MonkSynth: Free, open-source Delay Lama remake (VST3/AU, Windows/macOS/Linux)

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Did you know there was also an alternative version called "Brother Gregory", available exclusively for Steinberg sequencers of the time (around 2005)?

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sprnva wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2026 8:37 am Thanks for the update. Unfortunately it now crashes Ardour as well as Bespoke so I can't get it to run at all on Linux.
What distro are you using? I may need to test it on something other than Ubuntu.

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akadajet wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2026 3:41 pmWhat distro are you using? I may need to test it on something other than Ubuntu.
debian sid with Gnome/Wayland. Not quite bleeding edge, but still more on the unstable side of things. I was actually surprised the first one worked in Ardour as that can be notoriously picky with VST3s.

For Bespoke I always run the latest nightly as the stable build is quite old.

I got it working again in Ardour by deleting all the bundled libs. Maybe that was the wrong approach for ensuring compatibility? It still crashes Bespoke.

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akadajet wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2026 1:11 am Ait shows up under the generic VST UI.

I'm doing some research on an expanded UI that has controls embedded in the window. I'm kind of excited to make improvements. :)
AH ha. That's where they are. Found 'em. Thank you
On a number of Macs

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the AU crashes auval in logic v10.5.1 under mojave

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muki wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2026 9:45 pm the AU crashes auval in logic v10.5.1 under mojave
It looks like the version of VSTGUI that I'm using has a minimum supported MacOS version of 10.15. So, that's likely your issue. I'll update the installer to check this.

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Sahul wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2026 9:02 am Did you know there was also an alternative version called "Brother Gregory", available exclusively for Steinberg sequencers of the time (around 2005)?

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I saw that in the badgear episode. I like the crazy eyes.

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akadajet wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2026 1:58 am
Sahul wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2026 9:02 am Did you know there was also an alternative version called "Brother Gregory", available exclusively for Steinberg sequencers of the time (around 2005)?

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I saw that in the badgear episode. I like the crazy eyes.
Yes, sound-wise it’s very similar to Delay Lama, and the character’s animations and gestures are also great fun. I still have it installed on an old 32-bit version of Cubase. It’s a shame it can’t be used in other DAWS. It would have been brilliant to be able to import the GUI into MonkSynth, too.
Last edited by Sahul on Thu Apr 09, 2026 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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sprnva wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2026 3:58 pm
akadajet wrote: Wed Apr 08, 2026 3:41 pmWhat distro are you using? I may need to test it on something other than Ubuntu.
debian sid with Gnome/Wayland. Not quite bleeding edge, but still more on the unstable side of things. I was actually surprised the first one worked in Ardour as that can be notoriously picky with VST3s.

For Bespoke I always run the latest nightly as the stable build is quite old.

I got it working again in Ardour by deleting all the bundled libs. Maybe that was the wrong approach for ensuring compatibility? It still crashes Bespoke.
New release uses static linking. I have it working in Reaper and Ardour locally now.

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akadajet wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2026 11:38 amNew release uses static linking. I have it working in Reaper and Ardour locally now.
Cool, that fixes Ardour again. No more crashes. However, Bespoke now refuses to load it at all.

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I’ll test bespoke when I get some time. I have a report of it crashing Carla as well. Linux is rough lol, but I’ll get it working reliably.

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akadajet wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2026 9:58 pm
pough wrote: Mon Apr 06, 2026 11:50 pm I did get the original theme, but I was hoping for something different. It's an interface that's more charming than comfortable, IMO. This even has that old-school crazy-knob behaviour! I had forgotten about the sudden changes that could happen if you clicked somewhere you didn't mean to.

If I download the presets, where should I put them?
I purposefully used VSTGUI like the original to emulate it's look/feel. But it does feel kind of crusty. I could look into JUCE for a nicer future version, but they use a copyleft AGPL license which is kind of... ugh... not my cup of tea. I'd want to keep the DSP engine MIT at a minimum. I'd love to have a "modern/original" toggle or something to bring it in line with modern standards, but keep the charm...
The GPL stipulation is that using GPL-licenced code in another project requires *that project* be GPL-licenced, but its dependencies don't all need to be! GPL3 would be much less popular a licence if it prevented you from using any non-GPL code at all.

Or in practical terms, there's no problem. The DSP you wrote is MIT-licenced already, as per your release. If you use it in a JUCE project and don't pay the commercial JUCE fees, the final product will be. GPL3 yes. But if you're ok with that, there's nothing stopping you from putting your already MIT-licenced DSP in a separate repo, making that a submodule of a new project in which you build a new UI with JUCE. Setups like that are really common in fact.

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Andreya_Autumn wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2026 3:16 pm
akadajet wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2026 9:58 pm
pough wrote: Mon Apr 06, 2026 11:50 pm I did get the original theme, but I was hoping for something different. It's an interface that's more charming than comfortable, IMO. This even has that old-school crazy-knob behaviour! I had forgotten about the sudden changes that could happen if you clicked somewhere you didn't mean to.

If I download the presets, where should I put them?
I purposefully used VSTGUI like the original to emulate it's look/feel. But it does feel kind of crusty. I could look into JUCE for a nicer future version, but they use a copyleft AGPL license which is kind of... ugh... not my cup of tea. I'd want to keep the DSP engine MIT at a minimum. I'd love to have a "modern/original" toggle or something to bring it in line with modern standards, but keep the charm...
The GPL stipulation is that using GPL-licenced code in another project requires *that project* be GPL-licenced, but its dependencies don't all need to be! GPL3 would be much less popular a licence if it prevented you from using any non-GPL code at all.

Or in practical terms, there's no problem. The DSP you wrote is MIT-licenced already, as per your release. If you use it in a JUCE project and don't pay the commercial JUCE fees, the final product will be. GPL3 yes. But if you're ok with that, there's nothing stopping you from putting your already MIT-licenced DSP in a separate repo, making that a submodule of a new project in which you build a new UI with JUCE. Setups like that are really common in fact.
Yeah, I figured that's what I'd have to do. I don't even think the DSP has to be it's own repo, it can just be in a directory with it's own license. it'll be a minute before I get a chance to dig into it. Delay Lama itself used an old version of VSTGUI, so for a clone it felt like a natural choice.

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Yup, makes sense.

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Beta 5 is out. Presets are installed via the installer. Pitch bend and mod wheel are hooked up and working. There are some new parameters that let you record automation from the XY pad. Fixed a couple of crashing bugs. Linux fixes coming later.

Check it out!

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