I need to make some sort of program that generates and plays procedural audio in real time based on user input. The interface can be completely bare-bones – The software just needs to be potentially capable of listening to input from an Arduino. I am a complete beginner to low-level programming, so I was hoping someone could help me figure out where to start. Should I use C# with Visual Studio and some audio library, a game engine (none of which seem to be particularly optimized for real-time audio synthesis), or something else? I feel like I would also run into an optimization wall using Python and PyAudio, but let me know if I’m wrong.

I originally thought I could use Unity, but the few sources I could find for procedural audio synthesis said I would have to go past the basic coding system and learn about Unity’s native code system to generate complex audio in real time – I would be alright with trying out this method if it turns out to be my best option, but I have the feeling it isn’t. I set up a CLR form using Visual C++, but from what I see, C# might be better for creating user interfaces? I’m at a bit of a loss. Honestly, I just want to get to a point where I can work on the audio synthesis algorithm itself without having to spend too much time with the ASIO drivers and sample rates and all that… Tell me if I’m just being lazy. Any help would be appreciated.