The Audio Programmer Podcast

Inside Google & Samsung's open source spatial audio project, Eclipsa Audio. Jani Huopinen (Product Lead, Eclipsa Audio at Google), Scott Kramer (Founder, Greenfield Sound; former Netflix Sound Director), and Klaus Trelby (immersive music engineer/producer, Marshmallow Skies) discuss how IAMF — the royalty-free immersive audio format from the Alliance for Open Media — is bringing spatial audio to YouTube, Android, Chrome, and beyond. Topics include the Eclipsa DAW plugin, comparisons with Dolby Atmos, dual audio for dialogue control, the film/TV pipeline, and what success looks like for open source immersive audio. Guests: Jani Huopinen, Scott Kramer, Klaus Trelby

What does it actually take to get your audio plugins up and selling? In this episode, Josh sits down with Tobias Madsen from Moonbase to talk about the business side of plugin development - the part most developers find harder than the code. Tobias shares his journey from building plugin stores and licensing systems for companies like Yum Audio and Black Salt Audio, to turning all of that experience into Moonbase - a platform now powering over 200 audio software businesses. They cover the real challenges of selling plugins, what a modern business stack looks like for plugin developers, and where things are heading next. Guest: Tobias Madsen (Moonbase - https://moonbase.sh) More at theaudioprogrammer.com

How do you actually get started with DSP? Josh sits down with Sam Fischmann, technical co-founder of Musik Hack, for a wide-ranging conversation on practical Digital Signal Processing - what it is, where to begin, and how to build audio software with clear, expressive controls that don't require a doctorate to use. Sam makes products for artists, musicians, producers, and audio engineers at Musik Hack, where the philosophy is to keep the user experience simple even when the underlying signal processing is complex. Guest: Sam Fischmann (Musik Hack - https://musikhack.com) More at theaudioprogrammer.com

Join the ADC team as they discuss the 10th anniversary conference featuring 85+ speakers, new game audio track, expanded diversity initiatives, and global expansion to cities worldwide. Registration and more info: https://audio.dev

Matt Robertson is a 3x Grammy-nominated composer, arranger, musical director, and now software developer. His career began while working in UK recording studios in the 90s and early 2000s, doing studio maintenance and learning how records were made by some of the best in the business. He has contributed to records by The Prodigy, Lamb, Dido, Emiliana Torrini and Anoushka Shankar, and worked on live shows for artists like Bat for Lashes, Bjork, Anohni, Arca, The Cinematic Orchestra, and Ellie Goulding as musical director and orchestrator / arranger. StageBox is a new standalone plugin host and setlist manager for keyboard players, designed to simplify performance and provide studio quality sound on stage. Grab StageBox now: https://www.tracktion.com/products/stagebox

See the full presentation here: How can we create a JUCE-based plugin with a complex, visually appealing user interface that fills an 8K monitor at the refresh rate? Let's talk about the history of JUCE rendering, recent efforts to improve matters, and where it might all be going.

Elpiniki, a product designer and owner, shares her journey from studying mathematics and computer science to working in the music tech industry. By discussing her experiences at a startup, and her role in developing creative tools for producers, her talk aims to provide insights into product design, ownership, and management in the music tech industry. Originally recorded on March 13th, 2024.

This episode's guest is Rhiannon Bankston-Thomas (The Audio Programmer). From pioneering plugin ventures at FXpansion, navigating the dynamic world of VC-funded startups like ROLI, to steering teams in legacy giants like inMusic, she's done it all. Join us for a discussion on running a financially sustainable music tech company, industry changes, future trends, and startups vs legacy company life. Originally recorded on September 28th, 2024.

In this episode, we sit down with Jules Storer and Cesare Ferrari - creators of Cmajor, a new approach for real-time audio programming. Jules is also the creator of JUCE - one of the most widely used frameworks for audio applications. Jules and Cesare also presenting at API London at CodeNode! Join us in-person or via our global livestream! Originally recorded on August 27th, 2024.

Aaron Mcleran is the Head of Audio for Unreal Engine at Epic Games. We discuss the similarities and differences between pro audio (VSTs & DAWs) and game audio, how to help developers learn more about audio programming through the SIGGRAPH conference, and the future of interactive media through the eyes of Unreal Engine. Originally recorded on August 12th, 2024.

In this episode, we sit down with world-renown DSP Engineer Geraint Luff. Geraint will dive into his extensive background in digital signal processing and share his unique teaching approach, using intuition to help others craft their own audio algorithms. We invite you to get involved with our podcast with your questions and thoughts. Let's dive together into this exciting world of digital signal processing! Geraint is also presenting at API London at CodeNode! Join us in-person or via our global livestream! Originally recorded on July 7th, 2024.

"How do I build my own audio plug-in?" "What does the new book teach us?" "How is this book different from your last book?" Join us today as we answer these questions and more at our monthly meetup today with author Matthijs Hollemans and TAP founder Joshua Hodge to discuss our new book "The Complete Beginner's Guide to Audio Plug-in Development!" Get the book here: https://www.theaudioprogrammer.com/books/beginners-plugin-book Originally recorded on July 1st, 2019.

In this episode, we sit down with indie developer Neils Johannes de Wit. We discuss his background into audio programming, the complex process of finishing projects, the evolution of audio technology, and much more! Later on, Neils also demonstrates his audio synthesizer, which he created using standard C++ and the JUCE library. Originally recorded on November 4th, 2023.

Our guest for this meetup is Hongchan Choi. Hongchan is a musician/engineer who pushes the boundaries of the open web platform for music technology. He is currently a Technical Lead and Manager at Google Chrome and a co-chair of the W3C Audio Working Group. Originally recorded on August 16th, 2023.

In this meetup, Nataliia Hera from Voger Design tells you what you should know about choosing a good designer for your project, including: types of designers (creators, optimizers, technical designers), reference base and the worst portfolio item, the art of knowing technology, project the project future, the marketing aspect of the project, and knowing yourself. Originally recorded on August 24th, 2022.

Elementary Audio by Nick Thompson enables JavaScript developers to create high-performance audio apps, blending web development with audio processing. Originally recorded on August 3rd, 2022.

For this month's meetup we welcome Geert Bevin, a senior application developer, product designer, and product manager who dabbles in everything from synthesizers to music composition. As a current employee at Moog Music, he works on creating and maintaining expressive instruments available on the iOS and iPadOS platforms. Originally recorded on March 24th, 2022.

Gaurav discusses what it takes to run an audio software company, giving tips to further your progress along the way. He owns several companies himself, including Beatskillz, Tone Empire, Beatfactory Academy, and Bollywood Sounds. Gaurav's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com Originally recorded on February 23rd, 2022.

This month we welcome Rachel Locke, who has just recently graduated with an MSc in Digital Audio Engineering. She has begun her career as a Digital Signal Processing/real-time audio engineer at London-based audio-tech startup 'Vochlea'. She will be looking at the combination of Digital Signal Processing and Machine Learning solutions to drive the research and development of new features within Vochlea's flagship product 'Dubler', a voice-to-MIDI controller that allows users to live sequence musical ideas with their voices. Originally recorded on January 27th, 2022.

Valerio is an AI audio engineer and programmer at The Sound of AI, a company oriented around the application of artificial intelligence to music. In this Q&A, we'll gain insight into his niche and the audio industry as a whole. He also writes blogs discussing everything from Undertale's melodic progressions to Red Dead Redemption's AI. See his work here: https://valeriovelardo.com/ Originally recorded on September 30th, 2021.

Gerhard Behles (CEO at Ableton) discusses Ableton's origins, company culture, diversity, and the importance of creativity in music tech, emphasizing communication and responsibility. Originally recorded on July 22nd, 2021.

Marco Accardi is a digital media artist with over 10 years in the industry, with experience in software development, sound design, musical performance, and more! We spoke about his new Max/MSP tutorial series on The Audio Programmer, his journey into sound, and his newfound interest in machine learning. Originally recorded on March 4th, 2021.

Chris Santoro is the Engineering Lead at Soundtoys in Burlington, VT, where he has been developing audio effects plug-ins for over a decade. Soundtoys is a boutique plug-in company with a small team focused on sustainability, quality, and innovative sound design. Originally recorded on February 15th, 2021.

Kevin Molcard, Director of Software Development at Arturia, shares insights on his journey in audio software, analog modeling, and the future of plug-in development. Originally recorded on December 18th, 2020.

Vlad gives advice on how to navigate freelancing in the audio industry - giving tips on how to price yourself, manage your time, and set realistic expectations. Originally recorded on October 20th, 2020.

Panelists: Ania Wszeborowska (Software Engineer, Ableton) - Python Julian Storer (Creator, SOUL / JUCE) - SOUL Neil Burdock (VP of Engineering, Lofelt) - Rust Ruth John (Software Engineer, Independent) - Web Audio / JavaScript Since the early 80's, C and C++ have been the programming language of choice for audio development, but now several newer languages present new entry points into the industry. What are these they, what advantages do they present, and what possibilities can they hold for audio development in the future? Our panelists will discuss these questions and more! Originally recorded on August 25th, 2020.

If you're a music producer, chances are that you know about Valhalla DSP, which is renowned for some of the best sounding reverbs and delays on the market. We speak with Sean Costello, the creator of Valhalla, about his journey into DSP, what separates a good sounding reverb from a bad one, how he has found his success as an indie developer, and more. Originally recorded on August 3rd, 2020.

In this episode of The Audio Programmer Podcast, we speak with Ivan Cohen, a DSP Engineer and Head of Musical Entropy. We talk about our upcoming JUCE course, how to learn DSP, modeling analog hardware, and more! Originally recorded on June 22nd, 2020.

If you've ever thought about what it takes to become a professional music software developer, but you aren't sure how to get there, then this talk is for you. Spence Rudnick (they/them) transitioned from web development to music software development, finding their dream job with the help of twitter and the web audio community. Along the way, they learned C++, dipped their toes into the world of DSP, and contributed to open-source web audio tools. Originally recorded on June 10th, 2020.

For this episode of The Audio Programmer Podcast, we welcome Mark Watt - creator of the SpaceCraft Granular Synth, which has earned praise from synth enthusiasts worldwide, including Richard Divine. We spoke about differences between developing for iOS vs desktop, talk more about creating a granular synth, and challenges of bringing a professional audio product to market. Originally recorded on August 13th, 2019.

Nick reached out to me last week about Blueprint - a new JUCE module he's been working on which allows JUCE developers to write their interfaces in React.js and render to plain old JUCE Components! I thought it was a very exciting project and invited him on the show to talk about it! Nick is not only an amazing audio developer, but he's adept in the JavaScript world as well! As a former Facebook developer - Nick helped to create the Instagram webpage. Now he is the owner of his own audio plug-in company, Creative Intent, where he releases his plug-in creations. We talk about Blueprint, his career path, his upcoming plug-in written using the Blueprint module, and more! Originally recorded on July 1st, 2019.

For this episode, we have Jules Storer - one of the most influential figures in the world of audio programming. Jules is the founder of JUCE - a widely used framework which is one of the only options publicly available that allows cross-platform audio development from a single code base. If that weren't enough, Jules has recently unveiled SOUL (Sound Language), which he is developing to help alleviate some of the most difficult problems audio developers face. We spoke about JUCE and SOUL, his career path, challenges of developing a coding framework vs a product, the future of audio development, and more! Originally recorded on June 24th, 2019.

I had a great discussion with MatKat Music for our latest episode - we talk about coding styles, when and why to use pointers, biggest challenges for new audio developers, and his new C++ course for musicians! Originally recorded on June 18th, 2019.

Chris Randall of Audio Damage shares insights on product design philosophy, surviving as an indie plugin company for 20 years, and why good design matters as much as good code. Originally recorded on June 11th, 2019.

For this episode we have special guest Bruce Dawson from Output. We talk about how he got into the industry, his experience working at Output when it was a small startup, his plug-in course on Kadenze and much more! Originally recorded on April 2nd, 2019.

Dave Rowland, lead developer for Tracktion/Waveform, shares insights into building one of the industry's most sophisticated digital audio workstation (DAW) engines. Rowland's journey from studying Music Systems Engineering to working with Jules Storer (creator of JUCE) illustrates the complexity of modern audio software development. DAWs represent some of the most challenging software projects, requiring intricate data models, real-time audio processing, MIDI handling, third-party plugin integration, and sophisticated user interfaces, all working seamlessly together across hundreds of thousands of lines of code. Originally recorded on March 19th, 2019.