Where is my newly built VST3 plug-in (on Mac)?

Audio Plugins
1

I am new to Juce and creating VST3 plug-ins, so I’m sure I’m missing something obvious. My basic issue is that I used Juce and Xcode to create a VST3 plugin on a Mac (following the Juce tutorials), but after a successful build I can’t find the plug-in. Where is the output VST3 product located on a Mac and what is the file type?

As a background level-setting exercise, I am able to create and execute a simple ‘Hello World’ GUI using Juce/Xcode, so the basic development infrastructure is working correctly. Another data point: I have not had much luck using the AudioPluginHost utility (scanning for new VST3 plugins fails).

Any help greatly appreciated!

2

Where is the output VST3 product located on a Mac and what is the file type?

One of the following two:
$HOME/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/

Type: .vst3

3

I still can’t find the VST3 plugins successfully built by Xcode. I seem to be going in circles. Here are the steps I am taking:

(1) I am using a MacBook running Sonoma 14.6.1; Juce 8.0.3; Xcode V16.0.

(2) I am following the Juce tutorial here JUCE: Tutorial: Create a basic Audio/MIDI plugin, Part 2: Coding your plug-in to build a VST3 plugin with “Plugin Formats” VST3, AU and “Plugin Characteristics” checked for ‘Plugin MIDI Input’ and ‘Plugin MIDI Output’. Project name: “VST3-10-28-1726”

(3) Relevant folders:

  • Juce project folder: users/home/Documents/Juce Projects/VST3-10-28-1726
  • Xcode output (as created after the build completes): users/home/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/VST3-10-28-1726-xxxxxxxxxx

(4) Build project “VST3-10-28-1726”. The Xcode build claims to complete successfully.

(5) However, there is no VST3 file anywhere under these folders:

  • users/home/Documents/Juce Projects/VST3-10-28-1726
  • users/home/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/VST3-10-28-1726-xxxxxxxxxx
  • users/home/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST3
  • Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST3

What am I doing wrong?

4

Are you building the VST3 target or one of its subtargets such as Shared Code?

5

If this is where your JUCE project lives, normally the binaries should be located at: users/home/Documents/Juce Projects/VST3-10-28-1726/Builds/MacOSX/build/Release

The binaries are only copied to where the plugins are scanned by DAWs if ou have enabled the “Plugin Copy Step” inside the Xcode Debug/Release settings of Projucer:
image
Only in this case the binaries are copied to:
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ (default value)

6

I believe I am building the VST3 target. Where do I find the target settings?

7

Looks like the copy step is enabled:

image
image1262×250 25.7 KB

8

Center top of the Xcode window. The thingie before “My Mac” (or “Any Mac”).

9

OK, that’s a big help and reduced some of the confusion - it was set to ‘AU’ only. After changing to ‘All’ and rebuilt - now I see the VST3 file under my “Juce Projects/…/Build” folder
Thanks a bunch! Next…