Learning While Building - MVPs, Prototypes, and the Importance of Physical Gesture

This conference talk from ADC 2024 explores how audio developers can accelerate learning and innovation through strategic prototyping and MVP development. Discover the "build, measure, learn" loop from eXtreme Programming and Agile methodologies, and learn how to validate ideas before writing extensive code. Explore the crucial differences between MVPs (designed for external market feedback) and prototypes (for internal learning), with specific examples from the audio plugin industry. The presentation covers practical prototyping tools for digital audio—from established platforms like Max/Max4Live to cutting-edge community-built solutions for machine learning within DAWs. Roth Michaels, Principal Software Engineer at Native Instruments, draws from extensive experience across Native Instruments, Brainworx, and iZotope to demonstrate why combining physical gesture with audio feedback provides unique insights impossible to gain through other methods. Gain valuable strategies to accelerate your audio development process while reducing unnecessary coding and development time.