Timothy Place

For our first installment on the Edge forum we have a new object available for public testing. As you may have guessed, it is a host for AudioUnit plug-ins.

Before you download it and take it for a spin, there are a couple of important notes:

First, this object is a beta object and is not warranted to be bug free / crash free / etc. Do not use it in your live performance and blame us if it crashes.

Second, we need your help to make this object better and to address any problems that you discover. In order to do that it is imperative that your reports adhere to the following bug reporting guidelines. Reports which do adhere to these may be dismissed with no further comment from us about the matter.

Please report any problems you experience with clear and complete

information, including steps to reproduce, software and system

information, and where possible, an isolated example patch and crash

log. Something like the following would be ideal. This makes it

easier for us to find and fix the problems you experience. Without

such clear and complete information, it is less likely we will be

Provide a descriptive summary of the issue.

In numbered format, detail the exact steps taken to produce the bug.

Describe what you expected to happen when you executed the steps above.

Please explain what actually occurred when steps above are executed.

Describe circumstances where the problem occurs or does not occur,

such as software versions and/or hardware configurations.

Provide additional information, such as references to related

problems, workarounds and relevant attachments.

If you're still on-board with this, here's the link:

https://cycling74.com/download/audiounit~-20100227.zip

For our first installment on the Edge forum we have a new object available for public testing.  As you may have guessed, it is a host for AudioUnit plug-ins.

Before you download it and take it for a spin, there are a couple of important notes: 

First, this object is a beta object and is not warranted to be bug free / crash free / etc.  Do not use it in your live performance and blame us if it crashes.

Second, we need your help to make this object better and to address any problems that you discover.  In order to do that it is imperative that your reports adhere to the following bug reporting guidelines.  Reports which do adhere to these may be dismissed with no further comment from us about the matter.

Please report any problems you experience with clear and complete
information, including steps to reproduce, software and system
information, and where possible, an isolated example patch and crash
log. Something like the following would be ideal. This makes it
easier for us to find and fix the problems you experience. Without
such clear and complete information, it is less likely we will be
able to.

Summary:
Provide a descriptive summary of the issue.

Steps to Reproduce:
In numbered format, detail the exact steps taken to produce the bug.

Expected Results:
Describe what you expected to happen when you executed the steps above.

Actual Results:
Please explain what actually occurred when steps above are executed.

Regression:
Describe circumstances where the problem occurs or does not occur,
such as software versions and/or hardware configurations.

Notes:
Provide additional information, such as references to related
problems, workarounds and relevant attachments.

If you're still on-board with this, here's the link:
     https://cycling74.com/download/audiounit~-20100227.zip

audiounit-public-beta

What a great feature you're bringing there! I can even prototype my own graph in Max5 before coding in Xcode.

One missing type of AUs though, the very useful 'aufc' converters:

kAudioUnitType_FormatConverter            = 'aufc',

kAudioUnitSubType_AUConverter            = 'conv',

kAudioUnitSubType_Varispeed                = 'vari',

kAudioUnitSubType_DeferredRenderer        = 'defr',

kAudioUnitSubType_TimePitch                = 'tmpt',

kAudioUnitSubType_Splitter                = 'splt',

kAudioUnitSubType_Merger                = 'merg',

kAudioUnitType_FormatConverter			= 'aufc',
kAudioUnitSubType_AUConverter			= 'conv',
kAudioUnitSubType_Varispeed				= 'vari',
kAudioUnitSubType_DeferredRenderer		= 'defr',
kAudioUnitSubType_TimePitch				= 'tmpt',
kAudioUnitSubType_Splitter				= 'splt',
kAudioUnitSubType_Merger				= 'merg',

- i first opened the help file, and a scan started. As the iLok key for MOTU's MachFive wasn't plugged into my laptop, a MOTU window appeared asking if I wanted to authorize or cancel, but it was impossible to click on those buttons. I had to kill Max and logout to get rid of this MOTU window. And I had to plug the iLok to be able to try the plug-in.

- I use 2 monitors. It seems that the option-Window menu trick doesn't work to put the AU window on the main screen.

It looks like the AU window position depends on its previous position, so I often had the plug-in window's title bar hidden under the menu, with no way to move this window.

- I couldn't get any sound from the couple of instruments I tried, but I didn't try for a long time.

 box after you selected a new plug-in, you wil get the window of the previous plug-in.

- a plug-in like the free TC M30 reverb doesn't have a bypass, so the 

 message before the creation of the plug-in list thru the 

- I now just closed the help window (while the [p midi] and 2 AU windows were open), and I have the spining wheel. I had to kill Max (the report is attached).

- I use 2 monitors. It seems that the option-Window menu trick doesn't work to put the AU window on the main screen.
It looks like the AU window position depends on its previous position, so I often had the plug-in window's title bar hidden under the menu, with no way to move this window.

- if you dble-click very fast in the audiounit~ box after you selected a new plug-in, you wil get the window of the previous plug-in.

- a plug-in like the free TC M30 reverb doesn't have a bypass, so the bypass message doesn't work.

- in the help file a clear message before the creation of the plug-in list thru the getpluginnames mesage would be nice.

- I now just closed the help window (while the [p midi] and 2 AU windows were open), and I have the spining wheel. I had to kill Max (the report is attached). 

- navigating in the opened windows (all types) from 1st to last via the keyboard shortcut

{Opt } works fine with AUs with custom views, and doesn't work when it 'falls' into an AU with a generic view: it's not possible then to goto next nor previous window.

- Cmd-w to close the AU's view would be very useful.

- Presets: while all 'aupreset' and/or 'pst' found in sub-folders are correctly displayed in the umenu, only those found at the very first level can be loaded.

Same behavior for the presets in the local lib than for those in the user lib. Example:

(~)/Library/Audio/Presets/Apple/AUPitch/ {preset 1, preset 2}

(~)/Library/Audio/Presets/Apple/AUPitch/sub-folder/{ preset 3, preset 4}

Result: only presets 1 and 2 can be used, presets 3 and 4 in a sub-ƒ are not usable while they should be.

- navigating in the opened windows (all types) from 1st to last via the keyboard shortcut
{Opt } works fine with AUs with custom views, and doesn't work when it 'falls' into an AU with a generic view: it's not possible then to goto next nor previous window.

- Presets: while all 'aupreset' and/or 'pst' found in sub-folders are correctly displayed in the umenu, only those found at the very first level can be loaded.
Same behavior for the presets in the local lib than for those in the user lib. Example:

(~)/Library/Audio/Presets/Apple/AUPitch/ {preset 1, preset 2}
(~)/Library/Audio/Presets/Apple/AUPitch/sub-folder/{ preset 3, preset 4}

"- I use 2 monitors. It seems that the option-Window menu trick doesn't work to put the AU window on the main screen."

"... I often had the plug-in window's title bar hidden under the menu, with no way to move this window."

Yes, needing to use the wclose message since the AU view doesn't receive the cmd-w shortkey.

"- I couldn't get any sound from the couple of instruments I tried"

"- if you dble-click very fast in the audiounit~ box after you selected a new plug-in, you will get the window of the previous plug-in."

"- a plug-in like the free TC M30 reverb doesn't have a bypass, so the bypass message doesn't work."

A such bypass is a feature of the AU host software, not a feature of the plug-in itself.

Here again, the [audiounit~]'s bypass works fine on my Mac.

"- I now just closed the help window (while the [p midi] and 2 AU windows were open), and I have the spinning wheel."

Here, when I close [p midi], the AU's view is kept displayed onscreen and I have to close it manually.

"...  I often had the plug-in window's title bar hidden under the menu, with no way to move this window."

A such bypass is a feature of the AU host software, not a feature of the plug-in itself.
Here again, the [audiounit~]'s bypass works fine on my Mac.

"- in the help file a clear message before the creation of the plug-in list thru the getpluginnames message would be nice."

I just did it myself for all umenus and also to the [coll plugininfo] in [p misc].

I also found useful to add (clearchecks, checkitem $1 1) attached to each umenu, especially for any AU for which I have a lot of presets.

I just did it myself for all umenus and also to the [coll plugininfo] in [p misc].
I also found useful to add (clearchecks, checkitem $1 1) attached to each umenu, especially for any AU for which I have a lot of presets.

This happened with "heavy" plug-ins, which takes seconds to load, like MOTU Mach5.

Thanks for the feedback. Mach-5 was not a plug-in that we had tested, so it seems like it provides us with some special problems. We appreciate the reports about that.

The cmd-w problem will be fixed in Max 5.1.4.

The others are also being looked into. Thanks again!

Thanks for the feedback.  Mach-5 was not a plug-in that we had tested, so it seems like it provides us with some special problems.  We appreciate the reports about that.

The others are also being looked into.  Thanks again!


"navigating in the opened windows (all types) from 1st to last via the keyboard shortcut

{Opt } works fine with AUs with custom views, and doesn't work when it 'falls' into an AU with a generic view: it's not possible then to goto next nor previous window"

This occurs with all generic & custom Cocoa views, works fine with custom Carbon views only.

"navigating in the opened windows (all types) from 1st to last via the keyboard shortcut
{Opt } works fine with AUs with custom views, and doesn't work when it 'falls' into an AU with a generic view: it's not possible then to goto next nor previous window"

Correction:
This occurs with all generic & custom Cocoa views, works fine with custom Carbon views only.

Ah yes, probably due to the iLok checking. I can't reproduce, sorry.

if you dble-click very fast in the audiounit~ box after you selected a new plug-in, you will get the window of the previous plug-in

Ah yes, probably due to the iLok checking. I can't reproduce, sorry.


I have the same problem with Motu Electric Keys, when my ilok isn't plugged.

During the audiounit background scan, the motu ilok window appears in the back of the patch but I'm not able to click on it and the scan is stopped.

Quitting max doesn't make the window disappear.

I have to restart the computer to get rid of the window.

I was able to reproduce by using the resetcache message to [audiounit~]

I have the same problem with Motu Electric Keys, when my ilok isn't plugged.
During the audiounit background scan, the motu ilok window appears in the back of the patch but I'm not able to click on it and the scan is stopped.

Max still continues to work.
Quitting max doesn't make the window disappear.
I have to restart the computer to get rid of the window.

"The cmd-w problem will be fixed in Max 5.1.4."

"The others are also being looked into. Thanks again!"

A big thank you, to you, for this great feature!

Btw: For users who have Xcode installed, there's some extra AudioUnits in the Dev' folder, like AdditiveSynth and AULooper.

- Also listed in the effects, I don't understand how can it work there?

- In [p midi] : [audiounit~ 0 2 DLSMusicDevice] doesn't work, I can't open its window, not listed in the menu.

Works fine if I simply create [audiounit~ DLSMusicDevice]

- In [p midi] : [audiounit~ 0 2 DLSMusicDevice] doesn't work, I can't open its window, not listed in the menu.
Works fine if I simply create [audiounit~ DLSMusicDevice]


@PhiDjee: thanks for the clarification about the command-` for cycling through windows. That's a big help. If you have Cocoa generic views then I guess you are on OS 10.6?

@Léopold: Your report does help. I'm not sure what to do about it yet, but it helps to clarify the details of this particular bug.

@PhiDjee: thanks for the clarification about the command-` for cycling through windows.  That's a big help.  If you have Cocoa generic views then I guess you are on OS 10.6?

@Léopold: Your report does help.  I'm not sure what to do about it yet, but it helps to clarify the details of this particular bug.


Mr Place you've done it again! No time to test these days but I'm super excited.

@Timothy : In fact to get rid of the motu ilok window, I just need to kill the auscan process in the activity monitor (this process still runs after max is closed)

Nice object anyway, pretty stable so far, I'm happy to finally be able to use Micheal Norris Spectral plugs in max.

Yes, audiounit~ runs 'auscan' in its own process so that if a plug-in crashes during the scan then Max does not crash. In this case the plug-in is not crashing though, it is just hanging. We'll need to see if a plug-in is taking too long and if it is then we can kill the process and move on.

I guess the moral of the story is to plug in your iLok :-).

Yes, audiounit~ runs 'auscan' in its own process so that if a plug-in crashes during the scan then Max does not crash.  In this case the plug-in is not crashing though, it is just hanging.  We'll need to see if a plug-in is taking too long and if it is then we can kill the process and move on.

I guess the moral of the story is to plug in your iLok :-).


"@PhiDjee: thanks for the clarification about the command-` for cycling through windows. That's a big help. If you have Cocoa generic views then I guess you are on OS 10.6?"

No, 10.5.8 for Max5. I believe that 'open generic' always opens a generic Cocoa view for every AU.

With a generic Carbon view, the background color would be white and not grey, no 'clump' (aka NSBox), no meter gauge, etc. See AUMultibandCompressor.

AdditiveSynth is a good example with a generic and custom Cocoa view:

file://localhost/Developer/Extras/CoreAudio/AudioUnits/AdditiveSynth/

No, 10.5.8 for Max5. I believe that 'open generic' always opens a generic Cocoa view for every AU.
With a generic Carbon view, the background color would be white and not grey, no 'clump' (aka NSBox), no meter gauge, etc. See AUMultibandCompressor.

VERIFYING CUSTOM UI
Carbon View Components Available: 0

Cocoa Views Available: 1
AdditiveSynthCocoaUI
PASS
******

I'm building a standalone and have trouble including the audiounit~ object.

Building the help file as an application should demonstrate the problem.

I have several messages in the max window (I suppose corresponding to the number of AU plugs I own) :

"method valuebyindex called on invalid object"

the getpluginnames doesn't give me any plugins in the umenu

I know I shouldn't work with a beta object already, but it seemed alright,

so if you have a fix for this, I'm interested.

I'm building a standalone and have trouble including the audiounit~ object.
Building the help file as an application should demonstrate the problem.
I have several messages in the max window (I suppose corresponding to the number of AU plugs I own) :

the getpluginnames doesn't give me any plugins in the umenu
open generic doesn't work.

Max 5.1.3
Mac OS 10.5.8
Macbook Pro Intel C2Duo 2.4GHz 2Go ram

I know I shouldn't work with a beta object already, but it seemed alright,
so if you have a fix for this, I'm interested.

audiounit~ uses the sqlite database extension to maintain the cache of scanned plug-ins. So you need to include the sqlite extension in your application bundle (look in Cycling '74/extensions).

audiounit~ uses the sqlite database extension to maintain the cache of scanned plug-ins.  So you need to include the sqlite extension in your application bundle (look in Cycling '74/extensions).

may I suggest this to be written somewhere in the help file or the (future) reference ?

it works great,
may I suggest this to be written somewhere in the help file or the (future) reference ?

Scan doesn't seem to bring up Minispillage:

http://www.audiospillage.com/minispillage.php

it works for me, see [p midi] in the help file.

make sure it appears in the max window during the audiounit~ scan

it works for me, see [p midi] in the help file.
make sure it appears in the max window during the audiounit~ scan

thanks for developing this guys, a proper audiounit object is more than welcome...

Thanks Léo - one day I will learn to look more closely.

Stupid question : If a plug-in exist in both format VST and AU, will there be an advantage (efficiency, stability or comfort) in using AU instead of VST in max ?

I suppose Audiounit plugs are more integrated to the OS, but the object is still beta.

For now, I'd say it's more stable the vst~ object though I haven't worked a lot with vst since max5 appeared.

I suppose Audiounit plugs are more integrated to the OS, but the object is still beta.
For now, I'd say it's more stable the vst~ object though I haven't worked a lot with vst since max5 appeared.

trying to insert an au~object in my patch crashes Max.

Max even crashes when I have a separate patch with an au~object inside open.

trying to insert an au~object in my patch crashes Max.
Max even crashes when I have a separate patch with an au~object inside open.


sorry, I had an au~object and not your audiounit.

But audiounit does not read my orange vocoder inside the component folder

sorry, I had an au~object and not your audiounit.
But audiounit does not read my orange vocoder inside the component folder


We've downloaded the demo and it works for us. Can you perhaps provide some more information? System Information? Max information? Steps to reproduce?

We've downloaded the demo and it works for us.  Can you perhaps provide some more information?  System Information?  Max information?  Steps to reproduce?

It works fine now. I made a mistake inside my patch.

It works fine now. I made a mistake inside my patch.
Well done!!!


This could be simply that this plugin isn't supported but I recently installed a T-RackS 3 Linear Phase EQ audio unit.

The registry list shows the plugin (inside the "misc" patcher in the help file) but it does not show up in the drop down menu in the help file.

In case this is relevant, the columns of its entry in the registry are:

T-RackS 3 Lin Phase EQ | aufx | ikm_ | Td06 | 0

In case this is relevant, the columns of its entry in the registry are: 

T-RackS 3 Lin Phase EQ  |  aufx  |  ikm_  |  Td06  |  0


Apologies, it worked after scanning for new plugins. It would be nice to be able to explicitly scan for new plugins as it hadn't detected it (I think I had added it while audiounit~ in max was running and it had recently scanned for new plugins).

That may be a sign of a bug but I'm sorry I cannot give specific conditions in which it occurs.

Apologies, it worked after scanning for new plugins. It would be nice to be able to explicitly scan for new plugins as it hadn't detected it (I think I had added it while audiounit~ in max was running and it had recently scanned for new plugins).
That may be a sign of a bug but I'm sorry I cannot give specific conditions in which it occurs.


It is a very good thing to have AU in MaxMSP.

Would it be possible to dump all the parameters settings as a list like this : "0.12 1. 98. 0.24 etc.". With that it would be easier to store all my parameters with Pattrstorage.

Or even more, would it be possible to have a pattrifiable audiounit~ object?

Anyway, thanks, audiounit~ works like a charm here.

Hi Tim,
It is a very good thing to have AU in MaxMSP.
Thanks very much.

Anyway, thanks, audiounit~ works like a charm here.
Philippe OLLIVIER


Tried to open the interface of the reverb Z-Room AU (now free: 

 but it crashes Max (the vst version works with vst~).

Tried to open the interface of the reverb Z-Room AU (now free: https://services.duy.net/zroom-free.asp) but it crashes Max (the vst version works with vst~).
Osx 10.6.4 (cpu Intel)
MaxMsp 5.1.4.
Jitter 1.7

- open audiounit~ help
- load Z-Room
- double click on the audiounit~ object

I still have not successfully been able to compile standalones, even when including the sqlite extension. Is there any way to populate that scanned cache from a standalone?

The next version of audiounit~ should be more standalone friendly. It requires Max 5.1.5 though, which hasn't been released yet. When Max 5.1.5 is released then I'll post the update here.

The next version of audiounit~ should be more standalone friendly.  It requires Max 5.1.5 though, which hasn't been released yet.  When Max 5.1.5 is released then I'll post the update here.

I have tried using AUNetSend and AUNetReceive.

AUNetSend seems to work well, but AUNetReceive is not loaded at all.

I have tried using AUNetSend and AUNetReceive.
AUNetSend seems to work well, but AUNetReceive is not loaded at all.
Any reason for this?


AUNetReceive works fine here. In the help file, open [p midi], choose this AU from the menu and click 'open' or double-click the audiounit~object box, not 'open generic'.

But if I do as suggested it only loads the 'AUMatrixMixer'.

On the other hand, sending the message 'plugin DLSMusicDevice' works as expected.

audiounit~ public beta