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: the new winamp site doesnt have the latest version anymore. i know u guys sold the new one but i have no idea how to fucking use the new site... ffs... typical AOL fuck!
Asked by winamp (68.150.40.x) on June 24 2022, 6:44am
Reply on June 24 2022, 8:04pm:

It's post-aol now, new guys making AOL look good! Comment...

Question: cheers from India, using winamp :)
Asked by Akhil francis (103.148.20.x) on June 23 2022, 6:30am
Reply on June 23 2022, 7:54pm:

hihi Comment...

Question: How do I get live tech support for Reaper?
Asked by pllampkin@gmail.com (96.28.99.x) on June 23 2022, 12:23am
Reply on June 23 2022, 7:55pm:

We don't really offer that but you can email us at support at... Comment...

Question: how can i get the attitude of a true rockstar?
Asked by epep (185.252.223.x) on June 21 2022, 8:30pm
Reply on June 22 2022, 10:33pm (edited at June 22 2022, 10:34pm):

Is there such a thing as a true rockstar, and if so is the attitude something that would be uniform across all true rockstars? Seems a bit far-fetched. 1 Comment...

Question: Do you believe in karma and things like that?
Asked by Chris (77.64.160.x) on June 21 2022, 8:19pm
Reply on June 22 2022, 10:33pm:

The abstract concept is sound, but the implementation is iffy. Comment...

Question: Anyone ever talked with you without knowing you are the developer of Winamp & REAPER? If yes, what's their reaction when they later know about you? (thanks Nylon for suggestion)
Asked by Abhi (122.181.89.x) on June 21 2022, 10:43am
Reply on June 21 2022, 3:36pm (edited at June 24 2022, 8:05pm):

Lots of people talk to me without knowing what I do ;) Sorry that's a too-literal way to answer. (Edited to add) Anyway I don't know if people know of REAPER, I usually don't bring it up. Last night I talked to a guy who played metal guitar and I didn't ask him what he used to record, instead I asked what kind of amp/pedals he used... Maybe back in the Winamp days, but I forget Comment...

Question: Where did you learn about pdf spec for REAPER's musical notation pdf export? I'm hoping there are better resources than the 800 page iso doc..
Asked by jack (146.70.134.x) on June 21 2022, 7:11am
Reply on June 21 2022, 3:36pm:

schwa did that maybe he'll reply in the comments here 4 Comments...

Question: Anyone ever talked with you about REAPER without knowing you are a developer?
Asked by Nylon (179.104.166.x) on June 21 2022, 1:35am
Reply on June 21 2022, 3:37pm:

I don't think so Comment...

Question: What helps against lovesickness?
Asked by wasereb4 (79.246.80.x) on June 20 2022, 10:16pm
Reply on June 21 2022, 3:37pm:

My guess: making things and exercising Comment...

Question: I've seen you mention avoiding multiple inheritance, and using a subset of cpp features in older posts - what do you think of the 'reject cpp-isms' stuff? (sticking to simple c-style code, no inheritance, structs over classes, data-oriented design (no OOP), the list goes on..). Side-node, have you worked with XAudio2 before, likes/dislikes?
Asked by jack (146.70.134.x) on June 20 2022, 3:02pm
Reply on June 20 2022, 7:56pm (edited at June 20 2022, 7:57pm):

I'm pretty pragmatic and moderate in my views, the most important part is making the code easy to understand and read. Excessively complex class hierarchies make that difficult, and multiple inheritance falls into that category. Most of what you describe sounds like OOP-in-C which is not functionally that different, and you lose very useful things such as templates and other bits of syntactic sugar that make things nice. So meh? I haven't touched XAudio2. Comment...

Question: History: In my POV REAPER LEQ v5.0 had big diversity in default skin aesthetics; effectively making older versions outdated way too early (prematurely). Transition from v5.0 to v6.0 aided that effect to some extent and was just about right. What's your opinion on intentionally preserving the value of older software?
Asked by Gio (94.71.251.x) on June 20 2022, 2:43am
Reply on June 20 2022, 2:58pm:

Hmm we still support 5.x themes correctly no? 1 Comment...

Question: Heading to SF/Oakland around July 4th? Any bands/shows you recommend I check out?
Asked by Chandler (172.14.227.x) on June 19 2022, 7:10pm
Reply on June 20 2022, 2:57pm:

No but I'd go get a Zachary's Special from Zachary's. 2 Comments...

Question: Ummm, can you someday make a smartphone app, which has basic MIDI controller support, which can connect with REAPER via usb cable or wifi? Basically, a nice little tool for those, who have smartphone, but don't have real MIDI controller. Hence they can make their smartphone as a keyboard. Ahhhh, can you? You can put ads or make the app paid, or both, of course. Some other DAWs also did this. Just basic MIDI keyboard controller, no need of controlling faders, knobs and all that.
Asked by Abhi (110.227.176.x) on June 19 2022, 5:22pm
Reply on June 20 2022, 2:57pm:

You could do it via the REAPER web interface 3 Comments...

Question: cheers from brazil, using winamp :)
Asked by gabriel (187.36.216.x) on June 18 2022, 11:43pm
Reply on June 20 2022, 2:57pm:

Greetings! Comment...

Question: Major & Minor (natural) scales have same notes, but they sound different. Why?
Asked by Abhi (117.99.174.x) on June 17 2022, 5:05pm
Reply on June 17 2022, 8:04pm:

Well first off they only have the same notes if you change the key (if you don't change the key they will sound very different!). But then also you choose different notes when playing in C major than you would in A minor natural. And different chords? Comment...

Question: Reaper feels like a miracle in engineering, with its small size, top performance, and frequency of updates. How do you do achieve this on the dev side? Do you have a dev blog or can point to any school of thought/books/resources?
Asked by Evan (109.242.63.x) on June 17 2022, 6:15am
Reply on June 17 2022, 8:05pm:

It's no miracle, just consistent with other similarly-developed software. Think of it as craftsmanship... Comment...

Question: I think you might be sceptical to GPUs in audio. But have you really checked what GPU Audio is doing?
Asked by mlprod (98.128.188.x) on June 16 2022, 9:41pm
Reply on June 17 2022, 1:23am:

Not in detail 2 Comments...

Question: Do you have any video clip showing how it was Nullsoft at that time? I´d love to see where it has been developed...
Asked by Ivan Costa (189.60.87.x) on June 16 2022, 8:27pm
Reply on June 16 2022, 8:39pm:

This is the only surviving footage.

Comment...

Question: If you had lots of time, then which skills you wanted to learn, of course besides coding & music?
Asked by Abhi (122.176.13.x) on June 16 2022, 4:00am
Reply on June 16 2022, 5:33pm:

Definitely Kung Fu 1 Comment...

Question: Justin, the daw you create is both lightweight and defies other daws. My question is this:How do we adapt this to other areas (plugin, messenger...)? So it's both powerful and performant.
Asked by Reaper (46.106.163.x) on June 15 2022, 4:28pm
Reply on June 16 2022, 5:33pm:

I dunno, a bunch of work and making design decisions with those goals in mind? Comment...

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