KVR Audio

SampleScience · Post by **SampleScience** » Sun Jan 15, 2017 4:32 am

I'd like to code my own plugins using a good framework for plugin development. So far, the best seems to be iPlug and JUCE. I don't really have the time to learn both frameworks intricacies so I have to choose one. Which is best for professional plugin development, iPlug or JUCE?

Chrisboy2000 · Post by **Chrisboy2000** » Sun Jan 15, 2017 8:42 am

JUCE

But to be honest, I really like the way how JUCE is written (it's extremely well documented and clearly designed). I don't know your C++ skill set, but if you want to start learning C++ from scratch, then imitating the JUCE coding style in the first years will guide you on the right track.

SampleScience · Post by **SampleScience** » Sun Jan 15, 2017 4:21 pm

Chrisboy2000 wrote:JUCE

But to be honest, I really like the way how JUCE is written (it's extremely well documented and clearly designed). I don't know your C++ skill set, but if you want to start learning C++ from scratch, then imitating the JUCE coding style in the first years will guide you on the right track.

I'm a beginner, I've only had two coding courses but I remember them well.

Yesterday I've took the day to try iPlug but couldn't compile the examples without errors. Funnily, today I'm going to dive deep in Hise and give it a shot.

Miles1981 · Post by **Miles1981** » Sun Jan 15, 2017 9:02 pm

You also need to take into account the license. JUCE is a variant of GPL (it's not pure GPL because of the VST SDK, so not compatible with other GPL libraries) or commercial license, iPlug is BSD, so usable more or less everywhere (included closed-source).

davidguda · Post by **davidguda** » Mon Jan 16, 2017 7:40 am

A couple of coding courses away and want to learn plugin coding is at a point where GPL is hardly a problem.

syntonica · Post by **syntonica** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 9:33 pm

I'm in the same boat here. My synth engine is done! I need a GUI now to move forward with a couple of features as there's too many limitations letting the host make the GUI for you.

I've eliminated JUCE since it's only a mere $1000 for a closed license.

I can't get VSTGUI, any version, to compile, plus the latest version STILL has hooks into Carbon on the Mac! Unfortunately, my knowledge of the frameworks is limited to be able to find the new way to do it.

IPlug looks like the way to go for me, although I'd really like to code my own basic GUI widgets so that they are sizeable rather than rely upon LICE and graphics. I'm going to take a better look at it today to see how it's all done, i.e. how is the editor object treated by the host vs. the plug-in and where events come from. I'm hoping I can just replace part of the GUI system with my own classes, but still use IPlug's OS hooks.

Also, I need to look at the VST classes for editors to see if all of this is already baked in...

Information on any of this or other options most welcome!

syntonica · Post by **syntonica** » Tue Jan 17, 2017 9:37 pm

SampleScience wrote: Yesterday I've took the day to try iPlug but couldn't compile the examples without errors. Funnily, today I'm going to dive deep in Hise and give it a shot.

Hmm. I was able to easily compile a couple of the IPlug examples on the Mac. Make sure you have your SDKs in the right places!

SampleScience · Post by **SampleScience** » Wed Jan 18, 2017 1:13 am

syntonica wrote:
SampleScience wrote: Yesterday I've took the day to try iPlug but couldn't compile the examples without errors. Funnily, today I'm going to dive deep in Hise and give it a shot.
Hmm. I was able to easily compile a couple of the IPlug examples on the Mac. Make sure you have your SDKs in the right places!

I'm on Windows and all the SDKs are there. To be honest, I still haven't fix the problem but I may lean toward JUCE anyways. I prefer to focus on one good framework than stretch myself on many of them.

random_id · Post by **random_id** » Wed Jan 18, 2017 1:15 am

syntonica wrote: IPlug looks like the way to go for me, although I'd really like to code my own basic GUI widgets so that they are sizeable rather than rely upon LICE and graphics.

Youlean has been working hard on modifications to IPlug/WDL that allow for resizing. His graphics code is available on github to take a look at. I think he is also working on using Cairo instead of the standard LICE stuff.

I haven't resized individual controls yet, but I have used some modifications to make multiple GUI layout with different sizes. So far, so good.

I am biased, but I have been completely happy with IPlug/WDL. Yes, sometimes there are problems; however, I haven't run into anything I couldn't figure out.

The forum for WDL is not as active as the JUCE forum, but there are some very smart people on the forum that are willing to help (present company excluded).

syntonica · Post by **syntonica** » Wed Jan 18, 2017 3:16 am

Cool! Thanks! More code to pore over...

Guillaume Piolat · Post by **Guillaume Piolat** » Wed Jan 18, 2017 1:04 pm

Not for beginners, but you can use Dplug: https://github.com/AuburnSounds/dplug

BlitBit · Post by **BlitBit** » Wed Jan 18, 2017 7:14 pm

syntonica wrote:I'm in the same boat here. My synth engine is done! I need a GUI now to move forward with a couple of features as there's too many limitations letting the host make the GUI for you.

[...]

Information on any of this or other options most welcome!

Here's a blog entry from someone who was able to integrate Cairo into WDL-OL/IPlug:
https://simplapi.wordpress.com/2015/02/ ... in-wdl-ol/

crashedthecar · Post by **crashedthecar** » Wed Jan 18, 2017 7:33 pm

I'm no expert but juce looks the bomb. If you go juce it would still be worth while getting the I plug examples to compile. My first ten or so attempts didn't work and then bingo. I learnt a lot in the process about the structure of a typical vst, and got a bit more comfortable with the command line.

SampleScience · Post by **SampleScience** » Wed Jan 18, 2017 9:23 pm

crashedthecar wrote:I'm no expert but juce looks the bomb. If you go juce it would still be worth while getting the I plug examples to compile. My first ten or so attempts didn't work and then bingo. I learnt a lot in the process about the structure of a typical vst, and got a bit more comfortable with the command line.

I'll probably go with JUCE as it seems to be the most professional route from what I've seen/read so far. I'm giving myself two years to learn it properly.

syntonica · Post by **syntonica** » Wed Jan 18, 2017 11:39 pm

BlitBit wrote:
syntonica wrote:I'm in the same boat here. My synth engine is done! I need a GUI now to move forward with a couple of features as there's too many limitations letting the host make the GUI for you.

[...]

Information on any of this or other options most welcome!
Here's a blog entry from someone who was able to integrate Cairo into WDL-OL/IPlug:
https://simplapi.wordpress.com/2015/02/ ... in-wdl-ol/

Thanks! But that's way more than I need. I'm of the less is more philosophy, so I spend a couple hours hacking into the VST editor code and got my first Cocoa object!

Now I gotta figure out what to do with it! (I got the parent window for my GUI and apparently, I have to size it and show it... I really hate Objective-C, even more than C++. Maybe I can Swift?)