Ask Justin Frankel

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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: In Java, why 'system.out.println' is long and why not simply use 'print'?
Asked by James Gosling (223.236.87.x) on February 19 2024, 6:06pm
Reply on February 19 2024, 7:12pm:

there is an appeal of not polluting a global namespace with a million functions, because if you make your own function called "print" then it will be ambiguous, when reading code, which one is called. Comment...

Question: I will be publishing my first mobile application soon. It's nothing special or new, it's just something I *think* I *might* do better than anyone else. I've copied a lot from the "design principles" Winamp, because I grew up with it: Optimizing system usage, the ability to use skins and above all: not ripping people off. Instead, make them happy. Am I being too idealistic or do you think this kind of approach will still work today?
Asked by Nico (37.201.193.x) on February 18 2024, 10:57pm
Reply on February 19 2024, 2:00pm:

Hard to say! I don't know much about the mobile space, either. iOS version? 2 Comments...

Question: What do you think the percentage of stuff in Reaper is things you wanted vs things that are in there because they're things that DAWs are supposed to have or have been requested?
Asked by todd_r (86.137.231.x) on February 18 2024, 2:56pm
Reply on February 19 2024, 2:00pm (edited at February 19 2024, 2:02pm):

It's probably 75% (complete guess -- by feature-count or LOC also a guess) things that I didn't ask for, but I often use things I didn't think I would. 1 Comment...

Question: I was reading something from the 60s and mentioned ``swell'' as an old-fashioned word. Could you give some info about the word as a native english speaker? e.g. in what contexts could be used then/now, thanks.
Asked by Gio (79.130.186.x) on February 16 2024, 11:46am
Reply on February 16 2024, 1:16pm (edited at February 16 2024, 1:18pm):

1 Comment...

Question: How would you go about licensing proprietary software? Specifically writing a EULA. I know that you are not a lawyer but I am having a hard time researching this and I'd thought I'd might ask you because you have a lot more experience than I do. And thank you for taking your time answering this question.
Asked by Matthew (76.37.54.x) on February 14 2024, 1:30pm
Reply on February 14 2024, 5:33pm:

Having a lawyer help is the way to go for sure, but you could probably look at other licenses and find things that are important. At the end of the day, of course, a license is only as good as your ability to enforce it. 1 Comment...

Question: The Reaper DAW gets a lot of updates, but the Reaplugs VST suite was last updated in 2016. Why is it that Reaper gets so many updates but Reaplugs languishes for years?
Asked by Eye of the Kaiser Bun (99.239.111.x) on February 14 2024, 2:12am
Reply on February 14 2024, 5:31pm:

Because ReaPlugs meh and REAPER yay. ReaPlugs were meant to be the gateway drug or something... 12 Comments...

Question: Agree? instagram.com/reel/C27H1muuVb_/
Asked by Will (23.125.224.x) on February 13 2024, 6:59pm
Reply on February 14 2024, 5:31pm:

Some truth but not absolute truth Comment...

Question: hey jf- nice technique to play with.. setup vocoder..use guitar as carrier- your voice as modulator..ever done that ? (+ bonus reaper technique in any comment 4 you!) ;)
Asked by 2024 (109.149.174.x) on February 13 2024, 4:18pm
Reply on February 14 2024, 5:30pm:

Yeah, fun! 1 Comment...

Question: preference Intel or AMD?
Asked by stumpbroke1 (66.60.181.x) on February 11 2024, 9:10am
Reply on February 11 2024, 5:01pm:

Been a long time since I've had an AMD CPU, but can't say I really care anymore, they all run stuff fast as hell these days, and pretty happy with my M1 MBA and its ridiculous battery life... Comment...

Question: hey jf- we have a slight problem to solve & wondered if you could help? question= how does water extinguish,or "put out" a fire or flame? (hows the chemistry these days??) ta!
Asked by 2024 (109.149.174.x) on February 11 2024, 2:37am
Reply on February 11 2024, 2:45am (edited at February 11 2024, 2:46am):

I admit I'm not a chemist! My guess would be that it only works on a material which only burns when dry, e.g. wood. Using water to extinguish something more exotic, e.g. thermite, would probably not have the desired effect. 3 Comments...

Question: I recently told a major German software firm that I will no longer pay for upgrades because of Germany's enthusiastic support for Israel's ongoing atrocities. I don't use Waves products, because of it being based in Israel. Ditto for Intel. I like some music on DI.fm, but founder Ari Shohat has repulsive views he posts on twitter, so I avoid. Where do you stand?
Asked by Beak (94.16.112.x) on February 10 2024, 11:42pm
Reply on February 11 2024, 2:30am (edited at February 12 2024, 10:33pm):

Comment...

Question: What are you mostly up to these days?
Asked by wasereb4 (83.135.15.x) on February 10 2024, 1:05am
Reply on February 10 2024, 3:48am:

programming, emailing, texting, walking, running, drinking coffee, eating, sleeping, listening to music, visiting friends, family. haven't played much music in the last few weeks, next week will be music-heavy Comment...

Question: Random question but you don't have to answer. What compiler do you use to compile Reaper with? And how can you target multiple operating systems and CPU architectures from a single code base and tool chain?
Asked by Matthew (76.37.54.x) on February 9 2024, 7:13am
Reply on February 9 2024, 5:27pm:

different toolchains depending on platform -- VC2005/ICC10 for Windows, clang for macOS, gcc for Linux. A lot of the cross-platform-UI-ness comes from writing basic win32 code and using SWELL (part of WDL, open source etc) to target macOS/linux... and a lot of the audio/midi device code is platform-specific for each. 2 Comments...

Question: I am trying to store the state of a audio plugin to a ProjectStateContext directly. I'm running into an issue trying to write a large text chunk to the context. Any pointers? Do I need to break it up somehow?
Asked by ToneCre8 (73.0.162.x) on February 6 2024, 4:39pm
Reply on February 7 2024, 1:16am:

cfg_encode_textblock is probably a good idea, unless you need newline encoding preserved, in which case you'd probably be better of base64 encoding it 4 Comments...

Question: hey jf- when you purchase any new tech..do you always rtfm?
Asked by 2024 (165.120.114.x) on February 5 2024, 7:23pm
Reply on February 5 2024, 8:22pm:

Usually not, but sometimes 3 Comments...

Question: What is your opinion on OpenBSD or any other BSD derivative?
Asked by Matthew (76.37.54.x) on February 4 2024, 9:45pm
Reply on February 5 2024, 5:45pm:

They're all fine, more or less the same thing right? But I end up on Linux because I'm used to it though 1 Comment...

Question: BTW, what's the time interval for posting several posts in a row from the same IP address? If i try two in a raw the website tells me to wait some time
Asked by User (46.165.250.x) on February 3 2024, 10:47am
Reply on February 3 2024, 6:23pm:

I forget the logic involved there Comment...

Question: Could you post a link to the page with images of REAPER old themes? i can't find the URL
Asked by Name (95.133.222.x) on February 3 2024, 10:37am
Reply on February 3 2024, 6:22pm:

perhaps you mean this

Comment...

Question: hey jf- while making music via computers or hardwares..people often advise "use your ears" over "use your eyes"? question= have you ever done a session blindfolded..to "see" how that turns out in practice?? (some musicians ARE blind from birth of course) =)
Asked by 2024 (165.120.114.x) on February 2 2024, 5:38pm
Reply on February 2 2024, 6:20pm:

I haven't done anything blindfolded, but when mixing sessions I definitely don't look at units or ratios or attack times or track meters much, and just tweak them til I like them. The exception is that I do look at the LUFS meter on the main outs to see if I'm near where I want to be as far as loudness. 2 Comments...

Question: Did you know the lead musician from Weezer has an active github? github.com/riverscuomo
Asked by Jesse (100.8.74.x) on February 2 2024, 2:24am
Reply on February 2 2024, 5:26pm:

I read that on the internet. I wonder if there are lots of lyric references in the code. sweater.destroy() etc. Comment...

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