Method and apparatus for efficiently accounting for the temporal nature of audio processing

1. An audio processing system comprising:

a) an audio track comprising audio data;

b) a digital signal processor (“DSP”) for processing the audio track;

c) an application for editing the audio track, wherein, to process audio data in a first interval of the audio track, the application (i) requests from the DSP an impulse response parameter related to the DSP's impulse response, (ii) receives from the DSP the impulse response parameter, (iii) from the impulse response parameter computes a second interval for specifying an interval of audio data needed by the DSP to account for temporal effects affecting the audio data in the first interval, and (iv) directs the DSP to process audio data within the first and second intervals, wherein the application reuses said impulse response parameter to account for temporal effects affecting subsequently processed audio data.

2. The audio processing system of claim 1 , wherein the DSP is part of an audio unit that is designed to modify the audio data so that the audio data can produce a different sound.

3. The audio processing system of claim 1 , wherein the DSP is a single digital signal processor.

4. The audio processing system of claim 1 , wherein the DSP is formed by several digital signal processors.

5. The audio processing system of claim 1 , wherein the application also asks the DSP for a latency parameter of the DSP.

6. The audio processing system of claim 1 , wherein the DSP is part of an audio converter that re-encodes the audio data.

7. The audio processing system of claim 6 , wherein the impulse response parameter is a priming duration parameter that specifies an amount of audio data that the audio converter needs to consider in order to process audio data within the first interval.

8. The audio processing system of claim 7 , wherein the priming parameter is a pre-priming parameter that specifies a duration of audio data to consider before the first interval.

9. The audio processing system of claim 8 , wherein the priming parameter also includes a post-priming parameter that specifies a duration of audio data to consider after the first interval.

10. The audio processing system of claim 7 , wherein the priming parameter is a post-priming parameter that specifies a duration of audio data to consider after the first interval.

11. A method for processing audio data in a first interval of an audio track, said method for use with an application that edits the audio data of the audio track, the method comprising:

receiving an impulse response parameter of a particular digital signal processor (“DSP”)from the particular DSP,

computing, at the application, a second interval based on the impulse response parameter to account for temporal effects affecting the audio data in the first interval, and

directing the particular DSP to process audio data within the first and second intervals, wherein said application reuses the received duration parameter to account for temporal effects affecting subsequently processed audio data.

12. The audio processing method of claim 11 , wherein the DSP is part of an audio converter that re-encodes the audio data.

13. The audio processing method of claim 12 , wherein the impulse response parameter is a priming duration parameter that specifies an amount of audio data that the audio converter needs to consider in order to process audio data within the first interval.

14. The audio processing method of claim 13 , wherein the priming parameter is a pre-priming parameter that specifies a duration of audio data to consider before the first interval.

15. The audio processing method of claim 14 , wherein the priming parameter also includes a post-priming parameter that specifies a duration of audio data to consider after the first interval.

16. The audio processing method of claim 13 , wherein the priming parameter is a post-priming parameter that specifies a duration of audio data to consider after the first interval.

17. The audio processing system of claim 7 , wherein the amount of audio data is expressed in a number of samples.

18. A system comprising:

a) an audio processor for processing audio data;

b) an application for editing audio data of an audio track, wherein to process audio data in an interval, said application (i) receives from the audio processor an operational parameter of the audio processor, (ii) generates a duration from the operational parameter, (iii) identifies audio data outside the interval using the duration, wherein said audio data outside the interval is for accurately processing temporal effects affecting the audio data in the interval and (iv) directs the audio processor to process audio data between the interval and the audio data outside the interval.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the duration is expressed in a number of audio samples.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the operational parameter comprises an impulse response parameter of the audio processor.

21. The system of claim 18 , wherein the operational parameter comprises a latency parameter of the audio processor.

22. The system of claim 18 , wherein the duration specifies an amount of audio data that the audio processor needs to consider before the interval in order to process audio data within the interval.

23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the duration further specifies an amount of audio data that the audio processor needs to consider after the interval in order to process audio data within the interval.

24. The system of claim 18 , wherein the duration specifies an amount of audio data that the audio processor needs to consider after the interval in order to process audio data within the interval.

25. A computer-readable medium storing an application which when executed by at least one processor permits for the editing of audio data within an interval of an audio track, wherein the application uses an audio processor for processing the audio data, the application comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a duration parameter of the audio processor from the audio processor;

identifying audio data outside the interval based on the duration parameter, wherein said audio data outside the interval is for accurately processing temporal effects affecting the audio data in the interval; and

directing the audio processor to process audio data between the interval and the identified audio data outside the interval, wherein the application reuses the received duration parameter to account for temporal effects affecting subsequently processed audio data.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the duration parameter specifies an amount of audio data that the audio processor needs to consider before the interval in order to process audio data within the interval.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the duration parameter specifies an amount of audio data that the audio processor needs to consider after the interval in order to process audio data within the interval.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the duration parameter comprises an impulse response parameter of the audio processor.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the duration parameter comprises a latency parameter of the audio processor.

30. A method for processing audio data in an interval of an audio track, said method performed by an application that edits the audio data of the audio track, the method comprising:

receiving, at the application, an operational parameter of a particular audio processor from the particular audio processor;

generating a duration from the operational parameter;

identifying audio data outside the interval based on the duration, wherein said audio data outside the interval is for accurately processing temporal effects affecting the audio data in the interval; and

directing the particular audio processor to process audio data between the interval and the identified audio data outside the interval.