Many C++ developers reach for std::rand() the first time they need a pseudo-random number. Later they may learn of its downsides and include <random> to use the Mersenne Twister (std::mt19937) and various distributions from the standard library. For some the journey ends here, but for others questions arise: How should I properly seed my generators? How should I approach portability? Does std::mt19937 failing some statistical tests matter to me? Am I leaving performance on the table using std::mt19937? What quality do I need for my use-case and how can I get the best deterministic performance for that quality?
After a brief introduction to generating pseudo-random numbers with the C++ standard library this talk will look at answering these questions in digital audio applications; the same learnings could be applied elsewhere such as games, graphics, or some simulations. We will examine some benchmarks and quality analysis of standard library pseudo-random number generators and modern generators outside the standard. We will close with a demonstration of ways to make runtime-performance determinism improvements with minor quality loss over using standard library distributions.
IF YOU ARE ATTENDING ONLINE, ALL TALK SESSIONS CAN BE ACCESSED FROM THE MAIN LOBBY:
https://conference.audio.dev
