diff --git a/Outputs/Speaker/Implementation/CompoundSource.hpp b/Outputs/Speaker/Implementation/CompoundSource.hpp
index eb53d95a3..99acee946 100644
--- a/Outputs/Speaker/Implementation/CompoundSource.hpp
+++ b/Outputs/Speaker/Implementation/CompoundSource.hpp
@@ -31,19 +31,22 @@ template <typename... T> class CompoundSource: public Outputs::Speaker::SampleSo
 	A CompoundSource adds together the sound generated by multiple individual SampleSources.
 	It's an instance of template metaprogramming; this is the recursive case.
 */
-template <typename T, typename... R> class CompoundSource<T, R...>: public Outputs::Speaker::SampleSource {
+template <typename T, typename... R> class CompoundSource<T, R...>:
+	public Outputs::Speaker::SampleSource {
 	public:
 		CompoundSource(T &source, R &...next) : source_(source), next_source_(next...) {}
 
 		void get_samples(std::size_t number_of_samples, std::int16_t *target) {
-			// This is an ugly solution: get whatever the next source supplies and add the local
-			// results to it, with the degenerate case performing a memset to supply an array of 0.
-			// TODO: do better. Might need some alteration of SampleSource.
-			int16_t next_samples[number_of_samples];
-			next_source_.get_samples(number_of_samples, next_samples);
-			source_.get_samples(number_of_samples, target);
-			while(number_of_samples--) {
-				target[number_of_samples] += next_samples[number_of_samples];
+			if(source_.is_silent()) {
+				source_.skip_samples(number_of_samples);
+				next_source_.get_samples(number_of_samples, target);
+			} else {
+				int16_t next_samples[number_of_samples];
+				next_source_.get_samples(number_of_samples, next_samples);
+				source_.get_samples(number_of_samples, target);
+				while(number_of_samples--) {
+					target[number_of_samples] += next_samples[number_of_samples];
+				}
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -53,6 +56,7 @@ template <typename T, typename... R> class CompoundSource<T, R...>: public Outpu
 		}
 
 	private:
+		bool is_sleeping_ = false;
 		T &source_;
 		CompoundSource<R...> next_source_;
 };
diff --git a/Outputs/Speaker/Implementation/SampleSource.hpp b/Outputs/Speaker/Implementation/SampleSource.hpp
index 4235f2125..b3a43c798 100644
--- a/Outputs/Speaker/Implementation/SampleSource.hpp
+++ b/Outputs/Speaker/Implementation/SampleSource.hpp
@@ -37,6 +37,15 @@ class SampleSource {
 			std::int16_t scratch_pad[number_of_samples];
 			get_samples(number_of_samples, scratch_pad);
 		}
+
+		/*!
+			@returns @c true if it is trivially true that a call to get_samples would just
+				fill the target with zeroes; @c false if a call might return all zeroes or
+				might not.
+		*/
+		bool is_silent() {
+			return false;
+		}
 };
 
 }