JuceDemoPlugin AAX doesn't appear in Pro Tools 11 if audio input count is zero

Unless I'm missing some quirk with Pro Tools regarding plug-ins with zero input audio channels, it seems that JUCE AAX plug-ins just don't appear. They scan correctly, and are PACE signed, and Pro Tools doesn't grumble like it usually does if a plug-in is configured wrong. However, said plug-in is completely absent from the plug-in context menu.

This is easy to reproduce (on Mac OS X 10.9, with 64-bit AAX plug-ins, and Pro Tools 11), using the JUCE tip and Introjuce'd JuceDemoPlugin.

  • From the default project, set isSynth to true, and change the PluginChannelConfigurations to {0, 1}, {0, 2} 
  • Build, (and sign, if you're not using the developer version of PT.)
  • The plug-in is scanned as expected: eagle-eyed developers will see the JuceDemoPlugin enumerated as Pro Tools starts up.
  • However, the plug-in doesn't appear in the plug-in context menu for any track type.

If one changes the  PluginChannelConfigurations back to {1, 1}, {2, 2}, it appears as expected.

 

I can't really say why PT would do that, but perhaps it makes sense just to have an input channel, and ignore it.