Xhip Synthesizer for Linux & MacOS

[Halonmusic]

On MacOS? That's good news. I believe it now works in Cubase also so most of the major hosts are working fine.

There are a few on Linux that I have yet to verify but things seem to be improving.

Oops i meant fl studio 12. Yes MacOS A friend of mine has a mac and i recommended xhip.

[aciddose]

Updated to r1095 with full load/save functionality.

Work still remains to be completed associated with the file dialog (see the xhip.net/synth/ page for details) but it is capable of working fully and correctly already. The further work is simply to cure some remaining minor imperfections.

This version now sorts filenames and hides hidden files by default. Obviously a "show hidden files" option is one of those minor imperfections but it is still possible to navigate to a hidden folder by typing "/home/username/.folder/" in the path edit box. Further improvements like passing the path via the shell (to allow ~/path/) might be implemented in the future, I don't expect it should be wise to handle hard/soft links or similar and such functionality may remain to be handled via a system dialog (in a separately launched process or similar.)

So the Linux version is now capable of doing 100% of the stuff the Windows version can do and all known crashes/flaws have been solved.

[Taika-Kim]

Great to hear this coming to Linux! I'm just about to create a new installation with the target of phasing out Windows, and all tools are welcome I remember using this years back, I assumed that developement must have stopped, I haven't followed a lot what's been happening in VST world for years. Good to see the project is alive!

[aciddose]

I actually first had Xhip working well on Linux way back in ~2007 IIRC. The biggest thing for me has been the ports of major hosts like Reaper to allow me to test the ported plug-ins easily. Back then EnergyXT2 was the only host available

With Windows 10 and its various issues I've been looking at how I'll manage to handle hardware upgrades in the near future (5 to 10 years) and it is looking as if all hope is lost for Windows and MacOS. So Linux as a platform has become more and more attractive as a desktop OS.

A lot of work remains to be done (for Linux/GNU/associated software) before "year of the Linux desktop" but I can see with small efforts like my own in porting Xhip (one of the first such plug-ins on Linux) we might get the ball rolling and build up some momentum.

[Taika-Kim]

Yeah, I'm back to Win7 for now after a short go at Win10, and since this eventually Win7 will die a final death, I need another desktop OS... I was for a while in Linux already, but I want to make a new start and try to avoid even trying to use Windows VSTs as much as possible. So as soon as I have some time, I'll do a new installation and plan things a bit better.

Oh, now with this: https://www.mindmusiclabs.com/
And this: http://cdm.link/2018/02/bela-mini-gives ... g-for-120/

We might have a small hardware version of Xhip, no ?-) For ultimate freedom from OS hassles...

[Everglide]

Are we there yet

[aciddose]

We are not nowhere and never will be.


Where ever you go;
there you are.

[Everglide]

Where ever you go, your arse follows

[Everglide]

'Are we there yet' is my roundabout way of asking, how are things progressing?

[aciddose]

You can check the alpha page http://xhip.net/alpha/ which hasn't been updated in quite a while.

The latest thread is Xhip Synthesizer v8.1 (alpha & RC).

The remaining things that need to be done for Windows and Linux version 8.1 include:

• Removal of remaining "control" background bitmaps and replacement with self-drawn text and backgrounds
• Improvements to the Linux file browsing dialog (show hidden files, confirmation boxes, some code restructuring)
• Minor GUI tweaks like alignment of LEDs, text and icon offsets in waveform selectors
• Improvements to font kerning at larger font sizes (like eliminating the space between --> hyphens)
• The basic beginning of the skinning system which will enable minor tweaks like adjusting menu colors and fonts

Other than that, the current versions are finished "almost v8.1" as-is.

The MacOS version needs to be re-built from the current source and updated. I've already done this but I haven't tested it enough yet. It works well, and if anyone were interested I could upload the latest alpha to the alpha page (but I won't replace the release until later after v8.1 RC stage.)

Since the GUI is still missing on MacOS it means the improvements are mostly pointless, so there is no very significant difference between the current r974 and the newer r1112 except that the new alpha includes the "preset library" feature. This means the new version includes embedded presets and writes a "default" init state upon first loading without one present.

Apart from the initial load the MacOS version is identical since you can't access those features through the GUI anyway.