Dave Rowland

CTO

Tracktion/Prism

About Me

Dave Rowland is the CTO at Audio Squadron (owning brands such as Tracktion and Prism Sound), working primarily on the digital audio workstation Waveform, and the engine it runs on. David focuses on the architecture and real-time elements of the software.

In academia, David has taught on several modules at the University of the West of England on programming for audio. David has a passion for modern C++ standards and their use to improve code safety and brevity, has spoken at Meeting C++, C++ on Sea, C++ Online and is a regular speaker at the Audio Developer Conference and related monthly meetup. Past presentations: https://github.com/drowaudio/presentations/

Sessions

  • Lock-free Queues in the Multiverse of Madness
    00:00 - 00:00 UTC | Friday 31st October 2025 |
    Intermediate
    Advanced

    Lock-free queues are the unsung heroes of audio software systems, quietly enabling ultra-low latency and thread-safe communication across a dizzying variety of scenarios. But just like navigating a multiverse, the world of lock-free queues is filled with many different variants-each with their own quirks, trade-offs, and hardware demands. In this talk, we’ll embark on a journey through this multiverse, starting with the simplest dimension: the single-producer, single-consumer queue. We’ll uncover why lock-free designs often outshine traditional lock-based approaches in real-time audio environments, and explore various implementations along with their pros and cons. From there, we’ll warp into more complex realities […]

  • Can Audio Programming be Safe?
    11:20 - 12:10 UTC | Tuesday 12th November 2024 | Bristol 2
    Beginner
    Intermediate
    Advanced

    Safety is an increasingly discussed topic in relation to programming and often little or misunderstood. With organisations like the NSA and NIST recommending developers move away from memory unsafe languages (such as C & C++), there is a lot of uncertainty in the air about what this means for current programing practices. With a focus on the audio industry, are we even exposed to any of these risks? In this talk we look at the different types of safety, including memory and functional safety, and how these relate to security. We see what risks we might be exposed to and […]

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