What is the complexity of a Structured Audio decoder?
There is no fixed complexity which is adequate for decoding every conceivable Structured Audio bitstream. Simple synthesis methods are very low-complexity, and complex synthesis methods require more computing power and memory. Since the description of the synthesis methods is under the control of the content provider, the content provider is responsible for understanding the complexity needs of his bitstreams. Past versions of structured audio systems with similar capability have been optimized to provide multitimbral, highly polyphonic music and post-production effects in real-time on a 150 MHz Pentium computer or simple DSP chip. One “level” of capability in the Synthetic Object Audio profile of MPEG-4 Audio provides for simpler and/or less normative synthesis methods in RAM- or computing-limited terminals.
