Can AudioPluginHost be compiled as a VST3 plug-in?

Audio Plugins
1

Is it possible to compile the JUCE AudioPluginHost standalone as a VST3 plug-in?

Cheers!

2

This is not possible.

There’s a demo, HostPluginDemo, that shows one technique for using a plugin to load another plugin. Note that this demo is primarily to demonstrate embedded plugin UIs, so it doesn’t implement audio passthrough for the inner plugin.

3

OK, thanks for the info.

1 Like
4

like @Reuk said, once you start messing with HostPluginDemo, you’ll notice that it doesn’t actually implement audio processing. The UI of the hosted plugin is displayed, but it (the hosted plugin) has no effect on the incoming audio, because it never actually gets “hooked up” to the outer (host) plugin
I have a half-finished modified version of HostPluginDemo that actually does implement audio processing. I’ll see about finishing it up and sharing it here. My project also adds cmake support, because (to my knowledge) HostPluginDemo is only available as a PIP header

5

also–and I’m going out on a limb here–if what you’re trying to do is build a plugin with an “effects loop”, you might be better off abandoning the “plugin within a plugin” design and implementing one via additional input and output buses instead. It will be much easier to implement, and users will be able to just use sends and returns to construct an effects loop, as opposed to having to learn the hosting system of your plugin
I have another half-finished plugin (lol) that uses this design, and I’ll share it here eventually too

and obviously if an effects loop isn’t what you’re trying to accomplish, then just disregard this comment
I only bring it up because I went down the effects loop/plugin hosting rabbithole earlier this year, and my conclusion was that the sends and returns design is easier to implement, less error-prone, and more user-friendly than the plugin hosting design

6

oh and one last thing
if you do end up using the plugin hosting design, you might want to check out my fork of JUCE that adds support for floating child windows
if you want your hosted plugin UI window(s) to float like tool windows do in most applications, then my fork might help you out