YOUR HALO

Windows VST3 vocal enhancer with a single amount control and four tone modes for brightness, density, and stereo character.

Overview

A Windows x64 VST3 vocal enhancer built with JUCE 8.0.12 and C++17. The HALO orb controls the amount from 0–100%; the existing AURA, GLOW, SHINE and ASCEND selectors choose balanced, warm, bright or dramatic processing character.

Features

• Set enhancement amount with the HALO orb.
• Choose AURA, GLOW, SHINE, or ASCEND processing character.
• Combine tone shaping, compression, saturation, and presence enhancement.
• Enhance existing stereo side content while supporting matched mono/stereo layouts.
• Automate amount and mode and restore them with DAW sessions.
• View audio-reactive artwork with zero reported plugin latency.

Screenshots

Technologies

C++17, JUCE 8.0.12, VST3, CMake, MSVC, and Inno Setup.

Getting Started

Download the official v1.0.0 release:

• YOUR-HALO-1.0.0-Windows-x64-Setup.exe: Windows installer with uninstall support.
• YOUR-HALO-1.0.0-Windows-x64.zip: clean manual-install VST3 distribution.
• SHA256SUMS.txt: download integrity checksums.

Close your DAW. Run the installer, or extract the ZIP and copy the complete YOUR HALO.vst3 bundle to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\VoxxLab. Preserve its Contents folder. Rescan VST3 plugins in your DAW; in FL Studio, use Options > Manage plugins > Find installed plugins. See Windows installation.

Requirements: Windows 10 or later and a 64-bit VST3 host. The plugin is not a standalone application. Installer and plugin are unsigned.

Build or run from source

Use Visual Studio desktop C++ tools, a Windows SDK and CMake 3.22+. CMake fetches JUCE 8.0.12 if HALO_JUCE_PATH is omitted; an existing checkout can be supplied explicitly.

cmake -S . -B build -A x64 -DHALO_JUCE_PATH=C:/path/to/JUCE
cmake --build build --config Release --parallel 2
ctest --test-dir build -C Release -R '^HaloTests$' --output-on-failure

The core suite does not require compiled reference artifacts. The additional HaloVisualTests historical comparison requires the retained prototype at dist/YOUR HALO.vst3, intentionally not tracked in Git. In a development workspace containing that reference, ctest --test-dir build -C Release --output-on-failure runs both suites. build.ps1 performs the complete build/test workflow for that workspace; it supports explicit CMake and JUCE paths. Use -DHALO_BUILD_TESTS=OFF for a plugin-only build.

Output: build/YOUR_HALO_artefacts/Release/VST3/YOUR HALO.vst3.

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\package.ps1
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\build-installer.ps1

ZIP output: dist/releases/1.0.0. Installer output: dist/installer; Inno Setup 6.3+ is required. Installer build/test documentation includes the isolated per-user smoke-test procedure. All binary outputs remain ignored; GitHub Releases carries downloadable artifacts. The retained early prototype is not overwritten.

Source is in Source/, required embedded artwork in Assets/, tests in Tests/, and dependency notices in ThirdPartyLicenses/. JUCE licensing obligations remain applicable; bundled notices do not grant a commercial JUCE entitlement. The architecture and DSP design report describe the existing engine. Older visual-development reports are historical snapshots, not final release acceptance claims.

Usage

Processing combines tone shaping, stereo-linked soft-knee compression and parallel density, band-limited harmonic saturation, presence and air, dynamic harshness control, existing-side enhancement, and soft sample-peak protection.

• AURA: balanced vocal polish.
• GLOW: warmer body and richer harmonics.
• SHINE: open air and forward presence.
• ASCEND: the strongest density and existing-side enhancement.

Drag or scroll the orb, use arrow keys for fine changes, and double-click to reset. Settled HALO zero is neutral, with 35 ms smoothing and zero reported latency. Both halo and mode are automatable and saved with sessions. Original plugin/HALO identifiers remain; older sessions without MODE restore AURA. Mono and stereo input/output layouts must match.

The pearl/gold interface retains the official embedded HALO artwork and continuous, audio-reactive aurora light. No external desktop artwork is needed at runtime.

Validation and limitations

The release was tested at 44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192 kHz with mono/stereo, multiple buffer sizes, automation, state recall, zero/overload/silence behavior, repeated editor lifecycles and scaled UI renders. Tracktion pluginval strictness 5 passed command-line validation. Installer payload hashes, installed VST3 host tests, uninstall and extracted ZIP contents were checked. See the release QA report and CHANGELOG.

Native DAW GUI testing, real-vocal listening, hardware DPI transitions and default all-users/UAC installation were not performed. FL Studio and other hosts therefore remain manual acceptance checks. Pluginval GUI tests and Steinberg's separate validator were not run. Peak protection is not true-peak limiting; nonlinear processing is not oversampled. These limitations are documented rather than represented as passed tests.

Project Status

Released: version 1.0.0 for Windows x64. Native DAW GUI, real-vocal listening, and hardware DPI acceptance checks remain pending.