yabridge/README.md

# 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)

Yet Another way to use Windows VST plugins on Linux. Yabridge seamlessly
supports running both 64-bit Windows VST2 plugins as well as 32-bit Windows VST2
plugins in a 64-bit Linux VST host, with optional support for inter-plugin
communication through [plugin groups](#plugin-groups). This project aims to be
as transparent as possible in order to achieve the best possible plugin
compatibility 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)
  - [Automatic setup](#automatic-setup)
  - [Manual setup](#manual-setup)
  - [Search path setup](#search-path-setup)
  - [DAW setup](#daw-setup)
  - [Bitbridge](#bitbridge)
  - [Wine prefixes](#wine-prefixes)
  - [Configuration](#configuration)
    - [Plugin groups](#plugin-groups)
    - [Editor hosting modes](#editor-hosting-modes)
    - [Example](#example)
- [Troubleshooting common issues](#troubleshooting-common-issues)
- [Runtime dependencies and known issues](#runtime-dependencies-and-known-issues)
- [Building](#building)
  - [32-bit bitbridge](#32-bit-bitbridge)
- [Debugging](#debugging)
  - [Attaching a debugger](#attaching-a-debugger)

## Tested with

Yabridge has been verified to work correctly in the following VST hosts using
Wine Staging 5.8:

- Bitwig Studio 3.2
- Carla 2.1
- Ardour 6.0
- Mixbus 6.0.702
- REAPER 6.09
- Renoise 3.2.1

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

## Usage

You can either download a prebuilt version of yabridge through GitHub's
[releases](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/releases) section, or you can
compile it from source using the instructions in the [build](#Building) section
below. 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/)).

There are two ways to use yabridge, either by using copies or through symbolink
links. If your host supports plugin sanboxing, then using symlinks will be the
easier installation method. The main advantage here is that you will be able to
update yabridge for all of your plugins by just overwriting yabridge's files,
and it avoids having to either install yabridge outside of your home directory
or to modify environment variables to get yabridge to find the correct files.
Sadly, not all hosts support this behavior. The copy-based installation will
work for all hosts. If you decide to use the symlink-based installation method
with Bitwig Studio, then make sure the _Individually_ plugin hosting mode is
enabled.

### Automatic setup

The easiest way to get up and running is through
[yabridgectl](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/tree/master/tools/yabridgectl).
You can download yabridgectl from GitHub's
[releases](https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge/releases) section. There is
also an AUR package available if you are running Arch of Manjaro
([yabridgectl-git](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/yabridgectl-git/), it's
also included in
[yabridge-bin](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/yabridge-bin/)). More
comprehensive documentation can be found in yabridgectl's readme, or by running
`yabridgectl --help`.

First of all, yabridgectl needs to know where it can find yabridge's files. If
you have downloaded the prebuilt binaries, then you can simply extract the
archive to `~/.local/share` and yabridgectl will pick up the files in
`~/.local/share/yabridge` automatically. You also won't to do any additional
setup 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.

Secondly, yabridgectl will default to the copy-based installation method. If you
are using a VST host with individually sandboxed plugins such as Bitwig Studio
and you want to use the symlink-based installation method instead, then you can
enable that using `yabridgectl set --method=symlink`.

Next you'll want to tell yabridgectl where it can find your plugins. For this
you can use yabridgectl's `add`, `rm` and `list` commands. For instance, to add
the most common VST2 plugin directory, use `yabridgectl add "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins"`. You can also use
`yabridgectl status` to get an overview of the current settings and the
installation status of all of your plugins.

Finally you can run `yabridgectl sync` to finish setting up yabridge. Simply
tell your VST host to search for plugins in the directories you just added and
you'll be good to go. Don't forget to rerun `yabridgectl sync` whenever you
update yabridge if you are using the copy-based installation method.

### Manual setup

To set up yabridge without using yabridgectl, first download and extract
yabridge's files like in the section above. The rest of this section assumes
that you have extracted the files to `~/.local/share` (such that
`~/.local/share/yabridge/libyabridge.so` exists), and that you want to set up
yabridge for the VST2 plugin called `~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins/plugin.dll`.

Depending on whether you want to use copy or symlink-based installation method,
you can then set up yabridge for that plugin by creating a copy or symlink of
`libyabridge.so` next to `plugin.dll` called `plugin.so`. For the example,
you can use either:

```shell
# For the copy-based installation method
cp ~/.local/share/yabridge/libyabridge.so "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins/plugin.so"
# For the symlink-based installation method
ln -sf ~/.local/share/yabridge/libyabridge.so "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins/plugin.so"
```

If you are using the copy-based installation method, then don't forget to
overwrite all copies of `libyabridge.so` you created this way whenever you
update yabridge.

### Search path setup

If you are using the _copy-based_ installation method with the prebuilt binaries
from GitHub's releases section, then you'll have to modify your _login shell_'s
`PATH` environment variable so that yabridge is able to find `yabridge-host.exe`
and other related 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.

To do 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`.

- If you are using the default **Bash** shell, then you will want to add the
  following line to `~/.bash_profile` (or `~/.profile` if it 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.

### DAW setup

Finally, open your DAW's VST location configuration and tell it to look for
plugins under `~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins`. That way it
will automatically pick up any of your Windows VST2 plugins.

### 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 VST 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 could set the `WINEPREFIX` environment variable to
override the Wine prefix for all instances of yabridge.

### Configuration

Configuring yabridge for specific plugins is done through a `yabridge.toml` file
located in either the same directory as the symlink to or copy of
`libyabridge.so` 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
paths of yabridge `.so` files relative to that `yabridge.toml` file. These
patterns can also match an entire directory to apply settings to all plugins
within that directory. For simplicity's sake, 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.

#### Plugin groups

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.

#### Editor hosting modes

The way yabridge embeds editor windows will work for most plugins. There is a
second embedding mode available that adds yet another layer of embedding. This
can be enabled by setting the `editor_double_embed` option to `true`. At the
moment the only known plugins that need this are _PSPaudioware_ plugins with
expandable GUIs such as E27, as those plugins will otherwise draw in the wrong
location after the GUI has been expanded. This setting may be replaced in the
future if we can come up with a better solution. See below for an
[example](#example) of how to set this up.

#### Example

All of the paths used here are relative to the `yabridge.toml` file.

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

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

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

["PSPaudioware"]
editor_double_embed = true

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

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

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

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

# Don't do this unless you know what you're doing! This matches all plugins in
# this directory and all of its subdirectories, which will cause all of them to
# be hosted in a single process. While this would increase startup and plugin
# scanning performance considerably, it will also break any form of individual
# plugin sandboxing provided by the host and could potentially introduce all
# kinds of weird issues.
# ["*"]
# group = "all"
```

## Troubleshooting common issues

- 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 '_Individual_' plugin hosting mode is enabled and all of the
  checkboxes in the list of sandboxing exceptions are left unchecked.

- If you're using a symlink and the plugin is not getting picked up at all, then
  you can verify that the symlink 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 seeing errors related to Wine, then you can verify that Wine is
  working correctly by running one of the VST host applications manually.
  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 <vst_plugin_dll> <unix_domain_socket>
  ```

  If you're getting a `002b:err:module:__wine_process_init` error instead, then
  your version of Wine is too old for the version of yabridge you are using 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).

  Note that starting from yabridge 1.3.1 this check is also performed
  automatically whenever you run `yabridgectl sync` using a new version of Wine
  or yabridge.

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

- Time out 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.

## Runtime dependencies and known issues

Any VST2 plugin should function out of the box, although some plugins will need
some additional dependencies for their GUIs to work correctly. Notable examples
include:

- **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. When
  activating the plugins you may have to cancel the self-updating in NI Service
  Center.
- **Serum** requires you to disable `d2d1.dll` in `winecfg` and to install
  `gdiplus` through `winetricks`.
- **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.
- **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](#editor-hosting-modes) to fix this.
- 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.

Aside from that, these are some known caveats:

- 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. This sadly cannot be fixed in yabridge. Simply unset
  `WINEESYNC` while using yabridge if this is an issue.
- 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 use with drum machines and multisamplers) will not be
  updated once the plugin has finished loading since there's no way to tell that
  they have been updated by the plugin. Right now simply deactivating and
  reactivating the plugin will cause these labels to be updated.
- Under Bitwig Studio, opening the editor for a plugin that perform IO while
  loading its editor may cause playback to pause briefly during that time.
  Examples of plugins that do this include recent versions of Kontakt and the
  Spitfire plugins. This happens because Bitwig expects the plugins to be able
  to instantly report their editor size before actually opening the editor, but
  instead of doing so these plugins will instead perform a bunch of IO first and
  Bitwig will wait patiently for them to finish. It would be possible to modify
  yabridge to work around this limitation of Bitwig, but I'm very hesitant to
  add hacks to yabridge unless absolutely necessary.
- Drag-and-drop from plugins to the host does not work. This is sadly not yet
  implemented in Wine, although in theory it would be possible to create a small
  utility that supports both Wine <-> Wine and X11 <-> X11 drag-and-drop to act
  as a bridge.

There are also some VST2.X extension features that have not been implemented yet
because I haven't needed them myself. Let me know if you need any of these
features for a certain plugin or VST host:

- Double precision audio (`processDoubleReplacing`).
- SysEx messages. 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 extension (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).

## Building

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

- GCC 10+\*
- 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\*
- libxcb

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

- bitsery
- tomlplusplus

The project can then be compiled as follows:

```shell
meson setup --buildtype=release --cross-file cross-wine.conf 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>
  *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 bitbirdge, 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. Sadly this information is not always available. Bitwig,
for instance, hides a plugin's STDOUT and STDERR streams from you. To make it
easier to debug malfunctioning plugins, yabridge offers these two environment
variables:

- `YABRIDGE_DEBUG_FILE=<path>` allows you to write the Wine VST host's STDOUT
  and STDERR messages 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 that file. If this option is not present then yabridge will
  write all of its debug messages 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 write messages
    from the Wine process and some basic information such about the plugin being
    loaded and the Wine prefix being used.
  - A value of `1` will log 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 tens
    of times per second by for every plugin.
  - A value of `2` will cause all of the events to be logged, including the
    events mentioned above. 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` and
`+relay` channels are very useful to trace the execution path within loaded VST
plugin itself.

### Attaching a debugger

When needed, I found the easiest way to debug the plugin to be to load it in an
instance of Carla with gdb attached:

```shell
env YABRIDGE_DEBUG_FILE=/tmp/yabridge.log YABRIDGE_DEBUG_LEVEL=2 carla --gdb
```

Doing the same thing for the Wine VST host can be a bit tricky. You'll need to
launch winedbg in a seperate detached terminal emulator so it doesn't terminate
together with the plugin, and winedbg can be a bit picky about the arguments it
accepts. I've already set this up behind a feature flag for use in KDE Plasma.
Other desktop environments and window managers will require some slight
modifications in `src/plugin/plugin-bridge.cpp`. To enable this, simply run:

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