vst3sdk VS vst-rs

But you don't have only Linux, you have (and probably first) OSX and/or Windows and then Linux, and you need an API that works well in that case. Being an in-process dll/so plugin, while fraught with perils gets you to avoid other issues (state, health, restart, identity, etc.)

Also sometimes you don't have a choice, but have to make a dll, for example:

https://github.com/steinbergmedia/vst3sdk or https://ae-plugins.docsforadobe.dev/ and many others. Sometimes it's the only viable choice.

(I wish most have used grpc/flatbuffers/whatever to communicate, but then every RPC call have to be checked/retried/handled, and or shared memory well handled, with (?) locks, etc. - not a trivial thing for someone who is deeply specialized in making a very good effect/renderer/etc instead of dealing with this extra complexity on top).

Yeah, you can use nordaudio which wraps PortAudio which has support for every major audio back-end. As for writing a VST you may have to find a way to wrap or interface with Steinberg's SDK. MIDI support is possible by using an RtMIDI wrapper, which I haven't linked because there are a few of them out there of varying quality and I don't know which is best because I just use ALSA directly for my purposes.

You can read the VST3 SDK manual for yourself here https://steinbergmedia.github.io/vst3\_doc/vstsdk/index.html and access the source here: https://github.com/steinbergmedia/vst3sdk.

You have to use the steinberger SDK to make a vst

https://github.com/steinbergmedia/vst3sdk

But audio plugins come in many formats.

https://github.com/steinbergmedia/vst3sdk#build-the-examples-on-linux

You can do VST3 as GPL. They dual license it. Lots of legalese to read but definitely an option. https://github.com/steinbergmedia/vst3sdk/issues

https://github.com/RustAudio/vst-rs this what you mean?

I hate to "uhhmm ackchyually" this, but unless you need native VST3 support* (which uses the C++ ABI directly) other options are available, a favourite of mine would be Rust!

VST2 bindings exist (https://github.com/RustAudio/vst-rs) but the VST3 and AU situation is rougher around the edges. There is work being done on abstracting over different plugin standards and easing parameter handling, notably https://github.com/wrl/baseplug and https://github.com/robbert-vdh/nih-plug, but nothing completely stable yet.

One limitation that they mention is "Only one GFX and one LFX APO can be registered for an output device and only one LFX APO can be registered for an input device." which could be a problem for people who are already using one like Equalizer APO. What you could do is make a VST version of your limiter using vst-rs and use Equalizer APO to handle the APO part.

I agree with the first half. For the second half, I think for beginners, the examples are very important. From this perspective, many Rust projects comes with examples:

https://github.com/RustAudio/vst-rs

Once following the readme, it is very easy to get it work in your own machine. Then beginners can edit things while learning new stuffs with books or online resources.

Rust audio has also got a very helpful Discord community where beginners can always ask questions.

For the GUI part, I am not an expert, but there are more and more Rust GUI libraries (egui, iced, druid, rui): among them, egui-rs and iced-rs can all be used for VST. Still, there are some examples to get started with.

https://youtu.be/yFKH9ou_XyQ

If you want your own vst (with your name on the author and you can sell),you can start with vst-rs:

https://github.com/RustAudio/vst-rs

Wanna some GUI, here is a template:

When I came across the vst-rs, I realised that I could try out writing an audio plugin. Since I was already familiar with FM synthesis from Elektron Monomachine and FM8, I decided to go with it. It has worked out pretty well.