Just wanted to wish everyone a happy, productive and prosperous new year!

Until you spend hours debugging an inaudible filter node because Claude set the smoothing to 20 seconds instead of 20ms!

Anyone care to share their overall plans and goals for the coming year?

My main goal is to start releasing HISE plugins. I've been learning HISE for a while and it's time to start exporting my efforts!

1. A series of 4 free synth plugins, first one Sublime posted here for design feedback, and another 3, each based around one simple preset concept. Sublime is all about bass.

2. Then I have 2 collaborations I want to work on, both with UK house music producers. One is a multi-output drum plugin based on a series of expansions, the other is a chord synth with some interesting features.

3. I also have a lot of vintage reverb impulses recorded and processed, which I'd like to turn into a suite of free reverbs.

My user base is mostly house music producers & related genres - rave, techno, classic house, etc. I've built a decent brand and I think my customers will love the move from Maize-based ROMpler plugins to way more fully-featured HISE-based plugins.

What are your goals?

I like using overlay images to ensure my Figma design is translated properly to HISE. Currently, the only way I know to toggle the image visibility is to select/unselect the image, or quickly slide the alpha slider, which is difficult because of the 'invert' half of the slider.

This PR adds a toggle button between the image dropdown and the alpha slider. It uses an existing image icon for the button and respects the alpha slider value.

This allows me to toggle the image without taking my eyes off the interface, making it easier to spot changes.

PR here: https://github.com/christophhart/HISE/pull/825

@David-Healey I just had a go at fixing this. Is that what you mean?

HiseSnippet 1112.3ocsVs2aaaCDmJIJKwacqEne.H7e4roYH+pIcACMO8pwxCi4rhMDDTPKcxhKRjFRTMwXneH12z8MH6ndXKO6klZfI.av6Eue2wi2w9QRGHNVFQLpb0jw.w3qLGLQn7O1mwEjdmPL9ZyyYwJHhlw5nIiYwwfKwvX8eRyvX6MHoe+8aNhEvDNvLVDx6jbG3LdHWMia+C9YdPPWlKbEOrj1sOnmiTbrLPlf3YcSaxXlysrQvELsZqYRdKK1mX7sl1scX60zqSqVu9061wcH330.FtqCytCyqCC41l0tSi1DiMO0kqjQCTLEDia5QR2IC7k2Ixbv63w7gAflnAY.54L1ji84At8KRNwDhwF8mkpVOKU8Ryy4t7o7mkxddp.5LKJmzLV6wfTiOCHYTBRajAoWXNvIhOVMShFOeoYOAdB5wvylxPISWxZ+05lGKQMDp5gragtQHwTKp0z11hh+sy9UpfmOwJZ.yi9izBSbh.LRNS5vBNSJu8PgaW.BpoUGUrdDLhqqe5lHbTbonVU2H1c8kiSFeNHRNBOhGEISDtUsndE5LxhJG9G6T4OqPwuQ0iAUVcQsp12am+UEcQlXOrd5W.GUsqssrsz.F+cCJ9iOQTzSAg+29+CrHJCiXjUcFFs3dVvdLy8PjCJ7Z1012P+NZSKJ65FSW07F52SaqW0Jc0M6uPHo2Vd7a4i7CveJvk9FZln35ih.PP+gozCCRf4CacpCb0QOSLJ.pkiHK5d6TBmJ3dUAPy0HCt6YUDCHnmsNE1Md0LFstYIHu.U24yUyfEJuKVaTq5IfGKIPgI1FsqaOUtNyeHFpBv8JDVowuFeVSQoEsZ.3opVbBlU1crLbn7H48MJU7MRikvwRAnc3TMzVNkPCnEJOwhhc1u37lJEWHUvkhZ5i7sq7wJz+sHOukJSiiHYP.DsTw5FbQOlg0DIgCgHK7PRexVnHdgd9tDa9z5R3jkVJonTzSvUWNFxo6JCb0290qWrmBIOup6tjiPTUUZukmm2aoHuR3t5VKSSyjzPnbyexu16DlhUrY39h9ZLDo35Px3D3C3vgrFWaadBDeqRNF6yO8.kXrUlqeVQaMl.BR86VloqaPturCmTl.KICKFlr8lDxCOLO2lkYeG2U4OyZ9A9f9tXYNjR35KdhoDDclFMyPlowKwEgrTdqunO+8CzXCSLei4kBnxU2IqbkOd8GGXtPedbBizMIfoleridfbt.rJatd8594hXtZR4A1eFyhrezYQOUH9By9bki+xw3ZKAiXsy+GXLeB9yLO0yC6bNCfaX182V0w0eB2icpUbwnyYpHttF3hjvAXYnCfdWf0xw55h0z2Ayns0z5Lv.P3lR7.9kKrgl1HWXiBgX0kSj78NY2b0uQXqTNHlDougZa7wbHMcIWVCwmr7dGm42pELr4pZXqU0v1qpgcVUCe0pZ3tqpg68oMT+hxCSTxvrqMDx48OMs4pgwoBFVAlVsR9GztgJYG

Content.makeFrontInterface(200, 200);

const laf = Content.createLocalLookAndFeel();

laf.registerFunction("drawPopupMenuBackground", function(g, obj)
{
    g.setColour("0x00000000"); // any transparent colour
    g.fillRect([0,0,200,200]);
});

laf.registerFunction("drawPopupMenuItem", function(g, obj)
{
    var a = obj.area;

    var padArea = [a[0] + 2, a[1] + 2, a[2] - 4, a[3] - 4];
    g.setColour(obj.isHighlighted ? Colours.green : Colours.blue);
    g.fillRoundedRectangle(padArea, 8);

    var textArea = [padArea[0] + 8, padArea[1], padArea[2] - 16, padArea[3]];
    g.setColour(Colours.white);
    g.setFont("Default", 14.0);
    g.drawAlignedText(obj.text, textArea, "left");
});

const ComboBox1 = Content.getComponent("ComboBox1");
ComboBox1.setLocalLookAndFeel(laf);

The drawPopupMenuBackground object should probably include an area, and the popup menu items still have a subtle drop shadow. But they're both fixes for another day.

PR here, if it's useful: https://github.com/christophhart/HISE/pull/805

@bendurso Today I learned that right-clicking a module in edit mode shows a different context menu to right-clicking not in edit mode.

Posting this in case it helps anyone else. I just banged my head against a brick wall for too long before I realised how simple this was!

When using a Floating Tile with content type Waveform (to display the waveform of Sine Wave Generator or Waveform Generator, for example) the default waveform path is a filled shape.

You can override this with LAF function drawAnalyserPath and draw a line path instead of a filled path:

laf.registerFunction("drawAnalyserPath", function(g, obj)
{
	g.setColour(Colours.white);
	g.drawPath(obj.path, obj.area, 5);
});

However, this means that the path is clipped at the bounds of the floating tile, especially at wider line thicknesses:

To prevent the clipping, I fudged around with it for longer than I want to admit before I realised the answer is to simply reduce the area that the path is drawn in, by half the thickness of the path:

laf.registerFunction("drawAnalyserPath", function(g, obj)
{
	g.setColour(Colours.white);
	g.drawPath(obj.path, obj.area.reduced(2.5), 5);
});

Voila! No more clipped paths! Top row is using obj.area, bottom row is using area reduced by half line thickness:

You might want the left/right of the path to bleed out of bounds, in which case change the reduction from all-round to y-only:

obj.area.reduced(5) 👈 all-round
obj.area.reduced(0, 5) 👈 y-only

Note: you might need to compile with HISE_USE_SCRIPT_RECTANGLE_OBJECT=1 for the reduced and other Rectangle helper functions, as per the docs: https://docs.hise.dev/scripting/scripting-api/rectangle/index.html. Not sure if it's still the same, or if it's built-in to all new builds.

@Chazrox said in MEDIA BROWSER PLUGIN [NOT A HISE PLUGIN - but may be useful]:

The forum has definitely been less active since everyone has found their agentic work flows.

I noticed that too. Bit sad really. Maybe we should all start sharing more wins we have with AI?

I just went down the Windows installer and code signing rabbit hole for my synth plugin and came out the other side with a decision I didn't expect: no installer at all.

TLDR: if your plugin is one file going to one folder, a ZIP with clear instructions gives your users a smoother, less alarming experience than an unsigned installer, and costs you nothing.

Sharing the findings here in case it saves someone else a day of research.

My plugin is a single VST3 on Windows. Bundled presets/images/fonts/audio assets (for simple Audio Loop Players). That means one file, one destination folder. So the installer would exist mostly for polish, not necessity.

Here's why I dropped it.

The problem: an installer is an .exe, and an unsigned .exe looks scary

If you ship an unsigned installer, SmartScreen will greet your users with the "Windows protected your PC" screen, and they have to click "More info" then "Run anyway" to proceed. I'm sure most Windows users, especially music producers, are used to this, but for a paid product from a developer they've never heard of, that's bad optics. I'd argue worse than no installer at all.

Option 1: Azure Trusted Signing. Blocked for me.

This is the modern route everyone recommends, and it's cheap. But it's only available to individuals in the US and Canada. In the UK you need a registered (Limited) company. I'm still a sole trader with no Ltd, and I'm not registering a company and wading through Azure bureaucracy just to unblock a release. Registering is on the roadmap but not worth bumping it up for this.

Option 2: An individual code signing cert. Possible, but underwhelming.

There is a middle path: Individual Validation (IV) certs. SSL.com and Certum both sell these to individuals with no company required, verified via passport and a face scan, turnaround in days not weeks. Certum even has a "Cloud CODE Signing for Individual Developer" product that a company literally cannot buy.

But here's the catch that killed it for me: signing removes the "Unknown publisher" label, but SmartScreen reputation still builds up gradually per certificate. A fresh cert with no reputation can still trigger warnings. So you pay, you do the ID verification dance, and your users may still see scary screens for a while. And from March 2026 the CA/B Forum caps code signing cert validity at 458 days, so this becomes a recurring chore, not a one-off.

The realisation: no .exe, no problem

SmartScreen cares about executables. A ZIP containing a .vst3 and a text file doesn't trigger any of this.

So the Windows release is:

• MyPlugin.vst3
• INSTALL.txt ("Copy MyPlugin.vst3 to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 and approve the admin prompt")
• LICENSE.txt

That's the whole install. VST3 has one canonical system folder, so there's no per-DAW path confusion like the old VST2 days. I shipped earlier plugins as VST2/VST3 and had some support tickets, but those were usually because of the VST2 confusion. Oh, and I'm clearly not doing AAX either - another axis of complexity avoided.

The installer isn't dead, just deferred

When I register as a company, I'll 100% ship an Azure cloud-signed installer. Shipping an unsigned one in the meantime would be a downgrade from the ZIP.

One extra risk: the ever-annoying Anti-Virus checks on Windows, and two practical mitigations. [1] Submit the ZIP and the .vst3 to Microsoft's file-submission portal once the release build is final (it whitelists the hash and hugely reduces the block-at-first-sight risk), and [2] run the final binary through VirusTotal before release so I know which of the ~70 engines flag it, if any. Both are free and take minutes.

Very open to having my mind changed here, but given the fact that I've been distributing my previous (non-HISE) plugins for 3 years on Windows via the ZIP > extract > copy to folder method, I think this is a no-brainer approach for my first couple of self-contained HISE plugins.

@David-Healey In a conversation with ChatGPT today, it said to me

Your mockup surprised me—I expected to dislike it. I don't.

AI is getting cheekier!

Don't know if this has been posted before, but it's a good read from Moonbase:

State of the Independent Audio Plugin Companies PDF
https://moonbase.sh/reports/state-of-audio-plugin-companies-2025/

Not too many shocking conclusions in there. Mostly what you'd expect, but good as sanity check.

@Lindon Fixing regression issues seems like it should be high(est?) priority.

PR that adds StartPhase1 and StartPhase2 to Waveform Generator.

Coded for my own needs but someone else might find it useful.

Works great for setting a random phase offset on MIDI note-on.

Works independently for Osc1 and Osc2.

https://github.com/christophhart/HISE/pull/792

EDIT: from this conversation https://forum.hise.audio/topic/13720/free-running-or-randomised-phase-for-waveform-generator-oscillators/9

I'm fortunate that I started with a (small) audience, and I'm selling to a focussed crowd. My plugins serve a very specific niche and the producers there are always hungry for more authentic products.

I've never done any paid ads. I might do an experiment on Instagram one day. I see a lot of adverts for plugins in my feed and I'm curious how effective they are.

I sell on Gumroad. They take about 15% fee, then you pay payment processor fees. I haven't done the maths for the total cut but I'd say it's less than 20%.

It's a good deal for me because it includes basic web presence, file hosting, secure delivery, payment processing (cards, Apple Pay, Google and PayPal), email marketing and analytics.

I started selling in September 2022. I'd done a couple of free plugins before that through various platforms like SimpleGoods and SendOwl but didn't take it seriously until later.

When I started selling I posted each new product on my Facebook and Instagram accounts. The engagement was pretty good to start with but I noticed that over time, I got more results from sending emails to my ever-growing email list. When I launch a new product now, I only send it to my email list at first. Then later I post short clips to Instagram but they're supplemental to the email list.

You NEED an email list. They say "the money's in the list" and in my experience, that's 100% correct.

Free products are a great way to build your email list. Most people stay subscribed and as long as you don't flood them with emails, they're happy to receive them.

This is my email strategy:

• Launch email for every new product with 20% discount code, valid for 2 weeks
• Reminder email 48 hours before the launch discount ends
• One email per month with 20% discount off a single product, valid for 2-3 days

That's it. I don't like to bombard my list with too many emails. I'm on some Gumroad seller lists where they send continual discounts, sometimes daily. This would be way too much for me as a customer.

Gumroad includes email marketing, which is a bonus because when your list gets large things like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, etc get into the $100's/month.

I can target emails to people who have or haven't bought specific products. Very handy for offering a discount only to those who haven't bought something. Or offering a discount for a product Y to those who have already bought product X. You can also target by how much someone has spent, so you can offer extra discounts or free stuff to your most loyal customers.

Gumroad also includes extra features like affiliates (having others push your products for a % split), collaborators (where you can split a products revenue with someone else), email automations (for sending drip emails to customers - I don't use those) and upsells (recommended products at checkout).

It does have some downsides. The download links in the receipt emails sometimes don't work and you have to send a link manually to the customer (Gumroad have so far refused to acknowledge this as an issue). I also find their fees to be expensive compared to other services, but for what I get built-in I still think it's worth it for now.

Something else that might be of interest is that Gumroad recently made the source code available, so if there's a feature you want to add and you're handy with Ruby on Rails and JavaScript you might be able to contribute.

@ustk Yeah, definitely be good to get the nod from Christoph on a lot of these PRs.

Claude does a great job of making and testing bug fixes, but only Christoph really knows where the dragons are hiding in the code!

Happy to report this has been merged in to develop branch!

@ustk Just made a quick proof of concept in Claude. Haven't read all the code yet, so no idea if it's well implemented or performant, but it does look kinda nice!

Just dropping this here because I know I'll be looking for this info at some point in the future

HISE > Tools > Show SVG to Path Converter

Base64 Path

• What it is: Just the geometry - the raw path outline. HISE parses the SVG's path data, serializes it as JUCE binary path data (Path::writePathToStream), and Base64-encodes that. No compression.
• What it drops: All styling. Colours, fills, strokes, gradients, multiple shapes - gone. You get single monochrome outline.
• Best for: UI icons and shapes you want to recolour yourself, LAF buttons, anytime you control the fill. Smaller and simpler.
• How you use it:

const var iconData = "....";        // pasted output
var p = Content.createPath();
p.loadFromData(iconData);
// in a paint routine:
g.fillPath(p, area);                // you pick the colour

Base64 SVG

• What it is: The entire SVG document (the XML text) ZSTD-compressed, then Base64-encoded.
• What it drops: Nothing. It preserves everything - multiple paths, fill/stroke colours, gradients, groups, transforms.
• Best for: Multi-colour logos, splash graphics, pre-designed artwork you want rendered exactly as drawn.
• How you use it:

const var svgData = "....";         // pasted output
var svg = Content.createSVG(svgData);
// in a paint routine:
g.drawSVG(svg, area, 1.0);          // renders with its own colours/styling

Which to choose

  ┌───────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┐
  │                           │            Base64 Path            │             Base64 SVG             │
  ├───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Preserves colours/styling │ No                                │ Yes                                │
  ├───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Multiple shapes/groups    │ Flattened to one outline          │ Kept intact                        │
  ├───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ You recolour it in script │ Yes (you must)                    │ No (uses embedded colours)         │
  ├───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Size                      │ Smaller, uncompressed             │ Larger source, but ZSTD-compressed │
  ├───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤
  │ Loads via                 │ Content.createPath + loadFromData │ Content.createSVG + g.drawSVG      │
  └───────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────────┘

Rule of thumb: if it's a single-colour icon you want to tint from the script (e.g. active/inactive states), use Base64 Path. If it's a designed, multi-colour graphic that should look exactly like the artwork, use Base64 SVG.

@David-Healey

@Chazrox Great work!

You do realise at some point you need to combine all these features into a full UI builder?

Quite a task, but it's the road you have chosen for yourself!