Psycle VST3 Loader

Windows-first VST3 wrappers for Psycle native machines:

• Psycle Synth Loader — presents a Psycle generator as a VST3 instrument.
• Psycle Effect Loader — presents a Psycle effect as a VST3 audio effect.

Both plugins use the same real-time-safe loader core. The VST3 entry points are deliberately separate, so hosts can classify and scan them correctly.

Psycle 1.12 compatibility

The loader targets the Psycle 1.12 native machine ABI for 64-bit Windows. It loads the standard Psycle exports:

GetInfo
CreateMachine
DeleteMachine

The ABI declarations are isolated in src/loader/psycle_native_interface.h. The loader validates the machine API version and rejects generators in the effect plugin or effects in the synth plugin.

Build on Windows

Install Visual Studio 2022 with the C++ desktop workload and CMake. From a Developer PowerShell:

cmake -S psycle-vst3-loader -B psycle-vst3-loader/build `
  -A x64 `
  -DPSYCLE_FETCH_VST3_SDK=ON

cmake --build psycle-vst3-loader/build --config Release

The two VST3 bundles will be under the build output directory. Copy them to the user's VST3 folder, commonly:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\

Selecting a machine

Open the plugin editor and select Browse... to choose a Psycle 1.12 x64 native machine DLL. The selected path is stored in the VST3 component state and restored with the host project. The editor reports the loaded machine name or the specific reason a DLL was rejected. A failed selection leaves the previous working machine active.

The component state also stores the native machine's parameter values and bounded GetData chunk. These are restored through ParameterTweak and PutData after the machine initializes.

For unattended testing, the wrapper also reads PSYCLE_MACHINE_PATH when the plugin is initialized.

Current scope

This first build establishes the two VST3 identities, audio/MIDI-compatible processor shells, state serialization, output gain, direct Psycle 1.12 x64 DLL loading, API validation, machine processing, and a Windows machine chooser inside the plugin editor.

Windows verification

The Steinberg validator can verify the VST3 component contract on other platforms, but it cannot execute the Win32 editor or Psycle's Windows C++ ABI. Before release, build with Visual Studio 2022 x64 and test known Psycle 1.12 x64 generator and effect DLLs in a Windows VST3 host.