yes the Headspace audio engine has been licensed to Sun Microsystems for
inclusion in the Java spec (you should see some of this show up in the
JDK1.2)...Beatnik (the environment around the HAE) is basically a wavetable
(sample playback) software synth that comforms to the GM MIDI spec but has
provision to add custom samples and export them (plus MIDI file) in an RMF
file format...this RMF wrapper can be thought of as MOD++ as it allows 40
bit encryption, file compression  and watermarking for copyright
purposes...the Beatnik sound set was developed in house (partly by me) and
vastly exceeds any other GM soundset on the market in terms of aesthetic
quality (ie: its very adept at creating good electronic music ala techno,
drum and bass, ambient etc)...but since you can import custom samples you're
not limited by what we think a good soundbank should contain...I've been
creating some samples in Csound (and Virtual Waves) and importing them into
Beatnik for an Auditory Display project I'm working on for
Headspace...additionally there is a javascript function library for the
Netscape plugin that allows programmers to implement a good degree of
interactivity (ie: onClick, mouseOver, onLoad etc)...
what Beatnik doesn't do at this time: stream audio, do any flavor of sound
synthesis (except for wavetable of course), algorithmic composition or have
any API for TCP/IP ie: for online jamming...
Java has potential even though the VM's are still 30% slower than
C/C++...the JIT compilers hold some promise although are still 3 -5 times
slower than C/C++...an improvement but still not fast enough for realtime DSP...
one technology that I personally feel offers alot of promise is the
Structured Audio Orchestra Language being developed at
MIT......it presently has a syntax
akin to C but I'm hoping that it takes on more of an OO syntax and/or drops
the orc/sco model...people using Csound should look to this technology since
it will most likely be incorporated into the MPEG-4 spec...the SAOL spec is
online at the URL above please DL it, read it and offer feedback...
there are alot of people doing very interesting work for audio on the net
but unless it incorporates some TCP/IP capability via Java I think we're
still dealing with an old model (closed system)...HAE and SAOL hold alot of
promise for the  future of web audio...
just my .02
KIM
Headspace
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>JavaSoft has licenced the software synthesis engine from HeadSpace for
>inclusion in a future version of Java. Try http://www.headspace.com for
>information on the  technology. See http://www.javasoft.com for release dates,
>etc. As far as CD-quality audio support and streaming, see the Java Media
>Framework spec at http://www.javasoft.com/products/java-media/jmf/index.html. I
>think Intel and SGI have JMF players you can use now.