I don’t know anything about scripting. Is HISE for me?
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Hello! I don’t know a single thing about scripting, but I’m willing to learn what’s necessary to make instruments. I really like what I’ve seen of HISE, but I’m very much so intimidated by the apparent learning curve.
I just wanted to ask what people further down the path think. Can someone with no experience but willing to learn what’s necessary get results in HISE in a fairly reasonable time period, or is it better for me to consider decent sampler and Kontakt?
I’m a composer but I love recording and sound design and I’m interested in making instruments for myself as well as to sell.
Thanks!
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@pgaudioworks If you're not already a programmer, I don't think HISE is for you.
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@pgaudioworks @clevername27 Nonsense ! I knew nothing, had no programming experience, but managed to build a pretty complicated instrument and a few FX so far. There are loads of resources on this forum, @Christoph-Hart 's GitHub and @d-healey 's Patreon and YT channel... Plus all the friendly people in this forum who will happily answer your questions (no matter how stupid! )
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@pgaudioworks I agree with @DanH , I had very little knowledge of programming, only a little bit of javascript, when I dove into Hise, and as Dan said, people on the forum are very friendly and helpful.
So if you are prepared to take the challenge and are willing to learn, go ahead! -
@pgaudioworks you should go for it. I'm a full time music producer and build virtual instruments on the side. I almost went the Kontakt route and actually built the first prototype for my virtual instrument in Kontakt. I'm glad I found HISE. I was always good with computers and good at finding information on the internet but I had zero programming knowledge. I recommend just binging @d-healey 's youtube channel and you'll get a pretty good understanding on how HISE works.
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I quit HISE twice. It wasn't until I learned some programming basics that I was able to utilize the platform.
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@pgaudioworks said in I don’t know anything about scripting. Is HISE for me?:
fairly reasonable time period
It kind of depends on what your goal is.
If it's just mapping some samples and exporting a plugin for your own use then you can do that in a week (most of that time will be spent getting compilers setup and understanding how they work). However in that case I'd recommend you use SFZ - https://sfzformat.com/.
You mention learning scripting but you haven't said what you want to do with scripting. Until we know your goal we can't give you any real estimate on time. It can take months to many years depending on what you want to achieve.
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@DanH That's really cool - hey, I guess I'm probably wrong about this, and my respect to you for doing what you've done. You're now of the most learned people on HISE, and a real benefit to the forum (and myself).
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@d-healey Excellent points.
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@pgaudioworks so I came to HISE after a lot of years of real-time systems programming and 10 years of Kontakt KSP - and I (like @Dan-Korneff ) give up on it at least once, but that was long ago when HISE was a very small child - its grown up a lot since then.
But beware of what I am saying next - because this is how I make my living so I am MEGA biased.....
First the free advice... RUN! RUN AWAY as fast as you can from Kontakt Instruments and KSP Scripting...never go there!! --ok so now thats out of my system...
One thing to think about is to try and work out the effort vs reward vs time considerations. Yes as lots of people here have said you can get a simple instrument out in a matter of days, and thats true - but a commercially viable instrument may take you a LOT longer - It took me nearly 6 months back in HISE's childhood. If you have no programming experience it may take considerably longer than that for you.
So an alternative is to consider hiring someone to make a HISE instrument for you, and there are a number of people around who do that. that way you get to be a composer, sound designer, instrument designer and leave the "grunt work" to someone else and you get a commercially viable product a lot sooner. Of course this path will cost you money up front, so if that's a problem then good luck with it and as we've all said - everyone here is very friendly and helpful, we will all help you out.
If you are prepared to commit to a budget then as I say there are people here who will give you a fair estimate on price and time. Speaking of which...
..Hello my name is Lindon, I build HISE instruments for other people... <-- you see? I told you to watch out for what I was saying....
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I can't really code. I understand it on a super basic level but I still have a blast with HISE. I think that's the beauty of it! watch some/any/all of @d-healey s YouTube and consider his Patreon. I learned sooo much from him.
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@pgaudioworks Of course it's for you! I started on HISE 2 months ago, absolutely 0 coding knowldege, 0 plugin making knowledge and just last week released my first ever plugin that has been a hit.
As long as your open to learning you'll be fine, this forum is incredibly helpful as well!
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@pgaudioworks I literally had zero knowledge of any programming language but tons of experience with Kontakt since v4. If you are a great student, then all you need to do (what I did) is sign up to @d-healey patreon (top tier), binge watch his youtube channel and take literal notes, and just dive straight to the deep end by creating a project. Highly recommend at least starting your project with the Rhapsody template as the infrastructure is all there (preset browser, basic GUI, etc) to get a feel.
My debut instrument was made with mostly bult-in components (including the reverb freeze mode!!) but the community here and ChatGPT helped with HISE scripting.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PLRcWuEkvIU
For context, it took me about 5 months from the first youtube vid I watched to releasing the instrument. (I already had samples recorded and tried to build in UVI Falcon first).
Honestly if it wasn't for @d-healey and @DanH (and of course the forum) I couldn't have done it.
but...
JUST GO FOR IT...It's worth it in the end.
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@virtuscapeaudio @pgaudioworks HERE are my notes from @d-healey 's Scripting 101 video (the video link is in the header of notes). Maybe they can be helpful to you even though they are in my own language.
This link is marked "Editor" so if anyone want's to contribute for other first timers then please feel free. (Then again there's always the HISE Docs lol)
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I agree HISE is really awesome. I have been making plugins with Maize for a long time and getting into HISE just 2 months ago I am truly finding this to be amazing. I would just say do not give up!!! you will get to a block learn something new, feel awesome... then hit something else.... fix it, feel great. Ride the dopamine train!!! It's for you!!!
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@Dan-Korneff Haha! Where did you learn those programming basics?
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@d-healey said in I don’t know anything about scripting. Is HISE for me?:
@pgaudioworks said in I don’t know anything about scripting. Is HISE for me?:
fairly reasonable time period
It kind of depends on what your goal is.
If it's just mapping some samples and exporting a plugin for your own use then you can do that in a week (most of that time will be spent getting compilers setup and understanding how they work). However in that case I'd recommend you use SFZ - https://sfzformat.com/.
You mention learning scripting but you haven't said what you want to do with scripting. Until we know your goal we can't give you any real estimate on time. It can take months to many years depending on what you want to achieve.
I guess I'm not entirely sure yet. I know I'd like to record percussion libraries with multiple mic positions and sound design. I'd definitely want to include a velocity curve automation and expression automation. But as I'm just getting started I don't know exactly where scripting comes in with these ideas yet. I'm going to keep being curious though!
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@virtuscapeaudio said in I don’t know anything about scripting. Is HISE for me?:
@virtuscapeaudio @pgaudioworks HERE are my notes from @d-healey 's Scripting 101 video (the video link is in the header of notes). Maybe they can be helpful to you even though they are in my own language.
This link is marked "Editor" so if anyone want's to contribute for other first timers then please feel free. (Then again there's always the HISE Docs lol)
This is generous of you. I'll dig into this tomorrow, along with the video. Thank you for the resource and the encouragement!
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@Mors said in I don’t know anything about scripting. Is HISE for me?:
@pgaudioworks Of course it's for you! I started on HISE 2 months ago, absolutely 0 coding knowldege, 0 plugin making knowledge and just last week released my first ever plugin that has been a hit.
As long as your open to learning you'll be fine, this forum is incredibly helpful as well!
Thanks for this, where can I see what you made? This is very encouraging to hear. I may not have the same timeline as you, but hearing that someone did it and started in the same position I'm in his very helpful!
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@virtuscapeaudio I went looking for the Rhapsody template and I couldn't find it. I'm clearly looking in the wrong place. Where should I look?