Jackdaw (WIP)
Jackdaw is a free and open-source Digital Audio Workstation, designed with a strong focus on computer keyboard functionality (i.e., keyboard "shortcuts", a lamentable diminutive).
It is written in C, and uses minimal dependencies:
- SDL2 for cross-platform graphics and audio I/O
- SDL2_ttf for text rendering
- PortMidi for MIDI device I/O
Release of v1 is expected in the first half of 2026. If you are interested in this project please contact me. As of August 2025, features include:
- multi-track audio recording, mixing, and playback
- WAV file I/O
- an open binary project file format (.jdaw)
- click tracks
- effects
- parametric EQ
- finite-impulse-response (FIR) lowpass, highpass, and bandpass filters
- delay line
- peak-following compressor
- saturation
- MIDI
- MIDI clips
- MIDI device handling (PortMidi)
- MIDI file input
- Built-in polyphonic synth
- four base oscillators with standard wave shapes (sine, square, triangle, sawtooth)
- frequency and amplitude modulation
- up to seven unison voices per base oscillator
- ADSR envelopes
- Resonant lowpass filter (Chebyshev)
- binary preset file format (.jsynth)
- QWERTY piano emulator
- a simplified LilyPond parser for MIDI input (video)
- mix automation (available for ALL track parameters, incl. effect and synth parameters)
- built-in layout engine
- keybinding and input-handling subsystem
- function lookup auto-complete interface
- "source mode", for source/record audio editing in the style of Avid Media Composer or other NLEs
- a UDP-based live API
I elaborated on a few Jackdaw-related things in my blog:
A calculator app that natively supports fractions and mixed numbers in an easy and intuitive way.
The impetus for developing this app was frustration with the relative difficult of doing simple arithmetic on fractions when wooodworking. This difficulty does not exist for anyone working with the metric system, but is inevitable when using US customary units (feet and inches).
The Carpenter's Calculator has 191 monthly users and a perfect 5-star rating as of August 2025.
In-Line Calculator
A browser extension designed to allow you to evaluate simple arithmetic expressions as you type.
You can watch a demo here.
IIR filter visualizer
An extremely quick and dirty tool I threw together while learning about infinite-impulse-response filter design and z-domain pole-zero analysis. Not polished/documented enough to be practically useful to anyone else, but mess with the sliders and observe the cool colors, why not?
About me (as a programmer)
I first became interested in programming in 2019, when a coworker taught me basic SQL. I subsequently learned Python and JavaScript, wrote a few simple webapps and automations for work, and worked my way gradually into more technical roles, culminating in a brief stint as a Data Engineer at a company that makes a handheld (point-of-care) ultrasound device. I got serious about programming as a vocation when I learned C in 2022. I started working on Jackdaw as an experiment in September 2023, and over the course of the last two years, it has become a serious project and a full-time job. I did a batch at the Recurse Center in Spring 2024, and still spend a lot of time there as of writing in August, 2025.
SQL class
At a former job, I was interested in teaching some of my coworkers basic SQL in the same way that my former coworker had taught me. To that end, I prepared some notes for a class that I gave weekly for a short period. The notes are available on google docs.