In preparation for our first VST plugin course release, Audio Dev is giving away a free Kindle eBook on the basics of C++, which is the programming language used for coding audio plugins.



Book description:

There are plenty of books about programming, but most of them focus on a specific programming language only, or assume previous experience as a developer. This makes it hard to find a good book to start your self-study, especially if you are a beginner and you are not yet 100% sure what your programming language of choice will be.

Just for that purpose, we created the “Let's talk Code” series, meant to teach you the basic coding concepts all programming languages share. Every edition of this series follows the same simple step-by-step learning-method, but uses a different programming language for demonstration purposes. This didactic concept allows you to quickly learn the basics of coding, using a wide range of different programming languages. Also, the consistent nature of the different editions allows you to quickly compare languages, or to easily change the focus of your self-study to a different language. It’s simply a great place to start when you are new to coding!

Get your free download from Amazon until Saturday the 13th July from the following link: https://www.amazon.com/Lets-talk-Code-programming-beginners-ebook/dp/B07K35XPQ6/

Feel free to ask us any questions about Audio Dev, here or on our social media pages:
https://www.instagram.com/audiodevacademy/
https://www.facebook.com/AudioDevAcademy/

To read an eBook from Amazon on mobile and desktop, you can download the Kindle reader from the Amazon website where it says "Read with our Free App"

Joe

 

Hi Joe, many thanks for the link, however I am experiencing a problem when I go to the link you provided and log-in my amazon account it wants 3.35 payment. Is this now correct.

 

I searched for the title directly from the store in my country after logging in. I downloaded it for free.
Thanks Joe!

 

Last edited: Jul 9, 2019

Hi Piccolo, I'm sorry for the issue, maybe try the suggestion from modmid.

Let me know if the issue persists.

Many thanks
joe

 

I'd say JUCE is most friendly API to start coding plugins
https://docs.juce.com/master/tutorial_plugin_examples.html

 

Just go on amazon in your country, and type:
Let's talk Code
You will see 3 books for python,swift,and c++,all fore free.

Thank you for that info!!!

 

Very nice to have such courses introduced for non-programmer, Joe

Was wondering do you have any courses which is specific to "how to program your own midi plugins VST". Would be great if you could aspire such courses from beginner (non-programmer) to advanced level.

Many thanks to AudioDevAcademy for the free gifts

-Jovi B.

 

Thank you everyone for you assistance. I am using the Amazon UK site where it states the kindle e-book is only available through U.S. site, on clicking through to the U.S. site it does indeed show that the book is free, however when attempting to enter in basket in then wants 3.35 U.S. Dollars for payment. It was worth a try. Thank you all again.

 

Indeed JUCE is, hands down, the best framework for plugin programming, but you still have to program in C++.
And you're tied to the rules of the framework, like using certain tools (Projucer).

 

cooL!

 

I suggest you to take a look to Blue Cat Audio's Plug'N Script.

 

C++ is a great language, it is a shame it isn't as popular with the younger generation of engineers (I said the same about assembler once upon a time too).

 

Lol, if you think about it, C++ today is kind of similar to assembler 20 years ago: speed, guts, speed, only for the brave.

But since no major big commercial player supports it as first class citizen (MSoft, Apple, Oracle, Google, and so on) here we go gargabe collection.

 

Hi Futurewine, thanks for your question.

We are actually launching a series of online courses on this subject in the coming weeks. I will be sharing the website launch here in the Audiosex forum as well as on our social media pages. If you want to follow us on these pages too you'll definitely get the news about it.

https://www.facebook.com/AudioDevAcademy/
https://www.instagram.com/audiodevacademy/

Best,
Joe

 

What would be the best starting point to build a Sampler with sampled editing features etc ?

 

The first big decision would be if you want it to be a VSTi (stand-alone version or not, like Kontakt). You probably want it to be a VSTi.
Then choosing a framework, JUCE would the almost obvious choice, especially if you have no programming experience.

You'll need a lot of GUI programming and that's very hard. What I would do is:
1. On one side, start messing with GUI plugin programming
2. On the other side, learn the language itself, the sound processing (DSP) parts. I'd start making command line programs that simply, say, play two samples with different volumes. All the frameworks/languages offer command line projects (includes JUCE, includes MSoft C#).

When I say command line I mean forget the GUIs, focus on the language itself (and the features the framework you choose offers you). But at some point this will be part of a more complex program, the Sampler with its GUI and stuff.
The way I'd do is following best practices not only for C++ but for making a library. Meaning designing your program keeping in mind that's gonna be at some point a library (a dll is a library but it doesn't need to be a separate file, sometimes it's inside the main .exe)
That means that even if you don't need it while it's only a command line program you make it library friendly. That means designing an API (how the main part of the program is going to use it).

At some point you'll rewrite from scratch almost everything. It's normal, but if you follow best practices you'll need far less rewriting (sometimes called refactoring, not the same but almost).

 

Last edited: Jul 17, 2019

heya, I know Java and Webstuff so it is not completely new to me.
I already played around with JUCE but I never found the resources or the knowledge to go further especially building a more complex gui with drag and drop , zones etc

I think something like battery but with all the things it is missing and maybe without some things not really needed would be an awesome project which might turn out as incredible useful.

There is no way to create the gui in javascript/html/css yet no ?

maybe we should start a workshop where people learn together and share insights ?! might be fun

 

Last edited: Jul 17, 2019

Great, if you know Java (besides Javascript) you have an important edge already.

Well, GUIs are very hard, and a Sampler like you want requieres a very complex one. Baby steps or you will die lol.
But in the Juce demos (I mean the ones you can compile right of the bat) there's some drag and drop stuff. Even in the (I think) already built DemoRunner.exe.

For a C++ VST the short answer is no. There're tons of good projects trying to leverage HTML/CSS/Javascript knowledge to desktop programming but there aren't suited for a fast, responsive real-time GUI like a plugin needs. I'm a web-developer myself, though not an expert in web guis (I mess with back-end stuff, databases and these things)

It would be, but the topic is so complex that it'd completely overwhelm this forum. Go with the usual suspects, stackoverflow, the same JUCE forum, etc.

Important thing I forgot. There's plenty of good tutorials in the JUCE site. And if you want video-tutorials the "The Audio Programmer" YT channel is the best I've found (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpKb02FsH4WH4X_2xhIoJ1A)

 

I dabbled with Assembler many, many - many - moons ago (Z80) and that stuff is for mutated brainiacs, alien mutated brainiacs! Then again, I have chosen my avatar for a reason...

Edit: hey OP, do you know our sister site? nudge nudge, wink wink. I can't get the books as I owe the richest man on this planet 300$ or something like that.

 

Last edited: Jul 17, 2019