Sound Programming

I want to write a software synthesizer. I understand concepts like samples, the basic math, etc. I just need to learn a sound API now so I can actually hear something.

Which one is the least retarded to work with? Cross-platform would be a plus, but I wouldn't mind using DirectSound if it's easy to work with. SDL is pretty retarded.

>>18
One of us has already written software of the kind you speak (an FM synth and a sampler/DAW w/ LADSPA/etc plugin support.) Hint: it's the one of us currently advocating portaudio. It works great, and certainly has lower latency than any jack client.