Compiling the Airwindows plugins without the deprecated VST2 SDK

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Basslint
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Compiling the Airwindows plugins without the deprecated VST2 SDK

Post by Basslint »

https://github.com/airwindows/airwindows

This collection of over 200 plugins is libre software (MIT licensed) but it relies on the deprecated Steinberg VST2 SDK, which is proprietary and can't be redistributed.

They are GUI-less so most of the code is DSP-related. VST2 experts, do you know if there's an easy way to build them without the deprecated VST2 SDK? I know @sadko4u wrote some code to compile VST2 code in LSP but I don't know if it can be adapted for this use case.
Last edited by Basslint on Wed Jun 03, 2020 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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sadko4u
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Re: Airwindows plugins

Post by sadko4u »

I've just looked inside. It uses AudioEfffect and AudioEffectX classes provided from VST2 SDK. All open source implementations just use thin C layer interfaces to communicate with hosts. So, to get rid of Steinberg VST SDK, all plugins should be rewritten.
LSP (Linux Studio Plugins) Developer and Maintainer.
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Re: Airwindows plugins

Post by ycollette »

I saw via the socal plugins source code that there is still a vst2 sdk present on github:

https://github.com/TurnipHat/plugin_sdk
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ycollette
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Re: Airwindows plugins

Post by ycollette »

You must checkout this commit: bcbef199f4dd78b883aebd6477cc104dad850e1b:

git clone https://github.com/TurnipHat/plugin_sdk
cd plugin_sdk
git checkout bcbef199f4dd78b883aebd6477cc104dad850e1b
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davephillips
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Re: Airwindows plugins

Post by davephillips »

Just so you know, there is an Airwindows discussion going on here already:

viewtopic.php?f=48&t=21142

Just FYI.

Best,

dp
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Re: Airwindows plugins

Post by Basslint »

@sadko4u thanks for the info. If a rewrite is needed, perhaps a port to VST3 is a more future-proof solution.

@ycollette as we are both packagers, you know that VST2 SDKs are proprietary and can't be redistributed, so that's not a sustainable solution :(

@davephillips I did not see that thread, my apologies for not using the "search" function, I hope this will teach me to do it next time! @raboof can you merge this thread into the other or just lock this one? Thanks and again, apologies!
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Re: Airwindows plugins

Post by raboof »

Basslint wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 12:57 pm @raboof can you merge this thread into the other or just lock this one? Thanks and again, apologies!
Thanks for the ping!

I think the topics are actually pretty distinct: that one is about using the plugins, and this one is about seeing if we can convert them into a form that is easier to share. Maybe let's cross-link but keep the threads separate? I can update the title if you come up with a good one ;)
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Re: Airwindows plugins

Post by funkmuscle »

Chris, the dev of airwindows always answers questions on FB, airwindows forum and youtube. Maybe ask at those places. I think it was one of the members here who got Chris to make plugins available for Linux or open source a few years ago. He seems willing to do what's requested.
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Re: Compiling the Airwindows plugins without the deprecated VST2 SDK

Post by ycollette »

Maybe it's possible to use the header file from vestige.
Vestige is a reverse engineering header from the LMMS project.
It has been used in Carla too:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LMMS/ ... aeffectx.h

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/falkT ... /vestige.h
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Re: Compiling the Airwindows plugins without the deprecated VST2 SDK

Post by Kott »

Vestige hasn't AudioEfffect and AudioEffectX AFAIK. As an FST https://git.iem.at/zmoelnig/FST/
Suggestion to port to VST3 seems reasonable. But requires a lot of work too.
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Re: Compiling the Airwindows plugins without the deprecated VST2 SDK

Post by ycollette »

I found something interesting:
There is a version of VST2 sdk available on wayback machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20181016150 ... ild_37.zip
This one was shipped with VST3 sdk ... and has been archived by wayback machine.

I found this link while trying to compile SPARTA VSTs
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Re: Compiling the Airwindows plugins without the deprecated VST2 SDK

Post by baj »

ycollette wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 6:22 pm I found something interesting:
There is a version of VST2 sdk available on wayback machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20181016150 ... ild_37.zip
This one was shipped with VST3 sdk ... and has been archived by wayback machine.

I found this link while trying to compile SPARTA VSTs
Hey check this thread, somebody is porting to lv2
https://github.com/airwindows/airwindows/issues/15
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Re: Compiling the Airwindows plugins without the deprecated VST2 SDK

Post by Basslint »

baj wrote: Wed Jul 29, 2020 6:31 pm Hey check this thread, somebody is porting to lv2
https://github.com/airwindows/airwindows/issues/15
Amazing news, thanks!

@ycollette I try to fully comply with licenses so even if VST2 SDKs spring up from time to time, I avoid them entirely. The same applies to GeekosDAW - for now @joboschetti made a Bash wrapper for using Airwindows via Wine, which can be found here if someone is interested!
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Re: Compiling the Airwindows plugins without the deprecated VST2 SDK

Post by rghvdberg »

Am I missing something?
Why not just download the Linux binaries from
http://www.airwindows.com/wp-content/up ... pdates.zip
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Re: Compiling the Airwindows plugins without the deprecated VST2 SDK

Post by Basslint »

rghvdberg wrote: Thu Jul 30, 2020 1:58 pm Am I missing something?
Why not just download the Linux binaries from
http://www.airwindows.com/wp-content/up ... pdates.zip
You can't distribute those in the official repositories of most distros
The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. [Acts 4:32]

Please donate time (even bug reports) or money to libre software 🎁

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