Porting and Expanding the JUCE Host into a Workflow Enhancing Audio Plugin, Thomas Klebanoff
Abstract
One of the biggest hurdles of the music production learning curve has to do with effective signal routing. Learning to bus and group sounds together allows skilled producers to turn simple sounds into complex ones. The difference between an amateur mixdown and a professional one often rests on this foundation. Unfortunately, the way most DAWs handle this aspect of production can be daunting to beginners and busywork for experts. In a song with a lot of moving parts, using multiple busses to split and route sounds around a DAW can clutter the screen and complicate the mixing process.
Adopting a graphical approach to signal routing helps alleviate these issues. By porting and expanding the JUCE Host software into an audio plugin, I hope to give producers a tool to do this effectively and fluidly. Creating graphical templates for complex routing structures lets producers assemble custom black boxes into which they can feed all kinds of audio. This method streamlines a producer’s workflow and brings the focus back to writing music. Furthermore, it is much easier for a beginner producer to understand a graphical signal flow than a tangled web of sends and returns. This presentation will cover the motivation and goals for the software, as well as walk through the code which makes it work.
About Thomas Klebanoff
Thomas Klebanoff is a Music Producer, Electrical Engineer, and Software Developer currently studying Engineering Management at Duke University in the USA. Born and raised in Washington, DC, Thomas has enjoyed making music since he was very young. This passion led him to signal processing and sound engineering, which he began studying as an undergraduate in college. After learning to program in C as a sophomore, Thomas realized that coding is in many ways similar to producing. Since this realization, he has been working toward creating software tools for musicians and sound designers which make producing music an easier and more fluid process. In his spare time, he enjoys making beats, playing basketball and hiking.