WolfTalk: Podcast About Audio Programming (People, Careers, Learning)

WolfTalk: Podcast About Audio Programming (People, Careers, Learning)

By Jan WilczekEducation
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WolfTalk: Podcast About Audio Programming (People, Careers, Learning) episodes

  • Phil Burk: PortAudio, Android Audio, MIDI 2.0, HMSL, PlayStation Audio, JSyn & More!

    Phil Burk has had an amazing career as an audio developer: from writing DSP code on Z80, through creating a music language, writing code for mobile phones, PlayStation audio support, and Android, up to MIDI 2.0 contributions. He’s also a co-creator of the PortAudio library, which is one of the most popular OS-agnostic audio libraries (and it’s used not just from C/C++ but from Python as well).

    He’s been there from the 80s up until today; he’s seen it all!

    What I love about Phil is his purely interest-driven approach. He was able to make his hobby his work and thus live a life of passion. Even today, as a retiree, he still codes 8 hours a day just for fun.

    After listening to this episode, you will not only learn a ton of useful audio programming knowledge and feel inspired, but you will also feel thankful that the world has audio developers such as Phil; they’re a real blessing, making our lives easier and more pleasant to the ear!

    Episode Contents 

    From this episode, you will learn:

    • how Phil created his first analog synth and started programming on Z80
    • what challenges did early music programming face
    • how HSML music programming language came to be
    • the challenges of programming digital signal processors (DSPs) and designing audio hardware
    • how mobile phone audio worked in the late 90s/early 2000s
    • Phil’s awesome audio projects: PortAudio, JSyn, WebDrum, and more (see below)
    • the story of MIDI 2.0
    • how the Android team fixed the latency problem
    • which languages Phil has used throughout these 4 decades of audio programming
    • what are his work habits for maximum programmer productivity

    This episode was recorded on February 4, 2026.


    00:00:00 Podcast Intro

    00:00:36 Introducing Phil Burk

    00:02:13 Early Music & Homebrew Electronics

    00:04:08 Building a Shoebox Synthesizer

    00:07:18 Z80 Programming via Hex Keypad

    00:10:15 Emulating a 68000 CPU on a Z80

    00:14:08 Sponsor: JUCE

    00:15:55 Phase-Locked Loops & the Commodore 64

    00:18:41 From Biophysics to Programming

    00:22:11 Meeting Larry Polansky at Mills College

    00:26:02 HMSL: A Music Language Built in Forth

    00:32:43 Motorola 56000: Real-Time Synthesis

    00:35:30 3DO: First Software Synth Console

    00:43:38 Designing a Custom DSP in Verilog

    00:54:38 JSyn: Interactive Music in the Browser

    01:02:00 Building PortAudio with Ross Bencina

    01:05:52 Max Neuhaus Sound Installations

    01:14:33 A 14KB MIDI Synth for Mobile Phones

    01:27:02 Designing the MIDI 2.0 Standard

    01:40:41 Sony PlayStation 3 Audio Libraries

    01:44:44 AAudio: Fixing Android Audio Latency

    01:53:16 Why Android Audio Lagged Behind iOS

    02:03:08 Reviving HMSL with JUCE & PForth

    02:07:07 Retirement: Kotlin, AI & New Projects

    02:12:17 Every Language Phil Has Programmed In

    02:18:42 Are Dedicated DSP Chips Still Needed?

    02:20:43 Developer Setup & Favorite Tools

    02:23:23 The Music-DSP List & Learning DSP

    02:30:08 Just Enough, Just in Time Learning

    02:33:05 Audio Is Harder Than People Think

    02:36:26 Shower Debugging & Work Habits

    02:41:40 How to Reach Phil Burk

    02:42:50 Outro

    2 hr 44 min
  • Julian Storer: Creator of JUCE C++ Framework | WolfTalk #032

    Julian “Jules” Storer is the creator of the JUCE C++ framework and the Cmajor programming language dedicated to audio.

    He created JUCE in the late 90s, and it grew to become the most popular audio plugin development framework in the world. Apart from audio capabilities, it is a general-purpose cross-platform application development framework (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and embedded platforms). Most plugin companies use JUCE; whether you like it or not, it has become a de facto industry standard.

    You know that I love JUCE; I created the official JUCE audio plugin development course with them, and they are the sponsor of the podcast. So naturally, I was super excited to be able to interview Jules!

    His next big thing is the Cmajor programming language. It is a C-like, LLVM-backed programming language dedicated solely to audio.

    He has also given many talks at the Audio Developer Conference, so I encourage you to check them out as a way to relax and get inspired.

    Jules is known for his strong opinions and dry humor, so I guarantee you’ll find yourself chuckling every few minutes 😉

    Note: If you like the podcast so far, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. It will benefit both sides: more reviews mean a broader reach on Apple Podcasts, and feedback can help me improve the show and deliver better-quality content to you. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏

    Episode contents 

    From this episode, you will learn:

    • How Jules created the JUCE framework and distributed it initially
    • How to maintain such huge codebases as JUCE
    • Julian’s coding principles that will make you (and me) a better dev
    • What problem does CMajor solve, and how
    • Which tools is Jules using when coding, especially when it comes to AI
    • His exact everyday work routines and relaxation strategies, and
    • Does Jules really hate CMake?


    This episode was recorded on January 30, 2026.

    00:00:00 Intro

    00:00:33 Introducing Jules Storer, Creator of JUCE

    00:02:37 Meet Jules

    00:03:11 How Jules Got Into Audio Programming

    00:04:41 University: Computing & Psychology

    00:05:28 Early Career

    00:07:46 Why Jules Built the Tracktion DAW

    00:11:04 Sponsor: JUCE Audio Plugin Course

    00:12:52 The Mackie Deal & the Birth of JUCE

    00:16:35 10 Years Solo: Bootstrapping JUCE

    00:18:59 ROLI Acquires JUCE

    00:20:56 How the Audio Developer Conference Began

    00:21:38 From ROLI to C-Major

    00:23:33 Cmajor: DSP Language for Any Hardware

    00:28:58 Cmajor Licensing & Commercial Plugins

    00:32:57 Cmajor Stability & AI-Written Code

    00:36:04 What Building a Compiler Taught Jules

    00:39:31 Jules' Dev Setup

    00:41:59 Jules' AI Coding Workflow with Claude

    00:47:23 Reviewing AI-Generated Code

    00:50:18 AI Coding: Where Jules Draws the Line

    00:52:22 Cmajor's Language Choice: C++, Go, and Rust

    00:54:36 Why Jules Hates CMake

    00:59:01 Clean Code: Structure, Files & Naming

    01:04:25 API Design Other Developers Won't Hate

    01:07:11 Code Review: Excess State & Verbosity

    01:11:35 JUCE's Inspiration from Java's JDK

    01:14:24 Why JUCE Dominated the Market

    01:15:48 Challenges with JUCE, Waveform & C-Major

    01:19:56 TDD and the Pain of UI Testing

    01:23:06 How to Start Learning Audio Programming

    01:26:42 Jules' Daily Routine

    01:31:52 How to Contact Jules

    01:32:42 Outro

    1 hr 35 min
  • Audio and the C++ Standard with Timur Doumler | WolfTalk #031

    How do you become a C++ Standards Committee member?

    Why is C++ prevalent in audio?

    Should you still use it for audio software?

    Honestly, Timur Doumler is someone I have looked up to ever since I saw his “C++ in the audio industry” talk at CppCon 2015.

    He has a rich development history with C++ and/or audio:

    • developer at Native Instruments
    • developer of the JUCE C++ framework (podcast sponsor ❤️)
    • C++ linter developer and developer advocate at JetBrains (who make the CLion IDE)
    • founder of Cradle, an audio plugin startup
    • C++ Standards Committee member
    • CppCast podcast host
    • notorious Audio Developer Conference and CppCon speaker

    I have probably missed a ton of stuff here, but that should already give you a flavor of what Timur is up to 😉

    I especially enjoy his technical talks on synchronization with the (real-time) audio thread; For example, at the Audio Developer Conference 2025, he made me finally understand memory ordering in C++ (or so I believe 😅)

    In the podcast interview, we discuss his story, tactics, and tips, which I hope will inspire you to follow his footsteps (as they sure did me).

    It also turns out we are both fond of the same music band… Listen to the interview to find out which one 😁

    All in all, this one of my favorite podcast episodes (audio & C++, what more do you need?), so don’t miss it!

    Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. It will benefit both sides: more reviews mean a broader reach on Apple Podcasts and feedback can help me to improve the show and provide better quality content to you. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏


    Episode Contents


    From this episode, you will learn:

    • How Timur’s early interests and experiences led him toward audio programming
    • His early engineering work at Native Instruments, including contributions to Kontakt and NI’s internal C++ libraries
    • How he joined ROLI and worked on the development of JUCE
    • The story behind founding Cradle
    • How he became involved in the ISO C++ Standards Committee including his audio-related contributions
    • What he’s most excited for in the upcoming C++26 standard
    • How he approaches software development and maintaining a healthy work-life balance (that was a great one to learn for me personally, too)


    This episode was recorded on September 26, 2025.

    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00:00 Podcast Intro

    00:00:37 Timur Doumler

    00:01:55 Timur's Introduction and Background

    00:02:46 Early Interest in Music

    00:03:35 Linking Music to Software Development

    00:04:42 Studying Physics & Astrophysics (Berlin, Lyon, Potsdam)

    00:06:08 Learning C & Fortran through Cosmology Simulations

    00:07:46 Deciding to Become a Developer

    00:10:48 Getting Hired at Native Instruments

    00:12:16 Working on NI’s Internal C++ Libraries & Kontakt

    00:18:05 Sponsor: JUCE

    00:19:37 Moving to ROLI and Working on JUCE

    00:22:08 Lessons Learned from Jules & Fabian

    00:24:27 Joining JetBrains

    00:30:13 Becoming a Developer Advocate

    00:34:40 Founding Cradle & Building the First Products

    00:37:17 Life as CTO & Startup Reflections

    00:39:09 Bloomberg & C++ Contracts

    00:41:29 The 2015 Talk: C++ in the Audio Industry

    00:46:58 Representing the Audio Industry

    00:48:18 Joining the ISO C++ Committee

    00:50:19 Timur's Work in the C++ Committee

    00:55:24 How the C++ Committee Works

    01:02:20 How to Learn C++ Today

    01:06:48 Real-Time Audio Programming & Tools

    01:08:02 Personal Productivity: Meditation, Exercise, Time Management

    01:13:46 Tech Stack and Developer Tools

    01:14:13 Music Timur Codes To (Meshuggah, Animals as Leaders)

    01:17:15 How to Contact Timur

    01:18:59 Outro

    1 hr 21 min
  • Wave Digital Filters with Kurt Werner (Soundtoys, ex-Native Instruments, ex-iZotope) | WolfTalk #030

    Kurt James Werner, PhD, is a senior research scientist at Soundtoys and one of my favorite researchers in audio DSP (virtual analog modeling in particular).

    While you may not have read his papers, it’s very likely that you used one of the plugins he worked on:

    • Neoverb
    • Vinyl
    • RX
    • Guitar Rig (Hammond vibrato/chorus)
    • Ozone
    • Neutron
    • Trash

    If you start peeking into the research of modeling analog audio effects in plugins, you stumble across his name right away.

    I consider him not only brilliant, but also insanely productive. Definitely a role model for me!

    In the research world, he’s mostly known for his work on Wave Digital Filters (WDFs). It’s a technique for creating a mathematical model of an analog circuit that once done is easy to implement (provided you use a WDF library).

    WDFs are great for modeling analog audio effects to put them inside plugins.

    But as a true researcher, Kurt is involved many other audio subfields that we discuss in the podcast!

    Did I mention that he’s a graduate from Stanford’s CCRMA?

    In this episode, you’ll learn about Kurt’s transition from academia to industry, his work on products at iZotope, Native Instruments, and Soundtoys, and the realities of being a research scientist in an audio plugin company.

    You’ll also learn all about WDFs, which is a powerful tool to master.

    Trust me, you don’t want to miss this one 😉

    Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. It will benefit both sides: more reviews mean a broader reach on Apple Podcasts and feedback can help me to improve the show and provide better quality content to you. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏


    Episode Contents 

    From this episode, you will learn:

    1. How Kurt’s early musical and DIY electronics experiments led him toward audio DSP
    2. How was it like to study at CCRMA under Julius Smith, Jonathan Abel, and Ge Wang
    3. A clear, high-level explanation of Wave Digital Filters, their origins, and why they matter in virtual analog modeling
    4. Insights from his work at iZotope
    5. His current work at Soundtoys
    6. Creative music practices like circuit bending and 1-bit music
    7. Whether you need a PhD to work at an audio plugin company
    8. How audio research translates into plugins


    TIMESTAMPS

    00:00:00 Podcast Intro

    00:00:37 Introducing Kurt Werner

    00:04:11 Kurt's Intro and Background

    00:07:20 Studying Engineering & Music at UIUC

    00:10:06 PhD Studies at CCRMA (Stanford)

    00:13:57 Structure of the PhD Program

    00:18:23 Sponsor: JUCE

    00:20:09 PhD Thesis: Wave Digital Filters

    00:21:26 The Culture at CCRMA

    00:31:44 Assistant Professor at SARC (Queen's University Belfast)

    00:35:59 How Teaching Influences Research

    00:44:19 Transition to Industry: iZotope

    00:49:54 The Research Team at iZotope

    00:52:54 Work on Neoverb, Vinyl, and Trash

    00:58:43 Publishing Reserach Papers

    01:01:35 Moving to Soundtoys

    01:05:12 Role and Soundtoys

    01:09:17 Soundtoys SuperPlate

    01:11:04 What are Wave Digital Filters (WDFs)?

    01:19:28 WDFs Before Kurt's Research

    01:20:54 Handling Complex Topologies

    01:26:56 Can Circuit Modeling be Automated?

    01:33:37 Importance of "Warming Up" the Simulation

    01:35:16 Strengths of Wave Digital Filters

    01:41:52 Best & Worst Circuits for WDF Modeling

    01:44:47 How to Approach Modeling a New Circuit

    01:46:47 Modeling the Motown EQ (Altec 9062A)

    01:52:28 Circuit Bending & Hardware Hacking

    01:56:58 1-Bit Music & Velvet Noise

    02:05:35 Deep Learning in Virtual Analog

    02:07:29 Do You Need a PhD for Audio Research?

    02:10:46 PhD for Software Engineering Roles?

    02:12:12 How to Learn Virtual Analog Modeling

    02:16:04 Productivity & Writing Research Papers

    02:20:04 Tools & Tech Stack

    02:21:29 Listening to Music While Working

    02:23:16 Outro

    2 hr 25 min
  • Designing Digital Musical Instruments with Victor Zappi | WolfTalk #029

    Victor Zappi is a creator, researcher, and educator at the intersection of music, technology, and interaction design. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Music Technology at Northeastern University. In his career, among others, he worked on the Bela hardware platform during his time at Queen Mary University of London’s prestigious Centre for Digital Music (C4DM).

    In this episode, apart from Victor’s inspiring career, we focus on digital musical instruments:

    • What is a “good” digital musical instrument like?
    • Is it a fixed “box” that you should learn how to play?
    • Or should it be “abused” by opening “the box,” and messing with its internals?
    • Can an artist change the digital instrument to make it their own?

    We conclude with a discussion of Victor’s LDSP C++ framework, which enables low-level audio device control on Android devices.

    This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of musical interfaces, hackable hardware, and the technology that drives them!

    2 hr 3 min
  • Designing Music Software Architecture with Ilias Bergström

    Ilias Bergström is a software engineer, researcher, and musician from Sweden. For most of his professional career, spanning over 20 years, he has been working on, as he describes it, “time-based media software.”

    In the audio programming world, this means digital audio workstations, video editors, and live audio-visual performance software.

    He generously shared his experience in Audio Developer Conference talks, two of which discuss the much underrepresented topic of the software architecture of digital audio workstations.

    Software architecture and software design are fascinating topics to me, so I naturally devoured both of these talks 😉

    In this interview, we explore not only Ilias’s journey but also go into the details of what makes audio software design hard. He discusses how he connects the dots between different types of media software through his long-running personal project, TWO, which is best described as a Media Control Workstation. It enables the simultaneous interactive combination of digital media control signals (such as OSC and MIDI) from multiple sources.

    Finally, we don’t shy away from discussing our favorite books on audio software development! Given that Ilias shares a ton of valuable tips and resources, you don’t want to miss this one!

    Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. It will benefit both sides: more reviews mean a broader reach on Apple Podcasts and feedback can help me to improve the show and provide better quality content to you. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏

    Episode Contents 

    From this episode, you will learn:

    • How Ilias’s interest in media creation software led to a career in audio, across both research and industry.
    • How he combines music and audio with interaction design, Human Computer Interaction, and even topics such as neuroscience and psychology, and how audio development can be seen as a form of creative coding.
    • How different media creation software tools (like DAWs) share the same core characteristics and core architecture.
    • Insights into his personal software project, TWO.
    • What does a PhD give you? What can a university education offer?
    • The importance of software architecture, testing, and documentation.
    • A lot of audio development book recommendations.
    • Practical advice on how to get started with audio development and audio software architecture.

    This episode was recorded on January 15, 2025.


    00:00:00 Podcast Intro

    00:00:34 Introducing Ilias Bergstrom

    00:02:15 Ilias' Background

    00:02:50 Getting into Music

    00:03:21 Developing Interest in Audio

    00:05:03 Masters at UCL

    00:07:32 Wolfsound: Learning DSP

    00:08:46 Starting Industry Career

    00:12:58 PhD at UCL

    00:14:24 PhD Research

    00:16:25 What does a PhD give you?

    00:18:58 Post-doc at Event Lab

    00:22:28 Post-doc at KTH

    00:24:23 Teaching Career

    00:25:15 What is Creative Coding?

    00:26:58 Back to the Industry - SCISS

    00:28:06 Work at SCISS on Uniview

    00:31:24 Elk Audio

    00:34:10 Sponsor: JUCE

    00:35:41 Future Career Plans

    00:36:31 TWO: Media Control Workstation

    00:41:08 The Development of TWO

    00:46:46 Opinions on Audio-Visual Performance

    00:48:45 Writing Large-Scale Software

    00:51:08 Software Design in Freelance Projects

    00:53:40 Software Architecture

    00:58:53 Architecture of Time-Based Media Software

    01:01:24 Architecture of Digital Audio Workstations

    01:03:00 Documenting Software Architecture

    01:07:53 Book Recommendations

    01:16:41 Learning Suggestions

    01:19:24 Final Quick-Fire Questions

    01:24:42 Connecting With Ilias

    01:27:00 Outro

    1 hr 29 min
  • Reverbs, Pitch Shifters & Freelancing with Geraint Luff | WolfTalk #027

    Geraint Luff is a seasoned audio DSP developer and the founder of Signalsmith Audio. Geraint’s presentations, such as “Let’s Write a Reverb” and “Four Ways to Write a Pitch Shifter,” are among the most popular talks at the Audio Developer Conference (ADC) thanks to Geraint’s clarity of explanation and easy-to-understand visuals (not to mention the accompanying open-source repos).

    In the interview, Geraint shares his insights on his career path, freelancing in the audio industry, and digital signal processing (DSP). He discusses how he gained traction as a freelancer by joining a community, delivering audio-focused technical talks, and sharing open-source repos. We can also learn his approach to learning DSP, problem-solving, and the significance of visualization in explanations.

    Theory first of practice first? Listen to the podcast episode to find out! 😉

    Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. It will benefit both sides: more reviews mean a broader reach on Apple Podcasts and feedback can help me to improve the show and provide better quality content to you. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏


    00:00:00 Podcast Intro

    00:00:38 Introducing Geraint Luff

    00:03:30 Geraint's Introduction

    00:04:14 Early Interest in Music & Programming

    00:05:53 Learning DSP: Asking Dad About MP3s

    00:06:50 University Studies: Maths at Cambridge

    00:08:25 First Job (Meridian Audio) & 2009 Crash

    00:10:36 Experience at Amazon

    00:12:26 Hobby Audio Effects Projects

    00:13:15 Transferable Skills from Non-Audio Roles

    00:15:49 Transitioning to Audio DSP Freelancing

    00:19:17 The Importance of Community

    00:21:01 Landing the First Freelance Gig

    00:21:28 Geraint's Learning Approach

    00:22:21 DSP Design Philosophy

    00:23:18 Creating the "Let's Write a Reverb" ADC Talk

    00:24:30 Sponsor Break: JUCE

    00:26:09 Geraint's Path as a Recipe for Others

    00:28:20 Approach to Talks & Teaching

    00:34:38 Story Behind "Four Ways to Write a Pitch Shifter"

    00:39:59 The Open Source signal_smith::stretch Library

    00:41:51 Creating Visuals for Talks

    00:44:46 Overview of Freelance Projects

    00:48:26 Freelancing Challenges & Realities

    00:49:45 Experience with KVR Developer Challenge

    00:50:19 Value of Specialization in Freelancing

    00:56:25 Using WebAssembly for DSP Demos

    01:01:05 Approach to Reading Academic Papers

    01:04:32 Learning Style: Creating from Scratch

    01:05:38 Thoughts on Deep Learning

    01:06:43 Testing and Verifying DSP Code

    01:10:06 Current Tech Stack

    01:16:52 Getting Started in Audio Programming

    01:19:00 Advice for Starting Freelancing

    01:20:22 Quick Fire Questions

    01:24:45 Final Thoughts & How to Connect

    01:26:03 Pocast Outro

    1 hr 28 min
  • Reverb, Spatial & Immersive Audio with Orchisama Das | WolfTalk #026

    Orchisama Das is an outstanding audio researcher known for her work in virtual acoustics, artificial reverberation, and immersive audio. She holds a PhD from Stanford University’s prestigious CCRMA and has contributed to groundbreaking research at leading universities and major tech companies.

    During this interview, we talk about her path in academia and industry. Orchisama shares her thoughts about the realities of audio research, offering great insights and a very frank and honest perspective on her journey.

    We dive into technical topics such as artificial reverberation, virtual acoustics, immersive audio, and open problems in DSP, as well as topics like the gender imbalance in the audio research industry and how to stay productive and motivated during research.

    The episode is scattered with many resources and tips for anyone interested in learning the mentioned topics. It is a very inspiring and informative talk for people who are doing audio research, or curious about getting started.

    Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. It will benefit both sides: more reviews mean a broader reach on Apple Podcasts and feedback can help me to improve the show and provide better quality content to you. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏

    Episode contents


    From this podcast, you will learn:

    • How Orchisama Das started her journey in audio research and her path to earning a PhD at Stanford University’s CCRMA.
    • About her internships at Tesla and Meta Reality Labs, as well as tips and advice on how to get internships as a researcher.
    • A big picture technical overview of artificial reverberation, virtual room acoustics, and immersive audio.
    • Resources for learning about these topics, including books, papers, and tools.
    • Tips and advice for a good research carrer.
    • Her thoughts on the gender imbalance in audio research and ways to address it.


    This episode was recorded on November 21, 2024.

    00:00:00 Podast Intro

    00:00:38 Orchisama Das

    00:02:34 Wolfsound: DSP Pro

    00:04:33 Orchisama's Background and Introduction

    00:05:17 Early Interest in Music

    00:06:25 From Electronics to Music Technology

    00:10:45 Applying to PhD Programs

    00:12:01 PhD Research at CCRMA

    00:20:45 Sponsor: JUCE

    00:22:26 Internships at Tesla and Meta

    00:27:10 Postdoc at the University of Surrey

    00:31:27 Moving to Industry: Sonos

    00:36:34 Back to Academia: King's College

    00:40:44 Artificial Reveberation

    00:56:49 Spatial Audio

    01:01:29 Machine Learning for Audio DSP

    01:04:43 Tools and Technology Stack

    01:07:29 Personal Audio Plugin Projects

    01:09:08 Productivity Habits for Researchers

    01:11:24 Book Recommendations

    01:13:10 Focus Music

    01:14:04 Do You Need a PhD for Industry Research?

    01:15:25 'Women at Sonos' Resource Group

    01:17:01 Gender Diversity in the Audio Industry

    01:18:36 Comparing Research Institutes

    01:20:41 Composing and Performing Music

    01:23:23 Connecting with Orchisama

    01:25:06 Outro

    1 hr 28 min
  • Generating AI Music with Julian Parker (Stability AI, ex-TikTok, ex-Native Instruments) | WolfTalk #025

    Julian’s career is incredible: from natural sciences through a master’s in physical modeling, a PhD in virtual analog modeling, an almost decade-long position at Native Instruments, all the way to TikTok and Stability AI, where he’s working now on generative music algorithms.

    There are few people who have such a rich background in audio research and industry and even fewer who are willing to share the details of it publicly. That makes this episode all the more exciting!

    Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. It will benefit both sides: more reviews mean a broader reach on Apple Podcasts and feedback can help me to improve the show and provide better quality content to you. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏


    Episode contents 


    From this podcast, you will learn:

    • how machine learning forever changed audio plugin design and development
    • how big audio plugin companies operate internally
    • how to learn C++ for audio programming
    • whether you need to have a PhD to work in an R&D department of an audio company
    • what is the state of the art in generative music
    • how to learn generating music with AI
    • how to be able to focus on research papers even if you read them after hours
    • how to produce quality research
    • how to rest & recharge after intense and focused work


    2 hr 6 min
  • Successful Audio Plugin Freelancing with Jatin Chowdhury (ChowDSP) | WolfTalk #024

    Jatin Chowdhury is quite well known in the audio programming community for his numerous contributions:

    • various open- and closed-source audio plugins,
    • a few published research papers on Virtual Analog modeling,
    • a few audio-related talks, especially at the Audio Developer Conference,
    • insightful Medium articles on creating audio software in general,
    • significant open-source contributions including the CLAP plugin standard and Surge Synthesizer.


    The list could go on on and on but you get the point: he’s both incredibly productive and highly successful while being very generous to the community with his knowledge.

    That’s why it was amazing to have him on the podcast!

    Jatin currently leads his own audio plugin company ChowDSP which provides consulting and contracting as well.

    During the podcast we discuss his story (which is a kind of “from hero to superhero” tale, if you ask me…), what he learnt along the way, all his current strategies, and most importantly: how you can become someone like a Jatin, a successful audio plugin developer and freelancer.

    I was incredibly inspired during the recording of this episode and revisiting it brought up those feelings again.

    ⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ Listening to this podcast episode will leave you highly motivated to do more audio programming. Listen at your own risk.

    Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. It will benefit both sides: more reviews mean a broader reach on Apple Podcasts and feedback can help me to improve the show and provide better quality content to you. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏


    Episode contents 


    From this podcast episode, you will learn:

    • how Jatin developed his interest in all things music,
    • how he got accepted to CCRMA at Stanford and then to Tesla,
    • how he started freelancing as an audio programmer,
    • how he finds clients,
    • what’s his developer setup,
    • which tools he’s using,
    • resources he recommends for learning audio programming and DSP,
    • personal daily routine for optimal productivity.


    This episode was recorded on June 14, 2024.

    1 hr 59 min

About WolfTalk: Podcast About Audio Programming (People, Careers, Learning)

From the publisher's feed

Welcome to WolfTalk, a podcast ever about audio programming. My name is Jan Wilczek. I am an audio programmer and a researcher.