AudioBufferSourceNode - start vs noteOn

Question

Is there any reason to use AudioBufferSourceNode.start(...) over AudioBufferSourceNode.noteOn(...)?

Answer 1

Yes. start() will work in Mozilla's nascent Web Audio implementation, and will work in Safari in the future. noteOn() won't.

Answer 2

As of today NoteOn does not work in Google Chrome, so you must use start(). (2014-07-24)

(This should be a comment but I don't have the rep.)

Answer 3

My company's developers confirmed that noteOn() began to fail in browsers that use recent versions of WebKit, but that to start() is a reliable alternate. Sorry, I don't know the specific version of WebKit, but affected browsers include:

• All native browsers for iOS 10.3 (and above). This is due to Apple's requirement to use WebKit on that platform, including Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. As an example of a non-native "browser", Puffin is really a remote-access portal to a LINUX window, so it is unaffected. (Apple recently pulled Puffin Academy from the store, but it may be a misunderstanding of the method used, or may be a tightening of their requirements.)
• Safari 10.1 (and above) for Mac OS X 10.10 through macOS 10.12 (and above).