Sending DATA from a plugin to another plugin

Audio Plugins
1

Here’s the deal, I’m doing a multi-preset system and so far what I do is just host another copy of the plugin itself to load another preset. But for that to work I need to tell the just loaded instance that it is not a MASTER instance. What would be the easiest way to do this? I know I can use the state information, but I will need to create and read FXP files for that. (done that on Wusik Station V7 years ago with JUCE). Or use a NamedPipe, but it requires some thinking on threads…

Anyway, any tip would be much appreciated. Thanks! :slight_smile:

Cheers, WilliamK

2

My suggestion would be a juce::InterprocessConnection based mechanism.
On startup, the plug-in tries to host a juce::InterprocessConnectionServer (socket-based) on a fixed port. If that fails, it means that another instance of the plug-in is already hosting the server on the port. Then, you can connect to that server as the client (slave) and exchange data.

1 Like
3

Thanks, will check that one out. :slight_smile:

Cheers, WilliamK

4

If you need some concrete code, I can help you with that :slight_smile:

5

I just worry about the handshake using the same thread. Tomorrow I will try a few things out and place the code. TXS again.

6

Ok, this is driving me nuts, literally. :wink: With the NamedPipe I can talk to any VST instance 32/64 bits without problems. BUT, VST3 doesn’t find the NamedPipe, why? I guess I should try something else instead… :frowning:

7

Ok, my best bet is to use:

VSTPluginFormat::setChunkData

And only re-host the VST2 format, and not the VST3 format. It works great, at least gives me time to figure out how the VST3 format works in depth…

Cheers, WilliamK

8

Why are you doing something VST-specific? There’s nothing forcing you to use a NamedPipe, a Socket connection (e.g. with InterprocessConnectionServer) works just fine on any platform/plug-in format.

9

Indeed, but for some unknown reason the VST3 format gives me a hard time, maybe something I’m doing wrong. It works on VST, but not VST3. :frowning:

10

A possible explanation could be, since an NamedPipe is a 1:1 connection (other than an IPC via a socket), if your host is creating your plugin twice, the NamedPipe is already connected to the first instance of the plugin.
Some hosts create a plugin instance in the background, to make any kind of tests with it, before creating the actual plugin instance, that your user will see.