Ask Justin Frankel

justin = { main feed , music , code , askjf , pubkey };

Ask Justin Frankel
No reasonable question unanswered since 2009!

Suggested topics: programming, music, sleep, coffee, etc.

Note: please do not ask questions about REAPER features, bugs or scheduling, use the forums instead.

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Question: I'm interested in learning computer programming and user interface design for apps useful to the medical field. Are there any books you can recommend to a novice.
Asked by Kev Davis (72.132.234.x) on September 4 2016, 9:50pm
Reply on September 5 2016, 9:49pm:

I wish I had a good answer here, but most of what I learned was 15-20 years ago, and it was a different world then, documentation was hard to come by... so maybe look at various open source projects? Sorry to be of so little help. Comment...

Question: Well, would you expect a prudent person to classify this as a "regular apartment"? Google knows all Justin.
Asked by Will (107.203.156.x) on September 3 2016, 3:40pm
Reply on September 3 2016, 9:00pm:

You left out a link, but I don't live where I did a couple years ago. Also you can't believe everything you read on the internet. Anyway... Comment...

Question: I think I found this song here a few years ago [link to philip selway - dont look down] I think I finally get it, thanks Justin! And love your little web site here, it's like you get a constant influx of koans to solve :D
Asked by Jesus Constansa (192.42.116.x) on September 3 2016, 12:19pm
Reply on September 3 2016, 9:01pm:

Was the question here "is this song awesome?" If so, yes! Comment...

Question: If your wealth suddenly went away and you had to go back to regular apartment living with your wife on a 70k/yr income, do you think your happiness would significantly change, or have you learned money doesn't move the needle as most people expect?
Asked by Will (172.58.107.x) on September 2 2016, 2:49pm
Reply on September 2 2016, 10:52pm:

How do you know I don't live in a "regular" apartment anyway? I don't think money makes much of a difference, once you get above a certain point. I'm not sure where that point is, and it varies a lot with geography, but yeah I'm sure I'd complain. Having said that, if I had to work a job that I didn't find interesting (vs getting to write music software), I would think that that would have a big effect (though maybe not what I think, since perhaps it would make the hobby time writing code that much more enjoyable). Comment...

Question: Why the japan
Asked by David allard (207.253.195.x) on September 1 2016, 5:33pm
Reply on September 1 2016, 5:39pm:

Does not parse Comment...

Question: Why did you deleted my question?
Asked by poopy (125.130.225.x) on September 1 2016, 3:50pm
Reply on September 1 2016, 5:39pm:

It wasn't a question. Comment...

Question: how many buildings has san francisco
Asked by Zirkone frey (84.132.169.x) on August 31 2016, 4:37pm
Reply on September 1 2016, 5:39pm:

Unclear what you're asking here. Comment...

Question: When did you start playing the drums? Do you take lessons?
Asked by Albi (173.208.123.x) on August 30 2016, 10:03pm
Reply on August 31 2016, 12:05am:

I think it was 2003 or 2004 or so. I haven't taken lessons, I probably should though. Comment...

Question: ever go back to SF, just to visit?
Asked by ROLF (79.246.226.x) on August 25 2016, 9:26pm
Reply on August 26 2016, 1:04pm:

I have been, but lately I haven't been traveling much Comment...

Question: seen this interesting language? gitbook.com/book/ponylang/pony-tut...
Asked by semiquaver (107.184.43.x) on August 22 2016, 2:03pm
Reply on August 22 2016, 6:37pm:

I like the name Comment...

Question: The year is 2035. The reiteration of Moore's Law has produced an unprecedented amount of computing power in the average device, exceeding even the most elaborate of science fiction fantasies. A revolutionary new audio program is released that changes audio production forever. What kind of fanciful new features would it have?
Asked by fmap (142.162.42.x) on August 22 2016, 12:28pm
Reply on August 22 2016, 6:38pm:

I'd imagine it would measure your biofeedback and automix until you were pleased? Comment...

Question: Any thoughts on using AI for audio processing? (Such as taking a mixed track and breaking it down into stems?)
Asked by Will (76.97.150.x) on August 16 2016, 8:05pm
Reply on August 17 2016, 8:17pm:

I don't know much about AI, I suppose you could train a neural network to pick apart things, but you might run into information theory limits there, I dunno. Comment...

Question: hi Justin.I've tried Reaper from /dev in landoleet on Ubuntu studio 16.04 and it works fine. Do you plan an official release in the future. Should i buy a license for this version (will it stop working after 60 days?)
Asked by fred (37.164.70.x) on August 16 2016, 12:43pm
Reply on August 17 2016, 8:18pm:

I won't stop working after 60 days, but if you find it adequate for your uses (most people would probably not), then I suppose purchasing a license would be appropriate. Comment...

Question: Ah that's a shame. I'd probably work for free just to say I contributed to Reaper. Although financial sustenance is also great. Reaper's got such a diverse feature set, I figure a few people could work on it without getting in each other's way. You really think it'd be a pain? What about Git access? Maybe a few well-done pull requests would change your mind?
Asked by fmap (142.162.42.x) on August 15 2016, 10:10pm
Reply on August 15 2016, 11:06pm:

If REAPER was open source, that could work... but alas, it isn't. ;) Comment...

Question: What languages, and it what order, would you recommend someone learn if they wanted to get into audio/music related programming? And has this answer changed significantly over the past couple decades?
Asked by Nick (107.77.76.x) on August 15 2016, 9:10pm
Reply on August 15 2016, 11:08pm:

I'd say C would be the biggest. Then assembly language (so you understand approximately what code your C compile generates). You can go C++ after that, if you want, but I'd say only use a small percentage of what C++ offers over C (templates, simple classes/single interfaces, etc). Comment...

Question: (Whoops, character limit) ...Safe, correct code vs "it works"? Beard vs longer beard? Expertise level between "hello world" and "my toaster has root access to the NSA's mainframe"?
Asked by fmap (142.162.42.x) on August 15 2016, 8:05pm
Reply on August 15 2016, 11:11pm:

To answer the other questions: raw programming ability is important. Being a daily REAPER user is important. Ins and outs of audio production less so. Efficiency in produced code is important, the right amount of design is important (not over, not under, though over is generally a bigger risk). We do minimalist C++, check out WDL (e.g. wdlstring.h, wdlcstring.h, ptrlist.h, lice/) if you want examples. No exceptions. Prefer code that gracefully handles failures. blah blah blah. Beards are overrated. Comment...

Question: Any chance you'd hire another dev? If so, what sort of qualities would you be looking for? How important is raw programming ability vs being conversant in the ins and outs of audio production? Flexible high-level interface/architecture design vs low-level efficiency? Strict C style or more OO or functional style? Creative vision vs productivity? Safe, correc
Asked by fmap (142.162.42.x) on August 15 2016, 6:56pm
Reply on August 15 2016, 7:55pm:

Nah, I'm no good at managing people. Comment...

Question: Any clue how to go about programming a DAW?
Asked by Yobi (144.118.241.x) on August 8 2016, 9:22pm
Reply on August 8 2016, 11:56pm:

Step 1: collect underpants. Seriously though, maybe start by making plug-ins, or audio processors, or something with a more limited scope? Comment...

Question: Your shiz is on hackernews. news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12246202
Asked by Will (50.84.190.x) on August 8 2016, 5:50pm
Reply on August 8 2016, 11:56pm:

Hah thanks though that hasn't been mine for many many years, posted in the comments though :) Comment...

Question: Hello :) Is it a good idea to turn off "Use audio driver reported latency" in the recording preferences if i am using Amp Sims like Guitar Rig and therefore the monitoring inside Reaper? Because I guess while playing through Guitar Rig I compensate for the latency myself and therefore the compensation would be done twice ?
Asked by Tobias (95.90.212.x) on August 5 2016, 10:16pm
Reply on August 6 2016, 7:14pm:

There's a per track option for "preserve pdc-delayed monitoring"... it also counts the driver latency along with any pdc Comment...

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