Developing your own VST

[David Katauskas]

I'm not sure where to actually put this topic, so I'll put it here.

I've registered with the Steinberg site and have downloaded the SDK. I took some of the C++ examples and compiled them into a few seemingly VST plug-ins. They compile correctly, but they do not get picked up by my sequencer. Anybody have a clue?

[gordone]

What sequencer/DAW do you have?

I've been thinking about delving into devloping plug-ins for a bit. What did you use to compile? I'm mainly a Java dude at work (GUIs - the first line of defense the software has against the dumb operator!) but I would like to keep my C++ skills up to date.

[David Katauskas]

I'm using nTrack 4.x which supports both the 1.0 and 2.x VST versions. However, I think there are shells available for compilation that will help you debug your VST.

My compiler is MS Visual Studio 6.0...although you could use 5.0, 7.0 or 8.0 too.

After just scratching the surface, there is a LOT to learn about the mechanics of sound. This is the appeal to me. Unfortunately, I'm just trying to get past the usage of it, and it's very frustrating. I'm doing everything according to specs and have even used the example VST code...but to no avail...

[David Katauskas]

YEAH!!! I made my first 3 VST plug-ins (one was from sample code). The other 2 are the best Phase Shifter and Volume controls in the entire world (gotta start somewhere)

Now I need to learn a boat load of math with regard to digital sound waves. Wish me luck!

[fraserhutch]

Congrats! What did you have to do to get the sequencer to recognize them?

[David Katauskas]

I wasn't using a DEF file in the linker. Apparently, there are some "undocumented" parameters that need to be set in order for the sequencer to recognize it. Once I did that, the rest was cake...at least for my meager plug-ins.

[Beltrom]

Congrats, my first born VST's was a volume control and a channelswapper...


After that I came to a full stop, mostly because of limited time...

Just wanted to mention this place if you hadn't heard about it:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=33

[kylen]

Originally Posted by David Katauskas

... Apparently, there are some "undocumented" parameters that need to be set in order for the sequencer to recognize it.

Mmm yummy, the first of the "Goes_Without_Saying" dependencies...good luck!

[David Katauskas]

Originally Posted by Beltrom

Just wanted to mention this place if you hadn't heard about it:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=33

Thanks for the link...I check that out.

I anticipate having some difficulty until I really understand more of the basic dsp values (such as amplitude). There are some white papers I'm reading right now that have some good info about specific dsp algorithms (chorus, pitch, flanger, ...). It's a completely different language to me. I'd still like to understand some of the eq algorithms too. The ultimate goal is to make some plugins that will suite my personal recording...and maybe share with a select few. I'm really not interested in supporting public versions.


kylen, thanks for the sentiments...I'm sure I'll need them.