iOS audio manipulation - play local .caf file backwards

Question

I\'m wanting to load a local .caf audio file and reverse the audio (play it backwards). I\'ve gathered that I basically need to flip an array of buffer data from posts like

Answer 1

Your problem reduces to the same problem described here, which was linked by P-i in the comment under your question. Kiran answered that question and re-posted his answer for you here. Kiran's answer is accurate, but you may need a few more details to be able to decide how to proceed because you're starting with a CAF file.

The simplest audio file format, linear pulse-code modulation (LPCM), is the easiest to read byte-for-byte or sample-for-sample. This means it's the easiest to reverse. Kiran's solution does just that.

The CAF format is a container/wrapper format, however. While your CAF file could contain a WAV file, it could also contain a compressed file format that cannot be manipulated in the same fashion.

You should consider first converting the CAF file to WAV, then reversing it as shown in the other solution. There are various libraries that will do this conversion for you, but a good place to start might be with the AudioToolbox framework, which includes Audio Converter Services. Alternately, if you can use the WAV file format from the start, you can prevent the need to convert to WAV.

You may need to know more if you find Kiran's sample code gives you an error (Core Audio is finicky). A great place to start is with the Core Audio 'Bible', "Learning Core Audio", written by Chris Adamson and Kevin Avila. That book builds your knowledge of digital sound using great samples. You should also check out anything written by Michael Tyson, who started the Amazing Audio Engine project on github, and wrote AudioBus.