Examples

Pulp's curated example guide covers the core plugin gallery, selected standalone apps, and source-only DSP lanes. The broader examples/ tree also contains subsystem demos and platform-specific proof projects; use each example's local README or subsystem guide for those specialized workflows.

All examples live under examples/.

PulpGain

Path: examples/pulp-gain/ Type: Effect Formats: VST3, AU v2, AUv3, CLAP, Standalone, optional AAX Purpose: The simplest possible plugin. A gain knob. Validates that the build system works, format entry points are correct, and audio passes through.

Features: - Single gain parameter (dB) - Default VST3, CLAP, and Standalone targets; AU v2/AUv3 on Apple; optional AAX on macOS/Windows - Golden-file audio test - Includes Info.plist.au, Info.plist.vst3, moduleinfo.json

PulpTone

Path: examples/pulp-tone/ Type: Instrument Formats: VST3, AU v2, CLAP, Standalone Purpose: A simple oscillator synth with MIDI input. Validates audio I/O, MIDI processing, and the instrument plugin path.

Features: - Sine/saw/square oscillators - MIDI note input - Multiple format targets

PulpEffect

Path: examples/pulp-effect/ Type: Effect Formats: VST3, AU v2, CLAP Purpose: A filter effect with cutoff, resonance, and mix parameters. Validates parameter automation and state save/load across formats.

Features: - Multi-parameter processing - State serialization - Format adapter validation

PulpCompressor

Path: examples/pulp-compressor/ Type: Effect Formats: VST3, AU v2, CLAP Purpose: A dynamics processor. Validates the sidechain API, multi-bus routing, and more complex DSP.

Features: - Threshold, ratio, attack, release parameters - Sidechain input support - Envelope follower and gain reduction

PulpDrums

Path: examples/PulpDrums/ Type: MIDI Effect Formats: CLAP Purpose: A generative drum sequencer. The first example using MIDI output. Validates MIDI effect processing.

Features: - Four tracks (kick, snare, hi-hat, clap) - Density, velocity, pattern, and randomize controls - Pattern generation - MIDI output

PulpSynth

Path: examples/PulpSynth/ Type: Instrument Formats: CLAP Purpose: A macro oscillator synthesizer. Validates polyphonic instrument processing and more complex parameter layouts.

Features: - Multiple oscillator models - Modulation parameters - Polyphonic voice handling

PulpSampler

Path: examples/PulpSampler/ Type: Instrument Formats: CLAP Purpose: A production-shaped sampler with MIDI triggering, ADSR, pitch, loop/reverse playback, selectable interpolation, bounded file streaming, and an optional synthetic heritage-processing chain. Validates transactional off-thread mono/stereo publication, multi-voice playback, starvation handling, streamed mip selection, and parameter/state round-trips.

Features: - Off-thread mono/stereo resident loading and strict ranged WAV/AIFF streaming - MIDI note triggering with velocity - ADSR, pitch, loop, reverse, and interpolation controls - Eight-voice polyphony with bounded starvation fades - Resident and persisted streamed octave mips with ratio-tracking sinc fallback - Checked streaming-memory configuration plus typed prepare/load and coherent combined diagnostics - Optional typed synthetic heritage processing, transactional clock-domain rebind, and strict profile/runtime-state persistence

See the sampler playback chooser before reusing its shared paged architecture for a simpler sequential or resident product.

PulpTempoSampler

Path: examples/PulpTempoSampler/ Type: Instrument Formats: VST3, AU v2, CLAP, Standalone Purpose: Demonstrates offline tempo matching followed by lock-free, matched-generation resident sample and slice publication.

Features: - Bar-exact tempo policy over offline OfflineStretch rendering - Strongest-confidence onset slicing through SlicePointAnalyzer - Root-relative slice and chromatic pitch mapping through SampleKeyMap - Product-specific fixed voice stealing, sustain, loop re-engagement, panic, gate/play-through behavior, and dynamic signal::Adsr - Stable parameter identities and plugin-state schema v2

See the full example guide.

PulpPluck

Path: examples/pulp-pluck/ Type: Instrument Formats: VST3, AU v2, CLAP Purpose: A Karplus-Strong plucked-string synthesizer. Validates the instrument plugin path with a compact physical-modeling processor that also feeds the web demo lane.

Features: - Plucked-string synthesis - MIDI note input - Decay, brightness, and volume parameters - Native plugin targets plus WAM demo reuse

PulpMultiOut

Path: examples/pulp-multi-out/ Type: Instrument Formats: VST3, AU v2 (aumu), CLAP Purpose: An 8-voice synth that renders each voice to its OWN stereo output bus (1 main + 7 aux). Demonstrates the multi-bus output path — the AU v2 adapter turns the descriptor's eight output buses into eight AU output elements, so a DAW lists the aux outputs and routes each voice to its own mixer channel.

Features: - Eight stereo output buses addressed by index via process(ProcessBuffers&) - Round-robin voice assignment from incoming MIDI notes - auval-validated multi-output aumu; headless routing + bus-contract tests - See docs/guides/multi-bus-audio.md for the multi-bus contract and the manual DAW bus-visibility checklist

UI Preview

Path: examples/ui-preview/ Type: Standalone application (not a plugin) Purpose: A standalone app for testing the view/widget system and GPU rendering pipeline without building a full plugin.

Additional CMake-Backed Examples

examples/CMakeLists.txt includes more shipped targets than the curated plugin gallery above. Current examples include PulpMpeSynth, ViewBridge, Audio Inspector, Plugin Host, Stream, SDF, WebView, Three.js, and iOS AUv3 demos. Some are gated by platform, optional dependencies, or feature flags.

FAUST Examples

These examples validate the current supported FAUST lane: offline codegen, checked-in generated headers, FaustProcessor<T> wrapping, and headless regression tests.

FaustGain

Path: examples/faust-gain/ Type: Effect Purpose: Smallest FAUST example. Validates metadata reflection, state round-trip, and predictable gain processing.

FaustFilter

Path: examples/faust-filter/ Type: Effect Purpose: Multi-parameter FAUST effect. Validates parameter reflection and expected filter behavior.

FaustTremolo

Path: examples/faust-tremolo/ Type: Effect Purpose: Modulation effect example. Validates another non-trivial generated DSP shape and the current offline-codegen workflow.

Cmajor Example

This example validates the current Cmajor support lane in its truthful scope: source-owned patch files plus an external-toolchain helper. It is not built as part of the normal CMake example set and does not imply a bundled Cmajor runtime.

CmajorGain

Path: examples/cmajor-gain/ Type: Source-only effect example Purpose: Minimal patch for validating Pulp's MIT-safe Cmajor workflow: patch/source structure, helper diagnostics, and user-supplied cmaj codegen.

JSFX Examples

These examples validate Pulp's current bounded JSFX lane: source-only .jsfx files plus explicit subset validation. They do not imply a bundled REAPER runtime or full JSFX compatibility.

PulpJsfxGain

Path: examples/jsfx-gain/ Type: Source-only effect example Purpose: Minimal gain example validating desc:, slider declarations, and the @init + @slider + @sample subset.

PulpJsfxTremolo

Path: examples/jsfx-tremolo/ Type: Source-only effect example Purpose: Modulation example validating the same subset with a more musical processing shape.

PulpJsfxDelay

Path: examples/jsfx-delay/ Type: Source-only effect example Purpose: Memory-based delay idiom validating @block + @sample style in the bounded subset.

Building Examples

CMake-backed examples in the root example graph build as part of the main build when their platform and option gates are satisfied. Source-only Cmajor and JSFX examples use the lane-specific validators below.

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build

To build a specific example:

cmake --build build --target PulpGain_VST3
cmake --build build --target PulpTone_Standalone

Testing Examples

Each plugin example includes a test file (test_pulp_*.cpp) that exercises the processor through the headless host:

pulp test -R PulpGain
pulp test -R PulpTone

For the FAUST lane specifically:

cmake --build build --target pulp-faust-gain-test pulp-faust-filter-test pulp-faust-tremolo-test -j8
ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure -R Faust

For the Cmajor external lane specifically:

python3 tools/scripts/cmajor_external.py doctor \
  --patch examples/cmajor-gain/CmajorGain.cmajorpatch
python3 -m unittest tools/scripts/test_cmajor_external.py

For the JSFX bounded lane specifically:

python3 tools/scripts/jsfx_subset.py doctor --file examples/jsfx-gain/PulpJsfxGain.jsfx
python3 tools/scripts/jsfx_subset.py doctor --file examples/jsfx-tremolo/PulpJsfxTremolo.jsfx
python3 tools/scripts/jsfx_subset.py doctor --file examples/jsfx-delay/PulpJsfxDelay.jsfx
python3 -m unittest tools/scripts/test_jsfx_subset.py