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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[older questions]

Question: hey-so,do you believe in leading by example,and do you feel our 'elected' leaders are leading by good* examples? are they showing us the 'right' ways??
Asked by 2020 (2.26.240.x) on December 15 2020, 1:34pm
Reply on December 15 2020, 3:13pm:

I do believe people should lead by example, and no, I don't think our leaders are doing a good job at that (I'm sure someone somewhere is, but tons of examples to point to of leaders' actions sending the complete wrong message). I do feel that putting elected in scare-quotes is inappropriate, though. Comment...

Question: It is hard to be skinny with a physical labor job. How do all the superstar coders stay so skinny?
Asked by Mike (73.91.212.x) on December 15 2020, 3:23am
Reply on December 15 2020, 3:13pm:

By avoiding physical labor? I dunno Comment...

Question: Any precaution/worry about the vaccine? Looks like a huge beta testing release, not sure what's the best option.
Asked by Gio (79.130.163.x) on December 14 2020, 6:20pm
Reply on December 14 2020, 8:33pm:

Yeah something this fast will likely have issues, but they do seem to be far far less severe and far less prevalent than the disease itself, so seems like an obvious win. 6 Comments...

Question: Is there any difference between mp3 and wav in low frequencies or only high frequencies get affected during audio compression?
Asked by Taylor's Evermore is really good! (27.58.8.x) on December 14 2020, 3:06pm
Reply on December 14 2020, 4:51pm:

All frequencies do get affected, though probably more noticeable on the high end Comment...

Question: Hey Justin! What script/extension of reaper are yours favorites/best ones? There is one you use recurrently?
Asked by HumanBeingWithFellings (179.104.165.x) on December 13 2020, 5:03pm
Reply on December 14 2020, 4:51pm:

There are some JSFX that really blow me away for sure, I forget off the top of my head though. :) Comment...

Question: T-shaped skill VS. I-shaped skill.... which is better? What do you like being between two? (currently, I guess you are I-shaped person)
Asked by The Skill (27.58.64.x) on December 13 2020, 7:45am
Reply on December 13 2020, 1:26pm (edited at December 13 2020, 1:28pm):

I'm probably a [.] but I don't think I'd be I-shaped 3 Comments...

Question: hey- so during this unique year,have you discovered any game changing ideas,information,skill or practices which have greatly empowered your daily flow?
Asked by 2020 (2.26.240.x) on December 13 2020, 3:06am
Reply on December 13 2020, 1:29pm:

Trying to think if there is anything... not really! Just incremental changes as it almost always goes... Comment...

Question: Do you sometimes have sleepless nights? What do you do then if so?
Asked by wasereb4 (87.167.82.x) on December 13 2020, 2:17am
Reply on December 13 2020, 1:27pm:

Never a whole night (knocks on wood), when I can't sleep it's usually because I have too much going on in my head so I try to go get it out by doing things (writing, coding, whatever). Comment...

Question: hi Justin. I would like to make Reaper faders control RME Totalmix faders (& vice versa) via OSC. I'm trying to figure out OSCii bot. Totalmix responds to 1/Volume1 so i want to connect it to n/track/1/volume in Reaper. im not getting far, any chance you could give me some pointers ? ive created OSC layouts on tablets but ive little knowledge with scripting and theres not much activity on OSCii bot forum for help.. if i could get one fader working i think i could propagate the rest from there..
Asked by EcBaPr (119.18.2.x) on December 11 2020, 1:19pm
Reply on December 11 2020, 1:27pm:

Unless you need a lot of scripted logic, you probably don't need OSCII-bot, REAPER's internal OSC definitions could be used... Let's discuss in the comments here (or on the forum?) 6 Comments...

Question: Hello Justin, it's the interview person again. After much procrastination, I have returned with 4 short questions: 1. What non-coding-related skills do you think are most important to your job (e.g. time management)? 2. Any common misconceptions about your job? 3. If you could go back in time, would you have any advice for your 20 year old self? 4. What was the most difficult part of writing REAPER?
Asked by Ethan (71.143.72.x) on December 11 2020, 1:22am
Reply on December 11 2020, 3:01am:

I'm unsure if this counts, but being a user first is probably the biggest thing -- even if I were to stop programming, I'd still want to shape the software as a user. Other important skills (which I don't always do but have been important along the way): digesting feedback from users, both for QA purposes and for improvements. Bookkeeping. Deciding what tools are needed in order to increase productivity (things to help manage our build processes, customer interactions, etc). Finding people who you can delegate things to -- I'm pretty bad at this, but I've lucked into the relationships that we have that have been essential!
Hard to answer this, I try not to read what people say on the internet...
I'd try to get my 20 year old self to exercise more and take better care of its teeth. The prime 15 years of running ability instead were spent in front of computers and driving around in cars, doh! When I moved to SF I would often drive the ~2.5 miles from my apartment to the office each day (and then usually spend time looking for parking). That seems completely absurd to me now.
Difficulty -- it's less about how hard things are and more about how much work they are. It's come a long way in these 15 years, and while there has definitely been code that was difficult to write, difficult to maintain, it usually was less difficult to eventually rewrite. Probably the hardest part with something like this is getting to the point where you feel like it's something that's worth continuing work on. Early on in projects you're making something and it's interesting, you get to some challenging bit that's going to take many hours of contemplation and experimentation, and you lose interest because you're not sure if it will be worth it. That still happens now, with particular subprojects and branches, but early on in a project it is more difficult. As an example -- I recently (due to Apple releasing M1 macs) started working on VST3 bridging for REAPER (it has never been supported, but now there's a real case where people will want to run REAPER/arm64 with their x86_64 plug-ins emulated). VST2 bridging is done by marshalling about 30 calls in each direction between the plug-in and the host. VST3 will require another 30 or so. I started work on it, started organizing things to make it more easily done, and it seems like it will work. But there's so much work ahead of it before I can even come close to testing a limping version. I'll get back to it soon, but in the mean time I can go work on other aspects of REAPER... Whereas if it were a brand new project, I might completely forget about it.

1 Comment...

Question: Do you have any thoughts on MOSIP, India’s new open-source identity project?
Asked by Justin (68.160.228.x) on December 9 2020, 12:14am
Reply on December 9 2020, 6:05pm:

I haven't heard of that Comment...

Question: REAPER setup (and installed folder) file size is getting larger and larger. What will you do if it goes to 1 GB size?
Asked by Meme is life (27.58.104.x) on December 8 2020, 12:58pm
Reply on December 8 2020, 4:23pm:

Maybe take a look to see what's using all that space? Comment...

Question: Hello Justin. I am trying to automatically import audio to Reaper application with a different program, but I could not find a document about it. `reaper.exe filename.wav` has such a use, but it did not quite see my work. Can you inform me? Thank you.
Asked by Musa Kurt (88.238.10.x) on December 5 2020, 1:07pm
Reply on December 5 2020, 6:52pm:

On windows, WM_DROPFILES is probably a more effective way of doing this... Comment...

Question: Do you like F1 cars & racing ?
Asked by Lewis (27.58.119.x) on December 5 2020, 6:21am
Reply on December 5 2020, 6:52pm:

I used to be more interested in such things but now I am less so Comment...

Question: Sony VS. JBL! Which is better (according to your opinion) in sound quality? Some people love heavy bass, some people love sweetness more than bass. What about you??
Asked by Audiophile? Maybe! (117.234.79.x) on December 5 2020, 3:32am
Reply on December 5 2020, 6:52pm:

No idea, I just use whatever I have around Comment...

Question: Do you know Carly Rae Jepsen? If yes, what's your favourite song of hers? If no, then you can start listening her from this LOVELY uplifting song. Also if you love cats, you will love the video of this music as well :D youtu.be/CnGjfxJqf6I
Asked by Kitty Kit-Kats 🐈 (27.58.99.x) on December 4 2020, 6:28am
Reply on December 4 2020, 1:39pm: