Develop new plugins

Use our plugin templates (optional)

We have plugin templates which automate plugin builds

You can fork the repos on GitHub or use our command line tool. Create a new plugin using a starter template (clap, dpf, dplug, iplug, juce, sf2, sfz, steinberg):

studiorack plugin create myplugin --type steinberg

This creates a new plugin using the starter template with the following structure:

/myplugin
    /index.js
    /LICENSE
    /README.md
    /src
    /vst3sdk

Follow the instructions at ./myplugin/README.md to install and build your plugin

Adding your plugin to StudioRack

The StudioRack Registry accepts multiple sources for plugin data:

1. Yaml files

Create a fork of the repo studiorack-registry. Add new folders for your organization and plugin using kebab-case:

./src/plugins/org-name/plugin-name

Add a jpeg screenshot of the plugin, and flac audio file previewing the plugin:

./src/plugins/org-name/plugin-name/plugin-name.flac
./src/plugins/org-name/plugin-name/plugin-name.jpg

.jpg and .flac compressed formats were chosen to optimize loading times on the StudioRack website.

Create yaml files for each version of the plugin using Semantic Versioning.

./src/plugins/org-name/plugin-name/1.0.0.yaml
./src/plugins/org-name/plugin-name/2.0.0.yaml

Semantic versioning allows the StudioRack installer to install the latest non-breaking version of a plugin.

Use the below template yaml file as a starting point. StudioRack Registry validates each plugin's metadata, if you miss or enter incorrect information, your plugin will not be included in the registry.

---
name: Sfizz
author: SFZTools
homepage: https://github.com/sfztools/sfizz
description: SFZ parser and synth c++ library, providing AU / LV2 / VST3 plugins and JACK standalone client.
date: 2024-01-14T00:00:00.000Z
license: bsd-2-clause
tags:
  - Instrument
  - Sampler
  - Synth
files:
  audio:
    url: https://studiorack.github.io/studiorack-registry/plugins/sfztools/sfizz/sfizz.flac
    size: 47910
  image:
    url: https://studiorack.github.io/studiorack-registry/plugins/sfztools/sfizz/sfizz.jpg
    size: 33976
  linux:
    url: https://github.com/sfztools/sfizz/releases/download/1.2.3/sfizz-1.2.3.tar.gz
    size: 19102967
  mac:
    url: https://github.com/sfztools/sfizz/releases/download/1.2.3/sfizz-1.2.3-macos.tar.gz
    size: 1748833
  win:
    url: https://github.com/sfztools/sfizz/releases/download/1.2.3/sfizz-1.2.3-win64.zip
    size: 8286178

For effects, tag your plugin with Effect and then any of the following:

Chorus
Phaser
Compression
Distortion
Amplifier
Equalizer
Pan
Filter
Reverb
Delay

For instruments, tag your plugin with Instrument and then any of the following:

Drums
Percussion
Guitar
String
Keys
Piano
Orchestra
Sampler
Synth
Vocals

For file downloads, StudioRack prefers .zip files as these can be extracted automatically and placed into the correct locations without user interaction. If you use other formats such as deb, dmg, exe, msi StudioRack will download and copy the file to the users directory, but not install.

2. GitHub repo

StudioRack supports scanning GitHub for compatible plugins. NOTE: to implement GitHub compatibility requires more effort than the yaml approach above.

StudioRack registry searches the GitHub API for topic studiorack-plugin:

https://github.com/topics/studiorack-plugin
https://api.github.com/search/repositories?q=topic:studiorack-plugin+fork:true

Add the studiorack-plugin topic to your GitHub repository, so it can be discovered.

For each GitHub repository, the Registry loops through each release/version and expects to find a file called plugins.json:

https://github.com/REPOSITORY_NAME/releases/download/RELEASE_NAME/plugins.json

This should be in the format:

{
  "plugins": [
    {
      "author": "Rytmenpinne",
      "homepage": "https://rytmenpinne.wordpress.com/sounds-and-such/salamander-drumkit/",
      "name": "Salamander Drumkit",
      "description": "Drumkit recorded in the garage with an acoustic sound/feel.",
      "tags": [
        "Instrument",
        "Drums",
        "sfz"
      ],
      "version": "1.0.0",
      "id": "salamander-drumkit",
      "date": "2012-02-25T07:00:00.000Z",
      "files": {
        "audio": {
          "name": "salamander-drumkit.flac",
          "size": 162704
        },
        "image": {
          "name": "salamander-drumkit.jpg",
          "size": 94023
        },
        "linux": {
          "name": "salamander-drumkit.zip",
          "size": 269599176
        },
        "mac": {
          "name": "salamander-drumkit.zip",
          "size": 269599176
        },
        "win": {
          "name": "salamander-drumkit.zip",
          "size": 269599176
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

StudioRack Registry then performs validation and mapping on the plugins.json before compiling into the json feeds:

https://studiorack.github.io/studiorack-registry/v2/
https://studiorack.github.io/studiorack-registry/v2/instruments.json
https://studiorack.github.io/studiorack-registry/v2/effects.json
https://studiorack.github.io/studiorack-registry/v2/sfz.json

Read the API Reference >