# Chat with Reaper and Ardour devs



## d.healey (Feb 11, 2022)

Interesting discussion



ADC 1: Paul Davis & Justin Frankel – Audio Developer Chats


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## glyster (Feb 11, 2022)

I just started to use Reaper. I like it. It's a good $60 to spend on.

I initially see it crash with some VSTs, I made a some preferences changes and also stopped loading non-VST3 plugins, it's fairly stable now.


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## b_elliott (Feb 12, 2022)

Some takeaways for me: 
Reaper (and Ardour) are written in C++ [a language sturdy enough to handle brain surgery]; 
both DAWs support a higher level scripting language Lua for the rest of us;
I have a deepened respect for Reaper's JS plugins -- some written in assembly language: as close to the metal as one can get to a machine = fast and efficient code.
I could be friends with either guy as they are cool dudes. Not sayin' I'd have a clue what code they were reeling out.
Cheers, B


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## EvilDragon (Feb 12, 2022)

Reaper is actually written more in "C with classes" style rather than outright C++, AFAIK.

Reaper's JS effects are not written in assembly, instead they're using a language invented by Justin/Cockos, called EEL2, which is an on-the-fly compiled scripting language. Not really close to the metal.


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## tack (Feb 12, 2022)

What Justin did say is that JSFX are compiled down to assembly and then executed directly (as opposed to an intermediate bytecode that is interpreted).


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## b_elliott (Feb 12, 2022)

tack said:


> What Justin did say is that JSFX are compiled down to assembly and then executed directly (as opposed to an intermediate bytecode that is interpreted).


Thanks ED and Tack! Justin's mention of assembly and JS plugins was at the 32:20 mark. First stating that very little was written in assembly and then as you have clarified.


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## glyster (Feb 12, 2022)

There is little incentive to write code in intrinsics (wrapper of assemblies) these days. Intel has been introducing new vector instructions from SSE to AVX2, AVX512, etc. It's much better to write in C/C++ and let the compiler do its job.


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## EvilDragon (Feb 14, 2022)

Compilers these days are just ridiculously great compared to where they were 20 years ago. It's hard to fault their ASM output vs something a human would write.


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## Consona (Feb 14, 2022)

Never heard of Ardour, going to check it out.


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## b_elliott (Feb 14, 2022)

EvilDragon said:


> Compilers these days are just ridiculously great compared to where they were 20 years ago. It's hard to fault their ASM output vs something a human would write.


Not to throw a wrench to this thread; but, in case you have not watched this interview you might enjoy listening to the mind that authors ridiculously great software: Chris Lattner the author of LLVM and Clang compilers. Despite him being a ka-gillion miles beyond me, he still managed to make an accessible interview.


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## vitocorleone123 (Feb 14, 2022)

I’d just have to ask: what about a chat with the Reaper and Ardour UX Designers?  

(yes, I'm being snarky and am only half-serious, at best)


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