DiaPro is VST a dialog/vocal processor supporting VST3 API. While the effect is mostly designed dialog and vocals in mind, there is absolutely no reason why it couldn't be used for any purpose.
Each unit of the processor is documented separately and at the beginning of each section there are some presets given as starting point. These values are determined by trial and error, and by stealing from other sources such as Musician on a mission.
See LICENSE.
The de-esser unit is intended to attenuate excess sibilant consonants in a dialog or vocals.
+-----------+ +------------+ *
| |---->| Compressor |---->* *
x(n) -->| Crossover | +------------+ * SUM *---> y(n)
| |----------------------->* *
+-----------+ *
Presets for lazy people
| Use case | Threshold | Frequency [Hz] | Drive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 7-8k | ||
| Male | 5-6k |
Enable
Enables the de-esser unit.
Threshold [dB]
Determines the signal levels when the de-esser starts working.
Frequency [Hz]
The center frequency of sibilances to be suppressed.
Drive [dB]
The gain applied to the sibilances.
The compressor unit attenuates loud sounds in the input signal and it's purpose in this plugin is to improve the clarity, readability and consistence of the speaker's or singer's voice.
| \
+------------------------->|1-m>----\ *
| | / >* *
| | \ | \ | * SUM *---> y(n)
+----------------------+ | | \ | \ | \ >* *
x(n) -+-->| Z^-D |--+-->| DCA >--->| >----->| m >----/ *
| +----------------------+ | / | / | /
| | | / | / |
| look-ahead | | |
| | | |
| +-------+ +-------+ | | |
| | RMS | | Gain | | | |
+-->| Det |----->| Calc |-------+ | |
| =det | | =gr | | |
+-------+ +-------+ | |
| | | | | | |
att rel t k n makeup mix
h n :
r e 1
Presets for lazy people
| Use case | Ratio | Knee | Attack [ms] | Release [ms] | Look-Ahead | Makeup | Mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dialog | 1.5 - 2.0 | 1.00 | 0 - 10 | 80 - 150 | 1 - 5 | 2.0 | 1.0 |
| Vocals | 1.5 | 0.95 | 2 - 10 | 40 | >=1 | 2.0 | 1.0 |
| Instruments | 40 | 60 | 0 | ||||
| Drums | 0 | 0 | 0.5 |
Enable
Enables the compressor unit.
Stereo Link
Compute the gain reduction from a mix of the left and right channels and then control the gain of both channels using the same gain reduction value. The default is to compute the gain reduction separately for each channel.
Threshold [dB]
Determines the level that the compressor kicks in. A lower threshold, compresses the audio more.
Ratio [n:1]
The compression ration determines how much the volume is reduced. The ratio of n:1 means that for every dB that goes above the threshold a 1:n of the dB comes out from the compressor.
Knee
Increasing the knee parameter widens the soft transition range from 1:1 gain to 1:n gain reduction when the input audio is close to the threshold. 0 means there is no smoothening before the compression kicks in and 1 means that it's set to the widest setting. Generally making the knee a bit softer makes the compression sound more subtle.
Attack time [ms]
Determines how fast the compressor reacts to a rising signal level.
Release time [ms]
Determines how fast the compressor backs off when the signal level goes down.
Makup gain [ms]
Increases the output level to compensate the overall signal level reduction. Typically makeup gain should be adjust the so that the output level is approximately the same as the input level.
Look-Ahead [ms]
The compressor look-ahead delay line length in ms. The delay line allows to compensate the lag of the detector and thus adjusting the gain reduction of the output at the right time and not just after the signal already has hit the threshold.
Mix [1:m]
Also known as dry/wet control, allows mixing some of the original audio to the output.
The exciter unit amplifies the higher frequencies of the incoming audio and adds harmonics to it by soft-clipping the signal with a waveshaper function. The soft-clipped signal is finally combined with the original audio.
| \
x(n) -+----------------------------------------------------->|1-n>----\ *
| | / >* *
| | * SUM *---> y(n)
| | \ +-----+ +-----+ +---+ +-----+ +-----+ | \ >* *
+-| >->| HPF |->->| 4/\ |->| S |->| LPF |->| 4\/ |-->| n >----/ *
| / +-----+ +-----+ +---+ +-----+ +-----+ | /
| | | |
| | | |
drive fc saturation mix
Presets for lazy people
| Use case | Drive | Freq [Hz] | Saturation | Mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dialog | 6 | 2-5k | 3.20 | 0.2 - 0.5 |
Enable
Enables the exciter unit.
Drive [dB]
Gain before the high-pass filter, but it doesn't affect the dry signal used for the blend at the end of the signal chain.
Freq [Hz]
High-pass cutoff frequency before the waveshaper.
Saturation [dB]
Amplifies the signal after the high pass filter and just before the signal is feeded into the waveshaper.
Blend [1:n]
The function of the blend knob is the same as mix in the compressor. However, in the case of an exciter it should be kept at minimum, or otherwise only the frequencies higher than fc can be heard in the output.
Gain
Allows adding a final gain to the output.
It's possible to control the numeric parameters of this effect with MIDI Control Commands but it's not possible to toggle the switches at the moment. All commands must be sent to the MIDI channel 2.
The MIDI control number mapping is as follows:
| Parameters | MIDI Control Name | Control no |
|---|---|---|
| De-esser Threshold | General Purpose Controller #1 | 16 |
| De-esser Freq | Effect Control 1 | 12 |
| De-esser Drive | Effect Control 2 | 13 |
| Compressor Threshold | General Purpose Controller #2 | 17 |
| Compressor Attack time | Attack Time | 73 |
| Compressor Release time | Release Time | 72 |
| Compressor Ratio | General Purpose Controller #3 | 18 |
| Compressor Knee | General Purpose Controller #4 | 19 |
| Compressor Makeup | General Purpose Controller #5 | 80 |
| Compressor Mix | Pan | 10 |
| Compressor Lookahead | General Purpose Controller #6 | 81 |
| Exciter Drive | Expression | 11 |
| Exciter fc | Filter Cutoff | 71 |
| Exciter Saturation | General Purpose Controller #7 | 82 |
| Exciter Blend | Balance | 8 |
| Gain | Channel Volume | 7 |
VST3 SDK
Download VST 3 Audio Plug-Ins SDK and extract it anywhere you wish, but remember that the directory you choose will be the "installation path" for the SDK.
fftw
fftw is required by the exciter unit of this plugin effect.
On MacOS you can download fftw using the script in the fftw directory. This
will download and extract fftw for both x86-64 and ARM64 targets.
cd fftw
./runme.sh
Now you are ready to build the actual plugin.
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DSMTG_RUN_VST_VALIDATOR=OFF -DSMTG_ADD_VSTGUI=ON -G"Xcode" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ..
cmake --build .
or make a release build by running:
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DSMTG_RUN_VST_VALIDATOR=OFF -DSMTG_ADD_VSTGUI=ON -G"Xcode" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
cmake --build . --config Release
If everything went fine the build script should make a symlink in the system VST plugin path, pointing to the build result of the build. Meaning that you can now start your DAW/VST host and it should be able to discover the plugin. The resulting bundle should work on both x86-64 and ARM64 (M1) Macs.
If you want to sign the binary for distribution the easiest way to sign and staple the VST3 plugin is shown here.
First you should create an Application Specific Password for the project as explained here. Then run the following command to store the credentials:
xcrun notarytool store-credentials --apple-id "youremail" --team-id "team-id"
This step needs to be done only once.
Next you need to sign the VST3 plugin:
codesign --force -s "Developer ID Application" VST3/Release/DiaPro.vst3
Then zip the plugin and run notarytool for the zip file:
/usr/bin/ditto -c -k --keepParent VST3/Release/DiaPro.vst3 DiaPro.zip
xcrun notarytool submit DiaPro.zip --keychain-profile "DiaPro" --wait
If that step passed then you can staple the plugin:
xcrun stapler staple VST3/Release/DiaPro.vst3
and remove the intermediate zip:
rm DiaPro.zip
Some pointers:
I can't see the plugin in my DAW
Some DAWs don't look from all possible "legal" VST paths nor it's configurable You might need to copy the symlink or the bundle/binary to a path that your DAW supports.
../../VST_SDK/VST3_SDK/build/bin/Debug/editorhost.app/Contents/MacOS/editorhost VST3/Debug/DiaPro.vst3
Finally Save As on top of resource/editor.uidesc. (Save should work too,
on the latest SDK version).