Signalizer: Sidechaining update! Open-source & free audio visualization plugin (v. 0.4.3)

[xphorm]

Anyone managed to load Signalizer into Audacity? For some reason it's incompatible (and Audacity disables it on the startup). Anyways, I need some lightweight program to just play the whole track and then I want to load Signalizer and put it in the fullscreen mode. I can do it in Bitwig, but it's overkill for that purpose. So anything light that would just play the music goes.

[bluedevil123]

I might just be a little naive or too new to this all, (and this plugin looks so awesome!) but how do you guys get this plugin recognized by Ableton Live 11.2 on MacOs? I did copy the 64bit vst3 file under MacHD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3. Is this the right thing to do? (then rescan plugin directory in Ableton's settings) do I need to do something else? How about the .vst and the .component file? Thanks folks!

[mrwigb]

Love this plugin. Love this plugin.
been searching for years for this very thing.

i did run into some things however.

originally downloaded 2.7
spectrum worked like a dream
oscilloscope "no view selected"

downloaded 3.2
spectrum glitching and no longer displaying audio info
oscilloscope works though!

i went through almost every setting i could before coming to say anything.
i turned diagnostics on and only when i was absolutely pushing with refresh did it seem to stress the cpu.

OSX 11
Ableton 10
32gb
3.6 ghz 8 core i7
radeon rx 570 8gb

[thecontrolcentre]

(oops)

[Surgo]

Can confirm that 0.2.7 works great with the waterfall plot view, and the later 0.2.9 and 0.3.2 the waterfall plot doesn't seem to work. Would suggest anyone having issues try downgrading to 0.2.7.

[blasterx]

VST3 please

[Anguish]

VST3 please

I asked the same thing by email in September 2022 and Janus (the developer) replied

[...] Yes, the next release will include VST3.

What he didn't say was when the next release will be available.

[Naenyn]

I haven't tested bitwig, I'll make sure to do that for next release.

Any idea when that might be..?

Thank you for your efforts!

[Debutante]

I haven't tested bitwig, I'll make sure to do that for next release.

Any idea when that might be..?

Thank you for your efforts!

'Next release' hasn't seen been since 2016. It would've been great, but it's most likely dead. Almost a decade on...

[Endolith]

In order to get Signalizer Linux VST 0.3.2.zip to work in Reaper in Linux, I need to add it to the ~/.vst folder, and then run (in fish shell):

env LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 reaper

ChatGPT said I should send you this letter (lol):

Dear Signalizer Team,

I am writing to report an issue I experienced when trying to use your Signalizer VST plugin version 0.3.2 on my Linux system with Reaper. The plugin failed to load initially, and after some troubleshooting, I found that it appears to require the libGL.so.1 (OpenGL) library to be preloaded before Reaper starts.

I was able to work around the issue by preloading the libGL.so.1 library manually every time I start Reaper, using the command:

env LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libGL.so.1 reaper

However, I believe this step should not be necessary for users. It seems that the Signalizer.so plugin uses the glDrawArrays function, which is provided by the libGL.so.1 library. But the plugin doesn't appear to be linked against libGL.so (or libGL.so.1), which causes a problem when it tries to use glDrawArrays and the library hasn't been loaded into Reaper's process.

Would it be possible for you to update the Signalizer.so plugin to ensure it is linked against libGL.so (or libGL.so.1), so that the OpenGL library is automatically loaded when the plugin is loaded? This would prevent the need for users to manually preload libGL.so.1.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to any updates you can provide.

[Mayae]

Anyone managed to load Signalizer into Audacity?

You could do this, but it wouldn't really work the way you expect. Audacity only provides offline processing onto the track with plugins.

[...]
spectrum glitching and no longer displaying audio info
[...]

the later 0.2.9 and 0.3.2 the waterfall plot doesn't seem to work.

I think the main issue here is just changing spectrum / spectrogram mode isn't sufficient if the colours aren't set correctly up either (which doesn't seem to be the case in the presets). I think I will just split out the spectogram into its own view in the future.

I haven't tested bitwig, I'll make sure to do that for next release.

Any idea when that might be..?

Thank you for your efforts!

'Next release' hasn't seen been since 2016. It would've been great, but it's most likely dead. Almost a decade on...

So the main request has been side-chaining / multi-channel facilities, and I've been spending the last couple of years rewriting the codebase to support this properly (I mean, in whatever free time I can find *while* having some energy). This particular feature hasn't been easy since it's not a part of any plugin specs out there.

Before that, I was wrapping up this plugin after the last Signalizer release, hence the quiet front.

But the work is now done, and I'm wrapping it up. Considering whether to port to apple silicon as a part of the next release as well, although I'll have to invest $ in testing hardware for that - might delay things a bit.

In order to get Signalizer Linux VST 0.3.2.zip to work in Reaper in Linux...

I'm aware the "linux" release is more or less useless, maybe I can do it properly this time around if it's just a question of some linking - otherwise it'll have to wait for next release again when I'm swapping out the build system for cmake.

[emphazer_]

Love this plugin!
However I'm strugling to make it appear in Ableton on MacBook Pro M1. Is this because it's compiled for Intel CPU? Is it trivial to compile an Apple Silicon version?

[Mundano]

Dear Janus,

I would like to start with a BIG thank you for your work on this plugin. It certainly allows many people right now to do an excellent job because of its great features and its free availability. I wrote you an email, but since I'm not on the Signalizer mailing list, it may have gotten lost. I will paste a copy of it here asking you for some features that I could not find. Maybe they are there, but I couldn't find them. Thanks again and all the best!

"Hello Janus,

I am a musician, musicologist and have been following you for like 6 years or more with your Signalizer! And on KVR have written some feedback. Now I was invited to a research team and am using your Signalizer plugin for scientific research with whales. Two things I would like to see in Signalizer Spectrogram that I haven't found (if they exist):

- Spectrogram metrics: labels/grid with Frequency and Time (relative if it's running) information, plus mouse hover info-tracking over graphics (and maybe on freezing, mouse selection of portion of audio and retrieving information)
- Spectrogram (Signalizer) frequency range expanded to infrasound. Currently it is stopping at 10Hz, and possibility to add ultrasound (also depending on audio format of the file). Magnifying glass for frequency ranges would be important too.

For the job I am making currently it would be critical to have at least the frequency and time information in the spectrogram. Could you tell me if I have missed something and if this information is available already?

Thank you very much for your awesome and incredible work of love on this plugin, and for the free availability for humanity!!!!"

[Mayae]

Again, thank you for the kind words

... strugling to make it appear in Ableton on MacBook Pro M1. Is this because it's compiled for Intel CPU? Is it trivial to compile an Apple Silicon version?

Yes, likely because the current (6 year old) version is only compiled for x86. It's non-trivial to compile for macos arm, but I'm happy to say I've plenty of serious encouragement towards this. It will be the next thing I look at, after finishing current feature development.

- Spectrogram metrics: labels/grid with Frequency and Time (relative if it's running) information, plus mouse hover info-tracking over graphics (and maybe on freezing, mouse selection of portion of audio and retrieving information)

When you say grid, do you mean like what you have for the spectrum (just flipped axis)? I can add the hover tool for static x,y information but it's a bit more complex to add peak detection for every 2d position in the spectrogram - it's a lot of information that is already offloaded to the GPU.

- Spectrogram (Signalizer) frequency range expanded to infrasound. Currently it is stopping at 10Hz, and possibility to add ultrasound (also depending on audio format of the file). Magnifying glass for frequency ranges would be important too.

It would be trivial to select the starting decade, eg. 100 Hz / 10 Hz / 1 Hz / 0.1 Hz if that's what you're looking for. The upper bound is given by half of the sampling rate of the host program.

Magnifying glass - you imagine that as something local besides the normal zoom utilities?

For the job I am making currently it would be critical to have at least the frequency and time information in the spectrogram. Could you tell me if I have missed something and if this information is available already?

The spectrogram does have a primitive frequency grid on the left side by the gradient if you give the grid a colour - I think it's off by default.

I did get your e-mail btw, I just cannot always make timeline responses but I usually never forget! (otherwise, shoot me down on multiple forums )

[RunBeerRun]

Looks pretty cool! Works great in Savihost 32 bit.