CLAP kicks nads. As a Bitwig user I'm already infected.

 

Urs wrote: ↑Tue Jun 14, 2022 10:18 am Yes, CLAP plug-in can expose audio channels as "CV". We certainly hope that this will lead to interesting new concepts, and a few companies who we've been talking to would be a perfect fit for those kinds of concepts.


u-u-u wrote: ↑Tue Jun 14, 2022 4:01 pm Does exposing audio channels as cv also mean that e.g. Bitwig could show them as modulators whereas Reason could show them as rack devices' CV outputs?


Urs wrote: I think that really depends on the DAW concept. The CV option is meant for integration with hardware, but it can also of course be used for high resolution plug-in -> plug-in modulation.

For polyphonic modulations it's probably best to use the MIDI approach for now.

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=575044&start=60

 

CLAP is great for developers. No license agreement to sign (unlike VST), no fees to pay (unlike AAX), works on all platforms (unlike AU).

For plugin users, plugin format doesn't matter much. CLAP can potentially modulate parameters per note. CLAP plugins can potentially be faster than VST (because it shares a thread pool with the host, so no overhead from creating your own threads).

 

Ok so, time has passed so which DAW and plugin companies support that format now?

 

Currently supported are: Image Line - FL Studio as a Plugin and Clap for Bitwig - Bitwig Studio.

 

Last edited: Nov 30, 2022

Don't Cockos Reaper now support it as of 6.71 too?

As a Cubase user, I'm not expecting Steinberg to support it over it's own VST2 and VST3 creations any time soon though

 

FL Studio does not support CLAP, not even the imminent V21.
About a week ago the official Image Line statement was "CLAP is on the list to look at."

Reaper has just added it but I think it's too early to say whether CLAP will catch on and truly fly.
It's in Bitwig because they jointly invented it, it's in U-He plugins because they jointly invented it.
And if/when the major plugin companies get involved you can guarantee that their releases will be little more than repackaged VST2s without taking advantage of any of the extra stuff CLAP offers, in the same way that many current VST3s are just wrappers around VST2s.

Sadly it's not always the technically better solution that wins and the other formats have got one heck of a head start in the industry. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

 

Several months ago it was introduced in betas, now finally it is very stable.

 

This is absolutely true. We've all seen this happen in audio/computing many times. The problem is, even though I would like to see this work out; I have very little confidence about it's longevity as a Format. And I'm not going to deliberately build projects with something I don't know will even be supported in a year or two. It's bad enough with existing formats.

So there is the usual skepticism and that doesn't help at all either.

 

You can install the nakst - Apricot Clap in Fl studio 21.
It works I have attached a picture for you.



nakst - Apricot Clap

Supported hosts:

• The new CLAP plugin format, including support for polyphonic non-destructive modulation. Confirmed working in Bitwig 4.3.
• The native FL Studio plugin format, including support for slide/glide notes. Requires FL Studio 9 or newer.

https://nakst.itch.io/apricot

 

That's not CLAP. That's Apricot running as a native FL Studio plugin.

 

Been playing with Vital and Diva clap plugins but I had to replace them with their VST3 counterparts as I experienced automation bugs and even a full DAW crash when changing oversampling in Vital (reproducible).

I do find this to be a great effort, but it's clearly still in beta phase. I'll revisit this in a year or so.

 

Who decided it is a "standard"? I thought concepts like this had to be scrutinized and accepted by the wider audience before becoming standardized. 6 months for something to come from an idea to a standard seems rushed

 

Last edited by a moderator: Nov 30, 2022

Thanks for the correction!
So Clap (CLever Audio Plug-in API)= Bitwig!

 

Last edited: Nov 30, 2022

It caught me out at first too. I didn't know that 3rd Party developers could make Native FL Studio plugins.

 

https://clapdb.tech/ has a non exhaustive list of companies/plugins who have released CLAP support. For the lazy:

DAWs: Bitwig, Reaper, Qtractor, MultitrackStudio, Anklang, Zrythm.

Plugins:
A.O.M.
Applied Computer Music Technologies Ltd
asb2m10
Audio Damage
Audiority
AudioThing
BlauKraut Engineering
Chowdhury DSP
DISTRHO
Doom Plugs
ElephantDSP
Full Bucket Music
Klaus Scheuermann
LHI Audio
Martinic
Michael Willis
nakst
NoFish
Plogue
Robbert van der Helm
Sonosaurus
Surge Synth Team
TAL Software
TheWaveWarden
u-he
VCV
Vital Audio
Weird Constructor

 

I believe that these manufacturers want to increase their sales figures with the new CLAP function.

I know that it is an assumption, but well, thoughts are free.

 

Wait I thought Pro Tools is still alive because it's a genuinely good DAW?

Depends on the context, if there was a huge need for this then probably, but apparently that's not the case.

Though CV outs would be dope, couldn't that be technically achieved with just adding more audio outs in VST3?
I think Reason already has something similar with their racks.

Apart from Bitwig and Reaper, wtf is this? Not even Ardour or LMMS?
If you mostly get second hand DAWs supporting your software then at least get known software I guess they didn't have that much of a choice

 

I dream CLAP will supplant the crappy VST3 and $teinberg dictatorship...
Yep, I dream...

 

Last edited: Dec 5, 2022

It seems to me like there's too much work involved over finished products (don't fix what's not broken?), and most plugins are finished products the day they are released.
Or its just so new (still) that nobody really understands it and are just looking at each other who will jump first. Also most plugins devs don't have to worry about this new thing until their framework (JUCE, HISE, iPlug2) supports it.