Low Pass filter in C - c

Question

I'm implementing a low pass filter in C wih the PortAudio library.
I record my microphone input with a script from PortAudio itself. There I added the following code:
float cutoff = 4000.0;
float filter(float cutofFreq){
float RC = 1.0/(cutofFreq * 2 * M_PI);
float dt = 1.0/SAMPLE_RATE;
float alpha = dt/(RC+dt);
return alpha;
}
float filteredArray[numSamples];
filteredArray[0] = data.recordedSamples[0];
for(i=1; i<numSamples; i++){
if(i%SAMPLE_RATE == 0){
cutoff = cutoff - 400;
}
data.recordedSamples[i] = data.recordedSamples[i-1] + (filter(cutoff)*(data.recordedSamples[i] - data.recordedSamples[i-1]));
}
When I run this script for 5 seconds it works. But when I try to run this for more then 5 seconds it fails. The application records everything, but crashes on playback. If I remove the filter, the application works.
Any advice?

Answer 1

The problem:
you are lowering the cutoff frequency by 400 Hz everytime i%SAMPLE_RATE == 0
never stop so you go below zero
this is not done once per second !!!
instead every time your for passes through second barrier in your data
that can occur more often then you think if you are not calling your calls in the right place
which is not seen in your code
you are filtering in wrong oorder
... a[i]=f(a[i],a[i-1]; i++;
that means you are filtering with already filtered a[i-1] value
What to do with it
check the code placement
it should be in some event like on packed done sompling
or in thread after some Sleep(...); (or inside timer)
change the cut off changing (handle edge cases)
reverse filter for direction
Something like this:
int i_done=0;
void on_some_timer()
{
cutoff-=400;
if (cutoff<1) cutoff=1; // here change 1 for limit frequency
if (numSamples!=i_done)
for (i=numSamples-1,i>=i_done;i--)
data.recordedSamples[i] = data.recordedSamples[i-1] + (filter(cutoff)*(data.recordedSamples[i] - data.recordedSamples[i-1]));
i_done=numSamples;
}
if your code is already OK (you did not post th whole thing so I can missing something)
then just add the if (cutoff<1) cutoff=1; after cutoff change