Altvane

Audio plug-ins by Altvane. This repository builds every Altvane product from one tree, with a shared build system, shared third-party dependencies and a shared design system.

Product	Directory	What it is
Altvane EQ	products/eq	Parametric and dynamic equalizer, on the ZL Equalizer 2 engine
Altvane Dialogue	products/dialogue	Neural dialogue isolation: voice, ambience and voice reverb levels (macOS 11+ and Windows x64 for now)
Altvane Compressor	products/compressor	Compressor, upward compressor and expander, on the ZL Compressor engine (in development)
Altvane Limiter	products/limiter	True-peak limiter and loudness meter with delivery targets, on the ZL Limiter engine
Altvane Leveler	products/leveler	Automatic vocal rider with lookahead, voicing detection, a music side chain and automation write
Altvane De-Esser	products/deesser	De-esser with vocal-aware detection, a dynamic shelf or bell, a sibilance finder and Learn

Layout

CMakeLists.txt        superbuild: dependencies, libs/, then every product in ALTVANE_PRODUCTS
CMakePresets.json     mac-arm64-debug / mac-arm64-release
cmake/                AltvanePlugin.cmake (altvane_add_plugin), AltvaneVersion.cmake, AltvaneTests.cmake, ...
third_party/          JUCE, highway, nlopt (git submodules)
libs/ui/              altvane::ui: design tokens, fonts, look-and-feel, brand mark, widgets, editor shell, presets
libs/testing/         what every product's tests link: alloc_counter, JUCE set up for the whole test run
products/<code>/      one directory per product: CMakeLists.txt, source/, tests/, tools/, packaging/, docs/
packaging/            installer scripts shared by every product
tools/icons/          renders each product's app icon and installer art
scripts/              upstream engine sync and checks
website/              altvane.co: the Astro site (see website/README.md)

Build

Requirements: Clang (AppleClang 16+ or LLVM/Clang 17+), CMake 3.25+ and Ninja. On Linux also install:

sudo apt install libasound2-dev libx11-dev libxcomposite-dev libxcursor-dev libxext-dev libxinerama-dev \
  libxrandr-dev libxrender-dev libfreetype-dev libfontconfig1-dev libxi-dev

git clone --recursive https://github.com/pumfleet/altvane.git
cd altvane

# macOS (Apple silicon)
cmake --preset mac-arm64-release
cmake --build --preset mac-arm64-release

# any platform
cmake -B Builds -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DALTVANE_FORMATS="VST3;LV2" -DALTVANE_SIMD_TARGET=AVX2 .
cmake --build Builds

Options:

• ALTVANE_PRODUCTS: products to build, by directory name, e.g. eq. By default, every product that builds on this platform (a product's PLATFORMS file, if it has one, lists them).
• ALTVANE_FORMATS: plug-in formats, e.g. "VST3;AU;Standalone".
• ALTVANE_SIMD_TARGET: SIMD target, one of SSE2, SSE4, AVX2 (x86-64) or NEON (arm64). Required.
• ALTVANE_COPY_PLUGIN: copy plug-ins to the system folders after building (on by default).
• ALTVANE_BUILD_TESTS: build each product's <Product>Tests executable and register it with CTest.
• ALTVANE_BUILD_TOOLS: build developer tools (each product's snapshot renderer, AltvaneIcons).
• Product options are listed in each product's README (e.g. ALTVANE_EQ_BAND_NUM).

cmake --preset mac-arm64-debug -DALTVANE_BUILD_TESTS=ON -DALTVANE_BUILD_TOOLS=ON
cmake --build --preset mac-arm64-debug
ctest --test-dir build/mac-arm64-debug

Releases

Each product is versioned and released on its own. Tag <code>-vX.Y.Z (e.g. eq-v1.0.0) and the Release workflow builds, signs and packages that product for every platform it supports (macOS, Windows and Linux unless its PLATFORMS file says otherwise). Without a tag a product builds as the default version in its CMakeLists.txt.

Adding a product

1. Create products/<code>/ with source/ (a PluginProcessor with an altvane::ui::Session member, whose editor derives from altvane::ui::EditorShell), tests/, packaging/ and a CMakeLists.txt:

   altvane_product_version(<code> 0.1.0 version)
   altvane_add_plugin(Altvane<Name>
           PRODUCT_NAME "Altvane <Name>"
           CODE <code>
           PLUGIN_CODE Av..          # unique four characters, at least one upper-case
           VERSION ${version}
           VST3_CATEGORIES Dynamics
           AAX_CATEGORY AAX_ePlugInCategory_Dynamics)
   if (ALTVANE_BUILD_TESTS)
       altvane_add_tests(Altvane<Name> "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/tests")
   endif ()

   If the product only builds on some platforms, list them in products/<code>/PLATFORMS (one <CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME>-<arch> per line, e.g. Darwin-arm64); the default product list and the release matrix (.github/release-matrix.json) leave the others out.

   altvane_add_plugin fills in the company, manufacturer code (Altv), bundle id (com.altvane.<code>), LV2 URI, formats and code signing settings, and creates Altvane<Name>_Core for tests and tools to link.

2. Generate icons and installer art: tools/icons/make_icons.sh <AltvaneIcons> <code> <LABEL> [grid|knee|ride|ess] (the last argument picks the drawing behind the mark).

3. Add the product to the table above.

Code style follows the existing sources (.clang-format): snake_case files, trailing-underscore members, camelCase methods. Product code lives in altvane::<code>; shared UI in altvane::ui.

Products built on upstream engines

A product forked from another open-source plug-in (as Altvane EQ is from ZL Equalizer) vendors that engine unmodified and records where it came from in products/<code>/UPSTREAM:

scripts/check_upstream.sh eq          # the vendored engine matches the pinned upstream commit (CI runs this)
scripts/sync_upstream.sh eq <ref>     # replace the vendored engine with upstream <ref> and move the pin

sync_upstream.sh also lists what changed upstream outside the vendored directories (processor, state, CMake) so those changes can be ported by hand.

To start a new product from an upstream engine, write products/<code>/UPSTREAM (copy products/eq/UPSTREAM, set REPO, leave COMMIT="") and run scripts/sync_upstream.sh <code> <ref>. It vendors the engine, registers its submodules, lists the upstream files to adapt (processor, state, CMake), and warns if upstream pins a shared third_party/ dependency at a different commit.

License

Altvane EQ, Altvane Compressor and Altvane Limiter are licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3, as are ZL Equalizer, ZL Compressor and ZL Limiter, which they are based on; see LICENSE.md and NOTICE.md. Third-party licenses are in licenses/.