First prerequite is SERIOUS dedication to study.

How much do you know about calculus by the way? I've done a maths degree, and most of the stuff in those DSP books confuses me (though with enough effort I probably could do it). If you're into electrical engineering or done study in Fourier Series'/ Complex Analysis it'll be ALLOT easier to grasp otherwise.

Of course DSP is mainly useful when you're writing stuff that opperates on discrete frequency bands like pitch shifters, vocoders, filters or spectral effects. You can find DSP libraries out there that will do some of these things for you without having to rewrite them. Haven't checked in a long time though.

You don't HAVE to use C++ by the way. There are Object Pascal wrappers for the API so you could use Delphi, but I can't guarentee you'll have an internal-bug free experience.

Anyway I gave up and decided to learn how to use Reaktor properly. Just wish it was stable enough for live use. I think one day I'll pluck up enough courage to give it another crack, until then I think I'll devote my time to getting drunk.

Actually don't listen to me, speak to jobro on samplecity.net. He's written quite a few plug-ins.

Hope I didn't discourage you too much.

Dan