Best ways to start building VST plugins with the most control?

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Best ways to start building VST plugins with the most control? 2020-04-19T18:34:23+00:00 I've taken a look at visual programming software to create VSTs: - Reaktor - Max - SynthEdit - FL Flowstone - Bidule - Usine All of them have Pros and Cons. All of them have their own area of expertise, but I feel somewhat limited in all of them, (from my research) and I want some more flexibility. The ones that seem to have the most potential (Max and Reaktor), from my research, require a purchase to either use the full capability of the software or something on those lines. I do not want to have to pay extra money for something I can work harder at, and get the same or similar result I am hoping to achieve. I also don't want to be able to only run my VST inside another VST (looking at you Reaktor). So I took a look at software/languages that are built for programming audio: - CSound - Cabbage - PureData - SuperCollider These seemed great from what I could tell, and have much more potential, but aren't quite what I am looking for. Maybe this is where I should begin to make my own VST plugins, but I feel like I need to know how the whole language works beforehand in order to get the most out of it. I then looked more into these libraries for C++ (I chose C++ of other languages, because I know it pretty well already): - JUCE - WDL_OL (iPlug) - iPlug2 I have more experience with these, as in I have attempted to follow a few tutorials. I have some feedback from what I have found: JUCE : - You must pay in order to make revenue - You must use the GPL in order to remove the splashscreen JUCE seemed to have the most documentation, but I feel that I am still a somewhat beginner in C++ since I found the docs and the tutorials a tad confusing. WDL_OL : - I heard it was the simplest, but while looking at some of the examples, I found it pretty confusing - Seems a little outdated I started the main tutorial http://www.martin-finke.de/blog/articles/audio-plugins-001-introduction/ , but didn't get too far because it seemed way too out of date at this point. iPlug2 : - Very little documentation and no tutorials yet This one seemed most promising, but with only the few examples it provides, I felt like I couldn't get too far. So, what do I know so far? I took an audio engineering course in college, and several C/C++ courses. I feel like I can take on making a VST, since I have had experience with Reaktor in the past, but am unsure where exactly to start. I know that I most likely can't take on anything huge right now, but I am wanting to start out small, and make a few small ones, such as a limiter, equalizer, etc... So, my question... Where should I really start making my own VSTs, with lots of flexibility, and decent documentation or tutorials or examples? :?: I feel like I have been wasting my time trying to find the "best" framework, language or software to start with. :? I am guessing that many of the professional developers (xferrecords, u-He, Waves, iZotope, etc..) all use some form of C++. So I am aiming to start developing plugins in C++, but I guess I am unsure of what framework to start out with. I enjoy using the Cinder framework for OpenGL (Not really an audio framework), and I was hoping to find something like that in regards to a VST/audio framework. What are your suggestions that I should begin? :) johnratius https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=462947

datajake1999 datajake1999 https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=449374: KVRer; 18 posts since 8 Oct, 2019

Post by datajake1999 » Wed Dec 01, 2021 5:52 pm

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When I started developing audio plugins, I dove directly Into the VST 2.4 SDK Instead of using a framework such as JUCE. I found this made my code smaller and easier to work with, and I don't look back.

rafa1981 rafa1981 https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=134546: KVRian; 1119 posts since 4 Jan, 2007

Post by rafa1981 » Thu Dec 02, 2021 10:09 am

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There is also Reaper's JSFX. Similar to Plug'n script.

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