Designing own FX or VST FX for LIVE? (O/T)

SongCarver · Post by **SongCarver** » Wed Jul 17, 2002 11:40 pm

Hi all, I know this is a little off-topic, but I would like to know how to design LIVE plugins or VST plugins for Mac OS X.

It's really because of live that I suddenly want to be able to do some things with audio in a real-time situation. I love to play guitar throught these crazy FX.

What does one need to do that?

I have solid digital audio knowledge, medium PASCAL programming experience, and a MAC OS X machine. Most plugins are made in C+, is that right? Are there any free compilers around for this?

Can anybody help, or point me to some www's?

cheers, K

twelve · Post by **twelve** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 1:44 am

This was posted on another message board i was on today in which someone was asking for a vst C++ compiler:

'Okay, let's see, I know that the C++ SDK examples for Windows were intended to be compiled with Microsoft Visual C++, so the files in the 'win' folder are actually project files and settings for this compiler.
I know that you can also use Borland C++ Builder for VST creation, although there are some tweaks necessary (see www.axiworld.be). Apart from that I no of no other compilers currently used for VST coding and I also don't suggest using any non-standard stuff just because it is freely available, too much problems will arise that you won't get with the regular compilers. "

When i prograsmmed C++ the two programs i used were Visual and Borland, there kind of standard

songcaverr · Post by **songcaverr** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 6:43 am

thanks twelve,

whats used for macs though?

cheers
K

os · Post by os » Thu Jul 18, 2002 10:47 am

You can download an excellent and complete set of developer tools from Apple's website:
http://developer.apple.com/tools/macosxtools.html
Then I guess you need to get the VST SDK from Steinberg's website.

Link · Post by **Link** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 10:57 am

Hi SongCarver.

The compiler you really need, and which the Mac VST SDK files are targetted for afaik, is Code Warrior by Metrowerks and now owned by Motorola. I'm not sure what other compilers are available for use with the SDK on Mac to be honest or what hassle it would be to convert them over.

Within the classes provided you can pretty much code VST plugs with C or asm as subfunctions, the C++ part of the deal is pretty much covered at Steinbergs end of the interface really so there's no absolute need to code using classes id desired.

Hope this helps, Link

SongCarver · Post by **SongCarver** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 12:14 pm

thanks guys!

I'm still not certain what I need.

So,

I get the develop tools from apple.
Then I get the VST SDK from steinberg.

Then I Still need te compiler..is that right?

Thanks again for the help.

atom_b · Post by **atom_b** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 12:32 pm

This is an excerpt from the SDK (I'm not allowed to provide the whole thing, cause one has to sign a licence agreement):

"The source code of a VST plug-in is platform independent, but the delivery system depends on the platform architecture.

- On the Windows platform, a VST plug-in is a multi-threaded DLL (Dynamic Link Library).
- On Apple Macintosh, it's a raw Code resource. Note that the plug's name as seen by the user is the resource name (not the file name). A folder labeled 'VstPlugIns' is searched for plugs, this should preferably be installed in the System Folder. Applications should additionally search the
application folder.
- On BeOS, a VST plug-in is a Library.
- On SGI (MOTIF), a VST plug-in is a Library."

So you still don't know exactly what you need, right? Same to me. But I'm not a bad guy, I think the following might be a good resource to start with (there's some pro-developers too)
http://www.bluelifeaudio.com/

BTW the Steinberg SDK is pretty straightforward to start with...

atom_b · Post by **atom_b** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 12:37 pm

Sorry, in case you got lost there, here's a more direct link to some VST generic FAQ on the above site...

http://www.bluelifeaudio.com/faq.php

atom_b · Post by **atom_b** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 12:41 pm

OK, one more: Here's a link to the whole FAQ section as an offline package...

http://www.bluelifeaudio.com/~tobybear/vstfaq.zip

Happy reading!

SongCarver · Post by **SongCarver** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 12:58 pm

Thanks for that atom_b!

I'm way out of my league. :-(

Looks like I will have to bribe programmers to build what I want. 8)

thanks for the help, anyways. I appreciate more and more what you guys do.

os · Post by os » Thu Jul 18, 2002 1:26 pm

SongCarver - the compiler is part of the developer tools.

atom_b - while under OS 9 a plugin is a Code resource, I doubt if the same is true under OS X. Much more likely to be a standard dso (dynamic shared object, the Unix equivalent of a windows dll). This is just a guess though.

Either way, it ought to be pretty easy to get a basic VST effect up and running under OS X - the developer tools are pretty cool.

atom_b · Post by **atom_b** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 5:21 pm

BTW SongCarver: What about Max/MSP from cycling '74? At least accompanied by pluggo it should allow you to build your VSTfx far more easy than by coding around, and you could share them with anyone using pluggo too.

I couldn't check it out myself yet, since I have to wait for Max/MSP to be ported to Windows 'til end of this year.

Anyways www.cycling74.com is worth being checked out just to see that with the right ideas (and tools - a graphical programming environment) you're still in the league...

os · Post by os » Thu Jul 18, 2002 9:55 pm

OK, looks like for OS X VST plugin development you need CodeWarrior, as the Apple Project Builder doesn't produce the right kind of binary.

dang.

Designing own FX or VST FX for LIVE? (O/T)

Designing own FX or VST FX for LIVE? (O/T)

taa