<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> <title>CsoundVST</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="csound.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="syntax-highlighting.css" /> <meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /> <link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The Canonical Csound Reference Manual" /> <link rel="up" href="OviewFrontEnds.html" title="Front Ends" /> <link rel="prev" href="OviewFrontEnds.html" title="Front Ends" /> <link rel="next" href="BuildingCsound.html" title="Building Csound" /> </head> <body> <div class="navheader"> <table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"> <tr> <th colspan="3" align="center">CsoundVST</th> </tr> <tr> <td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="OviewFrontEnds.html">Prev</a> </td> <th width="60%" align="center">Front Ends</th> <td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="BuildingCsound.html">Next</a></td> </tr> </table> <hr /> </div> <div class="section"> <div class="titlepage"> <div> <div> <h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="CommandCsoundVST"></a>CsoundVST</h2> </div> </div> </div> <p> CsoundVST is a multi-function front end for Csound, based on the Csound API. CsoundVST runs as a stand-alone graphical user interface to Csound, and it also runs as a VST instrument or effect plugin in VST hosts such as Cubase with the same user interface. CsoundVST is part of the main csound source tree, but is not included in standard distributions, due to licensing limitations of Steinberg's VST SDK. </p> <h3><a id="idm281472962398360"></a>Standalone</h3> <p>To run CsoundVST as a stand-alone front end to Csound, execute <span class="application">CsoundVST</span>. When the program has loaded, you will see a graphical user interface with a row of buttons along the top. Click on the <span class="emphasis"><em>Open...</em></span> button to load a <code class="filename">.csd</code> file. You can also click on the <span class="emphasis"><em>Open...</em></span> button and load a <code class="filename">.orc</code> file, then click on the <span class="emphasis"><em>Import...</em></span> button to add a <code class="filename">.sco</code> file. You can edit the Csound command, the orchestra file, or the score file in the respective tabs of the user interface. When all is satisfactory, click on the <span class="emphasis"><em>Perform</em></span> button to run Csound. You can stop a performance at any time by clicking on the <span class="emphasis"><em>Stop</em></span> button.</p> <h3><a id="idm281472962392040"></a>VST Plugin</h3> <p>The following instructions are for Cubase 4.0. You would follow roughly similar procedures in other hosts.</p> <p>Use the <span class="emphasis"><em>Devices</em></span> menu, <span class="emphasis"><em>Plug-In Information</em></span> dialog, <span class="emphasis"><em>VST Plug-Ins</em></span> tab, <span class="emphasis"><em>VST 2.x Plug-in Paths</em></span> dialog, <span class="emphasis"><em>Add</em></span> button to add your <code class="filename">csound/bin</code> directory to Cubase's plugin path. You can have multiple directories separated by semicolons. Then select the CsoundVST path and click on the <span class="emphasis"><em>Set as Shared Folder</em></span> button. </p> <p>Quit Cubase, and start it again.</p> <p>Use the <span class="emphasis"><em>File</em></span> menu, <span class="emphasis"><em>New Project</em></span> dialog to create a new song.</p> <p>Use the <span class="emphasis"><em>Project</em></span> menu, <span class="emphasis"><em>Add Track</em></span> submenu, to add a new MIDI track.</p> <p>Use the pencil tool to draw a <span class="emphasis"><em>Part</em></span> on the track a few measures long. Write some music in the <span class="emphasis"><em>Part</em></span> using the <span class="emphasis"><em>Event</em></span> editor or the <span class="emphasis"><em>Score</em></span> editor.</p> <p>Use the <span class="emphasis"><em>Devices</em></span> menu (or the F11 key) to open the <span class="emphasis"><em>VST Instruments</em></span> dialog. </p> <p>Click on one of the <span class="emphasis"><em>No VST Instrument</em></span> labels, and select <span class="emphasis"><em>CsoundVST</em></span> from the list that pops up.</p> <p>Click on the <span class="emphasis"><em>e</em></span> (for edit) button to open the <span class="emphasis"><em>CsoundVST</em></span> dialog. </p> <p>On the Settings page, check the <span class="emphasis"><em>Instrument</em></span> box in the VST Plugin group, and the <span class="emphasis"><em>Classic</em></span> box in the <span class="emphasis"><em>Csound performance mode</em></span> group. Then click on the <span class="emphasis"><em>Apply</em></span> button.</p> <p>Click on the <span class="emphasis"><em>Open</em></span> button to bring up the file selector dialog. Navigate to a directory containing a Csound csd file suitable for MIDI performance, such as <code class="filename">csound/examples/CsoundVST.csd</code>. Click on the OK button to load the file. You can also open and import a suitable <code class="filename">.orc</code> and <code class="filename">.sco</code> file as described above. </p> <p>In any event, the command line in the <span class="emphasis"><em>Classic Csound command line</em></span> text box must specify <code class="literal">-+rtmidi=null -M0</code>, and should read something like this:</p> <pre class="programlisting"> <span class="command"><strong>csound</strong></span> -f -h -+rtmidi=null -M0 -d -n -m7 --midi-key-oct=4 --midi-velocity=5 temp.orc temp.sco</pre> <p>Click on the <span class="emphasis"><em>VST Instruments</em></span> dialog's on/off button to turn it on. This should compile the Csound orchestra.</p> <p>In the <span class="emphasis"><em>Cubase Track Inspector</em></span>, click on the <span class="emphasis"><em>out: Not Assigned</em></span> label and select <span class="emphasis"><em>CsoundVST</em></span> from the list that pops up.</p> <p>On the ruler at the top of the <span class="emphasis"><em>Arrangement</em></span> window, select the loop end point and drag it to the end of your part, then click on the loop button to enable looping. </p> <p>Click on the <span class="emphasis"><em>play</em></span> button on the <span class="emphasis"><em>Transport</em></span> bar. You should hear your music played by CsoundVST. </p> <p>Try assigning your track to different channels; a different Csound instrument will perform each channel. </p> <p>When you save your song, your Csound orchestra will be saved as part of the song and re-loaded when you re-load the song. </p> <p>You can click on the <span class="emphasis"><em>Orchestra</em></span> tab and edit your Csound instruments while CsoundVST is playing. To hear your changes, just click on the CsoundVST <span class="emphasis"><em>Perform</em></span> button to recompile the orchestra. </p> <p>You can assign up to 16 channels to a single CsoundVST plugin.</p> </div> <div class="navfooter"> <hr /> <table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"> <tr> <td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="OviewFrontEnds.html">Prev</a> </td> <td width="20%" align="center"> <a accesskey="u" href="OviewFrontEnds.html">Up</a> </td> <td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="BuildingCsound.html">Next</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Front Ends </td> <td width="20%" align="center"> <a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a> </td> <td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Building Csound</td> </tr> </table> </div> </body> </html>