Introduction

Jamba is a set of helpers (classes, concepts, build files, etc...) built on top of the VST SDK to provide a lightweight framework to build a VST2/3 plugin. Jamba has been designed to help in building VST2/3 plugin, not to replace it: you are still writing a VST2/3 plugin, not a Jamba plugin.

Features

generate a fully buildable, testable, editable and deployable plugin with a simple command (see Quick Starting Guide)
build a self contained plugin that depends on the VST3 SDK
optionally builds a VST2 compatible plugin
optionally wraps the VST3 plugin into an Audio Unit (macOS)
easily write unit tests for your project (using googletest)
build on macOS and Windows 10
package your project as an archive (zip file) for production release
run a simple script to build, test, validate, edit and install the plugin from the command line
pick and choose which feature is useful to you (lots of options to override/change the default behavior)
define your VST parameters in one location (inherit from Parameters) and use both in real time processing (RT) and GUI code
define typed VST parameters (ex: a boolean (bool) parameter, a gain (Gain) parameter, etc...)
use typed VST parameters directly in RT processing code as well as GUI code
use Jamba parameters for handling non VST parameters (ex: a label/text string cannot be represented by a VST parameters). Jamba parameters can be automatically saved/restored part of the state
use Jamba parameters to easily exchange messages between RT and GUI (both directions) in a thread safe fashion
easily create custom views with their creators (so that they appear in the GUI editor)
easily use multiple parameters in a custom view (ex: a custom display which displays a gain value (parameter 1) in a color depending on parameter 2)
store/read state in a thread safe fashion (includes version)
included views: toggle button and momentary button with 2 or 4 frames, Text Edit (with input saved part of the state), Scrollbar (with optional zoom handles), Text button (to handle clicks with listener), Step Button (to increment/decrement a param value by a fixed amount)

Details

Check the project on github for more details.

Quick documentation links

pongasoft::VST::Parameters

VST parameters are what the host DAW deal with (for example a knob is usually tied to a VST parameter). Both the GUI and the RT (Real Time) are "sharing" those parameters. As a result Jamba makes them front and center: you define them in one place and use them in the GUI and RT.

Note: the Jamba framework introduces a new kind of parameters that go beyond VST parameters (which are limited to a double value in the range [0.0, 1.0]) called Jamba parameters (Jmb).

Start by inhering from this class to register your own parameters.

pongasoft::VST::RT::RTState

After declaring your parameters, you should inherit from RTState which is the class that is being used from the RT (real time) processor.

pongasoft::VST::RT::RTProcessor

The Real Time (RT) processing code is where the main logic of the plugin resides. The DAW repeatedly calls the process method (actually pongasoft::VST::RT::RTProcessor::processInputs32Bits or pongasoft::VST::RT::RTProcessor::processInputs64Bits in Jamba) to process a batch of samples. This is usually called a "frame". The processor uses the pongasoft::VST::RT::RTState class. You simply need to inherit from pongasoft::VST::RT::RTProcessor.

pongasoft::VST::GUI::GUIState

After declaring your parameters, you should inherit from pongasoft::VST::GUI::GUIState which is the class that is being used in the UI (only necessary for Jmb parameters as Vst parameters are direcly accessible in the UI)

pongasoft::VST::GUI::GUIController

The entry point of the GUI is the GUI controller. Jamba takes care of most of the details of the implementation for you: you simply need to inherit from pongasoft::VST::GUI::GUIController. The controller uses the pongasoft::VST::GUI::GUIState class and makes it available to all the views).