Building ProTools AAX version of Ctrlr with Projucer

[damiensellier]

Hi everybody, I was wondering if anyone already tried exporting Ctrlr as an AAX plugin with Projucer?

It seems that the steps are :

1. Register to https://developer.avid.com/ (done)
2. Accept the agreement (done)
3. Download the AAX SDK (done)
4. Apply for a Product Certificate for public release (that could be problematic with licence type compatibility)
5. Request an ID for Avid/Pace/iLok Notarization of the AAX plugin.

Do you know if we need something specific to Ctrlr to build the AAX apart from linking to the SDK directory in Projucer?

Thanks

Damien

[damiensellier]

I could export the AAX without any problem from the Projucer, that wasn't difficult, the only hurdle was to build the AAX library in Xcode from the SDK files, I forgot to do it and had some errors while building Ctrlr.

Now I need to test it in ProTools. I'll keep you posted.

[damiensellier]

So, it seems that AAX plugins that are not certified and code-signed via the AVID developer program are not loaded in ProTools.
unsigned AAX plugin can only be loaded in ProTools developer's version, not Release & Beta.
It's a bit useless in the current state then :(
Not sure if it's going to be possible to publicly distribute Ctrlr AAX as a "working/loading" plugin. I'll dig deeper into that later this week. That would be nice instead of going the VST wrapper way.

[dobo365]

Hi Damien, any success with this one?
Wanted to try ProTools Intro (free) to test one of my panel.
For the moment, ProTools users can use Blue Cat Audio Patchwork that can allow VST/AU to be used as AAX in ProTools.
Thx!

[damiensellier]

Hi Dominique,
I built the AAX successfully. The process was smooth with Projucer. But ProTools does not load it because it needs to be certified through their dev program.
However it should run in their version for developpers for testing.
To be a registered dev you have to pay to pass the "exam" under your registered company name and get to the 1st step of their licensing rabit hole. :'(
If we want a working AAX Ctrlr plugin that works for every protools version it has to be certified by Pace under the manufacturer name CTRLR..., so I'm trying to see with them how we can arrange something because of its collaborative open source nature.
And I also need to see how it would be possible to get the approval for AAX limited instance plugin for every pannels (different manufacturers).
For the moment Blue Cat's Patchwork wrapper seems to be the best and only solution until further notice.

[damiensellier]

I wrote to avid for a follow up about this. I'll keep you posted.

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[damiensellier]

Hi guys,
Here is a little update about my journey to building Ctrlr as AAX for Pro Tools and I need some C++ help.
I finaly got a licence for PT for Developers which is required to test unsigned AAX plugins.
I built the mac intel version of Ctrlr with xCode and tried it in PT.

That's promissing, I can open Ctrlr in AudioSuite and it loads panels, and send midi messages perfectly but it's useless since AudioSuite is just for "offline" process...

The proper way to use Ctrlr is on an instrument track as an insert. (PT wants stereo i/o by default)
When I create an instrument track, mono, or stereo and load Ctrlr as insert It crashes Pro Tools. Right now, PT sees Ctrlr as an instrument>multi-mono>ctrlr|Instigator(mono) plugin, and it's not available in stereo.

I investigated for a moment and to me it's because the i/o bus layout and configuration is not defined properly in CtrlrProcessor.cpp.

Roman Kubiak decalred the i/o setup with a deprecated JUCE definition isInputChannelStereoPair & isOutputChannelStereoPair :

ctrlr/Source/Plugin/CtrlrProcessor.cpp

Line 212 in 8aa00d8

bool CtrlrProcessor::isInputChannelStereoPair (int index) const

In all the Juce plugin demos, for exemple GainPluginDemo.h , the i/o is declared as following with "BusesProperties" withinput() & withoutputs() from Juce class AudioProcessor :

GainProcessor()
        : AudioProcessor (BusesProperties().withInput  ("Input",  AudioChannelSet::stereo())
                                           .withOutput ("Output", AudioChannelSet::stereo()))
    {
    }

ctrlr/JUCE/examples/Plugins/GainPluginDemo.h

Line 59 in 8aa00d8

: AudioProcessor (BusesProperties().withInput ("Input", AudioChannelSet::stereo())

That's totally different from the current i/o definition. By default for a "synth" it still works with VST, AU and standalone as stereo but not for AAX because AAX requires the proper i/o layout of the plugin.

Same for InterAppAudioEffectPluginDemo.h, i/o are also defined with BusesProperties()

Also, In the avid demo for Juce integration (AAX juce_to_aax_dsp), they define the i/o with the following declaration :

Juce_aax_dsp_testAudioProcessor::Juce_aax_dsp_testAudioProcessor() :
#ifndef JucePlugin_PreferredChannelConfigurations
     AudioProcessor (BusesProperties()
                     #if ! JucePlugin_IsMidiEffect
                      #if ! JucePlugin_IsSynth
                       .withInput  ("Input",  AudioChannelSet::stereo(), true)
                      #endif
                       .withOutput ("Output", AudioChannelSet::stereo(), true)
                     #endif
                       ),
#endif

I tried to implement BusesProperties() in CtrlrProcessor.cpp and its header CtrlrProcessor.h but I get many syntax errors in xCode because I'm just not good in C++.

Can someone please help to implement the up-to-date Bus layout definition in CtrlrProcessor.cpp so that I could go ahead with the AAX build?

Thanks in advance

Damien

[damiensellier]

As for AU in Logic not validating or Ableton Live not showing up, I think it's coming from Projucer option "Plugin Is MIDI Effect" ticked which disables Audio IN/OUT causing crashes.