How to build a VST plugin with OSX / Xcode

Question

I want to create a VST plugin on OSX. I can compile it just fine, but the VST host (Cubase Essential 4) always crashes when trying to download it or reports that the plugin is somehow broken.
This is probably because I am missing some components in a VST package.

What preferences should be set in Xcode and what things should be put in a kit to make this work? Or is there an example project somewhere?

Thank you in advance

Answer 1

I wrote a manual for developing VST plugins manually on Mac OSX here:

Creating a VST plugin from scratch using Xcode

I also developed a set of Xcode project templates that you can use that do all this for you and just give you a basic project for VST effects / tools:

VST Teragon Audio Xcode Templates

Both of them are written for the VST 2.x SDK, since I did not work with the SDK 3.x and do not use any sequencers that have still migrated.

Answer 2

I searched the net for a complete guide on how to build a VST2 plugin using Xcode and found some tutorials, especially the guide in the previous post from Nik was useful, but some steps were missing (example Ableton Live 9.1.1 doesn plugin without step 3 ), some of them were redundant. So I decided to write a complete guide for the latest Xcode.

Complete Guide to Creating an Optimized VST2 Plugin Using Xcode 5 on OSX

• Download the VST SDK, it could be the VST3 sdk (3.6 in my case), the vst2.x folder is still there. Unzip it and place it in the Documents/Xcode folder so that it looks like Documents/Xcode/VST3 SDK
• Open Xcode. Create a new OSX -> Framework & Library -> Bundle project OSX -> Framework & Library -> Bundle Select Cocoa Framework in the dialog box.
• When the project is created, on the "Information" tab:
  • Add a new Resource should be file-mapped key Resource should be file-mapped with a value of YES
• In the "Build Settings" tab:
  • Deployment -> Deployment Location → set YES
  • Deployment -> Deployment Postprocessing → set YES
  • Deployment -> Installation Built Products Location → set /
  • Deployment -> Installation Directory → set /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST
  • Packaging -> Wrapper Extension → set vst
  • Search Paths -> Header Search Paths → add path "$(HOME)/Documents/Xcode/VST3 SDK" with quotes, with the recursive flag
• Menu -> Product -> Scheme -> Edit Scheme -> Run -> Info -> Build Configuration → set Release
• Drag the vst2.x folder from the VST3 SDK/public.sdk/source/ into the project tree. In the add files dialog box:
  • uncheck Copy items into destination group folder
  • check Create groups for any added folder
  • check your project in Add to targets
• Add your .h and .cpp files for your effect or instrument. You can simply add again.h and again.cpp files from https://github.com/kn0ll/vst-2.4-xcode-examples for verification only.
• Click "Run" (it may warn of an unacceptable type drive in the SDK source - let Xcode fix it).

Answer 3

This guide covers everything you requested and more.

Answer 4

The VST3 SDK/public.sdk/samples/vst/mac sample project VST3 SDK/public.sdk/samples/vst/mac could also be a good place to start.