KXStudio : News

> Introducing AIDA-X
On 2023-04-25 by falkTX

Hello everyone, I would like to introduce a new audio plugin - AIDA-X.

AIDA-X is an Amp Model Player, it loads models of AI trained music gear which you can then play in real-time.
Its main intended use is to provide high fidelity simulations of amplifiers.
However, it is also possible to run entire signal chains consisting of any combination of amp, cab, dist, drive, fuzz, boost and eq.
See https://github.com/AidaDSP/AIDA-X for more details on the project, including documentation and downloads.

Behind the scenes AIDA-X uses RTNeural, which does the heavy lifting for model processing.
Similar to master_me, I did the desktop plugin related code so it obviously uses DPF for the cross-platform and plugin format support details.

This new plugin comes out of an effort from me, AIDA-DSP and MOD Audio.
Initially AIDA-DSP folks did the work to get RTNeural working as its own embed-focused LV2 plugin, together with figuring out the AI training details.
The initial idea was to have an LV2/MOD-specific plugin that would serve as "generic model loader", this is the aidadsp-lv2 project.
As part of my work for MOD Audio, I helped to get this LV2 plugin in a bit better shape and integrated on the platform.
You can see a nice, extensive discussion with Jatin (RTNeural's main author) regarding how to best approach a "load it all" with it here.

With all pieces in place the LV2 embed plugin was/is working quite well inside MOD units and other low-spec devices, but LV2 is not yet a widely supported format...
We did not want to have it as a niche plugin, the technology around it is getting a lot of attention lately because of how damn cool it is.
I took the initiative to make a desktop plugin for AIDA-DSP, based on DPF as usual, and then we built on top of that.

Model Training and Downloads

If you are interesting on capturing/training your own models, MOD Audio has created a dedicated Modeling Guide page.
There's a dedicated space for sharing and discussing all things related to Amp Models in the MOD Forum's Neural Modelling section.

Plugin Downloads

There are pre-compiled binaries for Linux, macOS and Windows which can downloaded at https://github.com/AidaDSP/AIDA-X/releases.
You can also find it in the KXStudio repositories as aida-x package.

And you can also try it live online at mod.audio/aida-x-online, though this last option uses pre-recorded audio loops instead of real audio input.

Enjoy and have fun!

> Carla 2.5.4 released
On 2023-03-13 by falkTX

Hello again everyone, a new Carla release is here, v2.5.4 which brings a couple of fixes to the v2.5 series.

Carla is an audio plugin host, with support for many audio drivers and plugin formats.
It has some nice features like automation of parameters via MIDI CC (and send output back as MIDI too) and full OSC control.

Changelog

• Fix crash/regression when using LV2 plugins without worker extension
• Fix compat with PyQt >= PyQt 5.15.8
• Fix macOS build
• Simplify JACK event handling, now using a single queue on the main thread

Downloads

To download Carla binaries or source code, jump on over to the KXStudio downloads section.
If you're using the KXStudio repositories, you can simply install "carla".
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome! Jump on over to the Carla's Github project page for those.

> Cardinal 23.02 released
On 2023-02-28 by falkTX

Hello again everyone, it is time for another Cardinal release.
Cardinal is a free and open-source virtual modular synthesizer plugin.
It is based on the popular VCV Rack but with a focus on being a fully self-contained plugin version.

The main change for this release is the introduction of a "Mini" variant.
This is a special variant with a very small, hand-picked module selection and limited IO (2 audio ports plus 5 CV).
There are 2 main reasons for this variant to exist:

• make it easier for users new to the modular world to get a working setup, by only having some of the best possible modules available to choose from
• hand-pick modules that are simple enough to work reliably in a remote setup

For now the list of selected modules is quite small, intentionally. We will add a few more as the need appears.
All included modules support polyphony, reducing confusion for new users not yet used to mono vs poly approach in Rack/Cardinal.

The 2nd reason (only having simple modules) is needed in order to support DSP/UI separation.
Having this in place means we can run the DSP on a different machine than the UI.
This is particularly interesting for running Cardinal on embed systems, being controlled remotely via web browser or native desktop application.
Already doable with LV2 from 23.02 onwards, used for MOD Audio builds (as seen in the screenshot).
Later on this will be made possible on standalone too.

There are a few module updates too, and some important bug fixes too, see the changelog below.

Changelog

• Add Mini variant (very few hand-picked modules, with separate DSP/UI under LV2)
• Add wasm-noopt build, needed for some web browsers
• Add CardinalMIDI variant for AU (same as CardinalFX but has different tag)
• Allow to build without SSE optimizations (using `NOSIMD=true`)
• Check /usr and /usr/local directories for existing Carla tools on macOS
• Do not reset Host MIDI pitch when receiving an all-notes-off event
• Fix display of Host CV in non-main variants
• Fix LV2 not reacting to buffer-size changes
• Fix VST3 "SDK" versioning to be more officially compatible
• Remove the `NOPLUGINS` build option
• Several performance optimizations

Module changes

• Update Grande Modular to 2.7.2
• Update Surge XT to 2.1.3

Downloads

The source code plus Linux, macOS and Windows binaries can be downloaded at https://github.com/DISTRHO/Cardinal/releases/tag/23.02.
Cardinal is released as LV2, VST2, VST3 and CLAP plugin, plus AudioUnit and JACK/Standalone for certain systems.

> Carla 2.5.3 released
On 2023-01-16 by falkTX

Hello everyone, it is release day again, sorta..
This time we have a single update for Carla.

Carla is an audio plugin host, with support for many audio drivers and plugin formats.
It has some nice features like automation of parameters via MIDI CC (and send output back as MIDI too) and full OSC control.

Same as last time for v2.5.2, this update backports fixes from the main development branch into the stable 2.5 series.
The more substantial stuff will come for 2.6.0, still a few months away.

Changelog

• Always set time frame information for JUCE hosted plugins
• Fix canvaspreview out-of-bounds panning for patchbay
• Fix receiving LV2 atoms bigger than 32kB
• Fix peak metering reading values out of bounds
• Fix missing </li> code in about information string
• Support the more verbose LV2 MIDI CC definitions
• Use SDL driver by default on Haiku

Downloads

To download Carla binaries or source code, jump on over to the KXStudio downloads section.
If you're using the KXStudio repositories, you can simply install "carla".
Bug reports and feature requests are welcome! Jump on over to the Carla's Github project page for those.

> Cardinal 22.12 released
On 2022-12-20 by falkTX

Greetings everyone, we have yet another release of Cardinal, this with some great module additions.
Cardinal is a free and open-source virtual modular synthesizer plugin.
It is based on the popular VCV Rack but with a focus on being a fully self-contained plugin version.

The main changes for this release are new modules (Sapphire, Stoermelder Pack-one and Surge-XT) and web-assembly related fixes.
Highly requested and specially interesting for users are the brand new Surge-XT modules, see Omri Cohen's video for a cool overview of what they can do.
As usual there are a few module updates too.

Changelog

• Add portable standalone Windows binaries
• Add JTB Waves example/demo patch
• Fix SSE not being enabled in pffft for 32bit builds
• Improve docs for building Windows binaries
• Stop using LTO for macos-universal builds

Module changes

• Add Sapphire
• Add Stoermelder Pack-one
• Add Surge-XT
• Update BaconPlugs
• Update Befaco
• Update MindMeld
• Update PathSet

Web-assembly related changes

• Add Web-assembly build instructions
• Enable brotli compression on release files
• Enable emscripten --use-preload-cache flag, improves browser cache
• Fix keyboard input having wrong keys
• Fix mouse lock on chrome-based browsers
• Fix versioning

Special Notes

• Building now requires a compiler compatible with C++17
• Windows builds now require 0x0600/Vista, needed for Surge

Downloads

The source code plus Linux, macOS and Windows binaries can be downloaded at https://github.com/DISTRHO/Cardinal/releases/tag/22.12.
Cardinal is released as LV2, VST2, VST3 and CLAP plugin, plus AudioUnit and JACK/Standalone for certain systems.