll try to write it up during the weekend.

Comment 3

[Jordan Santell [:jsantell] [@jsantell]]

Amazing :D

Comment 4

[(no longer active)]

What semantics do you want for ChannelMergerNode and ChannelSplitterNode in this mode?  Supporting the other node types should be very easy...

Comment 5

[Jordan Santell [:jsantell] [@jsantell]]

For utility nodes (merge/splitter/analyser/processor), probably nothing happens (processor's onaudioprocess event isn't fired). The main thing that'd be useful is for effect/transformation nodes to not alter the signal.

For source nodes, I have another bug (bug 1007776) for "muting" source nodes, so if this is similar to that for source nodes, great!

My ad hoc classification of nodes:
http://jsantell.github.io/browser-dance-party-slides/#/14

Comment 6

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Clearing NEEDINFO, let me know if you need anything from me.

Comment 7

[(no longer active)]

(In reply to Jordan Santell [:jsantell] [@jsantell] from comment #5)
> For utility nodes (merge/splitter/analyser/processor), probably nothing
> happens (processor's onaudioprocess event isn't fired). The main thing
> that'd be useful is for effect/transformation nodes to not alter the signal.

OK, firstly, "nothing" is not an option for the merger and splitter nodes.  These nodes have more than one input and output ports respectively, and they need to output something sensible.  I suggest that we keep them work the way they usually do, by merging or splitting the channels.

I'll stop firing the events for the analyser and script processor nodes as well.

> For source nodes, I have another bug (bug 1007776) for "muting" source
> nodes, so if this is similar to that for source nodes, great!

Source nodes probably need to be handled differently, so I'll leave them out of this patch.

Comment 8

[(no longer active)]

Attachment: Add a devtools API to make some Web Audio nodes pass through their inputs

Comment 9

[(no longer active)]

Attachment: Add a devtools API to make some Web Audio nodes pass through their inputs

Comment 10

[(no longer active)]

Comment on attachment 8474543 [details] [diff] [review]
Add a devtools API to make some Web Audio nodes pass through their inputs

Jordan, do you mind testing this patch please?  It adds a boolean chromeonly passThrough attribute to some of the AudioNodes.  Please see the *.webidl changes in the patch to see which ones.

Let me know how well this works for you.  I will need to write more tests before this is ready for review though.

Comment 11

[Jordan Santell [:jsantell] [@jsantell]]

Testing this out now -- For channel splitters/mergers, sorry, I meant "do nothing" as in "no changes to how it normally works", so this sounds great :)

Will report back!

Comment 12

[Jordan Santell [:jsantell] [@jsantell]]

Comment on attachment 8474543 [details] [diff] [review]
Add a devtools API to make some Web Audio nodes pass through their inputs

Review of attachment 8474543 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

A quick test case of the tools server-side interfacing with this worked great! Will add the DT bug as a dependent

Comment 13

[(no longer active)]

Attachment: Add a devtools API to make some Web Audio nodes pass through their inputs

Comment 14

[(no longer active)]

Comment on attachment 8474773 [details] [diff] [review]
Add a devtools API to make some Web Audio nodes pass through their inputs

Requesting review from roc on the patch, and a rubber-stamp from Olli on the *.webidl changes.  Note that this patch doesn't expose anything to the Web.

Comment 15

[Olli Pettay [:smaug][[e-mail]]]

Comment on attachment 8474773 [details] [diff] [review]
Add a devtools API to make some Web Audio nodes pass through their inputs

I would have added one [NoInterfaceObject] interface with [ChromeOnly] passThrough, and made the
other stuff to implement that, if possible.
Would be a bit simpler, less copy-pasting.
If possible do that, otherwise the patch is fine too.

Comment 16

[(no longer active)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/mozilla-inbound/rev/2ad221f9aca9

Comment 17

[Ed Morley [:emorley]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/2ad221f9aca9

Comment 18

[Chris Mills [:cmills]]

This feature is documented at https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Web_Audio_Editor#Bypassing_nodes