Thank you Paul, the story of Ardour is really inspiring. Have you looked into potentially porting it to WASM and running in the browser? Is there a Figma for audio already?
Running this sort of thing in a browser has become more and more feasible, but I still consider it fundamentally a broken idea. Even if the browser environment started to offer sufficient low level OS interaction (e.g. setting relative real time thread priorities, using SIMD correctly for metering and gain control, and lots more), I can only really see one reason to want to do this: ease of "delivery" of the software to the user.
Porting the 80+ libraries we use to wasm is no laughing matter, and it would be even harder to run plugins, since each of them would have to be ported by their respective developers (in the case of proprietary plugins. A browser based version that could not run Kontakt or Valhalla Shimmer would be a significant step backwards for most serious users.
However, you can already run Cardinal (the FLOSS-ier fork of VCV Rack) in the browser, so at this point it's anyone's guess where this idea might lead us.
That makes sense, cause it's true that the audio world -compared to design- is really plugin heavy. However, VSTs are mostly used by real pro users and the distribution the browser offers is not to be dismissed easily. Amateurs could get away with a few good plugins. When they are ready to make the transition, a native app or extension could be installed. But it would open an interesting door to quick editing something online, and even collaboration if integrated.
1. "VST" is often used as a synonym for plugins, but it absolutely is not. It's one particular plugin API/format.
2. If you're doing in-the-box composition, every sound you work with probably comes from a plugin. So the idea the plugins are mostly used only by pros is not really true. Synth choice is a hot topic and highly subjective issue, I don't think people would want to be heavily constrained there.
3. "quick editing" is already available online. Not much point with us trying to compete with that.
