Audio DSP Resources

My curated list of audio digital signal processing resources. New resources may be added in the future. Feel free to open a PR if you wish!

Textbooks

• Designing Software Synthesizer Plug-Ins in C++ and Designing Audio Effect Plugins in C++ by Will Pirkle

  • Great beginner resource that teaches fundamental DSP concepts with examples.
  • The synthesizer one is better than the effect one imo, so go for that if you plan on only buying one.
  • Focuses on teaching concepts, not on writing performant code. His coding sytle is quite ineffecient.
  • There will also be newer edition in 2021 as well.

• The Scientist and Engineer's Guide to Digital Signal Processing by Steven W. Smith, Ph.D.

  • Free online book on DSP in general.

Mathematics

• 3Blue1Brown - An excellent YouTube channel on complex algebra, linear algebra, calculus, and differential equations.
  • His videos on Euler's Formula and the Fourier Transform are particularly excellent.
• This video on the Laplace Transform by Zach Star.

Algorithms & Technical Reading

• Musicdsp.org - A collection of open source DSP algorithms by the community.
• Cytomic Technical Papers - Excellent real-world useable filters and explanations by Cytomic.
• deip.pdf - High quality resampling and oversampling.
• Freeverb - An open-source reverb algorithm.
• DAFx - An archive of scientific papers and presentations given during an annual DSP research conference.

Sound Design & Mixing

While this is not strictly development related, knowing how plugins are actually used can give valuable insight.

• SeamlessR - This guy is a great teacher and really knows his stuff.
• Au5 - A beast legend. Need I say more?

Software Optimization

• Intel Intrinsics Guide - x86 processor instrinsics
• Follow these rules:

Math Tools

• Desmos - Free online graphing calculator.
• Wolfram Alpha - A helpful math partner.
• Curcuit JS - A cool little circuit simulation tool.

System Tools

• MrsWatson - Command-line audio plugin host with support for printing to the terminal from your DSP code.
• Carla - System-wide virtual audio and MIDI patching software, using Jack as the backend. Available as a standalone application or a VST/LV2 plugin.
• Jack - Cross-platform audio driver with support for system-wide patching.
• Cadence - A suite of tools for configuring, monitoring, and controlling system-wide audio in Linux (includes Carla).
• Ardour - Open-source DAW with useful plugin analysis tools.
• Bertom EQ Curve Analyzer - Analyze the frequency and phase response of any plugin.

Rust Crates

• baseplug - Create VST plugins in Rust. (GUI and other plugin formats are still a work in progress.)
• simdeez - Write generic SIMD code across an array of architectures.
• FunDSP - An audio DSP library with a nifty clean syntax.

Rust Resources

• Learn Rust the Dangerous Way - Tips on writing low-level Rust code from a C background.
• How-to Optimize Rust Programs on Linux - How-to guide on profiling Rust code on Linux.

Forums

• Rust Audio Discord Server - A community of passionate Rust audio programmers.
• KVR DSP Forum - A large community of plugin developers.