WolfTalk: Podcast About Audio Programming (People, Careers, Learning)

Jan Wilczek
  • 5.0 (4)
  • EDUCATION

Welcome to WolfTalk, a podcast ever about audio programming. My name is Jan Wilczek. I am an audio programmer and a researcher. In this podcast you will learn how to build your career in programming or research related to audio, meet programmers and researchers from all around the world, and learn about the intricacies of sound. All resources referenced in the podcast are at www.thewolfsound.com/talkXXX, where XXX is the episode number. Don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.thewolfsound.com/newsletter/ I sincerely hope you'll find the information here useful for your own development!

  1. 11/30/2025

    Audio and the C++ Standard with Timur Doumler | WolfTalk #031

    How do you become a C++ Standards Committee member? Why is C++ prevalent in audio? Should you still use it for audio software? Honestly, Timur Doumler is someone I have looked up to ever since I saw his “C++ in the audio industry” talk at CppCon 2015. He has a rich development history with C++ and/or audio: developer at Native Instrumentsdeveloper of the JUCE C++ framework (podcast sponsor ❤️)C++ linter developer and developer advocate at JetBrains (who make the CLion IDE)founder of Cradle, an audio plugin startupC++ Standards Committee memberCppCast podcast hostnotorious Audio Developer Conference and CppCon speakerI have probably missed a ton of stuff here, but that should already give you a flavor of what Timur is up to 😉 I especially enjoy his technical talks on synchronization with the (real-time) audio thread; For example, at the Audio Developer Conference 2025, he made me finally understand memory ordering in C++ (or so I believe 😅) In the podcast interview, we discuss his story, tactics, and tips, which I hope will inspire you to follow his footsteps (as they sure did me). It also turns out we are both fond of the same music band… Listen to the interview to find out which one 😁 All in all, this one of my favorite podcast episodes (audio & C++, what more do you need?), so don’t miss it! Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. 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. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode Contents From this episode, you will learn: How Timur’s early interests and experiences led him toward audio programmingHis early engineering work at Native Instruments, including contributions to Kontakt and NI’s internal C++ librariesHow he joined ROLI and worked on the development of JUCEThe story behind founding CradleHow he became involved in the ISO C++ Standards Committee including his audio-related contributionsWhat he’s most excited for in the upcoming C++26 standardHow he approaches software development and maintaining a healthy work-life balance (that was a great one to learn for me personally, too) This episode was recorded on September 26, 2025. TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 Podcast Intro 00:00:37 Timur Doumler 00:01:55 Timur's Introduction and Background 00:02:46 Early Interest in Music 00:03:35 Linking Music to Software Development 00:04:42 Studying Physics & Astrophysics (Berlin, Lyon, Potsdam) 00:06:08 Learning C & Fortran through Cosmology Simulations 00:07:46 Deciding to Become a Developer 00:10:48 Getting Hired at Native Instruments 00:12:16 Working on NI’s Internal C++ Libraries & Kontakt 00:18:05 Sponsor: JUCE 00:19:37 Moving to ROLI and Working on JUCE 00:22:08 Lessons Learned from Jules & Fabian 00:24:27 Joining JetBrains 00:30:13 Becoming a Developer Advocate 00:34:40 Founding Cradle & Building the First Products 00:37:17 Life as CTO & Startup Reflections 00:39:09 Bloomberg & C++ Contracts 00:41:29 The 2015 Talk: C++ in the Audio Industry 00:46:58 Representing the Audio Industry 00:48:18 Joining the ISO C++ Committee 00:50:19 Timur's Work in the C++ Committee 00:55:24 How the C++ Committee Works 01:02:20 How to Learn C++ Today 01:06:48 Real-Time Audio Programming & Tools 01:08:02 Personal Productivity: Meditation, Exercise, Time Management 01:13:46 Tech Stack and Developer Tools 01:14:13 Music Timur Codes To (Meshuggah, Animals as Leaders) 01:17:15 How to Contact Timur 01:18:59 Outro

    1h 20m

  2. 11/30/2025

    Wave Digital Filters with Kurt Werner (Soundtoys, ex-Native Instruments, ex-iZotope) | WolfTalk #030

    Kurt James Werner, PhD, is a senior research scientist at Soundtoys and one of my favorite researchers in audio DSP (virtual analog modeling in particular). While you may not have read his papers, it’s very likely that you used one of the plugins he worked on: NeoverbVinylRXGuitar Rig (Hammond vibrato/chorus)OzoneNeutronTrashIf you start peeking into the research of modeling analog audio effects in plugins, you stumble across his name right away. I consider him not only brilliant, but also insanely productive. Definitely a role model for me! In the research world, he’s mostly known for his work on Wave Digital Filters (WDFs). It’s a technique for creating a mathematical model of an analog circuit that once done is easy to implement (provided you use a WDF library). WDFs are great for modeling analog audio effects to put them inside plugins. But as a true researcher, Kurt is involved many other audio subfields that we discuss in the podcast! Did I mention that he’s a graduate from Stanford’s CCRMA? In this episode, you’ll learn about Kurt’s transition from academia to industry, his work on products at iZotope, Native Instruments, and Soundtoys, and the realities of being a research scientist in an audio plugin company. You’ll also learn all about WDFs, which is a powerful tool to master. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this one 😉 Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. 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. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode Contents From this episode, you will learn: How Kurt’s early musical and DIY electronics experiments led him toward audio DSPHow was it like to study at CCRMA under Julius Smith, Jonathan Abel, and Ge WangA clear, high-level explanation of Wave Digital Filters, their origins, and why they matter in virtual analog modelingInsights from his work at iZotopeHis current work at SoundtoysCreative music practices like circuit bending and 1-bit musicWhether you need a PhD to work at an audio plugin companyHow audio research translates into plugins TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 Podcast Intro 00:00:37 Introducing Kurt Werner 00:04:11 Kurt's Intro and Background 00:07:20 Studying Engineering & Music at UIUC 00:10:06 PhD Studies at CCRMA (Stanford) 00:13:57 Structure of the PhD Program 00:18:23 Sponsor: JUCE 00:20:09 PhD Thesis: Wave Digital Filters 00:21:26 The Culture at CCRMA 00:31:44 Assistant Professor at SARC (Queen's University Belfast) 00:35:59 How Teaching Influences Research 00:44:19 Transition to Industry: iZotope 00:49:54 The Research Team at iZotope 00:52:54 Work on Neoverb, Vinyl, and Trash 00:58:43 Publishing Reserach Papers 01:01:35 Moving to Soundtoys 01:05:12 Role and Soundtoys 01:09:17 Soundtoys SuperPlate 01:11:04 What are Wave Digital Filters (WDFs)? 01:19:28 WDFs Before Kurt's Research 01:20:54 Handling Complex Topologies 01:26:56 Can Circuit Modeling be Automated? 01:33:37 Importance of "Warming Up" the Simulation 01:35:16 Strengths of Wave Digital Filters 01:41:52 Best & Worst Circuits for WDF Modeling 01:44:47 How to Approach Modeling a New Circuit 01:46:47 Modeling the Motown EQ (Altec 9062A) 01:52:28 Circuit Bending & Hardware Hacking 01:56:58 1-Bit Music & Velvet Noise 02:05:35 Deep Learning in Virtual Analog 02:07:29 Do You Need a PhD for Audio Research? 02:10:46 PhD for Software Engineering Roles? 02:12:12 How to Learn Virtual Analog Modeling 02:16:04 Productivity & Writing Research Papers 02:20:04 Tools & Tech Stack 02:21:29 Listening to Music While Working 02:23:16 Outro

    2h 25m

  3. 09/28/2025

    Designing Digital Musical Instruments with Victor Zappi | WolfTalk #029

    Victor Zappi is a creator, researcher, and educator at the intersection of music, technology, and interaction design. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Music Technology at Northeastern University. In his career, among others, he worked on the Bela hardware platform during his time at Queen Mary University of London’s prestigious Centre for Digital Music (C4DM). In this episode, apart from Victor’s inspiring career, we focus on digital musical instruments: What is a “good” digital musical instrument like?Is it a fixed “box” that you should learn how to play?Or should it be “abused” by opening “the box,” and messing with its internals?Can an artist change the digital instrument to make it their own?We conclude with a discussion of Victor’s LDSP C++ framework, which enables low-level audio device control on Android devices. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of musical interfaces, hackable hardware, and the technology that drives them!

    2h 2m

  4. 06/22/2025

    Designing Music Software Architecture with Ilias Bergström

    Ilias Bergström is a software engineer, researcher, and musician from Sweden. For most of his professional career, spanning over 20 years, he has been working on, as he describes it, “time-based media software.” In the audio programming world, this means digital audio workstations, video editors, and live audio-visual performance software. He generously shared his experience in Audio Developer Conference talks, two of which discuss the much underrepresented topic of the software architecture of digital audio workstations. Software architecture and software design are fascinating topics to me, so I naturally devoured both of these talks 😉 In this interview, we explore not only Ilias’s journey but also go into the details of what makes audio software design hard. He discusses how he connects the dots between different types of media software through his long-running personal project, TWO, which is best described as a Media Control Workstation. It enables the simultaneous interactive combination of digital media control signals (such as OSC and MIDI) from multiple sources. Finally, we don’t shy away from discussing our favorite books on audio software development! Given that Ilias shares a ton of valuable tips and resources, you don’t want to miss this one! Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. 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. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode Contents From this episode, you will learn: How Ilias’s interest in media creation software led to a career in audio, across both research and industry.How he combines music and audio with interaction design, Human Computer Interaction, and even topics such as neuroscience and psychology, and how audio development can be seen as a form of creative coding.How different media creation software tools (like DAWs) share the same core characteristics and core architecture.Insights into his personal software project, TWO.What does a PhD give you? What can a university education offer?The importance of software architecture, testing, and documentation.A lot of audio development book recommendations.Practical advice on how to get started with audio development and audio software architecture.This episode was recorded on January 15, 2025.

    1h 28m

  5. 03/20/2025

    Reverbs, Pitch Shifters & Freelancing with Geraint Luff | WolfTalk #027

    Geraint Luff is a seasoned audio DSP developer and the founder of Signalsmith Audio. Geraint’s presentations, such as “Let’s Write a Reverb” and “Four Ways to Write a Pitch Shifter,” are among the most popular talks at the Audio Developer Conference (ADC) thanks to Geraint’s clarity of explanation and easy-to-understand visuals (not to mention the accompanying open-source repos). In the interview, Geraint shares his insights on his career path, freelancing in the audio industry, and digital signal processing (DSP). He discusses how he gained traction as a freelancer by joining a community, delivering audio-focused technical talks, and sharing open-source repos. We can also learn his approach to learning DSP, problem-solving, and the significance of visualization in explanations. Theory first of practice first? Listen to the podcast episode to find out! 😉 Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. 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. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏

    1h 28m

  6. 02/20/2025

    Reverb, Spatial & Immersive Audio with Orchisama Das | WolfTalk #026

    Orchisama Das is an outstanding audio researcher known for her work in virtual acoustics, artificial reverberation, and immersive audio. She holds a PhD from Stanford University’s prestigious CCRMA and has contributed to groundbreaking research at leading universities and major tech companies. During this interview, we talk about her path in academia and industry. Orchisama shares her thoughts about the realities of audio research, offering great insights and a very frank and honest perspective on her journey. We dive into technical topics such as artificial reverberation, virtual acoustics, immersive audio, and open problems in DSP, as well as topics like the gender imbalance in the audio research industry and how to stay productive and motivated during research. The episode is scattered with many resources and tips for anyone interested in learning the mentioned topics. It is a very inspiring and informative talk for people who are doing audio research, or curious about getting started. Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. 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. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode contents From this podcast, you will learn: How Orchisama Das started her journey in audio research and her path to earning a PhD at Stanford University’s CCRMA.About her internships at Tesla and Meta Reality Labs, as well as tips and advice on how to get internships as a researcher.A big picture technical overview of artificial reverberation, virtual room acoustics, and immersive audio.Resources for learning about these topics, including books, papers, and tools.Tips and advice for a good research carrer.Her thoughts on the gender imbalance in audio research and ways to address it. This episode was recorded on November 21, 2024.

    1h 27m

  7. 12/08/2024

    Generating AI Music with Julian Parker (Stability AI, ex-TikTok, ex-Native Instruments) | WolfTalk #025

    Julian’s career is incredible: from natural sciences through a master’s in physical modeling, a PhD in virtual analog modeling, an almost decade-long position at Native Instruments, all the way to TikTok and Stability AI, where he’s working now on generative music algorithms. There are few people who have such a rich background in audio research and industry and even fewer who are willing to share the details of it publicly. That makes this episode all the more exciting! Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. 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. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode contents  From this podcast, you will learn: how machine learning forever changed audio plugin design and developmenthow big audio plugin companies operate internallyhow to learn C++ for audio programmingwhether you need to have a PhD to work in an R&D department of an audio companywhat is the state of the art in generative musichow to learn generating music with AIhow to be able to focus on research papers even if you read them after hourshow to produce quality researchhow to rest & recharge after intense and focused work

    2h 5m

  8. 09/14/2024

    Successful Audio Plugin Freelancing with Jatin Chowdhury (ChowDSP) | WolfTalk #024

    Jatin Chowdhury is quite well known in the audio programming community for his numerous contributions: various open- and closed-source audio plugins,a few published research papers on Virtual Analog modeling,a few audio-related talks, especially at the Audio Developer Conference,insightful Medium articles on creating audio software in general,significant open-source contributions including the CLAP plugin standard and Surge Synthesizer. The list could go on on and on but you get the point: he’s both incredibly productive and highly successful while being very generous to the community with his knowledge. That’s why it was amazing to have him on the podcast! Jatin currently leads his own audio plugin company ChowDSP which provides consulting and contracting as well. During the podcast we discuss his story (which is a kind of “from hero to superhero” tale, if you ask me…), what he learnt along the way, all his current strategies, and most importantly: how you can become someone like a Jatin, a successful audio plugin developer and freelancer. I was incredibly inspired during the recording of this episode and revisiting it brought up those feelings again. ⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ Listening to this podcast episode will leave you highly motivated to do more audio programming. Listen at your own risk. Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. 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. You can also subscribe and give a like on YouTube. Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode contents  From this podcast episode, you will learn: how Jatin developed his interest in all things music,how he got accepted to CCRMA at Stanford and then to Tesla,how he started freelancing as an audio programmer,how he finds clients,what’s his developer setup,which tools he’s using,resources he recommends for learning audio programming and DSP,personal daily routine for optimal productivity. This episode was recorded on June 14, 2024.

    1h 59m
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About

Welcome to WolfTalk, a podcast ever about audio programming. My name is Jan Wilczek. I am an audio programmer and a researcher. In this podcast you will learn how to build your career in programming or research related to audio, meet programmers and researchers from all around the world, and learn about the intricacies of sound. All resources referenced in the podcast are at www.thewolfsound.com/talkXXX, where XXX is the episode number. Don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.thewolfsound.com/newsletter/ I sincerely hope you'll find the information here useful for your own development!

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