# yabridge

[![Automated builds](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/workflows/Automated%20builds/badge.svg?branch=master&event=push)](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/actions?query=workflow%3A%22Automated+builds%22+branch%3Amaster)
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Yet Another way to use Windows VST plugins on Linux. Yabridge seamlessly
supports using both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows VST2 and VST3 plugins in a 64-bit
Linux VST host as if they were native VST2 and VST3 plugins, with optional
support for [plugin groups](#plugin-groups) to enable inter-plugin communication
for VST2 plugins and quick startup times. Its modern concurrent architecture and
focus on transparency allows yabridge to be both fast and highly compatible,
while also staying easy to debug and maintain.

![yabridge screenshot](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/master/screenshot.png)

### Table of contents

- [Tested with](#tested-with)
- [Usage](#usage)
  - [Preliminaries](#preliminaries)
  - [Automatic setup (recommended)](#automatic-setup-recommended)
  - [Manual setup](#manual-setup)
  - [DAW setup](#daw-setup)
  - [Bitbridge](#bitbridge)
  - [Wine prefixes](#wine-prefixes)
  - [Search path setup](#search-path-setup)
  - [Configuration](#configuration)
    - [Plugin groups](#plugin-groups)
    - [Compatibility options](#compatibility-options)
    - [Example](#example)
- [Troubleshooting common issues](#troubleshooting-common-issues)
- [Performance tuning](#performance-tuning)
- [Runtime dependencies and known issues](#runtime-dependencies-and-known-issues)
- [Building](#building)
  - [Building without VST3 support](#building-without-vst3-support)
  - [32-bit bitbridge](#32-bit-bitbridge)
- [Debugging](#debugging)
  - [Attaching a debugger](#attaching-a-debugger)

## Tested with

**There's currently an [issue](https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50869)
with Wine 6.5 that will prevent yabridge from shutting down.** **There's a
temporary workaround for this issue on yabridge's master branch (see the
[automated
builds](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/actions?query=workflow%3A%22Automated+builds%22+branch%3Amaster)),
and you can also just stay on Wine Staging 6.4 for the time being.**

Yabridge has been tested under the following hosts using Wine Staging 6.4:

| Host                | VST2               | VST3                                                                                                                      |
| ------------------- | ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Bitwig Studio 3.3.4 | :heavy_check_mark: | :heavy_check_mark:                                                                                                        |
| REAPER 6.25         | :heavy_check_mark: | :heavy_check_mark:                                                                                                        |
| Carla 2.3           | :heavy_check_mark: | :heavy_check_mark:                                                                                                        |
| Renoise 3.3.1       | :heavy_check_mark: | :warning: Editor resizing doesn't work properly because Renoise doesn't call `IPlugView::onSize()`                        |
| Ardour 6.6          | :heavy_check_mark: | :warning: Plugins with multiple inputs or outputs might cause Ardour to crash because it does not yet support that        |
| Mixbus 6.2.407      | :heavy_check_mark: | :warning: Plugins with multiple inputs or outputs might cause Mixbus to crash because it does not yet support that        |
| Qtractor 0.9.19     | :heavy_check_mark: | :x: See [rncbc/qtractor#298](https://github.com/rncbc/qtractor/pull/298), this will be fixed in the next Qtractor release |

Please let me know if there are any issues with other hosts.

## Usage

You can either download a prebuilt version of yabridge through GitHub's
[releases](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/releases) page, or you can
compile it from source using the instructions in the [build](#Building) section
below. If you're downloading the prebuilt version and you're using a distro
that's older than Ubuntu 20.04 such as Ubuntu 18.04, Debian 10, or Linux Mint
19, then you should download the version that ends with `-ubuntu-18.04.tar.gz`.
Alternatively, there are AUR packages available if you are running Arch or
Manjaro ([yabridge](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/yabridge/),
[yabridge-bin](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/yabridge-bin/),
[yabridge-git](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/yabridge-git/)).

### Preliminaries

Yabridge requires a recent version of Wine Staging. Users of Debian, Ubuntu,
Linux Mint and Pop!\_OS should install Wine Staging from the [WineHQ
repositories](https://wiki.winehq.org/Download) as the versions of Wine provided
by those distro's repositories will be too old to be used with yabridge.

**There's currently an [issue](https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=50869)
with Wine 6.5 that will prevent yabridge from shutting down.** **There's a
temporary workaround for this issue on yabridge's master branch (see the
[automated
builds](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/actions?query=workflow%3A%22Automated+builds%22+branch%3Amaster)),
and you can also just stay on Wine Staging 6.4 for the time being.**

For a general overview on how to use Wine to install Windows applications, check
out Wine's [user guide](https://wiki.winehq.org/Wine_User%27s_Guide#Using_Wine).

### Automatic setup (recommended)

The easiest way to get up and running is through
[yabridgectl](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/tree/master/tools/yabridgectl).
Yabridgectl is already included in the archives downloaded from GitHub's
releases page. If you're using Arch or Manjaro, then you can install it using
the AUR package corresponding to your installed version of yabridge
([yabridgectl](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/yabridgectl/),
[yabridgectl-git](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/yabridgectl-git/), and it's
already included in
[yabridge-bin](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/yabridge-bin/)). More
comprehensive documentation on yabridgectl can be found in its
[readme](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/tree/master/tools/yabridgectl),
or by running `yabridgectl --help`.

First, yabridgectl needs to know where it can find yabridge's files. If you have
downloaded the prebuilt binaries from GitHub, then you can simply extract the
archive to `~/.local/share`. Both yabridge and yabridgectl will then pick up the
files in `~/.local/share/yabridge` automatically. You also won't have to do any
additional work if you're using one of the AUR packages. If you have compiled
yabridge from source or if you installed the files to some other location, then
you can use `yabridgectl set --path=<path>` to tell yabridgectl where it can
find the files. Since `~/.local/share/yabridge` will likely not be in your
search `PATH`, you may have to replace `yabridgectl` in any of the examples
below with `~/.local/share/yabridge/yabridgectl`.

Next, you'll want to tell yabridgectl where it can find your VST2 and VST3
plugins. For this you can use yabridgectl's `add`, `rm` and `list` commands. You
can also use `yabridgectl status` to get an overview of the current settings and
the installation status of all of your plugins. To add the most common VST2
plugin directory, use
`yabridgectl add "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins"`. The
directory may be capitalized as `VSTPlugins`
on your system, and some plugins may also install themselves to a similar
directory directly inside of Program Files. VST3 plugins under Windows are
always installed to the same directory, and you can use
`yabridgectl add "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Common Files/VST3"` to add
that one.

Finally, you can run `yabridgectl sync` to finish setting up yabridge for all of
your plugins. For VST2 plugins this will create `.so` files alongside the
Windows VST2 plugins, so if you tell your Linux VST host to search for VST2
plugins there you'll be good to go. VST3 plugins are always set up in
`~/.vst3/yabridge` as per the VST3 specification, and your VST3 host will pick
those up automatically. _Don't forget to rerun `yabridgectl sync` whenever you
update yabridge if you are using the default copy-based installation method._

### Manual setup

Setting up yabridge through yabridgectl is the recommended installation method
as it makes setting up plugins and updating yabridge easier. Yabridgectl will
also check for some common issues during the installation process so you can
get up and running faster. To manually set up yabridge for VST2 plugins, first
download and extract yabridge's files just like in the section above. Yabridge's
files have to be extracted to `~/.local/share`, such that
`~/.local/share/yabridge/libyabridge-vst2.so` exists. If you want to set up
yabridge for a VST2 plugin located at
`~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins/plugin.dll`,
then you'll have to copy `~/.local/share/yabridge/libyabridge-vst2.so` to
`~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins/plugin.so`. This process has
to be repeated for all of your installed plugins whenever you download a new
version of yabridge.

Doing the same thing for VST3 plugins involves creating a [merged VST3
bundle](https://steinbergmedia.github.io/vst3_doc/vstinterfaces/vst3loc.html#mergedbundles)
by hand with the Windows VST3 plugin symlinked in. Doing this without
yabridgectl is not supported since the process is very error prone.

### DAW setup

After first setting up yabridge for VST2 plugins, open your DAW's plugin
location configuration and tell it to search for VST2 plugins under
`~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins`, or whichever VST2 plugin
directories you've added in yabridgectl. That way it will automatically pick up
all of your Windows VST2 plugins. For VST3 plugins no additional DAW
configuration is needed, as those plugins will be set up under
`~/.vst3/yabridge`.

If you're using a DAW that does not have an easy way to configure VST2 plugin
paths, such as Renoise, then you may want to just symlink the plugin directories
to your DAW's default search location, like this:

```shell
ln -s "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/" ~/.vst/yabridge-steinberg
```

### Bitbridge

If you have downloaded the prebuilt version of yabridge or if have followed the
instructions from the [bitbridge](#32-bit-bitbridge) section below, then
yabridge is also able to load 32-bit VST2 plugins. The installation procedure
for 32-bit plugins is exactly the same as for 64-bit plugins. Yabridge will
automatically detect whether a plugin is 32-bit or 64-bit on startup and it will
handle it accordingly.

### Wine prefixes

It is also possible to use yabridge with multiple Wine prefixes. Yabridge will
automatically detect and use the Wine prefix the plugin's `.dll` file is located
in. Alternatively, you can set the `WINEPREFIX` environment variable to override
the Wine prefix for all instances of yabridge.

### Search path setup

This section is only relevant if you're using the _copy-based_ installation
method and your yabridge files are located somewhere other than in
`~/.local/share/yabridge`. You can likely skip this section. If you're using one
of the AUR packages or a distro package then you also won't have to worry about
any of this.

Yabridge needs to know where it can find `yabridge-host.exe`. By default,
yabridge will search your through search path as well as in
`~/.local/share/yabridge` if that exists. When loading yabridge from a
non-standard location, such as when building from source, you may have to modify
your _login shell_'s `PATH` environment variable so that yabridge is able to
find its files. Yabridgectl will automatically check whether this is set up
correctly when you run `yabridgectl sync`, and it will show a warning if it
detects any issues. _If you do not see such a warning after running `yabridgectl sync`, then you can skip this section._

To set this, you'll want to add yabridge's installation directory to your login
shell's `PATH` environment variable. If you're unsure what your login shell is,
then you can open a terminal and run `echo $SHELL` to find out. For the below
examples I'll assume you're using the default installation location at
`~/.local/share/yabridge`.

- First of all, if you're using GDM, LightDM or LXDM as your display manager
  (for instance if you're using GNOME, XFCE or LXDE), then your display manager
  won't respect your login shell and it will always use `/bin/sh` instead. In
  that case you will need to add the following line to `~/.profile`:

  ```shell
  export PATH="$HOME/.local/share/yabridge:$PATH"
  ```

- If you are using the default **Bash** shell, then you will want to add the
  following line to `~/.bash_profile` (or `~/.profile` if that does not exist):

  ```shell
  export PATH="$HOME/.local/share/yabridge:$PATH"
  ```

- If you are using **Zsh**, then you can add the following line to `~/.zprofile`
  (`~/.zshenv` should also work, but some distros such as Arch Linux overwrite
  `PATH` after this file has been read):

  ```shell
  export PATH="$HOME/.local/share/yabridge:$PATH"
  ```

- If you are using **fish**, then you can add the following line to either
  `~/.config/fish/config.fish` or some file in `~/.config/fish/conf.d/`:

  ```shell
  set -gp fish_user_paths ~/.local/share/yabridge
  ```

Rerun `yabridgectl sync` to make sure that the setup has been successful. If the
environment variable has been set up correctly, you should not be seeing any
warnings. _Make sure to log out and log back in again to ensure that all
applications pick up the new changes._

### Configuration

Yabridge can be configured on a per plugin basis to host multiple plugins within
a single process using [plugin groups](#plugin-groups), and there are also a
number of [compatibility options](#compatibility-options) available to improve
compatibility with certain hosts and plugins.

Configuring yabridge is done through a `yabridge.toml` file located in either
the same directory as the plugin's `.so` file you're trying to configure, or in
any of its parent directories. This file contains case sensitive
[glob](https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/glob.7.html) patterns that
match paths to yabridge `.so` files relative to the `yabridge.toml` file. These
patterns can also match an entire directory to apply settings to all plugins
within that directory. To avoid confusion, only the first `yabridge.toml` file
found and only the first matching glob pattern within that file will be
considered. See below for an [example](#example) of a `yabridge.toml` file. On
startup, yabridge will print used `yabridge.toml` file and the matched section
within it, as well as all of the options that have been set.

#### Plugin groups

| Option  | Values            | Description                                                            |
| ------- | ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `group` | `{"<string>",""}` | Defaults to `""`, meaning that the plugin will be hosted individually. |

Some plugins have the ability to communicate with other instances of that same
plugin or even with other plugins made by the same manufacturer. This is often
used in mixing plugins to allow different tracks to reference each other without
having to route audio between them. Examples of plugins that do this are
FabFilter Pro-Q 3, MMultiAnalyzer and the iZotope mixing plugins. In order for
this to work, all instances of a particular plugin will have to be hosted in the
same process.

Yabridge has the concept of _plugin groups_, which are user defined groups of
plugins that will all be hosted inside of a single process. Plugins groups can
be configured for a plugin by setting the `group` option of that plugin to some
name. All plugins with the same group name will be hosted within a single
process. Of course, plugin groups with the same name but in different Wine
prefixes and with different architectures will be run independently of each
other. See below for an [example](#example) of how these groups can be set up.

_Note that because of the way VST3 works, multiple instances of a single VST3
plugin will always be hosted in a single process regardless of whether you have
enabled plugin groups or not._ _The only reason to use plugin groups with VST3
plugins is to get slightly lower loading times the first time you load a new
plugin._

#### Compatibility options

| Option                | Values         | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| --------------------- | -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `cache_time_info`     | `{true,false}` | Compatibility option for VST2 plugins that call `audioMasterGetTime()` multiple times during a single processing cycle. With this option subsequent calls during a single audio processing cycle will reuse the value returned by the first call to this function. This is a bug in the plugin, and this option serves as a temporary workaround until the plugin fixes the issue.                                                                                                  |
| `editor_double_embed` | `{true,false}` | Compatibility option for plugins that rely on the absolute screen coordinates of the window they're embedded in. Since the Wine window gets embedded inside of a window provided by your DAW, these coordinates won't match up and the plugin would end up drawing in the wrong location without this option. Currently the only known plugins that require this option are _PSPaudioware_ plugins with expandable GUIs, such as E27. Defaults to `false`.                          |
| `editor_force_dnd`    | `{true,false}` | This option forcefully enables drag-and-drop support in _REAPER_. Because REAPER's FX window supports drag-and-drop itself, dragging a file onto a plugin editor will cause the drop to be intercepted by the FX window. This makes it impossible to drag files onto plugins in REAPER under normal circumstances. Setting this option to `true` will strip drag-and-drop support from the FX window, thus allowing files to be dragged onto the plugin again. Defaults to `false`. |
| `editor_xembed`       | `{true,false}` | Use Wine's XEmbed implementation instead of yabridge's normal window embedding method. Some plugins will have redrawing issues when using XEmbed and editor resizing won't always work properly with it, but it could be useful in certain setups. You may need to use [this Wine patch](https://github.com/psycha0s/airwave/blob/master/fix-xembed-wine-windows.patch) if you're getting blank editor windows. Defaults to `false`.                                                |
| `frame_rate`          | `<number>`     | The rate at which Win32 events are being handled and usually also the refresh rate of a plugin's editor GUI. When using plugin groups all plugins share the same event handling loop, so in those the last loaded plugin will set the refresh rate. Defaults to `60`.                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| `vst3_no_scaling`     | `{true,false}` | Disable HiDPI scaling for VST3 plugins. Wine currently does not have proper fractional HiDPI support, so you might have to enable this option if you're using a HiDPI display. In most cases setting the font DPI in `winecfg`'s graphics tab to 192 will cause plugins to scale correctly at 200% size. Defaults to `false`.                                                                                                                                                       |

These options are workarounds for issues mentioned in the [known
issues](#runtime-dependencies-and-known-issues) section. Depending on the hosts
and plugins you use you might want to enable some of them.

#### Example

All of the paths used here are relative to the `yabridge.toml` file. A
configuration file for VST2 plugins might look a little something like this:

```toml
# ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins/yabridge.toml

["FabFilter Pro-Q 3.so"]
group = "fabfilter"

["MeldaProduction/Tools/MMultiAnalyzer.so"]
group = "melda"

# Matches an entire directory and all files inside it, make sure to not include
# a trailing slash
["ToneBoosters"]
group = "toneboosters"

["PSPaudioware"]
editor_double_embed = true

["Analog Lab 3.so"]
editor_xembed = true

["SWAM Cello 64bit.so"]
cache_time_info = true

["sforzando VST_x64.so"]
editor_force_dnd = true
frame_rate = 24

# Simple glob patterns can be used to avoid unneeded repetition
["iZotope*/Neutron *"]
group = "izotope"

# Since this file has already been matched by the above glob pattern, this won't
# do anything
["iZotope7/Neutron 2 Mix Tap.so"]
group = "This will be ignored!"

# Of course, you can also add multiple plugins to the same group by hand
["iZotope7/Insight 2.so"]
group = "izotope"

# This would cause all plugins to be hosted within a single process. Doing so
# greatly reduces the loading time of individual plugins, with the caveat being
# that plugins are no longer sandboxed from each other.
#
# ["*"]
# group = "all"
```

For VST3 plugins you should just match the directory instead of the `.so` file
deep within in, like this:

```toml
# ~/.vst3/yabridge/yabridge.toml

["FabFilter*.vst3"]
group = "fabfilter"
vst3_no_scaling = true

["Misstortion2.vst3"]
vst3_no_scaling = true

# These options would be applied to all plugins that do not already have their
# own configuration set
["*"]
editor_force_dnd = true
vst3_no_scaling = true
```

## Troubleshooting common issues

If your problem is not listed here, then feel free to post on the [issue
tracker](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/issues) or to ask about it in
the yabridge [Discord](https://discord.gg/pyNeweqadf).

- If you have the `WINEPREFIX` environment variable set and you _don't_ want all
  of your plugins to use that specific Wine prefix then you should unset it to
  allow yabridge to automatically detect Wine prefixes for you.

- If you're seeing errors related to Wine either when running `yabridgectl sync`
  or when trying to load a plugin, then it can be that your installed version of
  Wine is much older than the version that yabridge has been compiled for.
  Yabridgectl will automatically check for this when you run `yabridgectl sync`
  after updating Wine or yabridge. You can also manually verify that Wine is
  working correctly by running one of the VST host applications. Assuming that
  yabridge is installed under `~/.local/share/yabridge`, then running
  `~/.local/share/yabridge/yabridge-host.exe` directly (so _not_
  `wine ~/.local/share/yabridge/yabridge-host.exe`, that won't work) in a
  terminal should print a few messages related to Wine's startup process
  followed by the following line:

  ```
  Usage: yabridge-host.exe <plugin_type> <plugin_location> <endpoint_base_directory>
  ```

  If you're seeing a `002b:err:module:__wine_process_init` error instead, then
  your version of Wine is too old for this version of yabridge and you'll have
  to upgrade your Wine version. Instructions for how to do this on Ubuntu can be
  found on the [WineHQ website](https://wiki.winehq.org/Ubuntu).

  If you're getting a `0024:err:process:exec_process` error, then your Wine
  prefix is set to 32-bit only and it won't be possible to run 64-bit
  applications like `yabridge-host.exe`.

- Timeout errors during plugin scanning are caused by the Wine process not being
  able to start. There should be plugin output messages in your DAW or terminal
  that with more information on what went wrong.

- Sometimes left over Wine processes can cause problems. Run `wineserver -k` to
  terminate Wine related in the current or default Wine prefix.

- If you're using the copy-based installation method and plugins are getting
  skipped or blacklisted immediately when your VST host is scanning them, then
  this is likely caused by `yabridge-host.exe` not being found in your search
  path. See the [search path setup](#search-path-setup) section for instructions
  on how to fix this.

- If you're using the symlink installation method and you're seeing multiple
  duplicate instances of the same plugin, or after opening a single plugin every
  subsequent plugin opens as another instance of that first plugin, then your
  VST host is not sandboxing individual plugins. If you're using Bitwig Studio,
  the make sure the '_Per plugin-in_'` or '_Individually_' plugin hosting mode
  is enabled and all of the checkboxes in the list of sandboxing exceptions are
  left unchecked.

- If you're not using yabridgectl and a plugin is not getting picked up at all,
  then you can verify that the symlink or copy is correct by running:

  ```shell
  readelf -s ~/.wine/drive_c/path/to/plugin.so | grep yabridge
  ```

  The output should contain several lines related to yabridge.

- If you're using a _lot_ of plugins and you're unable to load any new plugins,
  then you may be running into Xorg's client limit. The exact number of plugins
  it takes for this to happen will depend on your system and the other
  applications running in the background. An easy way to check if this is the
  case would be to try and run `wine cmd.exe` from a terminal. If this prints a
  message about the maximum number of clients being reached (or if you are not
  able to open the terminal at all), then you might want to consider using
  [plugin groups](#plugin-groups) to run multiple instances of your most
  frequently used plugins within a single process.

## Performance tuning

Running Windows plugins under Wine should have a minimal performance overhead,
but you may still notice an increase in latency spikes and overall DSP load.
Luckily there are a few things you can do to get rid of most or all of these
negative side effects:

- First of all, you'll want to make sure that you can run programs with realtime
  scheduling. Note that on Arch and Manjaro this does not necessarily require a
  realtime kernel as they include the `PREEMPT` patch set in their regular
  kernels. You can verify that this is working correctly by running
  `chrt -f 10 whoami`, which should your username, and running `uname -a` should
  print something that contains `PREEMPT` in the output. You can also try
  enabling the `threadirqs` kernel parameter which can in some situations help
  with xruns.

- Make sure that you're using the performance frequency scaling governor, as
  changing clock speeds in the middle of a real time workload can cause latency
  spikes.

- The last but perhaps the most important thing you can do is to use a build of
  Wine compiled with Proton's fsync patches. This can improve performance
  significantly when using certain plugins. If you're running Arch or Manjaro,
  then you can use [Tk-Glitch's Wine
  fork](https://github.com/Frogging-Family/wine-tkg-git) for a customizable
  version of Wine with the fsync patches included. Aside from a patched copy of
  Wine you'll also need a supported kernel for this to work. Manjaro's kernel
  supports fsync out of the box, and on Arch you can use the `linux-zen` kernel.
  Finally, you'll have to set the `WINEFSYNC` environment variable to `1` to
  enable fsync. See the [search path setup](#search-path-setup) section for more
  information on where to set this environment variable so that it gets picked
  up when you start your DAW. You can use the following command to check if this
  is set correctly:

  ```shell
  env -i HOME="$HOME" $SHELL -l -c 'echo $WINEFSYNC'
  ```

  If this prints `1` then everything is set up correctly. If you're using GNOME,
  XFCE, or any other desktop environment using GDM, LightDM or LXDM, then you
  should replace `$SHELL` in the command above with `sh` before running it.
  You'll have to log out and back in again for this to take effect on
  applications launched from the GUI.

  You can find a guide to setting these things up on Ubuntu
  [here](https://zezic.github.io/yabridge-benchmark/).

- If you have the option, the VST3 version of a plugin usually performs better
  than the VST2 version. This is because with VST2 a typical audio processing
  cycle requires _at least_ two function calls plus another function call for
  every parameter change and MIDI event. With VST3 all of that gets wrapped up
  in a single function call. That significantly reduces the amount of
  back-and-forth communication needed, and thus the potential overhead of
  bridging. VST3 plugins also allow the host to do some optimizations for plugins
  that are not actively processing sound, which potentially reduces the overall
  DSP load even further in a large project where there may be many tracks that
  are not actively being used during most of the project.

- [Plugin groups](#plugin-groups) can also greatly improve performance when
  using many instances of the same VST2 plugin. _VST3 plugins have similar
  functionality built in by design_. Some plugins, like the BBC Spitfire
  plugins, can share a lot of resources between different instances of the
  plugin. Hosting all instances of the same plugin in a single process can in
  those cases greatly reduce overall CPU usage and get rid of latency spikes.

## Runtime dependencies and known issues

Any plugin should function out of the box, although some plugins will need some
additional dependencies for their GUIs to work correctly. Notable examples
include:

- **Serum** requires you to disable `d2d1.dll` in `winecfg` and to install
  `gdiplus` through `winetricks`.
- **Native Instruments** plugins work, but Native Access is unable to finish
  installing the plugins. To work around this you can open the .iso file
  downloaded to your downloads directory and run the installer directly. You may
  also have to manually terminate the ISO driver installation process when
  installing Native Access for the first time to allow the installation to
  proceed. Some Native Instruments .iso files contain hidden files, and the
  installer will fail unless you mount the .iso file with the correct mounting
  options. To do this, first run
  `udisksctl loop-setup -f ~/Downloads/<filename>.iso` to load the .iso file,
  and then use `udisksctl mount -t udf -o unhide -b /dev/loopX` where
  `/dev/loopX` corresponds to the loop device printed by the `loop-setup`
  command to mount the .iso file to a directory in `/run/media`.
- If **Spitfire Audio** plugins like **BBC Symphony Orchestra** and **LABS** are
  unable to load their sample libraries (_Error #X: Something went wrong_), then
  you should try reinstalling those plugins to a new, clean Wine prefix. Make
  sure to uninstall them along with their associated VST2 and VST3 plugins from
  your main Wine prefix first before installing them to the new prefix to avoid
  mixups.
- **MeldaProduction** plugins have minor rendering issues when GPU acceleration
  is enabled. This can be fixed by disabling GPU acceleration in the plugin
  settings. I'm not sure whether this is an issue with Wine or the plugins
  themselves. Notable issues here are missing redraws and incorrect positioning
  when the window gets dragged offscreen on the top and left dies of the screen.
- Knobs in **Tokyo Dawn Records** plugins may not behave as expected when
  dragging long distances. Setting the 'Continuous Drag' option in the plugin's
  options to 'Linear' fixes the issue.
- If **Scaler 2**'s interface lags, blacks out, or otherwise renders poorly,
  then you can try enabling [software
  rendering](https://forum.scalerplugin.com/t/scaler-2-black-empty-window/3540/8)
  to fix these issues.
- Plugins by **KiloHearts** have file descriptor leaks when _esync_ is enabled,
  causing Wine and yabridge to eventually stop working after the system hits the
  open file limit. To fix this, either unset `WINEESYNC` while using yabridge or
  switch to using [_fsync_](#performance-tuning) instead.
- **PSPaudioware** plugins with expandable GUIs, such as E27, may have their GUI
  appear in the wrong location after the GUI has been expanded. You can enable
  an alternative [editor hosting mode](#compatibility-options) to fix this.
- The VST2 version of **SWAM Cello** has a bug where it asks the host for the
  current buffer's time and tempo information for every sample it processes
  instead of doing it only once per buffer, resulting in very bad performance.
  You can enable the time info cache [compatibility
  option](#compatibility-options) to work around this until this is fixed on the
  plugin's side.
- VST2 plugins like **FabFilter Pro-Q 3** that can share data between different
  instances of the same plugin plugins have to be hosted within a single process
  for that functionality to work. See the [plugin groups](#plugin-groups)
  section for instructions on how to set this up. This is not necessary for VST3
  plugins, as multiple instances of those plugins will always be hosted in a
  single process by design.
- Some hosts, particularly _Ardour_, _REAPER_, _Qtractor_, will by default not
  unload VST3 modules after you close the last plugin. This means that the
  associated `yabridge-host.exe` process will keep running until you close the
  project. For REAPER there's an option called
  `Allow complete unload of VST plug-ins` in the `VST` tab of the settings
  dialog to disable this behaviour.
- **Drag-and-drop** from applications running under Wine to X11 does not yet
  work, so you won't be able to drag samples and MIDI files from a plugin to the
  host. At least, not directly. Because Windows applications have to create
  actual files on the disk for drag-and-drop to work, you can keep a file
  manager open and manually drag the generated files into your DAW as a
  workaround. To find out where in `~/.wine` the plugin is creating its files,
  you can use the following command to monitor the Wine prefix for any newly
  created files:

  ```shell
  inotifywait -mre CLOSE_WRITE --format '%w%f' ~/.wine/drive_c
  ```

- Aside from the above mentioned Wine issue, _drag-and-drop_ to the plugin
  window under **REAPER** doesn't work because of a long standing issue in
  REAPER's FX window implementation. You can use a compatibility option to
  [force drag-and-drop]([editor hosting mode](#compatibility-options)) to work
  around this limitation.

Aside from that, these are some known caveats:

- Most recent **iZotope** plugins don't have a functional GUI in a typical out
  of the box Wine setup because of missing dependencies. Please let me know if
  you know which dependencies are needed for these plugins to render correctly.
- MIDI key labels for VST2 plugins (commonly used for drum machines and
  multisamplers) will not be updated after the host first asks for them since
  VST 2.4 has no way to let the host know that those labels have been updated.
  Deactivating and reactivating the plugin will cause these labels to be updated
  again for the current patch.

There are also some extension features for both VST2.4 and VST3 that have not
been implemented yet because I either haven't seen them used or because we don't
have permission to do so yet. Examples of this are:

- SysEx messages for VST2 plugins. In addition to MIDI, VST 2.4 also supports
  SysEx. I don't know of any hosts or plugins that use this, but please let me
  know if this is needed for something.
- Vendor specific VST2.4 extensions (for instance, for
  [REAPER](https://www.reaper.fm/sdk/vst/vst_ext.php), though most of these
  extension functions will work out of the box without any modifications).
- The [Presonus extensions](https://presonussoftware.com/en_US/developer) to the
  VST3 interfaces. All of these extensions have been superseded by official VST3
  interfaces in later versions of the VST3 SDK.
- VST3 plugin support for
  [ARA](https://www.celemony.com/en/service1/about-celemony/technologies). These
  interfaces are currently closed source so we cannot yet implement them, but
  this may change soon.

## Building

To compile yabridge, you'll need [Meson](https://mesonbuild.com/index.html) and
the following dependencies:

- GCC 10+[\*](#building-ubuntu-18.04)
- A Wine installation with `winegcc` and the development headers. The latest
  commits contain a workaround for a winelib [compilation
  issue](https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=49138) with Wine 5.7+.
- Boost version 1.66 or higher[\*](#building-ubuntu-18.04)
- libxcb

The following dependencies are included in the repository as a Meson wrap:

- [bitsery](https://github.com/fraillt/bitsery)
- [function2](https://github.com/Naios/function2)
- [tomlplusplus](https://github.com/marzer/tomlplusplus)
- Version 3.7.2 of the [VST3 SDK](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/vst3sdk) with
  some [patches](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/blob/master/tools/patch-vst3-sdk.sh)
  to allow Winelib compilation

The project can then be compiled with the command below. You can remove or
change the unity size argument if building takes up too much RAM, or you can
disable unity builds completely by getting rid of `--unity=on` at the cost of
slightly longer build times.

```shell
meson setup --buildtype=release --cross-file=cross-wine.conf --unity=on --unity-size=1000 build
ninja -C build
```

After you've finished building you can follow the instructions under the
[usage](#usage) section on how to set up yabridge.

<sup id="building-ubuntu-18.04">
  *The versions of GCC and Boost that ship with Ubuntu 18.04 by default are too
  old to compile yabridge. If you do wish to build yabridge from scratch rather
  than using the <a
  href="https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/actions?query=workflow%3A%22Automated+builds%22+branch%3Amaster">prebuilt
  binaries</a>, then you should take a look at the <a
  href="https://github.com/robbert-vdh/docker-yabridge/blob/master/bionic/Dockerfile">docker
  image</a> used when building yabridge on Ubuntu 18.04 for on overview of what
  would need to be installed to compile on Ubuntu 18.04.
</sup>

### 32-bit bitbridge

It is also possible to compile a host application for yabridge that's compatible
with 32-bit plugins such as old SynthEdit plugins. This will allow yabridge to
act as a bitbridge, allowing you to run old 32-bit only Windows VST2 plugins in
a modern 64-bit Linux VST host. For this you'll need to have installed the 32
bit versions of the Boost and XCB libraries. This can then be set up as follows:

```shell
# Enable the bitbridge on an existing build
meson configure build -Dwith-bitbridge=true
# Or configure a new build from scratch
meson setup --buildtype=release --cross-file cross-wine.conf -Dwith-bitbridge=true build

ninja -C build
```

This will produce four files called `yabridge-host-32.exe`,
`yabridge-host-32.exe.so`, `yabridge-group-32.exe` and
`yabridge-group-32.exe.so`. Yabridge will detect whether the plugin you're
trying to load is 32-bit or 64-bit, and will run either the regular version or
the `*-32.exe` variant accordingly.

## Debugging

Wine's error messages and warning are usually very helpful whenever a plugin
doesn't work right away. However, with some VST hosts it can be hard read a
plugin's output. To make it easier to debug malfunctioning plugins, yabridge
offers these two environment variables to control yabridge's logging facilities:

- `YABRIDGE_DEBUG_FILE=<path>` allows you to write yabridge's debug messages as
  well as all output produced by the plugin and by Wine itself to a file. For
  instance, you could launch your DAW with
  `env YABRIDGE_DEBUG_FILE=/tmp/yabridge.log <daw>`, and then use
  `tail -F /tmp/yabridge.log` to keep track of the output. If this option is not
  present then yabridge will write all of its debug output to STDERR instead.
- `YABRIDGE_DEBUG_LEVEL={0,1,2}` allows you to set the verbosity of the debug
  information. Each level increases the amount of debug information printed:

  - A value of `0` (the default) means that yabridge will only log the output
    from the Wine process and some basic information about the
    environment, the configuration and the plugin being loaded.
  - A value of `1` will log detailed information about most events and function
    calls sent between the VST host and the plugin. This filters out some noisy
    events such as `effEditIdle()` and `audioMasterGetTime()` since those are
    sent multiple times per second by for every plugin.
  - A value of `2` will cause all of the events to be logged without any
    filtering. This is very verbose but it can be crucial for debugging
    plugin-specific problems.

  More detailed information about these debug levels can be found in
  `src/common/logging.h`.

Wine's own [logging facilities](https://wiki.winehq.org/Debug_Channels) can also
be very helpful when diagnosing problems. In particular the `+message`,
`+module` and `+relay` channels are very useful to trace the execution path
within the loaded VST plugin itself.

### Attaching a debugger

To debug the plugin you can just attach gdb to the host as long as any
sandboxing or out of process hosting is disabled (or you'll have to wrap around
that host process). Debugging the Wine plugin host is a bit more difficult. Wine
comes with a GDB proxy for winedbg, but it requires a little bit of additional
setup and it doesn't support arguments containing spaces. To make this a bit
easier, yabridge includes winedbg support behind a build option. You can enable
this using:

```shell
meson configure build --buildtype=debug -Dwith-winedbg=true
```

Currently winedbg's normal GDB proxy is broken, so this option will start a
remote GDB server that you have to connect to. You can use `gdb build/yabridge-host.exe.so` to start GDB, and then use the GDB `target` command
printed to STDERR or `$YABRIDGE_DEBUG_FILE` to start the debugging session. Note
that plugin names with spaces in the actual `.dll` or `.vst3` file name will
have to be renamed first for this approach to work.
