Objective C variable value not being preserved - objective-c

Question

I'm doing some audio programming for a client and I've come across an issue which I just don't understand.
I have a render callback which is called repeatedly by CoreAudio. Inside this callback I have the following:
// Get the audio sample data
AudioSampleType *outA = (AudioSampleType *)ioData->mBuffers[0].mData;
Float32 data;
// Loop over the samples
for (UInt32 frame = 0; frame < inNumberFrames; frame++) {
// Convert from SInt16 to Float32 just to prove it's possible
data = (Float32) outA[frame] / (Float32) 32768;
// Convert back to SInt16 to show that everything works as expected
outA[frame] = (SInt16) round(next * 32768);
}
This works as expected which shows there aren't any unexpected rounding errors.
The next thing I want to do is add a small delay. I add a global variable to the class:
i.e. below the #implementation line
Float32 last = 0;
Then I use this variable to get a one frame delay:
// Get the audio sample data
AudioSampleType *outA = (AudioSampleType *)ioData->mBuffers[0].mData;
Float32 data;
Float32 next;
// Loop over the samples
for (UInt32 frame = 0; frame < inNumberFrames; frame++) {
// Convert from SInt16 to Float32 just to prove it's possible
data = (Float32) outA[frame] / (Float32) 32768;
next = last;
last = data;
// Convert back to SInt16 to show that everything works as expected
outA[frame] = (SInt16) round(next * 32768);
}
This time round there's a strange audio distortion on the signal.
I just can't see what I'm doing wrong! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

It seems that what you've done is introduced an unintentional phaser effect on your audio.
This is because you're only delaying one channel of your audio, so the result is that you have the left channel being delayed one frame behind the right channel. This would result in some odd frequency cancellations / amplifications that would suit your description of "a strange audio distortion".
Try applying the effect to both channels:
AudioSampleType *outA = (AudioSampleType *)ioData->mBuffers[0].mData;
AudioSampleType *outB = (AudioSampleType *)ioData->mBuffers[1].mData;
// apply the same effect to outB as you did to outA
This assumes that you are working with stereo audio (i.e ioData->mNumberBuffers == 2)
As a matter of style, it's (IMO) a bad idea to use a global like your last variable in a render callback. Use the inRefCon to pass in proper context (either as a single variable or as a struct if necessary). This likely isn't related to the problem you're having, though.