diff --git a/WaveSabreCore/CMakeLists.txt b/WaveSabreCore/CMakeLists.txt
index 31ca1e2e..eb4f7689 100644
--- a/WaveSabreCore/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/WaveSabreCore/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -52,9 +52,16 @@ add_library(WaveSabreCore
 	src/StateVariableFilter.cpp
 	src/SynthDevice.cpp
 	src/Thunder.cpp
-	src/Twister.cpp)
+	src/Twister.cpp
+	)
+
+if(WIN32)
+	target_sources(WaveSabreCore PRIVATE
+		)
+
+	target_link_libraries(WaveSabreCore PUBLIC Msacm32.lib)
+endif()
 
-target_link_libraries(WaveSabreCore Msacm32.lib)
 target_include_directories(WaveSabreCore PUBLIC include)
 
 if(MSVC)
@@ -69,4 +76,15 @@ if(MSVC)
 		target_compile_options(WaveSabreCore PUBLIC
 			$<$<CONFIG:MinSizeRel>:/Zc:sizedDealloc->)
 	endif()
+else()
+	# assuming GCC or clang for now
+
+	if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE EQUAL Debug)
+		target_compile_options(WaveSabreCore PUBLIC -g -Og)
+	else()
+		#set_property(TARGET WaveSabreCore PROPERTY INTERPROCEDURAL_OPTIMIZATION ON)
+		target_compile_options(WaveSabreCore
+			PUBLIC -O2 -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -fno-stack-protector -fno-stack-check -fno-unwind-tables -fno-asynchronous-unwind-tables -fomit-frame-pointer -fno-threadsafe-statics
+			PRIVATE -ffast-math -march=nocona -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -Wl,--gc-sections)
+	endif()
 endif()
diff --git a/WaveSabrePlayerLib/CMakeLists.txt b/WaveSabrePlayerLib/CMakeLists.txt
index 6a0149d4..5a67dcf9 100644
--- a/WaveSabrePlayerLib/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/WaveSabrePlayerLib/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ target_link_libraries(WaveSabrePlayerLib
 
 target_include_directories(WaveSabrePlayerLib PUBLIC include)
 
+# we need C++11 for std::atomic
+set_property(TARGET WaveSabrePlayerLib PROPERTY CXX_STANDARD 11)
+
 if(MSVC)
 	target_compile_definitions(WaveSabrePlayerLib PRIVATE _CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS)
 	target_compile_options(WaveSabrePlayerLib PUBLIC
diff --git a/WaveSabrePlayerLib/include/WaveSabrePlayerLib/SongRenderer.h b/WaveSabrePlayerLib/include/WaveSabrePlayerLib/SongRenderer.h
index f9c6a122..ea266996 100644
--- a/WaveSabrePlayerLib/include/WaveSabrePlayerLib/SongRenderer.h
+++ b/WaveSabrePlayerLib/include/WaveSabrePlayerLib/SongRenderer.h
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ namespace WaveSabrePlayerLib
 		int bpm;
 		int sampleRate;
 		double length;
-	
+
 		int numDevices;
 		WaveSabreCore::Device **devices;
 
diff --git a/WaveSabrePlayerLib/src/SongRenderer.cpp b/WaveSabrePlayerLib/src/SongRenderer.cpp
index 4923ac72..456a0e19 100644
--- a/WaveSabrePlayerLib/src/SongRenderer.cpp
+++ b/WaveSabrePlayerLib/src/SongRenderer.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,19 @@
 #include <WaveSabrePlayerLib/SongRenderer.h>
 
+#include <atomic>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+#ifdef _MSC_VER
+void* __cdecl operator new[](size_t size)
+{
+	return malloc(size);
+}
+void __cdecl operator delete[](void* ptr)
+{
+	return free(ptr);
+}
+#endif
+
 using namespace WaveSabreCore;
 
 namespace WaveSabrePlayerLib
@@ -195,7 +209,8 @@ namespace WaveSabrePlayerLib
 
 				// We have a free track that we can work on, yay!
 				//  Let's try to mark it so that no other thread takes it
-				if ((TrackRenderState)InterlockedCompareExchange((unsigned int *)&trackRenderStates[i], (unsigned int)TrackRenderState::Rendering, (unsigned int)TrackRenderState::Idle) == TrackRenderState::Idle)
+				int xv = (int)TrackRenderState::Idle;
+				if (std::atomic_compare_exchange_strong((std::atomic_int *)&trackRenderStates[i], &xv, (int)TrackRenderState::Rendering))
 				{
 					// We marked it successfully, so now we'll do the work
 					tracks[i]->Run(renderThreadNumFloatSamples);
@@ -206,7 +221,8 @@ namespace WaveSabrePlayerLib
 			}
 		}
 
-		if (!InterlockedDecrement(&renderThreadsRunning))
+		// returns the value *before* the call
+		if (std::atomic_fetch_sub((std::atomic_int *)&renderThreadsRunning, 1) == 1)
 			SetEvent(renderDoneEvent);
 
 		return true;