Introduction

The internet Audio Rendering System (iARS) is a browser plugin for all Netscape Gecko Plugin API based web browsers like Netscape, Mozilla or Firefox. It uses the external program Pure Data (Pd) to extend the browser's capabilities with real-time audio signal processing. In principle any patch created for Pd may be loaded into iARS along with a description of its graphical representation. In most cases the algorithm includes a stream receiver with which the plugin can connect to any Internet source to receive an audio stream. The user may interactively change all parameters of the algorithm presented by the GUI. This enables user to interactively change the real-time signal processing of audio data.

There are already some signal processing extensions for browsers available. The main advantage of the proposed solution is that it is based on the well known audio data manipulation program Pure Data. This allows a very flexible way of programming the algorithm and the migration of already existing software patches. It is also a new approach to audio plugins providing an interactive user interface. This allows users to alter the audio rendering parameters while processing the data.

iARS is part of the Internet Archive of Electronic Music (IAEM), but may also used independently.