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Visona plugins

Visona is available as a pass-through stereo effect for use inside a DAW. Audio is copied to the output unchanged while the scope analyzes the incoming signal. Visona Sync is a companion instrument that feeds Visona's sidechain, so Visona can measure how late the audio arrives after plugins with latency (see Sidechain sync). It can also tell the standalone app how late the audio arrives after MIDI Clock (see Visona Sync with the standalone app).

Formats

Both plugins are built for three platforms:

Platform Formats
macOS on Apple Silicon, macOS 14 or later VST3, AU, CLAP
Windows 10 or 11, x64 VST3, CLAP
Linux x86_64 with glibc 2.38 and GCC 13's libstdc++ or later (Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13, Fedora 39 or newer) VST3, CLAP

AU exists on macOS only. Every format uses manufacturer Ster and company name Stephan Terning, so hosts list them as Stephan Terning → Visona and Stephan Terning → Visona Sync.

Plugin VST3 AU CLAP
Visona (effect with sidechain) Plugin code Visn, category Fx / Analyzer Effect aufx Visn Ster, with the sidechain as a second input bus ID io.github.stephanterning.visona.plugin, features audio-effect, analyzer
Visona Sync (instrument) Plugin code Sync, category Instrument Instrument aumu Sync Ster, with MIDI in ID io.github.stephanterning.visona.sync, features instrument, utility

Use one format per DAW; they behave the same. Ableton Live loads VST3, and AU on macOS, but not CLAP. Reaper and Bitwig Studio load CLAP on all three platforms.

Install

Release builds are published on GitHub Releases, one archive per plugin, format and platform.

macOS

Zip Bundle Install folder
Visona-vst3-macos-arm64.zip Visona.vst3 ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/
Visona-sync-vst3-macos-arm64.zip Visona Sync.vst3 ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/
Visona-au-macos-arm64.zip Visona.component ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/
Visona-sync-au-macos-arm64.zip Visona Sync.component ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/
Visona-clap-macos-arm64.zip Visona.clap ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/CLAP/
Visona-sync-clap-macos-arm64.zip Visona Sync.clap ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/CLAP/

Unzip and copy each bundle into its folder; create the folder if it does not exist. The bundles are signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so nothing more is needed. Restart the DAW or rescan its plugins.

Windows

Zip Bundle Install folder
Visona-vst3-windows-x64.zip Visona.vst3 (a folder) C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\
Visona-sync-vst3-windows-x64.zip Visona Sync.vst3 (a folder) C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\
Visona-clap-windows-x64.zip Visona.clap C:\Program Files\Common Files\CLAP\
Visona-sync-clap-windows-x64.zip Visona Sync.clap C:\Program Files\Common Files\CLAP\

Copying into these folders needs administrator rights. The builds are unsigned: before unzipping, right-click each zip, choose Properties and tick Unblock, or run Unblock-File .\Visona-*.zip in PowerShell, so Windows does not flag the plugins as downloaded from the internet. They need no Visual C++ redistributable. Then rescan in your DAW.

Linux

Archive Bundle Install folder
Visona-vst3-linux-x86_64.tar.gz Visona.vst3 (a folder) ~/.vst3/
Visona-sync-vst3-linux-x86_64.tar.gz Visona Sync.vst3 (a folder) ~/.vst3/
Visona-clap-linux-x86_64.tar.gz Visona.clap ~/.clap/
Visona-sync-clap-linux-x86_64.tar.gz Visona Sync.clap ~/.clap/ 
mkdir -p ~/.vst3 ~/.clap
tar xzf Visona-vst3-linux-x86_64.tar.gz -C ~/.vst3
tar xzf Visona-sync-vst3-linux-x86_64.tar.gz -C ~/.vst3
tar xzf Visona-clap-linux-x86_64.tar.gz -C ~/.clap
tar xzf Visona-sync-clap-linux-x86_64.tar.gz -C ~/.clap

No signing is needed. The plugins use the system's FreeType and Fontconfig libraries (libfreetype6 and libfontconfig1 on Debian and Ubuntu), which desktop distributions normally have. Then rescan in your DAW.

If a DAW does not show the AU

macOS keeps a cache of installed Audio Units. If a new or updated AU does not show up, or an old version keeps loading, refresh that cache, then restart the DAW:

killall -9 AudioComponentRegistrar
auval -a | grep Ster

auval -a lists every AU macOS knows of; both Stephan Terning plugins should be in the list. auval -v aufx Visn Ster and auval -v aumu Sync Ster validate them one at a time and should end with AU VALIDATION SUCCEEDED.

In Ableton Live, turn on Use Audio Units under Settings → Plug-Ins, then press Rescan. Rescanning is enough; do not delete any DAW preference folders to refresh plugins.

Transport

The plugin follows the host playhead: tempo, position, play/stop and time signature come from the DAW, as reported at the first frame of each audio block. There is no MIDI Clock input and no FREE mode in the plugin editor. The status bar shows HOST RUN while the DAW plays and STOPPED while it is stopped, which is also the state right after the plugin is loaded, before the first playback. Both plugins reject missing or non-finite PPQ positions rather than treating an old position as current. Visona Sync emits no impulses for such a block; the scope's analysis can continue from its last valid playhead. Invalid tempo or time signatures retain the last valid value (initially 120 BPM and 4/4). Supported host time signatures have a numerator of 1–64 and a power-of-two denominator up to 32.

The standalone app still uses MIDI Clock and manual FREE tempo.

Sidechain sync (Visona Sync)

Ableton Live reports the same playhead to every plugin on a track, including a plugin placed after plugins with latency, such as a lookahead limiter or a linear-phase EQ. The audio reaching Visona is then late by their latency, and the waveform lands that much after the grid. Visona Sync measures that latency.

Visona Sync is a host-synced instrument that writes a −6 dBFS impulse at the start of every bar. Live aligns a sidechain with the main input of the plugin it feeds, so the impulse reaches Visona exactly as late as the audio. Visona measures how far after its playhead's bar line the impulse arrives, and draws the audio that much earlier.

  1. Add Visona Sync on an instrument track (no MIDI clip needed).
  2. In Visona, choose the Sync track as the sidechain input (Post FX).
  3. Press Play. From the first bar line the status bar shows SC and the measured latency, such as SC +98.7 ms. The diagnostics overlay (D) shows it in samples, next to the sidechain level. SC ... means the sidechain input is on but no impulse has arrived yet.
  4. Visona keeps the latency it measured. When plugins with latency are added or removed before Visona, the new value takes over after two bars, and the sweep starts over.

The sidechain signal is not validated yet: any peak above −20 dBFS counts as a bar impulse, so route nothing but Visona Sync to it. If Reduced Latency When Monitoring is on in Live's Options menu, keep the Sync track unarmed, because Live skips delay compensation for monitored tracks.

Visona Sync with the standalone app

The standalone app, on macOS and on the Raspberry Pi, follows MIDI Clock and allows only for its own interface's input latency. Whatever else lies between the DAW's MIDI Clock and the audio reaching Visona, such as the DAW's output latency, Live's MIDI Clock Sync Delay and the interfaces on the way, puts the waveform off the grid. Visona Sync measures it if its impulse comes in on an audio input of its own. Nothing goes to the master, and the routing is up to you (D-109).

  1. In Live, add Visona Sync on an instrument track (no MIDI clip needed). Set the track's Audio To to Ext. Out and a free output of your interface, such as 3/4. Send the music to Visona's left and right inputs through the same interface as before, so that both take the same path.
  2. Keep that output off your speakers: it is a click on every bar line.
  3. Connect the output to a free input of the interface Visona listens to: a cable from output 3 to input 3, for example, or the interface's own loopback routing (in TotalMix on an RME interface).
  4. In Visona's Settings, set Visona Sync to that input.
  5. Start playback in Live with MIDI Clock going to Visona. From the first bar line the status bar shows SC and the measured offset, such as SC +12.3 ms, and SC ... until then. The diagnostics overlay (D) shows the offset in samples, the impulse level and the MIDI offset in use.

Visona keeps the offset it measured. A new one takes over after two bars that agree on it, and the sweep starts over. Nothing is measured in FREE, and as with the sidechain, any peak above −20 dBFS on that input counts as a bar impulse. The app counts in 4/4, so the song must be in 4/4 too, and the offset must be less than half a bar. If Reduced Latency When Monitoring is on, keep the Sync track unarmed.

Editor

The plugin editor is a slimmed-down version of the standalone UI:

  • Window, gain, auto gain (the AUTO button next to the gain), waveform mode and zoom work as in the app
  • The analysis views Spectrum (FFT), Spectrum (Band) and Stereo work as in the app: choose them with the view selector, V, or Alt+1 to Alt+4. Their analysis runs only while the editor is open and the view is shown
  • The tempo comes from the host and is shown in the status bar; the pause button, the BPM control and the full screen button are hidden
  • Settings opens an Appearance panel with the waveform colour only — no audio device or MIDI device panels
  • Press D for the diagnostics overlay, which includes a Visona Sync row for the sidechain, and Esc to close the Appearance panel or reset the zoom

Each plugin instance saves its analysis view and the views' settings, window, gain, auto gain, afterglow, waveform mode and colour in the DAW project. An instance without a saved appearance reads a default waveform mode and colour from VisonaPluginDefaults.settings, under ~/Library/Application Support/Visona/ on macOS, ~/.config/Visona/ on Linux and %APPDATA%\Visona\ on Windows. Nothing in the plugin writes that file yet, so in practice new instances start in PRECISE with the teal colour.

Build locally

macOS

cmake --preset macos && cmake --build --preset macos

The bundles are under build/macos/plugin/, in a folder per format:

  • VisonaPlugin_artefacts/Release/VST3/Visona.vst3, AU/Visona.component and CLAP/Visona.clap
  • VisonaSyncPlugin_artefacts/Release/VST3/Visona Sync.vst3, AU/Visona Sync.component and CLAP/Visona Sync.clap

Plugin-only build, with the bundles under build/macos-plugin/ instead:

cmake --preset macos-plugin && cmake --build --preset macos-plugin

A local build is only ad-hoc signed. The build also copies each bundle into its install folder under ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/, but it signs the build-tree copy only after that. To install a local build, replace the old bundles with the signed build-tree copies:

plugins=~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins
build=build/macos-plugin/plugin
rm -rf "$plugins"/VST3/Visona*.vst3 "$plugins"/Components/Visona*.component "$plugins"/CLAP/Visona*.clap
mkdir -p "$plugins"/VST3 "$plugins"/Components "$plugins"/CLAP
cp -R "$build"/Visona*Plugin_artefacts/Release/VST3/*.vst3 "$plugins"/VST3/
cp -R "$build"/Visona*Plugin_artefacts/Release/AU/*.component "$plugins"/Components/
cp -R "$build"/Visona*Plugin_artefacts/Release/CLAP/*.clap "$plugins"/CLAP/

If a DAW still refuses a bundle, clear its quarantine flag and sign it ad hoc again, as scripts/macos/build-and-install.sh does:

xattr -cr ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Visona.vst3
codesign --force --sign - ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Visona.vst3

Windows and Linux

Windows needs Visual Studio 2022 or later with the C++ workload, CMake and Ninja. Run the commands from a x64 Native Tools Command Prompt, so that MSVC is on the path:

cmake --preset windows-plugin && cmake --build --preset windows-plugin && ctest --preset windows-plugin

Linux needs GCC, CMake, Ninja and JUCE's development packages (on Ubuntu: libasound2-dev libfreetype6-dev libfontconfig1-dev libx11-dev libxext-dev libxrandr-dev libxinerama-dev libxcursor-dev libxcomposite-dev libxi-dev libgl1-mesa-dev):

cmake --preset linux-plugin && cmake --build --preset linux-plugin && ctest --preset linux-plugin

The bundles are under build/<preset>/plugin/, in VisonaPlugin_artefacts/Release/ and VisonaSyncPlugin_artefacts/Release/, with a folder per format. The Linux build also copies them into ~/.vst3 and ~/.clap; the Windows build does not copy them, since that needs administrator rights.

The CLAP builds use clap-juce-extensions, which CMake downloads, since JUCE 9.0.2 has no CLAP support of its own (D-098).

Testing in Ableton Live

Live loads the VST3 and the AU; test one format at a time, since Live lists both.

  1. Insert Visona on a stereo track that receives audio.
  2. Press Play — the sweep should restart at bar 1 and kicks should land on the grid.
  3. Stop — the view freezes with STOPPED.
  4. Move the playhead and press Continue — the scope should show the new position.
  5. Try 120, 126 and 174 BPM.
  6. Put a plugin with latency before Visona and route Visona Sync to its sidechain. The status bar should show SC with that latency, and kicks should stay on the grid.

The AUs are under Plug-Ins → Audio Units → Stephan Terning in Live's browser.

Testing CLAP in Reaper or Bitwig Studio

Ableton Live does not load CLAP plugins; use Reaper or Bitwig Studio. On Windows and Linux, the same steps apply to the VST3s too; the CLAP folders there are C:\Program Files\Common Files\CLAP and ~/.clap.

  • Reaper: open Settings → Plug-ins → CLAP, check that ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/CLAP is in the path list, and press Re-scan. Insert CLAP: Visona (Stephan Terning) on a track with audio. For the sidechain, set Visona's track to 4 channels and send the Visona Sync track to its channels 3/4. Reaper feeds channel 3 to Visona's sidechain input; check Visona's pin connector (the 2 in 2 out button) if the status bar does not show SC.
  • Bitwig Studio: CLAP plugins in ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/CLAP are found at startup; check Settings → Locations → Plug-ins if they are missing. Insert Visona from the browser on an audio track. Choose the Visona Sync track as the sidechain input in the device header.

Then go through steps 2–6 above. Visona Sync only writes impulses while the transport plays.

If the scope stops or Live feels sluggish

Before removing or re-adding the plugin, note:

  • Status line: HOST RUN or STOPPED, and SC with the measured latency if the sidechain is in use
  • Diagnostics overlay (D): sample rate, block size, ring overruns, stream time, sidechain sync and analysis load
  • Whether Live's transport is playing
  • Whether audio still passes through when the UI stops updating
  • Whether the Mac became sluggish before or after the waveform stopped

Quit Live fully and restart if needed. Do not delete ~/Library/Preferences/Ableton — that folder holds Live's preferences and authorization. If a full Live reset is ever required, follow Ableton's documented procedure and back up first.