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

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

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!

Publisher

Jan Wilczek

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

29 Oct 2021

Latest episode

26 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

33 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   26 Jun 2026

   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 Z80 what challenges did early music programming face how HSML music programming language came to be the challenges of programming digital signal processors (DSPs) and designing audio hardware how mobile phone audio worked in the late 90s/early 2000s Phil’s awesome audio projects: PortAudio, JSyn, WebDrum, and more (see below) the story of MIDI 2.0 how the Android team fixed the latency problem which languages Phil has used throughout these 4 decades of audio programming what are his work habits for maximum programmer productivity This 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. 

   12 Mar 2026

   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 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wolftalk-podcast-about-audio-programming-people-careers/id1595913701). You can do so on Spotify as well (https://open.spotify.com/show/5xc7EJiH9shG6zdSC5ejyw?si=eb35597e60a54e70). 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 (https://youtube.com/c/WolfSoundAudio). Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode contents From this episode, you will learn: How Jules created the JUCE framework and distributed it initially How to maintain such huge codebases as JUCE Julian’s coding principles that will make you (and me) a better dev What problem does CMajor solve, and how Which tools is Jules using when coding, especially when it comes to AI His exact everyday work routines and relaxation strategies, and Does 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

3. 

   30 Nov 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 Instruments developer 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 startup C++ Standards Committee member CppCast podcast host notorious Audio Developer Conference and CppCon speaker I 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 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wolftalk-podcast-about-audio-programming-people-careers/id1595913701). You can do so on Spotify as well (https://open.spotify.com/show/5xc7EJiH9shG6zdSC5ejyw?si=eb35597e60a54e70). 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 (https://youtube.com/c/WolfSoundAudio). Thank you for doing this 🙏 Episode Contents From this episode, you will learn: How Timur’s early interests and experiences led him toward audio programming His early engineering work at Native Instruments, including contributions to Kontakt and NI’s internal C++ libraries How he joined ROLI and worked on the development of JUCE The story behind founding Cradle How he became involved in the ISO C++ Standards Committee including his audio-related contributions What he’s most excited for in the upcoming C++26 standard How 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

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

14 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 21 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

12

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

77

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

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.