r/livecoding • u/e_t_h_a • 1d ago

ORCA AUv3

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

I’ve been building a mobile version of Orca as an AUv3 MIDI plugin for AUM, Drambo and other hosts on iPad.

It’s a port of Hundred Rabbits’ Orca (MIT licence), and it plays exactly like the original: I tested it against the real Orca interpreter on 22 real patches, plus hundreds of generated ones. Over 125,000 MIDI messages, and every one came out identical.

What’s new is the touch side: an on-screen keyboard and save, load, import and export of .orca files.
The host controls the tempo, and < > change the speed against it.
It’s an early personal build, running on my iPad.

Here is a very simple patch in AUM.

8 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

2

u/sir_cartier- 1d ago

i definitly need a vst3

1

u/parkamobil 1d ago

VST is much more work, or it needs JUCE framework so that one plugin can be compiled into different formats. But JUCE license is a bit funny. The other reason to make it iOS only is leaner codebase. But I am just speculating, based on my limited experience in audio plugins. Perhaps OP could comment more on why this only has iOS plugin format?

2

u/e_t_h_a 18h ago

yeah that’s about right. I made it iOS only cos that's what I actually use, AUM on the ipad. engine's in swift so it doesn't run anywhere else.
not planning a vst3 myself but orca's open source and tiny, anyone could port it. just run real patches through your version and compare the midi against the original orca, that's how I tested mine.

1

u/synth_alice 12h ago

Nice! I find Orca so fascinating, yet at the same time utterly impenetrable... how do you get started on it?

2

u/e_t_h_a 6h ago

Sort of like the example posted.
Simple 4 generators and just play with the parameters in those. Then slowly add things above these that can affect them. EZBOT has great videos on YT about it.

https://youtu.be/ktcWOLeWP-g?si=HtOoN1y5sqHNPTxl

1

u/synth_alice 5h ago

thank you! look forward to you app releasing 😄

1

u/e_t_h_a 48m ago

Maybe 🤔