Digital Signal Processing effects encompass EQ, dynamics, pitch shift/SRC (sample rate conversion), reverb synthesis and delay, and more esoteric functions like recovering HDCD data embedded in a track. Here, we aren’t so much concerned about virtual instruments as we are with VST “effects,” that umbrella label for all things DSP. That hasn’t stopped gazillions of kids from brewing up VST “virtual instruments” designed to act as music synthesizer “voices.” Bust out a MIDI keyboard, instantiate a VST instrument, and start laying down some tasty virtual djembé rhythms. VST is a hellish tangle of poorly documented methods, designed to challenge even an experienced programmer. The VST or Virtual Studio Technology format was created by Steinberg as their in-house answer to Digi’s own proprietary plug-in formats. There are a half dozen or more plug-in formats, though for our purposes, we’ll stick with two. They are created through an SDK or Software Development Kit, a set of rules and tweaky tools that simplify many of the gory details of interoperating with the host application.
In the audio world, Digidesign took what was at the time a rather nasty sounding application named Pro Tools and drove it to the number one Digital Audio Workstation on earth, in no small part thanks to their early inclusion of a plug-in SDK.Ī plug-in, according to Wikipedia, is a “piece of software which enhances another software application and usually cannot be run independently.” Correct! Plug-ins are relatively small and inexpensive packages of code relative to their host application that is. The first time I heard about plug-ins was when Adobe added that feature to Photoshop version 2. Betraying the analog roots of audio, this time I’m diving into plug-ins, those fun and versatile bits of code that can enhance your digital audio listening experience.
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