pouët.net

Basically I'm looking for a flexible set of widgets to build GUIs quickly using VSTGUI. The set would need to include: a rotary knob (1 big, 1 smal, suitable for unipolar and bipolar values), a slider, an on/off button, an on/off indicator. And a design style guide (colour palette, font recommendations, example grouping of widgets in boxes) so I don't ruin the design by using coder colours.

The screenshot Raizor_ posted above is a good indication of the kind of widgets I need, although these lack a uniform style. I'm not picky about the style, but it should look 'professional', whatever that means. I tend to prefer simple designs, such as those from Audio Damage, over more elaborate designs.

trc_wm: Have you thought about using the JUCE framework instead? Supposedly it makes creating plugins very easy, and you automatically can create plugins for multiple architectures (VST/AU/...) at the same time, and I think it comes with some custom GUI widgets for that purpose as well.

Using a different GUI framework will not solve my problem, I'm afraid. I'll still need some nice looking widgets. The default stuff in Juce is just plain ugly.

trc_wm: Like this? http://medialoot.com/item/audio-app-ui-kit/

Yup, something like that - but smaller to fit more widgets on the screen. Some of those knobs are Huge!

Confusing .. the scale is not the same in every screenshot ..

trc_wm: I'd be very interested if you do come across a nice widget library. You should be able the scale the stuff in the kit gloom posted, apparently it's all vector based.

gloom: Those look pretty neat, especially for $10. I think I'll take a punt on it.

dont think or talk about it, take it or leave it.

trc_wm/raizor: for UI inspiration, I follow UIparade.com constantly. They don't necessarily feature kits you can buy (in fact, they almost never do), but some do pop up from time to time. Either way, for inspiration, that site is unbeatable.

Oh, they have a store now. Not too much there yet, but you should be able to create a lot from this small kit: http://www.uiparade.com/ui-toolkit/

Here are some finished kits, from GraphicRiver:

http://graphicriver.net/item/sono-user-interface-set/1859233
http://graphicriver.net/item/user-interface-elements/1520487
http://graphicriver.net/item/retro-user-interface-elements/1431965
http://graphicriver.net/item/royce-gui-graphical-user-interface/411333

There's also this, which is pretty impressive: http://graphicriver.net/item/tabletphone-ui-professional-set-bundle/222275?ref=diegomonzon

Thanks Gloom! those are really helpful.

Looks cool gloom, thanks.

trc_wm: what are you using to put your GUI together, in terms of code? I've had a look at Juice and QT, but still not decided on the best approach yet.

I generally use VSTGUI, which compiles on OSX and Windows and is suitable for VSTs and AUs, as well as stand-alone applications, if you add a little custom code.

Juce and VSTGUI are aimed towards VSTs, whereas Qt is more general application framework. I would go for one of the first two, and ditch Qt.

The only reason I mentioned Qt is because I want to use the Qt IDE on OSX to build my VSTGUI-based VST plugin, as Xcode is a total piece of crap, IMO. ATM, I can't get this to produce a correct OSX bundle so I'm pretty much stuck with Xcode.

Thanks trc_wm.

I started off building some frankenstein VST using VST.NET to create a C# winforms GUI which talked to a managed C++ interface into an unmanaged lib containing my synth. It's quite convoluted and could get quite hard to maintain. I'll give VSTGUI a go and hopefully ditch the .Net side of things.

I feel your Xcode pain btw, have to use that a fair bit for work.

@raizor_ FYI you dont have to use a custom GUI if your VST doesnt use a lot of parameters; many VST hosts implement a generic interface. It gets messy pretty quickly though. For quick experiments it can be a real time saver.

trc_wm: Thanks. Can't really get away without a GUI atm though, way too many options and params :) Handy info for the future though.

Btw, I came across this for making VSTGUI knobs, looks great: KnobMan

Yeah, I used that on my previous interface attempts; it helped me discover how talentless I am designing gfx for interfaces. Knobman is indeed very useful. Too bad there isnt a OSX version.

There was/is some pretty interesting stuff going on in the KVR thread on Knobman.