Feature request: VST3 support on Linux

[mzuther]

Is your feature request related to a problem? If so, please describe.

A Linux VST3 plug-in seems both feasible and a good solution to the VST2 channel problem in issue #9. Bitwig appears to support this scenario on Linux and @metasequence is willing to help me.

Describe the solution you'd like

A VST3 plug-in that works on at least one DAW.

Describe alternatives you've considered

There is none - side-chains on VST2 are and always will be a hack.

Additional context

Envisioned target: Bitwig 3.1.3 on Ubuntu 20.04 x64

[mzuther]

This should be relatively simple. As a preliminary, d231c88 causes new releases of Squeezer to conform to the new VST3 package format.

[mzuther]

My first attempt is done!

Please download and extract this archive. It contains a folder squeezer.vst3 which has to be copied to your plug-in folder completely the way it is. Yes, I know, a folder looks a bit weird, but that's the new VST3 "package format"...

I'd try $HOME/.vst3/ first. If this doesn't work, please read this document for alternative locations.

Good luck!

[metasequence]

Wow that was fast! 😃

I've given this a try but so far I am unsuccessful in getting it working. The plugin does not show up in either Bitwig or Reaper for me.

I use Linux VST3 plugins from U-he so I have a basic understanding of the format. I have placed the "squeezer.vst3" directory from the archive inside my /home/user/.vst3 where my other plugins are. The directory hierarchy looks good to me and is consistent with other VST3 plugins that are working. Here is the tree:

squeezer.vst3/
└── Contents
├── Resources
│   ├── Documentation
│   │   ├── CC-BY-SA-4.0
│   │   ├── CONTRIBUTORS
│   │   ├── HISTORY
│   │   ├── LICENSE
│   │   └── squeezer.pdf
│   └── Skins
│   ├── Default
│   │   ├── backgrounds
│   │   │   └── background.png
│   │   ├── buttons
│   │   │   ├── button_about_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_about_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_about_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_auto_makeup_gain_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_auto_makeup_gain_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_auto_makeup_gain_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_bypass_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_bypass_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_bypass_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_curve_linear_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_curve_linear_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_curve_linear_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_curve_smooth_branching_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_curve_smooth_branching_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_curve_smooth_branching_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_curve_smooth_decoupled_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_curve_smooth_decoupled_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_curve_smooth_decoupled_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_design_feedback_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_design_feedback_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_design_feedback_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_gainstage_optical_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_gainstage_optical_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_gainstage_optical_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_knee_hard_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_knee_hard_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_knee_hard_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_knee_medium_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_knee_medium_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_knee_medium_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_knee_soft_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_knee_soft_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_knee_soft_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_reset_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_reset_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_reset_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_rms_window_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_rms_window_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_rms_window_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_settings_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_settings_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_settings_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_sidechain_external_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_sidechain_external_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_sidechain_external_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_sidechain_listen_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_sidechain_listen_on.png
│   │   │   ├── button_sidechain_listen_over.png
│   │   │   ├── button_skin_off.png
│   │   │   ├── button_skin_on.png
│   │   │   └── button_skin_over.png
│   │   ├── Default.svg
│   │   ├── green_lemon.svg
│   │   ├── labels
│   │   │   └── label_debug.png
│   │   ├── LICENSE
│   │   ├── meters
│   │   │   ├── meter_gain_reduction.png
│   │   │   ├── meter_input.png
│   │   │   └── meters_vertical.png
│   │   └── sliders
│   │   ├── slider_attack.png
│   │   ├── slider_hpf.png
│   │   ├── slider_output.png
│   │   └── slider_threshold.png
│   └── Default.skin
└── x86_64-linux
├── squeezer_mono_vst3_x64.so
└── squeezer_stereo_vst3_x64.so

11 directories, 71 files

Bitwig has a log for plugins with errors, but it doesn't show anything at all for Squeezer so it looks like it may not even be trying to initialize it. I need to do some research to see what kind of debug options are available here.

It does not show in Reaper for Linux either. Again, I need to do some research here to see what debug options are available.

I'm going to continue working on this and see if I can provide anything useful.

[metasequence]

Here's what I get from Bitwig debug. It looks like there is a reference to a file from the i686 version that is not included.

[2020-05-24 14:39:03 indexer error] Could not read metadata for squeezer.vst3:
java.io.IOException: com.bitwig.flt.library.metadata.reader.exception.CouldNotReadMetadataException: could not read metadata: /home/user/.vst3/squeezer.vst3/Contents/i686-linux/squeezer.so
at fd.vnk(SourceFile:45)
at fd.Zmw(SourceFile:21)
at znp.ogB(SourceFile:840)
at znp.HXU(SourceFile:771)
at wxu.HXU(SourceFile:591)
at xcI.HXU(SourceFile:44)
at xcI.preVisitDirectory(SourceFile:16)
at java.base/java.nio.file.Files.walkFileTree(Unknown Source)
at tZy.ogB(SourceFile:622)
at tZy.HXU(SourceFile:604)
at mCP.HXU(SourceFile:276)
at Iju.HXU(SourceFile:881)
at znp.HXU(SourceFile:565)
at znp.ogB(SourceFile:189)
at znp.HXU(SourceFile:139)
at FoR.HXU(SourceFile:573)
at DvM.HXU(SourceFile:1025)
at DvM.ogB(SourceFile:897)
at pBu.ogB(SourceFile:110)
at pBu.run(SourceFile:91)
at gnb.run(SourceFile:20)
Caused by: com.bitwig.flt.library.metadata.reader.exception.CouldNotReadMetadataException: could not read metadata: /home/user/.vst3/squeezer.vst3/Contents/i686-linux/squeezer.so
at AC.HXU(SourceFile:163)
at AC.Zmw(SourceFile:30)
at v2e.Zmw(SourceFile:14)
at fd.vnk(SourceFile:41)
... 20 more
Caused by: java.nio.file.NoSuchFileException: /home/user/.vst3/squeezer.vst3/Contents/i686-linux/squeezer.so
at java.base/sun.nio.fs.UnixException.translateToIOException(Unknown Source)
at java.base/sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(Unknown Source)
at java.base/sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(Unknown Source)
at java.base/sun.nio.fs.UnixFileAttributeViews$Basic.readAttributes(Unknown Source)
at java.base/sun.nio.fs.UnixFileSystemProvider.readAttributes(Unknown Source)
at java.base/sun.nio.fs.LinuxFileSystemProvider.readAttributes(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.nio.file.Files.readAttributes(Unknown Source)
at tZy.ogB(SourceFile:214)
at eFJ.HXU(SourceFile:231)
at eFJ.HXU(SourceFile:209)
at Iju.HXU(SourceFile:369)
at com.bitwig.base.io.SaB.HXU(SourceFile:20)
at qeL.JDw(SourceFile:117)
at qeL.b_(SourceFile:87)
at JrW.Zmw(SourceFile:470)
at ZxV.ogB(SourceFile:34)
at kvd.HXU(SourceFile:106)
at kvd.JDw(SourceFile:101)
at PGP.HXU(SourceFile:284)
at AC.HXU(SourceFile:159)
... 23 more

[2020-05-24 14:39:03 base-util info] Updating index /home/user/.vst3 for phase vst3_plugins_64: time=4.433068
[2020-05-24 14:39:03 base-util info] Updating index /home/user/.winvst for phase vst3_plugins_64: time=8.646515
[2020-05-24 14:39:03 base-util info] Updating index /home/user/.vst for phase vst3_plugins_32: time=0.848963
[2020-05-24 14:39:03 indexer error] Could not read metadata for squeezer.vst3:
java.io.IOException: com.bitwig.flt.library.metadata.reader.exception.CouldNotReadMetadataException: could not read metadata: /home/user/.vst3/squeezer.vst3/Contents/i686-linux/squeezer.so
at fd.vnk(SourceFile:45)
at fd.Zmw(SourceFile:21)
at znp.ogB(SourceFile:840)
at znp.HXU(SourceFile:771)
at wxu.HXU(SourceFile:591)
at xcI.HXU(SourceFile:44)
at xcI.preVisitDirectory(SourceFile:16)
at java.base/java.nio.file.Files.walkFileTree(Unknown Source)
at tZy.ogB(SourceFile:622)
at tZy.HXU(SourceFile:604)
at mCP.HXU(SourceFile:276)
at Iju.HXU(SourceFile:881)
at znp.HXU(SourceFile:565)
at znp.ogB(SourceFile:189)
at znp.HXU(SourceFile:139)
at FoR.HXU(SourceFile:573)
at DvM.HXU(SourceFile:1025)
at DvM.ogB(SourceFile:897)
at pBu.ogB(SourceFile:110)
at pBu.run(SourceFile:91)
at gnb.run(SourceFile:20)
Caused by: com.bitwig.flt.library.metadata.reader.exception.CouldNotReadMetadataException: could not read metadata: /home/user/.vst3/squeezer.vst3/Contents/i686-linux/squeezer.so
at AC.HXU(SourceFile:163)
at AC.Zmw(SourceFile:30)
at v2e.Zmw(SourceFile:14)
at fd.vnk(SourceFile:41)
... 20 more
Caused by: java.nio.file.NoSuchFileException: /home/user/.vst3/squeezer.vst3/Contents/i686-linux/squeezer.so
at java.base/sun.nio.fs.UnixException.translateToIOException(Unknown Source)
at java.base/sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(Unknown Source)
at java.base/sun.nio.fs.UnixException.rethrowAsIOException(Unknown Source)
at java.base/sun.nio.fs.UnixFileAttributeViews$Basic.readAttributes(Unknown Source)
at java.base/sun.nio.fs.UnixFileSystemProvider.readAttributes(Unknown Source)
at java.base/sun.nio.fs.LinuxFileSystemProvider.readAttributes(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.nio.file.Files.readAttributes(Unknown Source)
at tZy.ogB(SourceFile:214)
at eFJ.HXU(SourceFile:231)
at eFJ.HXU(SourceFile:209)
at Iju.HXU(SourceFile:369)
at com.bitwig.base.io.SaB.HXU(SourceFile:20)
at qeL.JDw(SourceFile:117)
at qeL.b_(SourceFile:87)
at JrW.Zmw(SourceFile:470)
at ZxV.ogB(SourceFile:34)
at kvd.HXU(SourceFile:106)
at kvd.JDw(SourceFile:101)
at PGP.HXU(SourceFile:284)
at AC.HXU(SourceFile:159)
... 23 more

[2020-05-24 14:39:03 base-util info] Updating index /home/user/.vst3 for phase vst3_plugins_32: time=0.799604

--

In Reaper I can see that the plugin is detected and scanned by Reaper with ID 0038FA15E531D601, but it is not initialized.

Hope this helps!

[mzuther]

Thanks for your efforts!

In contrast to what I believed, my C++ framework does not support VST3 on Linux yet. Full support has been announced for the next release which should arrive in June.

So I think we should stop here and not waste efforts. I will look into this when I upgrade, but this will probably not be until the end of this year. I have been an early upgrader, but have now learned to wait until most of the new bugs have been fixed...

[metasequence]

Sounds good and makes sense. I'll look forward to testing a new version when you have updated.

[magnetophon]

Any news on this?
A VST3 is much easier to package for distros.

[mzuther]

No, sorry. As I wrote above, I won't touch this until the end of the year. Otherwise, chances are too high that I'll include some nasty bugs.

[magnetophon]

OK, thanks.

[mzuther]

Christmas is here (almost), so how about a little present? https://public.mzuther.de/?dbb193b9276655d4a6c9df6718077d09d6f12e30

This VST3 plug-in works on my Linux Mint 20 with Reaper 6.18. 😄 Mono and stereo processing is supported and I have added UI scaling ("Skin" button), so it would be nice if you checked this functionality.

[magnetophon]

I thought I'd ask again. :)

[mzuther]

It basically works, but there is an issue of the VST3 plugin regarding saving and restoring settings in FL Studio (and possibly other hosts). I will only release a new version when this is fixed, but I have almost no spare time for developing Squeezer.

[38github]

Let's bump :)

[sjuswede]

This is a very nice compressor, but would love proper sideband support for Linux. Any news on releasing a vst3 (or clap, while I'm dreaming)?

[RustoMCSpit]

clap can be done with https://github.com/free-audio/clap-juce-extensions