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

Jan Wilczek

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. -6 j

    Phil Burk: PortAudio, Android Audio, MIDI 2.0, HMSL, PlayStation Audio, JSyn & More!

    Phil Burk has had an amazing career as an audio developer: from writing DSP code on Z80, through creating a music language, writing code for mobile phones, PlayStation audio support, and Android, up to MIDI 2.0 contributions. He’s also a co-creator of the PortAudio library, which is one of the most popular OS-agnostic audio libraries (and it’s used not just from C/C++ but from Python as well). He’s been there from the 80s up until today; he’s seen it all! What I love about Phil is his purely interest-driven approach. He was able to make his hobby his work and thus live a life of passion. Even today, as a retiree, he still codes 8 hours a day just for fun. After listening to this episode, you will not only learn a ton of useful audio programming knowledge and feel inspired, but you will also feel thankful that the world has audio developers such as Phil; they’re a real blessing, making our lives easier and more pleasant to the ear! Episode Contents From this episode, you will learn: how Phil created his first analog synth and started programming on Z80what challenges did early music programming facehow HSML music programming language came to bethe challenges of programming digital signal processors (DSPs) and designing audio hardwarehow mobile phone audio worked in the late 90s/early 2000sPhil’s awesome audio projects: PortAudio, JSyn, WebDrum, and more (see below)the story of MIDI 2.0how the Android team fixed the latency problemwhich languages Phil has used throughout these 4 decades of audio programmingwhat are his work habits for maximum programmer productivityThis episode was recorded on February 4, 2026. 00:00:00 Podcast Intro 00:00:36 Introducing Phil Burk 00:02:13 Early Music & Homebrew Electronics 00:04:08 Building a Shoebox Synthesizer 00:07:18 Z80 Programming via Hex Keypad 00:10:15 Emulating a 68000 CPU on a Z80 00:14:08 Sponsor: JUCE 00:15:55 Phase-Locked Loops & the Commodore 64 00:18:41 From Biophysics to Programming 00:22:11 Meeting Larry Polansky at Mills College 00:26:02 HMSL: A Music Language Built in Forth 00:32:43 Motorola 56000: Real-Time Synthesis 00:35:30 3DO: First Software Synth Console 00:43:38 Designing a Custom DSP in Verilog 00:54:38 JSyn: Interactive Music in the Browser 01:02:00 Building PortAudio with Ross Bencina 01:05:52 Max Neuhaus Sound Installations 01:14:33 A 14KB MIDI Synth for Mobile Phones 01:27:02 Designing the MIDI 2.0 Standard 01:40:41 Sony PlayStation 3 Audio Libraries 01:44:44 AAudio: Fixing Android Audio Latency 01:53:16 Why Android Audio Lagged Behind iOS 02:03:08 Reviving HMSL with JUCE & PForth 02:07:07 Retirement: Kotlin, AI & New Projects 02:12:17 Every Language Phil Has Programmed In 02:18:42 Are Dedicated DSP Chips Still Needed? 02:20:43 Developer Setup & Favorite Tools 02:23:23 The Music-DSP List & Learning DSP 02:30:08 Just Enough, Just in Time Learning 02:33:05 Audio Is Harder Than People Think 02:36:26 Shower Debugging & Work Habits 02:41:40 How to Reach Phil Burk 02:42:50 Outro

    2 h 43 min
  2. 12 mars

    Julian Storer: Creator of JUCE C++ Framework | WolfTalk #032

    Julian “Jules” Storer is the creator of the JUCE C++ framework and the Cmajor programming language dedicated to audio. He created JUCE in the late 90s, and it grew to become the most popular audio plugin development framework in the world. Apart from audio capabilities, it is a general-purpose cross-platform application development framework (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and embedded platforms). Most plugin companies use JUCE; whether you like it or not, it has become a de facto industry standard. You know that I love JUCE; I created the official JUCE audio plugin development course with them, and they are the sponsor of the podcast. So naturally, I was super excited to be able to interview Jules! His next big thing is the Cmajor programming language. It is a C-like, LLVM-backed programming language dedicated solely to audio. He has also given many talks at the Audio Developer Conference, so I encourage you to check them out as a way to relax and get inspired. Jules is known for his strong opinions and dry humor, so I guarantee you’ll find yourself chuckling every few minutes 😉 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 improve the show and deliver 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 Jules created the JUCE framework and distributed it initiallyHow to maintain such huge codebases as JUCEJulian’s coding principles that will make you (and me) a better devWhat problem does CMajor solve, and howWhich tools is Jules using when coding, especially when it comes to AIHis exact everyday work routines and relaxation strategies, andDoes Jules really hate CMake? This episode was recorded on January 30, 2026. 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:33 Introducing Jules Storer, Creator of JUCE 00:02:37 Meet Jules 00:03:11 How Jules Got Into Audio Programming 00:04:41 University: Computing & Psychology 00:05:28 Early Career 00:07:46 Why Jules Built the Tracktion DAW 00:11:04 Sponsor: JUCE Audio Plugin Course 00:12:52 The Mackie Deal & the Birth of JUCE 00:16:35 10 Years Solo: Bootstrapping JUCE 00:18:59 ROLI Acquires JUCE 00:20:56 How the Audio Developer Conference Began 00:21:38 From ROLI to C-Major 00:23:33 Cmajor: DSP Language for Any Hardware 00:28:58 Cmajor Licensing & Commercial Plugins 00:32:57 Cmajor Stability & AI-Written Code 00:36:04 What Building a Compiler Taught Jules 00:39:31 Jules' Dev Setup 00:41:59 Jules' AI Coding Workflow with Claude 00:47:23 Reviewing AI-Generated Code 00:50:18 AI Coding: Where Jules Draws the Line 00:52:22 Cmajor's Language Choice: C++, Go, and Rust 00:54:36 Why Jules Hates CMake 00:59:01 Clean Code: Structure, Files & Naming 01:04:25 API Design Other Developers Won't Hate 01:07:11 Code Review: Excess State & Verbosity 01:11:35 JUCE's Inspiration from Java's JDK 01:14:24 Why JUCE Dominated the Market 01:15:48 Challenges with JUCE, Waveform & C-Major 01:19:56 TDD and the Pain of UI Testing 01:23:06 How to Start Learning Audio Programming 01:26:42 Jules' Daily Routine 01:31:52 How to Contact Jules 01:32:42 Outro

    1 h 34 min
  3. 30/11/2025

    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

    1 h 20 min
  4. 30/11/2025

    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

    2 h 25 min
  5. 22/06/2025

    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. 00:00:00 Podcast Intro 00:00:34 Introducing Ilias Bergstrom 00:02:15 Ilias' Background 00:02:50 Getting into Music 00:03:21 Developing Interest in Audio 00:05:03 Masters at UCL 00:07:32 Wolfsound: Learning DSP 00:08:46 Starting Industry Career 00:12:58 PhD at UCL 00:14:24 PhD Research 00:16:25 What does a PhD give you? 00:18:58 Post-doc at Event Lab 00:22:28 Post-doc at KTH 00:24:23 Teaching Career 00:25:15 What is Creative Coding? 00:26:58 Back to the Industry - SCISS 00:28:06 Work at SCISS on Uniview 00:31:24 Elk Audio 00:34:10 Sponsor: JUCE 00:35:41 Future Career Plans 00:36:31 TWO: Media Control Workstation 00:41:08 The Development of TWO 00:46:46 Opinions on Audio-Visual Performance 00:48:45 Writing Large-Scale Software 00:51:08 Software Design in Freelance Projects 00:53:40 Software Architecture 00:58:53 Architecture of Time-Based Media Software 01:01:24 Architecture of Digital Audio Workstations 01:03:00 Documenting Software Architecture 01:07:53 Book Recommendations 01:16:41 Learning Suggestions 01:19:24 Final Quick-Fire Questions 01:24:42 Connecting With Ilias 01:27:00 Outro

    1 h 28 min
  6. 20/03/2025

    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 🙏 00:00:00 Podcast Intro 00:00:38 Introducing Geraint Luff 00:03:30 Geraint's Introduction 00:04:14 Early Interest in Music & Programming 00:05:53 Learning DSP: Asking Dad About MP3s 00:06:50 University Studies: Maths at Cambridge 00:08:25 First Job (Meridian Audio) & 2009 Crash 00:10:36 Experience at Amazon 00:12:26 Hobby Audio Effects Projects 00:13:15 Transferable Skills from Non-Audio Roles 00:15:49 Transitioning to Audio DSP Freelancing 00:19:17 The Importance of Community 00:21:01 Landing the First Freelance Gig 00:21:28 Geraint's Learning Approach 00:22:21 DSP Design Philosophy 00:23:18 Creating the "Let's Write a Reverb" ADC Talk 00:24:30 Sponsor Break: JUCE 00:26:09 Geraint's Path as a Recipe for Others 00:28:20 Approach to Talks & Teaching 00:34:38 Story Behind "Four Ways to Write a Pitch Shifter" 00:39:59 The Open Source signal_smith::stretch Library 00:41:51 Creating Visuals for Talks 00:44:46 Overview of Freelance Projects 00:48:26 Freelancing Challenges & Realities 00:49:45 Experience with KVR Developer Challenge 00:50:19 Value of Specialization in Freelancing 00:56:25 Using WebAssembly for DSP Demos 01:01:05 Approach to Reading Academic Papers 01:04:32 Learning Style: Creating from Scratch 01:05:38 Thoughts on Deep Learning 01:06:43 Testing and Verifying DSP Code 01:10:06 Current Tech Stack 01:16:52 Getting Started in Audio Programming 01:19:00 Advice for Starting Freelancing 01:20:22 Quick Fire Questions 01:24:45 Final Thoughts & How to Connect 01:26:03 Pocast Outro

    1 h 28 min
  7. 20/02/2025

    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. 00:00:00 Podast Intro 00:00:38 Orchisama Das 00:02:34 Wolfsound: DSP Pro 00:04:33 Orchisama's Background and Introduction 00:05:17 Early Interest in Music 00:06:25 From Electronics to Music Technology 00:10:45 Applying to PhD Programs 00:12:01 PhD Research at CCRMA 00:20:45 Sponsor: JUCE 00:22:26 Internships at Tesla and Meta 00:27:10 Postdoc at the University of Surrey 00:31:27 Moving to Industry: Sonos 00:36:34 Back to Academia: King's College 00:40:44 Artificial Reveberation 00:56:49 Spatial Audio 01:01:29 Machine Learning for Audio DSP 01:04:43 Tools and Technology Stack 01:07:29 Personal Audio Plugin Projects 01:09:08 Productivity Habits for Researchers 01:11:24 Book Recommendations 01:13:10 Focus Music 01:14:04 Do You Need a PhD for Industry Research? 01:15:25 'Women at Sonos' Resource Group 01:17:01 Gender Diversity in the Audio Industry 01:18:36 Comparing Research Institutes 01:20:41 Composing and Performing Music 01:23:23 Connecting with Orchisama 01:25:06 Outro

    1 h 27 min

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À propos

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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