[PD] Detecting audio drop outs inside a patch

[Roman Haefeli]

Hi all

Is there a way to detect DSP drop outs in a patch, respectively to get
the information that is displayed in the Pd main window?

The idea is to create a [metro]-like abstraction that runs in sync on
several hosts. The first problem is getting them in sync, which can be
done with a NTP-like protocol. The second problem is keeping them in
sync, respectively detecting when an instance loses sync and this is
where I am not quite sure how to solve this. One reason for a [metro] to
fall  behind is an audio drop out. As the information about drop outs is
already known to Pd, I would like to know if it is possible to get it
into a patch.

I thought about measuring the [metro] output with [realtime] in order to
detect drop outs. But then I think the maximal allowed deviation without
causing a drop out is dependent on the current audio buffer setting and
thus this method seems not reliable for detecting drop-outs.

BTW: I know about [netro] written by Chris McCormick, but it covers a
different use case. It's designed for a setup where all hosts are in the
same local network thus it doesn't take network latency into account. 

Roman