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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: What are your thoughts on Valgrind? Especially with bug hunting? Personally I find it to be quite useful for my use cases. You?
Asked by Matthew (184.52.122.x) on October 21 2024, 3:34am
Reply on October 21 2024, 1:14pm:
    Yes it is great! Only problem is with very large projects/test cases it can be very slow. but very valuable regardless!
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Question: Hi, Justin, this free simple vu meter I have linked below uses little resources in reaper and I love how it works. However, I have been struggling to use ai to edit the code to display the maximum VU readout for Left and Right channels and hold the values indefinitely. Can you help me display the max vu readouts (not max sample peaks) and hold them indefinitely even when playback stops? redacted
Asked by W.Garby (102.176.101.x) on October 20 2024, 3:18am
Reply on October 20 2024, 7:11pm:
    upload that somewhere reasonable, that page was full of bad download links.
5 Comments...
Question: Did you see this about winamp github pulled
Asked by dspeirs (98.97.116.x) on October 19 2024, 5:13pm
Reply on October 19 2024, 9:02pm:
    yeah there was a pretty good flail there, too bad.
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Question: Can you arrange these computer related things in descending order? Means the topic which you know the most, is in leftmost side, whereas the topic which you know the least, is in rightmost side. Topics are : DBMS, Software Engineering, Computer Networks, Operating Systems, Data Structures & Algorithms, C++ (lol), Python, Java, HTML, CSS, Javascript, AI & ML, Cybersecurity, REAPER (again lol), SQL, Word, Excel, Powerpoint. I think these are enough for now XD
Asked by Abhi (106.219.68.x) on October 19 2024, 8:20am
Reply on October 19 2024, 9:17pm (edited at October 19 2024, 11:14pm):
    I can't sort them (they are not numerically quantifiable), but I'll give some descriptions:
    • DBMS - uh I can apt-get install mysql and create some databases, tweak caching/memory parameters, etc, but I would have to go do a lot of reading to do something like replication or big scaling
    • Software Engineering - what does that even mean anyway?
    • Computer Networks - I can set up LANs and such and configure linux packet filters and dhcp servers or whatever, but if you wanted me to change some BGP configuration of a network I would have a lot of reading to do
    • Operating Systems - not sure what this would mean, exactly.
    • Data Structures & Algorithms - I can write you some linked lists and binary trees that with enough testing might prove to be without obvious bugs
    • C++ - mostly use C++11 or earlier syntax, avoid STL so if you ask me questions about STL use I'd have to look it up
    • Python - bleh I avoid writing it, but I know that it traditionally has a global lock which makes it suck. I've also had to deal with integrating Python with REAPER and I don't enjoy it.
    • Java - only used it occasionally, in the 90s I wrote a mandelbrot generator for the browser, but I avoid it at any rate.
    • HTML - still living in the 90s here.
    • CSS - something I've never spent enough time on to thoroughly understand, usually it ends up googling + tweaking + testing multiple browsers to find the things that work.
    • Javascript - I like javascript a lot actually, fun integrating it into otherwise basic web pages. See e.g. WHUMP and the auto-player-stuff on my blog. Lots of similarities to Lua, despite being completely different.
    • AI & ML - General ideas about how these things are done (side note, Francis was playing with small neural networks back in the early oughts for Winamp vis), but no real expertise to speak of.
    • Cybersecurity - What does that mean? Securing your systems against attacks? Keeping them up to date? Or attacking? REAPER - I do stuff with it almost every day. Probably use a small percentage of its capabilities though.
    • SQL - Can write basic SQL but for complex stuff I often end up RTFM Word - uhh is there any expertise to be had here? I do miss Wordperfect 5.1 though.
    • Excel - I know the diff between =SUM(A1:B2) and =SUM($A1:$B2), remember various functions (COUNTIF() maybe?), but for complex things it's RTFM time
    • Powerpoint - Stay the fuck away
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Question: hey jf- do you think galactic "black holes" proves speed of light is not a constant?
Asked by 2024 (86.137.198.x) on October 19 2024, 12:16am
Reply on October 19 2024, 1:06am:
    The speed of light is not constant, obviously.
2 Comments...
Question: Wondering if you could detail the blow by blow drama that went down at AOL on the day Gnutella went live?
Asked by Noah (24.130.50.x) on October 18 2024, 10:54pm
Reply on October 19 2024, 1:07am:
    Hah I was out of the office that day, on Alcatraz with my parents, when I got the call. Beyond them pulling it down, and my subsequent oopsy and reprimand, not much I can recall.
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Question: I have some three 32-bit plugins that I use regularly have not yet found better 64bit replacement yet. I saw a previous question about Windows 11 being 64 bit only and you replied that that will mean 32bit bridged won't work. Is that the case now? Are users able to run 32bit plugins in 64 bit REAPER on Windows 11? If yes, does that mean Windows 11 being 64 bit only doesn't necessarily mean we can't run 32bit plugins in 64 nit DAWs that support 32 bit bridging.
Asked by Garby (102.176.101.x) on October 18 2024, 9:06am
Reply on October 18 2024, 1:22pm:
    Thankfully Windows 11 64-bit can still run 32-bit apps including REAPER and bridged plug-ins, it just means that the OS itself is always 64-bit. macOS Catalina and later dropped support for 32-bit apps, but Windows has not done that yet. (My previous answer was not correct, because I didn't know what I was talking about).
1 Comment...
Question: Who was designer for the nullsoft site? I always thought the creative direction for the nullsoft brand was really inspiring!
Asked by Noah (24.130.50.x) on October 16 2024, 8:59pm
Reply on October 16 2024, 10:50pm:
    hmm the all text one with random digits as the background? that one was me. there were probably others too though
2 Comments...
Question: Did you ever directly interface with Shawn Fanning or Sean Parker directly? Were they cool to you?
Asked by Noah (24.130.50.x) on October 16 2024, 7:35pm
Reply on October 16 2024, 7:47pm (edited at October 16 2024, 7:48pm):
    I think I met Parker a few times, have very little memory of our interactions though. Hung out with Fanning a lot more, played around with music stuff and poker, he was always very nice and a much better drummer than I was lol. It's been a long time!
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Question: Do you think you'd lose users if you shipped unsigned binaries?
Asked by Andy (152.37.91.x) on October 16 2024, 7:08pm
Reply on October 16 2024, 7:29pm:
    Probably yeah
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Question: Would you ever make new modern music player from scratch, There are many options around but nothing with your flair and simplicity of winamp, I use WACUP as its the only thing worth using.
Asked by TeeLeaf (84.227.162.x) on October 16 2024, 6:45pm
Reply on October 16 2024, 7:30pm:
    Did a plug-in for REAPER which was kinda fun but really I'm more interested in the production side at this point.
2 Comments...
Question: Does grinding beans really taste notably better than just scooping it pre-ground out of the bag? Is the difference something even a coffee lover would honestly notice with a doubleblind test?
Asked by Robert K. (216.122.175.x) on October 16 2024, 4:56pm
Reply on October 16 2024, 5:28pm (edited at October 16 2024, 7:30pm):
    I would think it depends on a lot of factors, but grinding on demand at least lets your coffee last longer...
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Question: Is there any way to access the special video variables (like project_w and project_h for example) when defining a parameter (//@param)? If not, would you consider adding this feature? Thank you!
Asked by amagalma (91.140.68.x) on October 16 2024, 11:57am
Reply on October 16 2024, 1:07pm:
    Hmm not really, since those can change and we'd prefer not to have to recompile/reset the processor entirely when they do. what are you looking to do?
4 Comments...
Question: So I have found some great JS effects that comes with REAPER, since there tons of other js effects out there, what criteria did you use in choosing the ones that come bundled with REAPER?
Asked by Garby (102.176.101.x) on October 16 2024, 1:41am
Reply on October 16 2024, 1:07pm:
    Early on we included a ton of them, then we pretty much stopped adding new JSFX other than the ones we made (e.g. the loudness meter, super8, general dynamics, etc). Not opposed to including good third-party JSFX, if the authors request such, but at this point happy letting people download them separately.
1 Comment...
Question: Q1) When you first started learning C++, if you had option to choose either C++ or Java, and you had equal learning resources available for both, what would you choose? Q2) Do you think Java still has scope today in developing software like REAPER? Q3) Is it possible to develop REAPER with Java instead of C++?
Asked by Abhi (106.219.68.x) on October 14 2024, 8:01am
Reply on October 14 2024, 12:29pm:
    I would choose C++. Java has a lot of problems relating to realtime applications IMO, and the implementations of it raise more questions than they answer. I can't say whether it would be possible to implement REAPER in it (I guess BitWig uses it for some of their app?) but for me it would create more problems than it would solve.
2 Comments...
Question: If you have watched this in 1998, what was your reaction that time? Or if not, then what is your reaction right now? 🤣 youtu.be/eKy9fV_zX_o?si=9p5N24E8mSvY3cVu
Asked by Abhi (106.219.70.x) on October 12 2024, 2:56pm
Reply on October 12 2024, 10:11pm:
    lol, don't remember it from then but it tracks with my recollection of Windows 98. GET ME BILL GATES! (iirc)
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Question: what do you do when you get stuck at a problem whether in coding or in life?
Asked by rano (113.21.71.x) on October 12 2024, 8:38am
Reply on October 12 2024, 10:12pm:
    Your choices are: persist, shelve and come back to it later, or find a workaround.
6 Comments...
Question: if you weren't a programmer, what would you be doing for living? And Why there's just 2 people developing Reaper? Why not hire more and do more stuff?
Asked by rano (113.21.71.x) on October 11 2024, 3:16am
Reply on October 11 2024, 12:23pm:
    I love programming, I don't like managing people.
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Question: hey jf- are you getting any updates or tech specs regarding MIDI 2.0? is it actually a "thing" for your considerations?
Asked by 2024 (86.185.199.x) on October 10 2024, 1:35pm
Reply on October 10 2024, 1:43pm:
    Haven't figured out when/how we'll integrate it
2 Comments...
Question: Yo JF, I was just listening to some of the band The Smile's live shows and for a second I thought it was you on sax! Maybe you've gotten that before.. (Robert Stillman)
Asked by saxo (185.254.75.x) on October 9 2024, 10:49pm
Reply on October 10 2024, 1:43pm:
    By appearance or playing style? lol
Comment...
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