Let’s Just Use JavaScript To Write a VST Plugin, and Publish It in 1 Minute
What if I tell you that you can write an audio plugin (VST/AU/AAX) using just JavaScript, no C++ needed, no compilation?
In this talk, I'm going to present a JavaScript framework that I've been developing called "Suara" that enables anyone to write an audio plugin using a purely web tech stack such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, WebGL/WebGPU, and the Web Audio API, which of course includes AudioWorklet.
People may already be familiar with WebView, but the thing is, you can't really get the audio out of the web content with it!
You can think of this framework as Electron, but for audio plugins.
It internally uses a patched Chromium that can synchronously pipe audio input/output, MIDI, automation, transport, and more between the DAW and the web content. All sample-accurately.
And on top of that, we have been building a portal plugin that enables anyone to:
- load plugins listed inside the portal without ever installing .vst3 plugins
- upload/share their plugins on the portal plugin
- try out newly uploaded plugins without re-lauching the DAW or the portal plugin itself
I believe that despite certain amount of people not being big fans of JavaScript, the iteration speed of plugins with this framework is a game changer.
Yuichi Yogo
Founder
Escentier, LLC
Hi, I'm Yuichi from Tokyo, Japan.
I originally studied music composition at Tokyo University of the Arts. During school I studied algorithmic composition and became a web engineer, and I've been working as one for the past ten years.
It's only recently that my experience as a web engineer has finally overlapped with music. With Suara, I can actually use web tech for audio plugin development without writing C++, which still scares me. This talk is the successor to the one I gave at ADC Japan this year about that project. Ironically, building Suara itself means writing a lot of C++ (but I hope this will be the last time I write it 😂)