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. You can do so on Spotify as well. 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. Thank you for doing this 🙏

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

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. You can do so on Spotify as well. 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. Thank you for doing this 🙏

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

Kurt James Werner, PhD, is a senior research scientist at Soundtoys and one of my favorite researchers in audio DSP (virtual analog modeling in particular).

While you may not have read his papers, it’s very likely that you used one of the plugins he worked on:

• Neoverb
• Vinyl
• RX
• Guitar Rig (Hammond vibrato/chorus)
• Ozone
• Neutron
• Trash

If you start peeking into the research of modeling analog audio effects in plugins, you stumble across his name right away.

I consider him not only brilliant, but also insanely productive. Definitely a role model for me!

In the research world, he’s mostly known for his work on Wave Digital Filters (WDFs). It’s a technique for creating a mathematical model of an analog circuit that once done is easy to implement (provided you use a WDF library).

WDFs are great for modeling analog audio effects to put them inside plugins.

But as a true researcher, Kurt is involved many other audio subfields that we discuss in the podcast!

Did I mention that he’s a graduate from Stanford’s CCRMA?

In this episode, you’ll learn about Kurt’s transition from academia to industry, his work on products at iZotope, Native Instruments, and Soundtoys, and the realities of being a research scientist in an audio plugin company.

You’ll also learn all about WDFs, which is a powerful tool to master.

Trust me, you don’t want to miss this one 😉

Note: If you like the podcast so far, please, go to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review there. You can do so on Spotify as well. 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. Thank you for doing this 🙏

From this episode, you will learn:

1. How Kurt’s early musical and DIY electronics experiments led him toward audio DSP
2. How was it like to study at CCRMA under Julius Smith, Jonathan Abel, and Ge Wang
3. A clear, high-level explanation of Wave Digital Filters, their origins, and why they matter in virtual analog modeling
4. Insights from his work at iZotope
5. His current work at Soundtoys
6. Creative music practices like circuit bending and 1-bit music
7. Whether you need a PhD to work at an audio plugin company
8. How audio research translates into plugins

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 Podcast Intro

00:00:37 Introducing Kurt Werner

00:04:11 Kurt's Intro and Background

00:07:20 Studying Engineering & Music at UIUC

00:10:06 PhD Studies at CCRMA (Stanford)

00:13:57 Structure of the PhD Program

00:18:23 Sponsor: JUCE

00:20:09 PhD Thesis: Wave Digital Filters

00:21:26 The Culture at CCRMA

00:31:44 Postdoc at SARC (Queen's University Belfast)

00:35:59 How Teaching Influences Research

00:44:19 Transition to Industry: iZotope

00:49:54 The Research Team at iZotope

00:52:54 Work on Neoverb, Vinyl, and Trash

00:58:43 Publishing Reserach Papers

01:01:35 Moving to Soundtoys

01:05:12 Role and Soundtoys

01:09:17 Soundtoys SuperPlate

01:11:04 What are Wave Digital Filters (WDFs)?

01:19:28 WDFs Before Kurt's Research

01:20:54 Handling Complex Topologies

01:26:56 Can Circuit Modeling be Automated?

01:33:37 Importance of "Warming Up" the Simulation

01:35:16 Strengths of Wave Digital Filters

01:41:52 Best & Worst Circuits for WDF Modeling

01:44:47 How to Approach Modeling a New Circuit

01:46:47 Modeling the Motown EQ (Altec 9062A)

01:52:28 Circuit Bending & Hardware Hacking

01:56:58 1-Bit Music & Velvet Noise

02:05:35 Deep Learning in Virtual Analog

02:07:29 Do You Need a PhD for Audio Research?

02:10:46 PhD for Software Engineering Roles?

02:12:12 How to Learn Virtual Analog Modeling

02:16:04 Productivity & Writing Research Papers

02:20:04 Tools & Tech Stack

02:21:29 Listening to Music While Working

02:23:16 Outro