2: Thread‐Safe Usage

The eyecandy library is multi-threaded, but OpenGL is not inherently thread-safe. When eyecandy updates audio texture data on background threads, it uses a Mutex synchronization object to prevent other threads from changing the OpenGL texture activation / binding settings during updates. Library consumers which perform frequent texture updates should also use Mutex synchronization when eyecandy audio capture may be active.

The eyecandy library exposes the string value AudioTextureEngine.GLTextureMutexName which allows any other assembly or process to obtain a mutually-exclusive lock around a section of code by referencing that same mutex name.

For example:

using eyecandy;
using OpenTK.Graphics.OpenGL;

private static readonly Mutex GLTextureMutex = new(false, AudioTextureEngine.GLTextureMutexName);

public void UpdateTexture()
{
    GLTextureMutex.WaitOne(); // wait to obtain the lock
    try
    {
        GL.ActiveTexture(myTextureUnit);
        GL.BindTexture(TextureTarget.Texture2D, myTextureHandle);
        GL.TexParameter(...);
        GL.TexImage2D(...);
        GL.BindTexture(TextureTarget.Texture2D, 0); // unbind
    }
    finally
    {
        GLTextureMutex.ReleaseMutex(); // release the lock
    }
}