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Validating GEN-DSP Plugins

Tools

  • pluginval - AudioUnit, VST3, LV2 -- Cross-platform open-source plugin validation tool made by the company Tracktion.

  • clap-validator - An open-source CLAP plugin validation tool.

  • Plugalyzer - My fork of the Command-line VST3, AU and LADSPA plugin host for easier debugging of audio plugins.

  • minihost - Minimal audio plugin host library and CLI with Python bindings. Supports VST3, AudioUnit, and LV2. Useful for probing plugin metadata, inspecting parameters, and processing audio from the command line.

Using minihost

Install the minihost wheel into your environment, then use the CLI:

# Probe plugin metadata (format, I/O, MIDI support)
minihost probe path/to/plugin.vst3
minihost probe path/to/plugin.component
minihost probe path/to/plugin.lv2

# Full instantiation: info, parameters, bus layout
minihost info path/to/plugin.vst3
minihost params path/to/plugin.vst3
minihost buses path/to/plugin.vst3

# Process audio through a plugin
minihost process path/to/plugin.vst3 input.wav output.wav

# Scan a directory for plugins
minihost scan /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/

Notes

  • AudioUnit plugins must be installed to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ for CoreAudio discovery. Probing from an arbitrary path will fail.
  • VST3 probe may report 0 in/0 out channels due to a JUCE limitation with moduleinfo.json fast scanning. Use minihost info (full instantiation) for accurate channel counts.
  • LV2 bundles can be probed and loaded from any path.