Why You Shouldn't Write a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) - Technical Challenges and Alternatives

Explore the complexities and challenges of developing a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) in this 46-minute conference talk from the Audio Developer Conference 2023. Delve into the technical aspects behind DAW creation, including time and beat calculations, audio file handling, memory management, transport controls, time stretching, and plugin hosting. Discover why there are relatively few DAWs compared to audio plugins, and learn about the economic factors and resource-intensive nature of DAW development. Gain insights into alternative approaches for building DAW-like products and understand why starting from scratch may not always be the best option. Perfect for audio developers, music technology enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the inner workings of music production software.

Introduction
Riddle
Economic Incentives
Calculating Costs
Time
Bars Beats
Audio File Reading
Memory Reading
Memory Mapping
Transport Position Jump In
Transport Looping
Time Stretching
Round Up
Playback
Problems
Arrangement
Data Models
Audio Recording
Typical Approach
MIDI
Mini Recording
MIDI Sequencing
Plugin Hosting
Plugin Delay Compensation
Example
Rendering
Review
Whats Missing
AI
DJ Mag Article
What to call this talk