Learn from an audio programming legend: audio programmer in C++/Swift/Faust/JavaScript/PureData/Max and more.

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Introduction

In this podcast episode, I was lucky to interview Oliver Larkin: an audio programming legend from the UK.

Starting with a passion for music, going through Max, SynthEdit, PureData, then C++ to JavaScript and others, there is no audio technology that’s not known to him. He has worked on projects with Arturia and Focusrite (among many more) and nowadays works for Ableton. He has conducted research in spatial audio, and has created successful plugins, like the Casio CZ-101 synthesizer emulation.

He is most widely known as the co-author of Web Audio Modules and iPlug2: an C++ framework for creating audio plugins and web-hosted audio apps. It allows you to have a single codebase that builds various plugin formats out of the box, e.g., VST, AAX, and AU. Sounds familiar? That’s because it is an alternative to the JUCE framework.

With 20 years of experience in audio programming, he can be a role model for aspiring audio programmers.

All this and more, including Oli’s learning path is discussed in this podcast episode!

Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. It will benefit both sides: more reviews mean a broader reach on Apple Podcasts and feedback can help me to improve the show and provide better quality content to you. Thank you for doing this 🙏

Episode Contents

In this podcast episode, you will learn:

  • how Oli has learned audio programming thanks to his passion for music
  • how his carreer path unfolded from the university up until today when he’s working full-time for Ableton in Berlin
  • how he collaborated with Plugin Boutique at its very start
  • how he came up with the idea of iPlug2 and what are the challenges involved
  • how he came across the idea of Web Audio Modules and helped develop them further
  • how to be a successful freelancer in the field of audio programming
  • how indie developers can make their audio plugins successful
  • what’s his tech stack
  • best resources on learning music DSP

References

Below you’ll find all people, places, and references mentioned in the podcast episode.

  1. Oliver Larkin
    1. Personal website
    2. Email address: contact@olilarkin.co.uk
    3. LinkedIn
    4. X (formerly Twitter)
    5. Plugins
      1. Endless series: an effect based on the Shephard Tone
      2. pMix: plugin preset interpolator
      3. VirtualCZ: emulator of Casio CZ-101 synthesizer
    6. Talks
      1. iPlug2 with Web Audio Modules during Web Audio Conference 2018
      2. iPlug2 presentation during The Audio Programmer virtual meet-up
      3. (Oli has given many talks, a lot of them are available online. I encourage you to search for his name online and check them out!)
    7. Spatial AudioKit: an upcoming app and a library to play back files in spatial audio formats on iPhone
  2. People
    1. Hyunkook Lee: professor at the University of Huddersfield
    2. Jean-Claude Risset: A French composer of electronic music
    3. Alex Harker: researcher at the University of Huddersfield and a co-author of iPlug2
    4. Jari Kleimola: co-creator of Web Audio Modules
    5. Michel Buffa: researcher deeply involved in Web Audio Modules
  3. Programming languages and technologies
    1. Max/MSP
    2. SynthEdit
    3. C programming language
    4. C++ programming language
    5. CSound programming language
    6. MUSIC V programming language
    7. Max for Live
    8. iPlug C++ framework
    9. iPlug2 C++ framework
    10. Reaper DAW
    11. WDL
    12. WDL-OL: extension of WDL by Oli Larkin
    13. JUCE C++ framework
    14. Emscripten
    15. Web Audio Modules
    16. WebAssembly
    17. Dolby Atmos
    18. Swift programming language
    19. Faust programming language
    20. Python programming language
    21. ChatGPT
    22. Pluggo by Cycling74
    23. RNBO by Cycling74
    24. Cmajor
  4. Audio concepts
    1. ambisonics
    2. Shephard Tone
    3. phase distortion
  5. Resources to learn DSP
    1. musicdsp.org
    2. KVR forum
    3. awesome-music-dsp: a curated list of Oli Larkin’s favourite music DSP and audio programming resources
    4. Dodge and Jerse - Computer Music: Synthesis, Composition and Performance, 2nd Edition
    5. Curtis Roads - Computer Music Tutorial (2nd edition was published in 2023)
    6. Will Pirkle’s books
    7. The Audio Programmer Discord
  6. Universities and research institutes
    1. University of Huddersfield
    2. Leeds University
      1. iMaestro described on Sound On Sound
    3. IRCAM
    4. University of York
      1. The Morning Line architectural structure with music
  7. Conferences & journals
    1. International Computer Music Conference (ICMC)
    2. The International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME)
    3. Audio Engineering Society (AES) Journal
    4. Web Audio Conference
    5. Audio Developer Conference
    6. Sound and Music Computing Conference (SMC)
  8. Companies
    1. Arturia
      1. CZ V
    2. MDA plugin collection from Steinberg
    3. Plugin Boutique
    4. Focusrite
      1. Red plugin suite
    5. ROLI
    6. Mozilla
    7. Surreal Machines
      1. Online demo using iPlug2 compiled for the web
    8. Ableton

Thank you for listening!