106 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
106 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
# SerumAlt
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A modern, commercial-quality wavetable synthesiser plugin (VST3 / AU / Standalone)
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built with **JUCE 7**, **CMake** and **C++17**. SerumAlt is a self-contained synth
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inspired by the workflow of Serum/Vital: two morphing wavetable oscillators, a full
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filter section, four envelopes and LFOs, a modulation matrix, a reorderable FX rack,
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four macros and a one-click **RAVE** button.
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## Features
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- **Two wavetable oscillators** — 256 frames × 2048 samples, bilinear morphing,
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8 warp modes (Bend+/-, Sync, PWM, Asym, Mirror, Fold), unison 1–16 with phase
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spread/detune/width.
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- **10 factory wavetables** (Basic Shapes, Saw PWM, Square Sync, Triangle Fold,
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Vowel, Organ, Warm Saw, Digital, Glass, Bass), generated lazily and RAM-resident.
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- **Sub oscillator** (sine/triangle, −2/−1/0 oct) and **noise** (white/pink).
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- **Filter section** — two slots, 7 models (Ladder LP/HP/BP, Diode, Comb, Formant,
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Screamer), 6/12/24 dB slopes, drive, keytrack, and serial/parallel/split routing.
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- **4 ADSR envelopes** with curve tension and live preview.
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- **4 LFOs** — tempo-sync, 7 shapes (sine/tri/saw/square/S&H/step/freehand),
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editable step-sequencer and freehand drawing, fade-in and start delay.
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- **Modulation matrix** — direct source→destination connections with bipolar depth.
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- **FX rack** — 9 effects (Hyper/OTT, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Distortion, EQ,
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Compressor, Delay, Reverb) in 8 reorderable slots.
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- **4 macros** (Energy, Width, Drive, Atmosphere) with assignable destinations.
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- **RAVE** — one-click boost (unison, width, drive, OTT, reverb) with snapshot/restore.
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- **16 factory presets** with production-quality values.
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- **Scalable GUI** (75% / 100% / 125% / 150% / 200%) — dark modern vector look,
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Path-drawn controls, SVG logo/background, real-time waveform/filter/envelope/LFO
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displays.
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## Architecture
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```
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Source/
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PluginProcessor.{h,cpp} APVTS, presets, state, RAVE/UI-scale glue
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PluginEditor.{h,cpp} Tabbed dark GUI, scaling, visualisations
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Params.{h,cpp} Parameter IDs, enums, mod sources/targets, mappings
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Wavetable.{h,cpp} 256×2048 tables + lazy library
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Oscillator.{h,cpp} Morph/warp/unison oscillator
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SubOscillator.{h,cpp} Sine/triangle sub
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NoiseOscillator.{h,cpp} White/pink noise
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Filter.{h,cpp} 7 filter models
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FilterBank.{h,cpp} 2 slots + routing
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Envelope.{h,cpp} ADSR with curve
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LFO.{h,cpp} Synced LFO + shape editing
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ModulationMatrix.{h,cpp} Connections
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FXProcessor.{h,cpp} Reorderable rack
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EffectUnits/ Hyper, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Distortion, EQ,
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Compressor, Delay, Reverb
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MacroControls.{h,cpp} 4 assignable macros
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RAVEButton.{h,cpp} RAVE snapshot/boost
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SynthVoice.{h,cpp} 32-voice pool render path
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Engine.{h,cpp} Per-block DSP + MIDI + FX + limiting
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GUI/ Knob, Slider, ToggleButton, Display, Panel,
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Waveform/Filter/Envelope/LFO displays
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Presets/FactoryPresets.cpp 16 factory presets
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Resources/ SVG assets
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```
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Key architectural decisions: a fixed 32-voice pool with pre-allocated unison
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sub-voices (max 16/osc), scalar processing (SIMD deferred), control-rate modulation
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(one level, no modulation-of-modulation), and a `juce::AudioProcessorValueTreeState`
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backed parameter store that survives preset save/load together with the mod matrix,
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macro assignments and LFO shape data.
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## Building
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Requirements: CMake ≥ 3.22, a C++17 compiler, and the Linux dev libraries
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(`libasound2-dev`, `libjack-dev`, `libfreetype-dev`, `libcurl`, X11, OpenGL).
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JUCE 7.0.12 is vendored under `third_party/JUCE`.
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```bash
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cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
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cmake --build build
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```
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Outputs:
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- `build/SerumAlt_artefacts/Release/VST3/SerumAlt.vst3` — VST3
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- `build/SerumAlt_artefacts/Release/Standalone/SerumAlt` — standalone app
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- (on macOS, the `AU` target is produced automatically)
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Cross-compilation for Windows/macOS is handled by JUCE: configure with the relevant
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toolchain and add `-DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=...` as usual.
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## Headless QA harness
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A console app drives the processor through every factory preset, plays a chord,
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verifies finite (non-NaN) output and non-silence, and exercises the RAVE toggle.
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Build and run with:
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```bash
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cmake --build build --target SerumAltTest
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./build/SerumAltTest_artefacts/Release/SerumAltTest
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```
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(Disable it with `-DSERUMALT_BUILD_TESTS=OFF`.)
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## License
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JUCE is licensed separately (see `third_party/JUCE/LICENSE.md`). This project is
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provided for evaluation/development purposes.
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