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Comment by duped | Hacker News Reader

I was a longtime JUCE user and won't hold my breath for them to support the web. They skate strictly where the puck was two years ago, not where it's going. I also wouldn't call their Linux support "easy" - it's not surprising to me very few JUCE developers even consider using Linux in CI, let alone as a supported target.

That said, I think there's something interesting about building out an audio platform with "no VSTs" as a constraint - about 6 years ago I was convinced that the web was a deadend for even middling complexity audio projects when I saw Bandlab at NAMM, and I was very wrong. It seems like the value of a DAW that you can fire up in a browser and instantly access all your projects/share them with your friends is more valuable than having no plugins and crashing after hitting browser tab memory limits. And looking down the road it frees you from the serious problems with native plugins and current plugin APIs.

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I think you make an interesting point about the implications of the no-VST constraint. In the earlier days of Reason (before they had VST support or even Rack Extensions) it was great because I could work on a song on any system that had just Reason installed and anyone that also had the current version could open it as is. No installing plugins and no plugin compatibility issues between users. Away from the studio for a weekend? Just install on a laptop and use the dongle, no problem!

Creatively it was very freeing. Naturally, plugin envy eventually crept in and I was glad when they did add VST support, but I miss the ease of use and portability. And you got to know the stock effects inside and out which offered some streamlining in workflow.

If you miss the portability and the need to know the built-ins in and out, you likely might enjoy SunVox, with its utter portability, surprising richness, and the need to be inventive to eke out interesting sounds from standard blocks.

https://warmplace.ru/soft/sunvox/

I recently used Bandlab when I was at my girlfriend's and the only thing I had with me was my company's laptop, which I don't install any audio software on.

I wrote and recorded a little song and published it withing three hours or so, just as an experiment.

I had to reload the UI a few times after moving too quickly and because of a janky internet connection, but other than that I thought it was a well designed tool. I think it's liberating to be shielded from the many choices you make when working in a "real" DAW, and when I don't have REAPER or Studio One around, I'll happily work with a tool like this to simply stay in the habit of producing music when on the road.

JUCE 8 does add support for WebView based UIs!

But they don't support the web as a target for plugins. It also took them years to acquiesce to that particular feature request (and imho, it was a strategic mistake because the only reason to use JUCE is to make the UI for audio plugins - every other thing they provide has low to negative value-add for professional audio dev shops).

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