The 10th Conference for Informatics and Information Technology (CIIT 2013) The 10 th Conference for Informatics and Information Technology (CIIT 2013) VIRTUAL STUDIO TECHNOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATION IN DIGITAL MUSIC PRODUCTION

George Tanev Adrijan Bošinovski University American College Skopje University American College Skopje Skopje, Macedonia Skopje, Macedonia

ABSTRACT With VST3, Steinberg released the next major revision of Steinberg‘s Virtual Studio Technology to the audio industry. Music production in the 21 st century is heavily based on the VST3 marks an important milestone in audio technology with use of high-performance computer-based systems and the a completely rewritten code base, providing not only many increasing production of applications that not only new features but also the most stable and reliable VST provide high quality digital sound processing, but are also platform to date. Now VST plugins are able to process audio capable of pristinely emulating tons of simple and high-end in 64-bit, allow audio inputs, multiple MIDI inputs & outputs, hardware devices used in the music industry throughout improve performance by applying processing to plugins only history. One of the goals of this development process is to when audio signals are present on their respective inputs, etc enable the integration of as much musical equipment as [5]. possible into one single device, i.e. to allow a massive The latest upgrade to the VST interface specification œ number of tools and functionalities to be implemented into a version 3.5 œ was made in February, 2011. This update, simple interface designed for the popular computer platforms among other things, included Note Expression where each and operating systems. A major highlight, as well as one of individual note (event) in a polyphonic arrangement can the leading achievements in this domain, is presented by the contain extensive articulation information, which creates Virtual Studio Technology developed by Steinberg, a unparalleled flexibility and a much more natural feel of software production company based in Germany. This paper playing, say the people at Steinberg [6]. takes into account the popular VST plugins by reviewing their development, widespread application, and future potential in the music production industry as an integral part of the global music industry.

Keywords : music production, music software, digital signal processing, VST plugins

I. INTRODUCTION About two decades ago, musicians would have laughed if Figure 1: Neon œ The first available VST Instrument, they were told that classic synthesizers would be successfully included with Cubase VST 3.7 [7] re-created in software form and sold at a fraction of their original price. They would have been even less likely to II. VST PLUGINS believe that they might have half a dozen, or more of them, neatly integrated into their favorite MIDI (short for Musical The VST system was developed by Steinberg to enable a Instrument Digital Interface [1]) & audio sequencer to be complete studio to be created in software. Even in its earliest summoned at will. Yet VST instruments, a product of the incarnation, it allowed third-party developers to produce real- renowned Virtual Studio Technology, do precisely this [2]. time effect modules that could —plug in“ to the host application. However, when Steinberg introduced the second A. Brief History version of the VST plugin standard, it also became possible to Anyone making digital music prior to 1996 had been using send MIDI data to and from such effects. This enabled their DAW (short for Digital Audio Workstation [3]) to developers to add more features, such as MIDI control of control keyboards and samplers via MIDI and then routing all effect parameters and locking of effect settings to tempo. The their external hardware through a traditional mixing desk. inevitable result of this advance in the protocol was that this With the release of Cubase 3.02 in 1996 Steinberg announced MIDI information was also used to run synth engines, rather the Virtual Studio Technology (VST) interface specification than just effects processors. It is these synths, masquerading which allowed a new breed of software developers to recreate as effects plugins in order to fit directly into the sequencing all those bulky effects units as VST plugins [4]. environment, that are called VST instruments, or VSTi‘s. A few years later in 1999 Steinberg updated their VST Fig. 2 shows the user interface of Synthogy‘s Ivory II specification allowing VST plugins to receive MIDI data. Grand Pianos, one of the most popular virtual grand piano This changed the game even further, as it was now possible to collections. This VSTi relies on high levels of sampling and recreate keyboards, synths, and drum machines, too. This synthesis technology, incorporating Synthogy‘s exclusive, upgrade saw the birth of the Virtual Studio Technology powerful 32-bit Sample Playback and DSP (short for digital Instrument, or VSTi for short. signal processing [8]) engine, engineered specifically for recreating the acoustic piano sound. It includes a library of

©2013 Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering 182 The 10th Conference for Informatics and Information Technology (CIIT 2013) The 10 th Conference for Informatics and Information Technology (CIIT 2013) over 77 gigabytes of sampled world class grand piano host application, or in the pre-assigned VST folder where all instruments, with up to 18 discrete velocity layers with the other plugins are installed and summoned from by Sample Interpolation Technology for ultra-smooth velocity different host applications. Once this is done, the only and note transitions. Ivory II employs complex modeling remaining step is to restart the DAW and the new plugin algorithms for half-pedaling, harmonic and sustain resonance, becomes available for use. and comes with many customizable user controls and dozens Larger, more complicated, and often more expensive VST of user-adjustable presets [9]. plugins and instruments, are often sold as .exe files that require manual installation that is very similar to the installation of any other software package. This is more often than not a point-and-click job, though. The installation process can be more complex and time- consuming with massive VST plugins that take up hundreds of gigabytes of space, where the installation involves switching between multiple installation disks, separate modules, protection dongles, etc.

Figure 2: Synthogy Ivory II VSTi œ Sampled Grand Piano instrument collection [10]

A screenshot of Native Instrument‘s (NI) 5 VST is shown in Fig. 3. The Guitar Rig series of plugins are NI‘s attempt at recreating high-end guitar amplifiers, cabinets, , and effect-units, previously available in hardware form only. The software, tailored for guitar and, somewhat less so, bass players, uses amplifier modeling to allow real-time digital signal processing in both standalone and virtual studio environments.

Figure 4: Spectrasonics Stylus RMX œ Installation process [12]

B. Requirements In order to make use of VST plugins it is essential to have a suitable VST-compatible host application. Just about every music production package available these days supports VST technology, and many come with their own built-in plugins and virtual instruments. In order to control things more easily, a good keyboard or controller is a must. A keyboard with weighted keys would give more control over expression when playing the virtual instruments, and having a controller with plenty of knobs and faders will allow more control over all plugin settings. There are plenty of excellent keyboards and controllers around these days to suit every budget and need. Figure 3: NI Guitar Rig 5 VST œ Guitar multi-effects Relevant to mention here is that some VST plugins come processor [11] with a standalone version and can be used independently from any host application. But this limits their capabilities. An important thing to take into consideration is that VST A. Installation plugins and virtual instruments are software, whereas their Most VST plugins or instruments are packaged in one of ancestors were all hardware. The computer and, more two ways. Smaller plugins come as a single .dll file and are importantly, the are now playing the major part of the simplest to install. Most DAWs such as Cubase, Sonar, the hardware. And it basically boils down to common sense to and FL Studio, require the user to simply copy and paste the make sure the user makes the most of their current setup. If a .dll file into a plugins directory within the main folder of the cheap computer with a built-in sound card is set to run too

G. Tanev, A. Bošinovski 183 The 10th Conference for Informatics and Information Technology (CIIT 2013) The 10 th Conference for Informatics and Information Technology (CIIT 2013) many VSTs, it will drag to a halt. A cheap sound card will are created in real time using some of the processing power of result in a noticeable delay (latency) between playing a note the computer, each extra note or MIDI signal needs more on the keyboard and hearing the sound come out of the VSTi. calculations, and thus consumes additional CPU cycles. In For this reason it is advisable to use a sound card with very order to be able to have more than just a few VST plugins low or zero latency, and adjust the settings of the card and the running at once, it is also important to have sufficient RAM host application for best performance. (random-access memory) œ the more the better. From a hardware standpoint, the CPU and RAM pose the only practical limitations in regards to which (in terms of complexity) and how many VST plugins can run on a single machine at one time.

C. A Programmer‘s Perspective Steinberg have developed a VST SDK ( Software Development Kit ) œ a set of C++ classes based around an underlying C API, which can be downloaded from their website [16]. There are several ports available, such as a Delphi version by Frederic Vanmol [17], a Java version from the jVSTwRapper project at Sourceforge [18], and two .NET versions œ Noise [19] and VST.NET [20]. In addition, Steinberg have developed the VST GUI, which is another set of C++ classes, which can be used to build a Figure 5: M-Audio Axiom 25 MK2 USB MIDI Controller graphical interface. There are classes for buttons, sliders and [13] displays, etc. Nevertheless, these are low-level C++ classes and the look and feel still need to be created by the plugin manufacturer. As an alternative to the conventional PCI/PCI Express A large number of commercial and open-source VSTs are (referring to the Peripheral Component Interconnect local written using the Juce C++ framework [22] instead of direct computer buses for attaching hardware devices) or built-in calls to the VST SDK, because this allows multi-format sound cards found in desktop and laptop computers (VST, AudioUnit and Real-Time AudioSuite) binaries to be (nowadays even tablets and smartphones), there are external built from a single codebase. audio interfaces being made and sold on the market. These A notable language supporting VST is Faust [21], can be hooked up to most any computing device via USB (the considering that it is especially made for making signal Universal Serial Bus connection standard) or FireWire processing plugins, often producing code faster than hand- (Apple‘s name for the IEEE 1394 communications interface), written C++. and they offer all the same functionalities, each with its advantages and disadvantages [14]. D. A User‘s Perspective

There are several competing formats and several applications which can host plugins on Windows and Mac OS X. Most musicians seem to use either VST plugins, if they run Windows, or if they run Mac OS X. The reason is that many Windows users seem to choose the Cubase SX host, by Steinberg, and many Mac OS X users seem to choose some of Apple's applications, for example Logic or Garage Band, which support Audio Units [23]. Some other companies have developed and licensed their own virtual plugins format, as is the case with DigiDesign‘s RTAS (Real-Time AudioSuite [24]), but as stated in the previous section, most plugins come with multi-format installers for different platforms. There are also software adapters which can convert plugins from one format to another. For example, users were forced to use a VSTœtoœDirectX adapter so they could Figure 6: RME HDSPe MADI FX Audio Interface (PCI load VST plugins in applications like Sonar, up until 2006 Express card) [15] when Cakewalk introduced native support for VST plugins in Sonar 5.2 [25]. Another important consideration to have is that in order to Hardware specifications are the ones that require the main run VSTs the system has to have a fairly powerful CPU attention in order for VST plugins to function properly. As far (central processing unit , i.e. —processor“). Since the sounds as software is concerned, the most important things to have

G. Tanev, A. Bošinovski 184 The 10th Conference for Informatics and Information Technology (CIIT 2013) The 10 th Conference for Informatics and Information Technology (CIIT 2013) are a properly configured audio card/interface, suitable and SwarPlug VSTi (Fig. 8) is a collection of 74 virtual Indian up-to-date drivers, and a clean and maintained operating instruments [30], and just one of many examples that show system. how ethnic or traditional musical instruments have not been exempt from the —virtualization“ process. The rule of thumb E. In Practice is that if you can think of a musical instrument, at least one —Quantum Leap instruments have become an important publicly available VSTi variant has already been made. part of my sonic template. I am really looking forward to using EW/QL Pianos and Silk in my future scores and I am using STORMDRUM 2 right now on Terminator 4,“ said Danny Elfman about the EastWest Quantum Leap series of virtual instruments [26]. EastWest‘s high quality products range from piano and synth virtual instruments to symphonic strings, woodwinds, brass, vocals, drums and percussion, etc. Many of these can be obtained in —bundles“ (such as the Complete Composers Collection) costing up to a couple of hundred dollars. Elfman is an accomplished film score composer and music Figure 8: Swar Systems SwarPlug VSTi œ Indian virtual producer. Some of his most notable works include The instruments [31] Simpsons Theme, his Grammy-winning score for Batman , the Spider-Man 2 Main Title, and the scores for Mission: III. CONCLUSION Impossible and Alice in Wonderland [27]. And he‘s not the only respectable or —credible“ source of critique when it Music production technology has come a long way since comes to the success of the penetrating Virtual Studio its beginnings in the early 20 th century. With the Technology. Many successful people in the music industry, advancements in computer science and engineering, things regardless of whether they‘re musicians, composers, have gotten significantly better and way simpler over the past producers, audio engineers, or some combination thereof, few decades. What took loads of time and expensive gear in have reported their amazement and success at utilizing VST the past can now be accomplished using a simple computer plugins and instruments in their work. The VST technology with a few peripherals attached to it. To simplify things has proven to be extremely practical and reliable that its usage further, hardware and software manufacturers have been has become an inevitable routine in music production. making huge progress in developing new technologies and Flagship musical instruments and effect processors have making them easily available to consumers. been successfully replicated, and a lot of —proprietary“ VST The Virtual Studio Technology initiated by Steinberg has plugins have been designed from scratch, encompassing all become a prominent field in audio software engineering, musical styles and genres. The functionalities of massive utilizing digital signal processing to simulate traditional hardware units traditionally used for audio mastering have recording studio hardware with software. There are probably been fastidiously recreated, often bundled into a single, multi- tens of thousands of VST plugins around these days, varying functional VST plugin (see Fig. 7). However, professional both in capability and in character. Some are made by one audio mastering engineers still tend to rely on both high person and given away for free, while others are developed by quality analogue, as well as digital audio equipment, and not large companies and cost an arm and a leg. The benefits of just software [28]. using these plugins are of such extent that the word —plugin“ doesn‘t do them any justice at all. —Real“ musical instruments (such as the old Hammond B3 organ with Leslie speakers, or the Steinway D grand piano) tend to take up a lot of physical space and require a lot of effort for maintenance and relocation. The advantages of having these bulky and expensive instruments at your disposal as software, obtained for a symbolic price, are obvious. The experience of using or playing these software instruments might not always be the same or as good as working with the originals, due to ones being real and the others virtual. What VST developers have tried to do is to recreate the sound of these originals as closely as possible, and in most cases than not, the results fulfill the expectations and the benefits surpass the costs. In addition, the digital nature of these plugins offers possibilities to users that are impossible to pull off with the originals. All functions of a VST effect processor or instrument are directly controllable and automatable through a hardware Figure 7: iZotope Ozone 5 œ Professional Audio Mastering controller. VST allows easy integration of external plugin [29] equipment, allowing tailor-made systems to be put together

G. Tanev, A. Bošinovski 185 The 10th Conference for Informatics and Information Technology (CIIT 2013) The 10 th Conference for Informatics and Information Technology (CIIT 2013) for specific purposes. And, by being an open standard, the [13] djsuperstore, 2013. M-Audio Axiom 25 MK2 USB Midi Controller . possibilities offered by VST have steadily been growing over djsuperstore. Available from: http://www.djsuperstore.co.uk/M-Audio- Axiom-25-MK2 [Last accessed on 14 February 2013]. the past decade. New virtual effect processors and virtual instruments are constantly being developed by Steinberg and [14] Sweetwater, 2013. FireWire, PCI or USB? . Sweetwater Sound Inc. Available from: dozens of other companies. Leading third-party VST http://www.sweetwater.com/feature/daw/firewire_pci_or_usb.php [Last instrument creators include renowned software companies accessed on 19 February 2013]. such as , Arturia, and Spectrasonics, as [15] rekkerd.org, 2012. 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