vstplugin~ with Purr Data?
Hi there,
Is it possible to use the external vstplugin~ with Purr Data? What I tried so far: I downloaded the Linux binary package from https://git.iem.at/pd/vstplugin/-/releases, extracted it and added its vstplugin~ folder to the startup search paths of the Purr Data preferences. I get the following error message when I try to create a vstplugin~ object:
/home/.../vstplugin~/vstplugin~.pd_linux: undefined symbol: class_setfreefn
Any ideas? Thank you in advance!
I should add that it does work with Pure Data on my system.
One thing I picked up from another thread here is that Purr Data is several Pd versions behind the main line (perhaps even a few years behind). If vstplugin~ depends on relatively recent functions, it might be incompatible with Pure Data. But I can't be more specific.
hjh
actually, there has been quite some work on it in the recent months - including updates of the pd version (to 0.54 - so 0.55 is still due). the current builds on github are just 2 months old: https://github.com/agraef/purr-data/releases/tag/2.20.0
... there is no build for silicon mac yet though and i didn't attempt to build it myself - so unfortunately, i can't say anything about vstplugin~ in this version (only that it works perfectly well in vanilla for me, too).
It's not only about being outdated, which in fact it's finally catching up, but there are several incompatibilities issues and one of them is that you can't use binaries compiled for Vanilla in it, which is one of the main downers if you ask me. I wanted that at least non GUI externals from ELSE could run there, specially now that there's an effort to bring it up to date, but as it turns out, it's not simple... and I was surprised that this was true as well. I guess you have to compile it yourself somehow against purr data or pd l2ork, but the build system is just different and you'd probably need to adapt many things... :/
@ben.wes said:
actually, there has been quite some work on it in the recent months - including updates of the pd version (to 0.54 - so 0.55 is still due). the current builds on github are just 2 months old
Thanks, that's good to know. The other thread mentioned a much older source.
hjh
@porres said:
you can't use binaries compiled for Vanilla in it
This is helpful, thank you!
It's a pity, I really like Purr Data and clearly prefer it. For my purpose even better than PlugData.
@xaverius said:
For my purpose even better than PlugData.
Ok, now I'm curious on what the purpose is and why you prefer it 
Purr-Data and PlugData are very appealing graphically and are able to handle my high resolution display properly (in contrast to Pure Data). Here my comparison of Purr-Data and PlugData from my point of view. I should add that I did not really use PlugData, I only tested it shortly.
Purr-Data
PlugData
@xaverius said:
I cannot operate sliders, buttons and switches properly with my fingers on my touchscreen (I don't know why, but no precise response).
have you reported a bug on github? @timothyschoen is also here to help
Seems to be more actively developed.
Definitely of all forks, it's unbeatable also in keeping up with vanilla at every update.
Offers built-in effects and instruments etc (I prefer to create such abstractions on my own).
those are actually from ELSE, my library, which can also be installed in Vanilla, so not something just from PlugData. Cool thing about PlugData is that it doesn't follow this idea to provide things (objects I mean) you can only find there.
I can only set 1 input and 1 output (no-go for me, I'm using 8 ins and 8 outs).
Well, this is definitely possible, right Tim?
I had a closer look, but could not figure out where to set the number of inputs and outputs with PlugData. Please find attached a screenshot of its audio settings. And I could not find a manual for detailed information on this either (there is probably no manual since the GUI is quite self-explanatory).
And yes, I was able to install and instantiate a vstplugin~ object. Unfortunatelly, I can not use it. It's too instable and PlugData always crashes (Ubuntu Studio 24.04, PludData 0.9.1). An advantage of Purr-Data, it's really stable. But nevertheless, PlugData is really interesting and seems to be the only alternative to Purr-Data.
I had a closer look, but could not figure out where to set the number of
inputs and outputs with PlugData.
So @xaverius, I spoke with @timothyschoen and it seems this is an issue with Linux only. You can't configure that from within plugdata, but that's a limitation of JUCE. Nevertheless you can set it up inside JACK and it should be possible.
And yes, I was able to install and instantiate a vstplugin~ object.
Unfortunatelly, I can not use it. It's too instable and PlugData always
crashes (Ubuntu Studio 24.04, PludData 0.9.1). An advantage of
Purr-Data, it's really stable.
How can you compare the stability of vstplugin~ inside PurrData since you can't even install it over there?
I do assume that such a complex external like vstplugin~ may have issues if running on PlugData, as the target development was Vanilla, and you should actually "blame" external developers for such case of instability.
Ayway, Like you said and know, PlugData is quite actively developed and bugs are fixed quickly and you can download nightly builds with the most recent fixes and updates quite easily, but you have to report issues and collaborate at least iwth that.
Small clarification, I'm not sure if you can set this up within Jack. But I've heard more Linux users complain about JUCE's incomplete implementation of JACK, so I believe that's what's going on here too. Sorry for that, I hope to fix it in the future, but that's probably not going to be simple 
How can you compare the stability of vstplugin~ inside PurrData since you can't even install it over there?
Well, okay, got it. I saw Purr-Data crash only very few times although I've used it extensively. That's why PlugData appeared instable to me. Sorry for this.
If the issue of the number of inputs and outputs under Linux and the bad touch response of sliders etc. get fixed, I might switch to PlugData. And yes, I will report these issues. Thank you for your help!
@timothyschoen relevant ticket: https://github.com/juce-framework/JUCE/issues/333
The issue is no longer specific to Linux, as JUCE now also supports Jack Audio on macOS and Windows (and with the relatively simple patch I published last year it can be easily ported to older versions of JUCE).
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