Vst Instrument without having to install the samples

[Zaxo Herbert]

Hey there,
Is there a way that I don't have to install the samples when I open the compiled vst plugin for the first time in my DAW? I've set the project properties to "Embed audio files in plugin" but the window where it says "Install plugins" still pops up when I open the compiled plugin in my DAW. Any suggestions?

[d.healey]

@zaxo-herbert The embed audio files setting is for impulses responses in the audio files folder, in your hise project folder, it's not for the samples which should be in the samples folder.

[Zaxo Herbert]

Ok thanks, and how can I store my samples in the plugin so that I don't have to install them?

[LeeC]

Hey @Zaxo-Herbert, did you ever work out how to do this?

Would be good to know

Thanks

[Lindon]

@Zaxo-Herbert you cant.

[AxiomCrux]

This seems like a thing that should be part of the bundled instrument so that you don't have to have a sample folder where any user can take your sample files or has to unzip or separately download them..

[d.healey]

@MacroMachines said in Vst Instrument without having to install the samples:

where any user can take your sample files

By any user you mean your customer?
and by sample files you mean the thing they bought from you?

But seriously any sample library of a significant size, > 100mb for example, would not make your users happy. All the samples would be loaded directly into RAM and there would be no disk streaming, not a good idea.

[AxiomCrux]

@Lindon I tried doing an export samples for installer, and then opening that file in the generated VST and it doesn't work, no sound.

[AxiomCrux]

@d-healey Not load everything directly in Ram, include it in the instrument file or somewhere that doesn't make every file available for someone to easily create their own instrument from the source files. Im not thinking so much in my use case, but in many other peoples case they spend an insane amount of time multi-sampling and editing acoustic instruments. I thought the whole point of having a monolith was to protect that from competitors.. as well as to compress it so the data is both smaller and more secure.

[d.healey]

@MacroMachines If it's in the plugin then it's in RAM. If you use HISE's compression format, CH1 then it's not so easy for someone else to make an instrument from your samples because they'd first have to write a decompresser. I don't know of any reputable developer that would take another developers samples and resell them without their permission, do you?

[AxiomCrux]

@d-healey of course I don't know any personally, I don't associate with shady people, but they do exist. And again I'm not that concerned with my product designs being affected by that aspect, I'm more concerned about getting a first test version running as a plugin and speaking experientially that was a surprise upon firing up the first test, both that the plugin doesn't work with 1 single sample loaded. I was initially confronted with an unexpected requirement to provide something I haven't seen documented in the process yet, and that once I did provide it, it didn't work. It's a simple plugin so far with a couple of effects on a single sample, its taken days to get the compiler to work, and now the first test plugin doesn't work.. I'm just experiencing far more challenges than were expected based on the information I have been given.

And as far as the RAM thing, I've also tested cabbage, which gathers the sample files into the plugin file without loading them in RAM, they are simply wave files that are hidden inside the plugin vst file.

[d.healey]

Well I can see it being useful for a tiny patch, but then why bother using HISE, just make an SFZ or use Maize sampler. But for larger libraries the samples need to be streamed from disk.

Getting started with HISE can be a little bumpy, especially if you encounter unexpected errors during compilation but once you get a setup working everything after is fairly painless.

[LightandSound]

You can add you own downloader to your plugin within hise. That way your users can download the plugin freely, get authorization within the plugin to unlock it and then download the samples. No need to use anything separate. JUCE has all the networking needed for this and hooks up to AWS easily, so it's just a bit of cpp for your project needs

[AxiomCrux]

I found this in the help doc:

Export Pooled Files to Binary Resource
Will collect all pooled Audio-, Image-, MIDI files and SampleMaps and save them as .dat files in a newly created PooledResources folder in your project.

is this somehow related? Could this kind of thing be used to create the sample data in a way that works?

Now that the VST doesn't work, I have tried deleting the compiled vst file and recompiling hoping it might ask for the sample data again and I could try again, but it seems to compile and load with the not functioning version and I have no way to reset the sample data and try again.

@LightandSound I wish I had the JUCE chops to do something like that. I've tried using JUCE directly a few times and even though I know C++ and have done some large and involved projects I am not currently capable of making much inside JUCE directly. I would love to learn JUCE more in the future, and things like HISE are a clear path to facilitating that since I can theoretically create the core of my idea in HISE and then extend it as needed in the DSP. Its an interesting thought though.. but also as an end user experience, I would want to fire up the plugin and be going as quickly as possible.. having to sit and wait for a download upon first plugin launch would bother me, I would ideally want them to fire up and play a note and it works.

[d.healey]

You need to delete the config files in order to get the locate samples prompt again

[Lindon]

@MacroMachines so as @d-healey says you need to remove the config file to get to reinstall your samples - unless you have included the "move samples facility" in your plug-in;

go to:

windows: C/Users/yourname/AppData/Roaming/your_company_name/

and remove the your_product_name folder

mac: Macintosh HD/Users/yourname/Library/Applications Support/your_company_name/

and remove the your_product_name folder

if its not there look in:

Macintosh HD/Library/Applications Support/your_company_name/

[AxiomCrux]

@Lindon Thank you, I appreciate your help greatly :D. I'd be a bit lost without this info and you have responded very quickly.

[AxiomCrux]

So I did the process again, and now after I select the source hr1 file and the destination folder for samples, I get a message:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wvbpycm577izuyo/Screenshot 2020-06-09 16.48.17.png?dl=0

Heavy sigh.

[d.healey]

That's ok. You have to restart the plugin and it should work.

[AxiomCrux]

@d-healey I tried that, still silent. Also tried making a brand new project with 1 sample and 1 knob, exporting to vst and using the option to select the samples folder with the file I had used, still silent, nothing coming out of HISE based VST exports so far.