Expansion Tutorial

[yall]

i just finished and compiled a vst test with 4 expansions. everything works very well. the use is quite simple but for an end user it can be complicated. I look forward to the possibility of doing it with the .ch1 sample because otherwise with the wave samples, the size of the sound bank can really be gigantic ^^

[d.healey]

@yall You can already use ch1 samples with expansions.

[Christoph Hart]

@arminh This is how it's supposed to work. You only switch expansions if you load a user preset from another expansion than before.

[d.healey]

I haven't checked (yet) but does changing expansion also update the sample redirect button in the settings panel?

[Christoph Hart]

Nope, but if you're using HLAC monoliths, you can put them into the global sample folder or the expansion folder (which usually resides in App data and thus is not the best location for huge sample content). If a samplemap from an expansion is loaded and can't find the monolith in the Expansion's sample folder, it looks in the global sample folder.

[yall]

@d-healey I take a closer look .. because I didn t succeed. I went through a combobox to load the presets. I had to do something stupid. and by the way. do you think it's possible to create a direct link from the vst that you redirect to the app data or application support folder?

[coreyu21]

@Christoph-Hart Thank you

[d.healey]

@Christoph-Hart I was thinking that users might want to spread different expansions across different drives.

[arminh]

This post is deleted!

[yall]

Hello I just got a better understanding of the expansion system and it's great. however I noticed that to load a preset as well as to save it, you had to activate "save in preset" on the Label> "HiddenLabel" and it works BUT.

I have this message in red which is written. is this disturbing?

Interface:! Trying to load a empty sample map... {SW50ZXJmYWNlfHwzOTAzfDE4MnwzMQ==}
: onHiddenLabelControl() - Line 182, column 31

[BWSounds]

@yall
I get the same message as well

[yall]

@BWSounds Christoph said he searches automatically. then it may be normal. the compiled vst works fine. for 1 year I have been working on samples. I am sending 250 samples map for about 25 gigas. I tried to divide them into 10 expansion. it works without problem. but in hise there is this message .. i don't think it is serious

[Brian]

@Christoph-Hart & @d-healey I see that .json scripts can also be included in the expansions, does this mean that we can also include new Rlottie animations? :)

[Lindon]

OK a quick set of questions - that I cant seem to work out from the tutorial...

I have a 4-layer (4 samplers) engine - I want to ship a bunch of samples and sample maps with the product - then I want to be able to add expansions.

I dont use the standard preset browser - instead I use my own - but they get saved as "normal" presets - I just keep some meta data about them - I keep metadata about the sample maps too...more on that in a minute.

So lets say a user installs the product - with its 4 "voices" and 100+ sample maps - they can load any sample map into any "voice" -nothing unusual here so far...

Now a user installs an expansion (with an additional 150 sample maps) - it will put the samples in the same folder as those for the original product - or so Im hoping. Im well aware I will have to build the installe rfor all this.

Can the user now mix and match sample maps from the original product and from any of the installed expansions - to get whole new unique sounds? say
Voice 1 - an original shipped sample map
Voice 2 - an original shipped sample map
Voice 3 - a sample map from the expansion "Basses"
Voice 3 - a sample map from the expansion "Retro"

OK metadata - I keep metadata about sample maps in .js format (its just an array of strings in JSON format)- its a set of filterable attributes, I also keep another .js file with filterable attributes for presets

The original product keeps these files in the user presets folder - can I keep/put this data for each expansion in the expansions_info.xml file?

[d.healey]

@Lindon said in Expansion Tutorial:

Now a user installs an expansion (with an additional 150 sample maps) - it will put the samples in the same folder as those for the original product - or so Im hoping.

There is no expansion installer that comes with HISE, so it's up to you to provide the installation side of things. I think the easiest way is to use in the server and file APIs and directly download the expansions, I haven't tried it yet though but I believe this is what PercX does.

You might not even need expansions, you could just ship additional sample maps, samples and presets. Expansions (I think) are only really needed if the expansions work in a fundamentally different way to your base plugin.

[arminh]

@Christoph-Hart maybe you tried encrypt expansion?

[Lindon]

@d-healey said in Expansion Tutorial:

@Lindon said in Expansion Tutorial:

Now a user installs an expansion (with an additional 150 sample maps) - it will put the samples in the same folder as those for the original product - or so Im hoping.

There is no expansion installer that comes with HISE, so it's up to you to provide the installation side of things. I think the easiest way is to use in the server and file APIs and directly download the expansions, I haven't tried it yet though but I believe this is what PercX does.

yes Im well aware that I will need to handle the installation of my samples, sample maps etc.

You might not even need expansions, you could just ship additional sample maps, samples and presets. Expansions (I think) are only really needed if the expansions work in a fundamentally different way to your base plugin.

Yes having spent all of 1/2 a day in the expansions system I'm beginning to think its not right for what I'm doing here...my "expansions" are in fact "just" sample maps (which could easily go in the product sample maps folder), samples (again in the products Samples folder), presets (again in the User presets folder), and some metadata about the "expansion"(its name basically) and metadata about the sample maps (a json file in the end) and metadata about each preset (again a json file)

Given I'm using a custom preset browser and a custom sample map browser I think it would all be transparent to the end user...come usage time.

[DanH]

@Lindon Where do the sample maps live after installing a plugin? You can find the .ch1 and preset files easily, but not the sample maps and I wondered if they were baked into the plugin instead....

[d.healey]

@DanH Yes you're right, I was forgetting that they are part of the plugin, so Lindon would have to issue an update to his plugin that contains all the sample maps, but only the users who have the presets and the samples would be able to make use of them.

[DanH]

@d-healey Could using an expansion 'bake in' the new sample maps to an existing plugin?