greetings, i want to build a daw (digital audio workstation), but i have no idea where to even start. here are my needs and the options i’ve found:

my needs:

  • load and keep things (audio, midi) in memory
  • cross-platform compatibility is not a requirement

the options i’ve found:

  • flutter
  • gtk/qt
  • raylib (with zig)
  • webassembly (with zig)

[rejected] flutter: the first option that came to my mind was flutter. i thought it would give me a quick start in laying down the ui, but i don’t think it has the capability to fulfill my needs (please correct me if i’m wrong)

gtk/qt (with zig): i wonder if qt provide bindings for zig

raylib (with zig): it’s cool (my choice as of now)

[rejected] webassembly (with zig): it would be an ultimate comfort to build this way ig, but is it possible to make that web app into desktop one (like tauri or something)?

id really appreciate your opinions and advice

ps: i hope i’m clear. i got a headache searching about these. i’ll update this post for more clarity later

final note

Thank you guys for all your opinions and advises. Thanks for explaining the limitations with gtk, things with qt and flutter. That kotlin compose thing was cool too. Thanks for mentioning yabridge thats gonna be helpful. It might not seem like it, but I did listen to your thoughts, and stuck with zig and raylib. Thanks a lot

  • arran 🇦🇺
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    6 months ago

    What are your needs which aren’t being met with flutter? – It’s really just a UI renderer and it has a C/C++/ObjectC/Java underlayer for everything else. It should link fine with existing c libraries. I have done a bit with it recently including desktop dev: https://www.producthunt.com/products/which-browser So hopefully I can answer any questions. – Hit me up on matrix

    It seems that Zig is the intended language? If go where a consideration I would point you at this to consider: https://github.com/go-graphics/go-gui-projects too.