//! Documentation is still a work in progress. The best way to learn right now is to browse through //! the examples and to browse through these docs. There is no full guide yet, but here are some //! pointers to get started: //! //! - All useful functionality is exported through the [`prelude`] module. Add //! `use nih_plug::prelude::*;` to the top of your `lib.rs` file to get started. //! - Make sure to check out the macros from the [`debug`] module. These should be used instead of, //! `println!()`/`eprint!()`, `dbg!()` and similar macros, and they are re-exported from the //! prelude. NIH-plug sets up a flexible logger for you that all of these functions will output //! to. By default, the output is logged to STDERR unless you're running Windows and a Windows //! debugger is attached, in which case the output is logged to the debug console instead. The //! `NIH_LOG` environment variable controls whether output is logged to STDERR, the Windows debug //! console, or to a file. Check the [`nih_log!()`] macro for more information. //! - The abovementioned debug module also contains non-fatal debug-assertions macros that are only //! evaluated during debug builds. The framework uses these all over the place to check for //! invariants, so it's important to test your plugins using debug builds while developing. //! - Check out the features list in NIH-plug's `Cargo.toml` file for optional features you can //! enable. This includes things like SIMD support for the buffer adapters and panicking on //! allocations during DSP code in debug mode. //! //! - An NIH-plug plugin consists of an implementation of the [`Plugin`][prelude::Plugin] trait and //! a call to [`nih_export_vst3!()`] and/or [`nih_export_clap!()`] in your `lib.rs` file to expose //! the plugin functionality. Some of these traits will require you to implement an additional //! trait containing API-specific information for the plugin. //! - NIH-plug comes with a bundler that creates plugin bundles for you based on the exported plugin //! formats and the operating system and architecture you're compiling for. Check out the //! readme for //! [`nih_plug_xtask`](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/nih-plug/tree/master/nih_plug_xtask) for //! instructions on how to use this within your own project. //! - It's also possible to export a standalone application from a plugin using the //! [`nih_export_standalone()`][prelude::nih_export_standalone()] function. Check that function's //! documentation to learn how to do this. This requires enabling the `standalone` crate feature. //! - Everything is described in more detail on the [`Plugin`][prelude::Plugin] trait and everything //! linked from there, but a plugin's general lifecycle involves the following function calls. //! //! 1. When the host loads the plugin, your plugin object will be instantiated using its //! [`Default`] implementation. The plugin should refrain from performing expensive //! calculations or IO at this point. //! 2. The host or the plugin wrapper will call //! [`Plugin::accepts_bus_config()`][prelude::Plugin::accepts_bus_config()] several times with //! different IO configuratinos to poll whether your plugin supports certain IO configurations. //! The plugin should not do any work at this point and just reply with boolean whether it //! supports the configuration or not. //! 3. After that, [`Plugin::initialize()`][prelude::Plugin::initialize()] will be called with the //! the selected IO configuration and the audio buffer settings. Here you should allocate any //! data structures you need or precompute data that depends on the sample rate or maximum //! buffer size. This is the only place where you can safely allocate memory. //! 4. The [`Plugin::reset()`][prelude::Plugin::reset()] function is always called immediately //! after `initialize()`. This is where you should clear out coefficients, envelopes, phases, //! and other runtime data. The reason for this split is that this function may be called at //! any time by the host from the audio thread, and it thus needs to be realtime safe. //! //! Whenever a preset is loaded, both of these functions will be called again. //! 5. After that the [`Plugin::process()`][prelude::Plugin::process()] function will be called //! repeatedly until the plugin is deactivated. Here the plugin receives a //! [`Buffer`][prelude::Buffer] object that contains the input audio (if the plugin has inputs) //! which the plugin should overwrite with output audio. Check the documentation on the //! `Buffer` object for all of the ways you can use this API. You can access note events, //! transport data, and more through the [`ProcessContext`][prelude::ProcessContext] that's //! also passed to the process function. //! 6. [`Plugin::deactivate()`][prelude::Plugin::deactivate()] is called from the when the plugin //! gets deactivated. You probably don't need to do anything here, but you could deallocate or //! clean up resources here. //! //! - Plugin parameters are managed automatically by creating a struct deriving the //! [`Params`][prelude::Params] trait and returning a handle to it from the //! [`Plugin::params()`][prelude::Plugin::params()] function. Any //! [`FloatParam`][prelude::FloatParam], [`IntParam`][prelude::IntParam], //! [`BoolParam`][prelude::BoolParam] or [`EnumParam`][prelude::EnumParam] fields on that struct //! will automatically be registered as a parameter if they have an `#[id = "foobar"]` attribute. //! The string `"foobar"` here uniquely identifies the parameter, making it possible to reorder //! and rename parameters as long as this string stays constant. You can also store persistent //! non-parameter data and other parameter objects in a `Params` struct. Check out the trait's //! documentation for more details, and also be sure to take a look at the [example //! plugins](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/nih-plug/tree/master/plugins). //! - After calling `.with_smoother()` during an integer or floating point parameter's creation, //! you can use `param.smoothed` to access smoothed values for that parameter. Be sure to check //! out the [`Smoother`][prelude::Smoother] API for more details. If you want to generate entire //! blocks of smoothed values, be sure to call the predefined //! `[Plugin::initialize_block_smoothers()]` method from your plugin's `initialize()` function. //! //! There's a whole lot more to discuss, but once you understand the above you should be able to //! figure out the rest by reading through the examples and the API documetnation. Good luck! #![cfg_attr(feature = "docs", feature(doc_auto_cfg))] #![cfg_attr(feature = "simd", feature(portable_simd))] // These macros are also in the crate root and in the prelude, but having the module itself be pub // as well makes it easy to import _just_ the macros without using `#[macro_use] extern crate nih_plug;` #[macro_use] pub mod debug; /// A re-export of the `log` crate for use in the debug macros. This should not be used directly. pub use log; /// Everything you'll need to use NIH-plug. Import this with `use nih_plug::prelude::*;`. pub mod prelude; // These modules have also been re-exported in the prelude. pub mod formatters; pub mod util; pub mod buffer; pub mod context; mod event_loop; pub mod midi; pub mod param; pub mod plugin; pub mod wrapper;