Blue Cat’s Plug’n Script

Description

Blue Cat’s Plug’n Script is an audio and MIDI scripting plugin and application that you can program to build custom effects or virtual instruments, without quitting your favorite DAW software.

With this plug-in, you can write your own plug-in with very little knowledge about programming. If you do not care about programming you can also use Blue Cat’s Plug’n Script as a regular multi-effects processor with existing scripts or to get someone else to write this very particular utility you have been searching for for years and cannot find anywhere.

If you are an experienced programmer, you will find in Plug’n Script a powerful development environment for audio plug-ins: prototype algorithms quickly, generate a state of the art graphical user interface (GUI) without a single line of code, and export a VST, VST3, AAX, or Audio Unit plug-in, right from within your favorite DAW! Creating a plug-in has never been so fast!

This plug-in has been in our lab for several years and has been used to prototype lots of our existing plug-ins. It supports both scripts distributed as source code and pre-compiled binary scripts.

Overview

For source scripts, it uses the high-performance AngelScript scripting engine, originally developed for video games, with a JIT compiler that helps to compile scripts into machine code for optimal performance. Starting with version 2, the plug-in also supports native (compiled) code and can load binary scripts built from C or C++ (or any language that can export C functions, such as Delphi, Fortran, Net…), using the same interface as the angel script version.

The syntax of the AngelScript language is close to Java, C#, C++, or JavaScript, making it very easy to learn. It is also convenient to reuse your scripts into native code or integrate code snippets found on the web into your script. Also, switching between the angel script and binary versions of the same script is very easy, requiring very few changes.

The plug-in includes dozens of audio and MIDI processing scripts as well as several virtual instruments and utilities to enhance your workflow. They can be used as-is, or as examples to get started to write your own scripts. User scripts can be shared in the scripts repository, which also includes the factory scripts and native projects for reference.

To build complex effects chains using multiple scripts, you might be interested in Blue Cat’s PatchWork, which can host multiple instances of this plug-in in series or parallel. While writing scripts, you might also want to use our analysis tools to check their effect on the signal.

Blue Cat Audio Standards:

• Available as a standalone application and in most plug-in formats for Mac and Windows.
• Full MIDI control and automation support, MIDI Learn.
• No CPU load on idle: processing shuts down when fed with silence (optimal CPU usage).
• Customizable user interface with transparency & zoom.
• Automation and MIDI output: record output parameters as automation curves or send MIDI CC messages to other plug-ins for powerful side chain effects.
• Smooth Bypass: noiseless plug-in activation / deactivation.
• Undo/Redo.
• Full featured integrated presets manager.
• Copy/paste the state of the plug-in between instances.
• Any sample rate supported.

Version 3.33

• actual parameter names (as set in the scripts) should now be visible in automation lanes in most host applications (may require a session reload in some cases).
• VST: improved parameter value display in some host applications.
• The application is now using Apple’s hardened runtime, and the installer has been notarized to avoid security warnings on Mac. You may have to add the –force option to code signing command line if you are signing your binaries.
• Added Apple Silicon support for AAX plug-in format.
• Added Ambisonic and alternate surround formats support for Pro Tools (Plug’n Script only: not yet for exported plug-ins).