Accurate timing in iOS

Question

I am looking at the 'Metronome' sample code from the iOS SDK (http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#samplecode/Metronome/Introduction/Intro.html). I am running the metronome at 60 BPM, which means a tick every second. When I look at an external watch (the PC's watch), I see the metronome is running too slow - it misses about one beat each minute, which is app. 15msec of consistent error. The relevant code piece is:

- (void)startDriverTimer:(id)info {    
    NSAutoreleasePool *pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];       

    // Give the sound thread high priority to keep the timing steady.    
    [NSThread setThreadPriority:1.0];    
    BOOL continuePlaying = YES;   

    while (continuePlaying) {  // Loop until cancelled.   
        // An autorelease pool to prevent the build-up of temporary objects.    
        NSAutoreleasePool *loopPool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];     
        [self playSound];

        [self performSelectorOnMainThread:@selector(animateArmToOppositeExtreme) withObject:nil waitUntilDone:NO];    
        NSDate *curtainTime = [[NSDate alloc] initWithTimeIntervalSinceNow:self.duration];    
        NSDate *currentTime = [[NSDate alloc] init];  
        // Wake up periodically to see if we've been cancelled. 
        while (continuePlaying && ([currentTime compare:curtainTime] != NSOrderedDescending)) {     
            if ([soundPlayerThread isCancelled] == YES) {    
                continuePlaying = NO;    
            }    
            [NSThread sleepForTimeInterval:0.01];    
            [currentTime release];    
            currentTime = [[NSDate alloc] init];    
        }

        [curtainTime release];   
        [currentTime release];     
        [loopPool drain];    
    }    
    [pool drain];    
}

Where

self.duration

is 1.0 second in the case of 60 BPM. I wonder where this error comes from, and how can I make a more accurate timer/interval counter.

EDIT: The problem exists as well when I change the sleep time to smaller values, e.g .001.

EDIT2 (update): The problem exists as well when I use the CFAbsoluteTimeGetCurrent() method for timing. When I use the same method to measure timing between a button tap events, the timing seems accurate - I tap once a second (while watching a watch), and the measured rate is 60 BPM (on average). So I guess it must be some issue with the NSThread (?). Another thing is that on the device (iPod) the problem seems more severe then on the simulator.

Answer 1

Did you consider using a NSTimer instead of this "strange" while-loop-solution? It seems for me, that you are - not only a bit - overcomplicating very very simple things here ...