GENERATING.md

Sinewave generator

A pure Python super simple test generator that just has two sinewaves added together with control over amplitude and frequency of each.

VST generators

We can wrap any VST plugin using the RenderMan engine (https://github.com/fedden/RenderMan)

Making this work is slightly complex just due to VST handling and the number of parameters.

Installation

Install RenderMan - this is a bit tricky, may involve hacking XCode build files - don't have a good recipe yet!

Setup Parameters

First, generate a default parameter set for your plugin using the generate command:

python -m generators.vst_generator generate --plugin /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/Lokomotiv.st --output test.json

This loads the Lokomotiv plugin from the default macos VST install location. The first argument 'generate' means generate an empty config file, and the --output gives a location to create it.

The file will look a bit like:

{
    "parameters": [],
    "fixed_parameters": [
        {
            "id": 0,
            "name": "BPM Sync On/Off",
            "value": 0.5
        },

with each parameter having an id (int) and a name, as well as a default value.

Now, edit this file to set out the search space. Fixed parameters will be passed to the synth as is, while the general parameters are given a set of levels to search over, e.g.:

"parameters": [

     {
         "id": 1,
         "name": "LFO Type select",
         "values": [0.0, 0.5, 1.0]
     },
     {
         "id": 2,
         "name": "LFO Speed",
         "values": [0.0, 0.5, 1.0]
     },

By moving things between fixed and open parameters, and changing the value sets, you can expand or contract the search space, and get rid of parameters you don't want to learn.

Generate Dataset

Using the run command, generate the dataset:

python -m generators.vst_generator run --plugin /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/Lokomotiv.vst --config plugin_config/lokomotiv.json --name lokomotiv_tiny