justin = { main feed , music , code = { cockos , reaper , wdl , ninjam , jsfx , more } , askjf , pubkey };

Ask Justin Frankel No reasonable question unanswered since 2009! Suggested topics: programming, music, sleep, coffee, etc. Note: please do not ask questions about REAPER features, bugs or scheduling, use the forums instead. Name: Ask: Human (enter yes): [unreplied] | [replied] | [recent comments] | [all] [older questions]

Question: I've spent a frankly embarrassing amount of time trying to figure out how the volume faders are scaled in the Cockos plugins (as well as the "Max precision at +0 dB (4.0)" volume fader shape preference in Reaper). I think I've cracked it: desmos.com/calculator/tgxb1s04jk My question is: Why? Or perhaps: How? I've never seen anything like it. It's magnificent. Asked by NAD(name) (147.235.222.x) on February 25 2026, 8:33pm Reply on February 25 2026, 9:29pm (edited at February 26 2026, 5:49pm): the default is modeled after a PGF8000 taper, I think, I can't find the reference, but it dates from here https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=78197 (I think it's more or less val^3+val^6 then converted to dB, and partitioned according to where the center pos is.) 2 Comments... Question: Didn't you (or someone nullsoft-adjacent) make a glide driver or something? Swork it was under archived software projects on firehose or something. Or maybe just mentioned in IRC scroll. Am I crazy? Asked by jarsonic (174.53.68.x) on February 25 2026, 4:54pm Reply on February 25 2026, 9:30pm: I made a wrapper to allow running fullscreen glide apps in a windows window, archived here http://1014.org/code/nullsoft/ Comment... Question: To ask a false choice, do you enjoy the musical incantations of Phish or the Grateful Dead more? Asked by Jerry Garcia (67.160.59.x) on February 24 2026, 4:17am Reply on February 24 2026, 3:52pm: I appreciate them both, but not in the right way to end up listening to for my personal enjoyment. Comment... Question: I've noticed an uptick in people posting tools which are created in assistance with AI. Most seem useful and many are actually great, they develop fast thanks to this community since it's ingrained in the platform you developed; Because of your opennes within REAPER people are making a monster out of it with these tools which also adopt your ideas in a way when 99% of them have been free. And so on.. What do you think of this? Asked by alex (187.213.136.x) on February 22 2026, 7:22pm Reply on February 23 2026, 2:43am: they mostly work, hopefully a little review of the code happens to catch obvious wrongness, though. Comment... Question: When developing an audio player for FLAC (16/24-bit) and Opus using FFmpeg, how would you provide data to audio systems (e.g., DirectSound)? I understand that a system converts all data to 32-bit float before downsampling to 16/24-bit for DAC output, so native formats work. But when playing a 24-bit file on a 16-bit DAC, wouldn’t providing 16-bit dithered data help prevent quantization errors during the system’s subsequent conversion from 32-bit float back to 16-bit (which is probably not dithered)? Asked by fladd (84.87.223.x) on February 22 2026, 12:16pm Reply on February 22 2026, 5:55pm: If the source material is 16-bit, then it being converted to 32-bit FP and back to 16-bit would be lossless, assuming no processing is applied. If you apply a volume change etc, then yeah you'd in theory need to dither. On Windows, if you're worried about it, you'll want to use WASAPI in exclusive mode (or ASIO), otherwise it'll go through the Windows mix engine which will probably ruin everything anyway. IMO, though, dithering to 16-bit for listening isn't really necessary, unless you have an incredibly quiet room or plan on destroying your ears on the loud parts. 5 Comments... Question: Hi Justin. Are you an analogue guy or more on the Kemper/Quad Cortex side? Or something different? Have a nice day! Asked by gideonstar (87.147.219.x) on February 20 2026, 9:50am Reply on February 20 2026, 3:57pm: I'm pragmatic about music stuff, but the most fun I've had in a long time is my Reuss Plasmatron through a 2010-era AC30. Comment... Question: Hi, I'm no longer seeing the support for newer ffmpeg as part of the changelog on the changelog landoleet website. Have you pulled it from development? Asked by Ffmpeg (102.176.75.x) on February 19 2026, 10:26pm Reply on February 19 2026, 10:48pm: you can read up on the version types etc on the landoleet.org web site, or discuss in the pre-release forum, this isn't the right venue to have this discussion! it will not be in 7.62, but it will return in the next +dev series. Comment... Question: Can you do B chord? I'm struggling with barre (?) version, any tips. Asked by Sawit (140.213.40.x) on February 19 2026, 7:51am Reply on February 19 2026, 5:16pm: Amaj, and Bmaj at the second fret, probably my least favorite. smearing the ring finger on those three strings. Amin (Bmin at the second fret) is easier.. but there’s always the E chord at the 7th fret… Comment... Question: This is interesting. Do you ever target the "native" API for perf? codeberg.org/ziglang/zig/issues/31131 Asked by Will (99.100.219.x) on February 18 2026, 4:49pm Reply on February 18 2026, 5:38pm: hah try to avoid that.. might be interesting to make SWELL target it, though! Comment... Question: i made a plugin suite called LMS that turns all of reaper into a full-project sequencer and allows all the plugins in the suite to talk to each other over gmem, wanna see? Asked by bryan (71.205.89.x) on February 18 2026, 2:53pm Reply on February 18 2026, 3:20pm: interesting, but probably too busy with other things to look at the moment 1 Comment... Question: who are you ? Asked by Robert (188.50.72.x) on February 17 2026, 5:59pm Reply on February 17 2026, 6:08pm: the answer is on the tin Comment... Question: After rendering, all keyboard hotkeys in the preview interface are broken, play, stop, fast forward and backward, repeat, etc Asked by nicotomia (167.234.251.x) on February 17 2026, 10:36am Reply on February 17 2026, 2:23pm: should probably post this on the forums -- when you do, include any relevant info like: OS, reaper version, whether you're using a screen reader, etc. does the render window have focus? Comment... Question: Could you tell me some ways to maximize CPU utilization for file rendering in REAPER? Ideally, I want to hit 90% CPU usage, or even max it out completely. The current rendering speed is way too slow. I understand that the default configuration is balanced for stability and other specific considerations, but I want to push my CPU to its full potential. Asked by helo (221.215.214.x) on February 17 2026, 1:59am Reply on February 17 2026, 2:14am: it is parallelized across cores, but each track runs on at most one core at once. so if you have one very intensive track, it will be the limiting factor. if you can break that track into multiple tracks (with routing), that might help. 7 Comments... Question: I saw people pressing you here about supporting new versions of ffmpeg, and you replied it was a pain to do because of their constantly changing API. I just saw that you have done it. Well done! Was it a pain while doing it or it was not as painful as you envisioned??? Also, wouldn't their continous changing of API cause same issue again of latest version not being supported? Asked by Ffmpeg (197.251.240.x) on February 16 2026, 1:52pm Reply on February 16 2026, 2:17pm (edited at February 16 2026, 2:21pm): Turns out, this is was a task that an LLM could assist on. I provided some minimal source to Claude Opus 4.6, and with a simple prompt, got it to do 90% of the work (producing about 500 lines of new code in version-specific #ifdefs for 5.x/6.x/7.x -- it wasn't aware of ffmpeg 8.x, I guess it didn't exist when it was trained, so I added that manually, but it was pretty close to 7.x). It didn't produce perfect results, but it took care of the tedious part of digging through the API changes. I have mixed feelings about using this (what will the external downsides be?), but for now I'll take it as a win. As for future versions, yes we'll need to update it for the eventual ffmpeg 9.x etc. 9 Comments... Question: I can use ASIO for free, and pretty much everyone should be able to use it for free. Do you think it’s reliable? As long as I install it, I can start using it with ASIO in REAPER. What’s the principle behind this? Would you consider implementing this kind of virtual ASIO feature inside REAPER?github.com/dechamps/FlexASIO Asked by catst (221.215.214.x) on February 15 2026, 1:51pm Reply on February 15 2026, 5:56pm: ASIO the API is reliable, sure? Do we want to improve REAPER's ASIO support in order to support multiple devices? Hmm maybe it could be useful, but having people use ASIO drivers that do it themselves sounds fine for now... 1 Comment... Question: Someone said it seems all humans have something in them that makes them wish a higher power actually existed that they could look up to and communicate personally with. Have you ever had that wish for even a moment? Asked by HigherPower (154.161.41.x) on February 13 2026, 10:00pm Reply on February 14 2026, 3:24am: Can't say I really have 2 Comments... Question: What do you think about Temple OS and the future of OS development? Asked by Elijah Flowers (207.160.233.x) on February 13 2026, 7:25pm Reply on February 13 2026, 7:51pm: lol can't say I think about that much Comment... Question: May I interview you for my school project? I'm in SF! If you are open to it, my email is here ... Asked by Arie (147.144.3.x) on February 11 2026, 6:45pm Reply on February 12 2026, 3:25am: by email, sure -- send me an email, you should be able to figure out my address. Comment... Question: Do you ever try using other DAWs to get a feel of what's out there? Asked by artiliano (123.136.24.x) on February 11 2026, 12:45am Reply on February 11 2026, 3:08am: Occasionally use them when testing things, but never really try to use them properly, because meh Comment... Question: Is having a beard a prerequisite to work at cockos, man, just saw Schwa for the first time. You guys have the same mindset, philosophy, and beardology. Asked by Beard (102.176.65.x) on February 7 2026, 1:42am Reply on February 7 2026, 9:25pm: I'm not super beardy now, go between a mustache and a light beard 2 Comments... [unreplied] | [replied] | [recent comments] | [all] [older questions]

Copyright 2026 Justin Frankel. | RSS