Task: Sentiment Analysis
Input (English): Disappointing book and code on audio signal processing . This book is simply hideous, and if the rating system would let me give it zero stars I would do just that. The text will not enlighten you if you do not understand audio signal processing, and if you already do understand it, nothing will be added to your knowledge. The only thing worthwhile about the book is the table of contents, since it does act as an outline of the subjects you should know, in order, if you intend to learn about digital audio signal processing. Following this table of contents as a guide, you should learn about psychoacoustics, digital signal processing in general, analysis & synthesis of sound, user interface methods, and finally effects specific to sound and compression methods if you wish to call yourself knowledgeable of audio signal processing. Unfortunately, you will learn none of that from this book. Instead, what you get is a sort of wandering novel consisting of the author's memoirs and musings on signal processing subjects. There are virtually no instructive diagrams, no equations, no pseudocode, just page after page of conversational text. Sure, I grant you that the author talks about subjects that I have not found in other texts, but that is part of the whole problem- he just chatters on incessantly about these subjects without being the least bit instructive. Some authors who write useless texts at least include source code on their CD's that partially make up for their lack of talent as writers/instructors. In this case you shall have no such luck. The code is one monolithic ball of lint so deeply entrenched in windows-specific MFC code that it is virtually impossible to unravel. There are no comments to speak of to enlighten you as to what is going on in any of the code. Instead the reader will find comments such as "i suggest somebody to fix that" and "saves typing later".   If you do want to learn about digital audio processing, you might want to take a tip from the table of contents and start with psychoacoustics and pick up the excellent "Music, Cognition, and Computerized Sound: An Introduction to Psychoacoustics" by Perry Cook, which is good enough for self-study. For DSP for the music-centric reader, try "A Digital Signal Processing Primer : With Applications to Digital Audio and Computer Music" by Ken Steiglitz- it is very instructive, has plenty of equations and diagrams, and reads like a novel. Next, for analysis and synthesis of sound, find a copy of "Musical Applications of Microprocessors" by Hal Chamberlain. It was written in 1985, but it is an excellent introduction to sound analysis and synthesis in general and has a very good section on digital filters specific to audio. These three volumes should get you on your way to saying you understand digital audio processing. If you are a more advanced reader, read the two excellent volumes by Udo Zolzer- "Digital Audio Signal Processing" and "DAFX"- in that order.
Output (English): NEG