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Ask HN: How to get started with audio programming?

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Re: Ask HN: How to get started with audio programming?

#61

Post by Bridgeburner4 »

tomduncalf wrote: post #13

This is a topic close to my heart as I've always been very into music production and programming, and have dabbled with a few things over the years, but have only started working professionally with audio software in the last few years. What is your background, and which parts of audio programming would you like to focus on? e.g. are you interested in writing your own low-level DSP code, or more interested in hooking…

Thanks for this answer!

I don't know much about audio programming, but here's a question.

When emulating sounds from physical instruments, can you get close by using only code without using audio samples? If yes, is it harder/easier?

Re: Ask HN: How to get started with audio programming?

#63

Post by nexttime »

Most of the good resources where already mentioned, but these are some I missed:

- Musimathics Vol I & II: This will teach you the basics of Music and DSP in a very approachable way. I wish I had these when I started writing audio software.

- The Art of VA Filter Design: https://www.native-instruments.com/fileadmin/ni_media/downlo...

If you are programming in C, these libraries are very useful:

- PortAudio: Cross platform audio playback

- libsndfile: Easy and cross platform sound file io

- ladspa: Really simple plugin API, useful if you want to make or use audio plugins without all the boilerplate of vst or lv2

Re: Ask HN: How to get started with audio programming?

#64

Post by timdaub »

Hey,

I asked myself too how I should get started with Audio Programming in 2019. I ended up building my own little synth in the progress and I ended up talking to people from Ableton and even gave a talk at Native Instrument's headquarters here in Berlin.

I blogged about my experience and my product here: https://timdaub.github.io/2020/02/19/wasm-synth/

Re: Ask HN: How to get started with audio programming?

#65

Post by spacechild1 »

Nekorosu wrote: post #33
Grustaf wrote: post #12

Not answering your question, but if you're interested in audio programming you might find Pure Data interesting, it's sort of visual audio programming. It might seem like a toy but it's actually incredibly powerful: https://puredata.info

There is a more up to date fork of it called Purr Data https://www.purrdata.net/

Purr Data is not really more “up to date“, it is rather Pd vanilla with batteries included + a nicer UI. Both are actively developed. Note, however, that they are not 100% compatible: both have features that the other one is (still) missing.

Re: Ask HN: How to get started with audio programming?

#66

Post by Jimpulse »

shog_hn wrote: post #58

It might not be inline with your exact goals, but I've really been enjoying doing audio visualization lately. I'm using the Unity game engine, and am leaning heavily on already-implemented FFT algorithms available on the Unity AudioSource component, but the fun part is taking the spectrum data, dividing it up into bands, and doing visuals with those. Here is a short video showing a simple audio visualization demo I c…

Have any resource recommendations? I have a future project lined up for audio visualization on a custom LED array.

Re: Ask HN: How to get started with audio programming?

#67

Post by weavie »

severak_cz wrote: post #43

Hi, I started with Csound and Cabbage framework[1] which I used to create some VST plugins. Then I moved to javascript lands (as everyone already has runtime called web browser) and I am creating sort of DAW using webaudio. I used Tone.js, but it was somewhat confusing, so I started my own library[2]. It's not finished yet but I have already nice and usable demo - comb organ playable with computer or MIDI keyboard wi…

Cabbage has some great testimonials!

> My music used to make children cry. But since using Cabbage the children laugh and dance with joy.

> Julie, Montreal

Re: Ask HN: How to get started with audio programming?

#68

Post by cactus2093 »

adityatb wrote: post #55

If you're new to programming, it might also help you to get started with Max/MSP and YouTube videos that already show you how to make the mini-synth you're after (terrible as a programming environment but great as a learning/prototyping tool). The Computer Music Tutorial by Curtis Roads is a good companion here if you want inner workings. You might be able to snag a PDF copy online to see if it's for you. Audio Progr…

There are other programming toolkits for audio programming as well, like pure data and JUCE.

Idk maybe it’s just me but I’m an experienced programmer and I’ve spent hours learning max/msp and really don’t like the visual aspect. I like programming in vim normally and zipping around the file manipulating text very efficiently without ever taking my hands off the keyboard. Max/msp is the exact opposite, everything is drag and drop mouse movements, and then you can’t just insert new lines in a file to extend something you have to constantly be dragging your existing components out of the way to make room for new components. I find it way more tedious than any other programming environment I’ve used.

Re: Ask HN: How to get started with audio programming?

#70

Post by Flex247A »

nexttime wrote: post #63

Most of the good resources where already mentioned, but these are some I missed: - Musimathics Vol I & II: This will teach you the basics of Music and DSP in a very approachable way. I wish I had these when I started writing audio software. - The Art of VA Filter Design: https://www.native-instruments.com/fileadmin/ni_media/downlo... If you are programming in C, these libraries are very useful: - PortAudio: Cross pla…

If you don't mind, what music software did you start writing?
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