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If you aren't a sheep you'll be fine.
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There's a vst plugin I'm considering writing for my own use. The functionality is pretty basic so it's a project that I'm only willing to undertake if it's not going to suck me into the black hole of endless coding hours.
I have no experience with the Steinberg vst platform / api so I don't know how much voodoo I'm opening myself up to - hence the concerns about going down the rabbit hole (and you guys know how I feel about bunnies).
Any of you been down this road?
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Indeed I have. If you're going to do this, I'd recommend using Faust[^]. While the syntax takes a little getting used to, it's designed for DSP. The best thing, there are plenty of examples and tutorials to get your head around. For instance, this[^] is a great guitar amp simulator.
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Should've known you'd have some experience with this. 
Faust looks interesting, and if I was going to do DSP I think I'd take the time to learn it. What I'm actually thinking about is a pluging to talk to a DMX device. Found one for 70 bucks with an api. So, I don't need DSP. I'll be more concerned with MIDI, mainly just firing note on messages to trigger presets or using CCs for continuous movement of the R2 units.
With that in mind, it looks like there are some C# platforms out there where I could leverage my existing skill set and (hopefully) crank it out fairly quickly.
One of the things I'm wondering is how much of a pita it is to test & debug since it's designed to run in a host, etc.
Did you find it pretty straightforward to develop, or were there some nuisance factors that slowed you down?
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TBH, it was a complete PITA to develop. Debugging was a huge pain, but given that I was trying to create a true harmonizer, rather than a simple note shifter, this might have been me biting off more than I could chew. I believe that you could write plugins and test them through a custom host using VST.NET[^]. I haven't tried it, but I wish I'd gone this route back then.
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Yeah, that's exactly the framework I was looking at.
So here's the part where you, my fellow musician, get to poke fun at me without mercy.
I bought a DMXIS unit: http://www.enttec.com/?main_menu=Category&cat_id=2[^]
It's a good gizmo and will get the job done for the show I'm working on. That said, there are some glaring usability problems. For example, I have 14 moving heads and 12 color changers. In orde to keep from paging back and forth selecting faders, ctrl-click style, one at a time, I had to write some macros in his python macro engine. That helped immensely. However, to be of any use, I had to write 450 macros, at which point I'm slinging code in a utility app to generate them.
Looking at the Enttec site today I saw that they have USB DMX gizmos with drivers & an api, for cheap. Now mind you, I can use what I have to get the show done. And what I really wnat to do is focus on getting back on stage. However, every time I hit the limitations of this guy's software, the developer in me says screw it, I can do better myself.
I have something that works. And yet, instead of playing guitar, I'm thinking about slinging code because I can do it better. Somebody slap me.
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Ooooohhhhh. I want. I want. Damn you sir, I want lighting effects now.
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I wrote an app ten years ago to manage my show. C++ / MFC, talking to a printer port DMX dongle. It allowed for lighting design and played back audio & midi. Got it about 90% of the way there then realized that my lighting rig would pull 100 amps. Just not realistic for Joe's Bar & Grill. Had other things to buy as well and ended up bagging the project.
Fast forward to 6 months ago. Poked around on LED lighting, bought new rig. 14 moving heads (I call them R2 units), 12 color changers and two follow spots with some dmx control. The entire thing, which looks every bit as good as my old rig - 17 amps. I could run this thing on an outlet in my kitchen.
Found DMXIS since my old DMX hardware was long since its prime. And the killer app part of it was running as a VST plugin, allowing me to just run Cubase on a laptop and let it handle the midi and occasional audio sfx. His limitations aside, I simply drop note on events into the midi track to fire the presets.
The setup picture was before I hung the R2 units but gives you an idea of the rig.
Setup[^]
FOH[^]
Simple test[^]
Yeah. You really want this stuff.
Oh, wait. I wasn't supposed to be an enabler, was I? Oops. 
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Where's the drool icon when I need one?
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Christopher Duncan wrote: I'll be more concerned with MIDI, mainly just firing note on messages to trigger
presets or using CCs for continuous movement
Sending these via MIDI is pretty straight forward with just a few MM API[^] calls, easy enough to P/Invoke from .NET.
If you go that route and run into any troubles, feel free to let me know and I'll be glad to help. I've gone through all the stumbling blocks with the MIDI API at some time or other!
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Hey, Dave. Thanks for the offer of help, may knock on your door down the line. The last midi stuff I did was for a C++ / MFC app years ago.
I think the vst.net framework has a midi api to keep productivity high. Hoping, anyway.
Have you written any vst plugins?
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Christopher Duncan wrote: Have you written any vst plugins?
No, not something I've ever had the need/desire to do as yet. I may have a poke around out of interest though...
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Christopher Duncan wrote: I'm only willing to undertake if it's not going to suck me into the black hole
of endless coding hours.
I've approached that hole on multiple occasions and backed away slowly every time so as not to disturb whatever it was hiding in there, staring at me with its dark red eyes, growling menacingly.
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Oh, good heavens. It's just a rabbit.
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No one ever listens to...Tim.
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Christopher Duncan wrote: Oh, good heavens. It's just a rabbit.
RUN AWAY![^]
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Christopher Duncan wrote: you guys know how I feel about bunnies
Yes, they're delicious, aren't they?
And at this price, [^] I'm seriously thinking of starting a bunny ranch once I retire! 
Will Rogers never met me.
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Bunnies. The other white meat.
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Two Americans are talking. One asks: "What's the difference between capitalism and communism?"
"That's easy" says the other one. "In capitalism man exploits man! In communism it is the other way around!"
We study and learn new things our whole life and yet we still die without knowing everything.
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So, how are two Americans English?
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Come to that, what is "humor"?
speramus in juniperus
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It's humour where there's a quota no the number of vowels that can be used.
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Humor is any one of the four substances that fill the human body according to Greek medicine.
“I believe that there is an equality to all humanity. We all suck.” Bill Hicks
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Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement.
And to reply to the other question... it's an english joke. And english jokes tend to be sarcastic or "dry". 
We study and learn new things our whole life and yet we still die without knowing everything.
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