Artemio strikes back!

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Artemiy
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Artemio strikes back!

Post by Artemiy »

Hey all!

I am here to let you know that I am working under... *drum roll* my very first Audio Unit plugin.

It wasn't hard to start away, frankly I am simply amazed by the elegance of Apple's Core Audio API, plus I already had some experience with writing LADSPA plugins on Linux.

My first Audio Unit is an implementation of my interesting wave shaping algorithm. It passes all tests of the AU validation tool and works well in Wave Editor and Garage Band and should also work in any other Audio Unit host as an effect. I will post some demos soon.

Image

As it gets optimized and compiled as a Universal Binary, I will publish a free version online. Stay tuned!


Da SNDTWKR Artemiy.
trix
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by trix »

Hey Artemio

Whats is it exactly you are designing??

What is an Audio Unit plugin
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Artemiy
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by Artemiy »

trix:

In simple words, Audio Unit is a plugin format used on Mac OS X (thus it is not available for Linux or Windows). If you ever worked with VST effects on Windows, Audio Units are an equivalent on Macs.
trix
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by trix »

Oh right

I still use windows
LivePsy
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by LivePsy »

There's no stopping you Artemiy :)

Are you using any prebuilt libraries as a shell, or are you figuring it all out by yourself?

Cheers,
B
anti_pulse
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by anti_pulse »

damn skippy it's goiong to be a universal app!

http://www.myspace.com/11505663
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Artemiy
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by Artemiy »

LivePsy:

"Are you using any prebuilt libraries as a shell, or are you figuring it all out by yourself? "

I am of course using XCode for editing/building, it gives a very good template on New Project -> Audio Unit that is basically ready to be compiled as a generic AU component out of the box, plus I have the complete Audio Unit reference documentation / specification.
LivePsy
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by LivePsy »

Its way over my head, but it does sound like there's a lot set up to help you. Good luck with it!
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Artemiy
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by Artemiy »

LivePsy:

Well, it's hard to say how much it is set up for you. In any case you do get a project template, whether you want to write a Tetris clone in 3D or in my case an audio effect plugin. But a template means there are standard things like opening, initializing, closing the application and so on - the actual code which "does the job" is all up to you. Again, I admit that OS X exhibits elegance in every single bit of it - not only the whole GUI you see is beautiful, smart and logical, the programming API is beautiful no less, as are the development tools (XCode). So it really is easier to start writing your own stuff than on Linux or Windows. But, again, *your* stuff, noone will write a waveshaper for you with a couple mouse clicks, I coded it all myself in C++ ;-)
LivePsy
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by LivePsy »

Art, the GUI of plugins must be the hardest part. At some point you'll probably want to allow the user to draw the waveshape - which must be harder to make it "look easy" than the dsp which mangles the incoming signal.

Albino and Blue plugins are staggering in that regard (my purely personal opinion) - wonderfully informative interfaces which can show you the raw waveform in real time. If you've seen the SynthEdit made VST plugins, well everything looks better :) Which was my point, if you have help from a library of prebuilt modules then that's cool, but if you write it all yourself then you are ultra cool. Which is the Sineshine philosophy, doing it all yourself from scratch!

B
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Artemiy
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by Artemiy »

"Art, the GUI of plugins must be the hardest part."

So far there is no GUI, it's a standard AudioUnit whose interface is drawn by the host application. I do plan a GUI, mainly for waveshape display, but that may be a little too much for me ;-)

"At some point you'll probably want to allow the user to draw the waveshape - which must be harder to make it "look easy" than the dsp which mangles the incoming signal. "

I did use Blue for a while, but never was able to get an interesting sound with it's drawn waveshaper, I always ended with some basic distortion. Initially I thought it's cool, but in reality making a good waveshape that produces an interesting effect is not easy.

You will hear my waveshaper soon, it's already Universal. It's got a very smooth sound, but can also scream and there will be a sort of lo-fi waveshaping possible.

"Which is the Sineshine philosophy, doing it all yourself from scratch! "

Exactly ;-)
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V-CeeOh
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by V-CeeOh »

Art,

You never cease to amaze me ;-)


o - ...just could not afford the 8
(
\_/
hear what I've done with the 7
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Artemiy
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by Artemiy »

Fix, when I will rule this world... Oh, I mean, yes, thanks very much for the warm words!
theologiae
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by theologiae »

mr. artemio,
do you have any suggestions on text to learn how to write code to build your own plug ins? i have wored with reaktor for a year now and i just started to get into Pure Data (which is much like Max/MSP in it's format) and i'd like to start to learn code. where could a noob go for that info.

circle 6
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Artemiy
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Re: Artemio strikes back!

Post by Artemiy »

theologiae:

Well, a good book on digital signal processing would be great, although I never had/read one. These were all accidental reads, random discussions, and I learned a few tricks and developed mine.

I am not a great programmer in audio, I just know some good math, a bit of C/C++ and, well, after about 12 years of working with audio I sort of realized how many things work almost on my own.

If you already messed with Reaktor and PD, I think you already should know some algorithms right? Anyway I don't think there's a C/C++ library for oscillators or LFOs, but there's a lot of example code at http://musicdsp.org/.
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