Beat (VST3 MIDI Generator)

Beat is a VST3 MIDI generator/instrument. It produces MIDI note patterns from eight Euclidean rhythm lanes and uses a shared edit section for the currently selected lane.

Features

• 8 beat lanes
• Per-lane parameters: Bars, Loop, Beats, Rotate, Note, Octave, Loud
• Lane select buttons 1 through 8
• Per-lane M and S controls plus global Mute All, Global Solo, and Reset
• Lane activity feedback
• Host parameter state save/restore
• MIDI output with a silent stereo audio output for hosts that expect an instrument bus

Requirements

• Steinberg VST3 SDK via VST3_SDK_ROOT
• CMake 3.20+
• Visual Studio 2022 / MSVC

Build

From the repo root in cmd.exe:

set VST3_SDK_ROOT=C:\path\to\vst3sdk
build.bat

build.bat configures vst3 into build and builds both Debug and Release. The build outputs are created under build\VST3\Debug and build\VST3\Release.

Note: the Steinberg SDK post-build step may try to create a symlink under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Common\VST3. If symlink creation fails, the local bundle output is still usable.

Deploy

Use:

deploy.bat

This installs:

• C:\ProgramData\vstplugins\DebugBeat.vst3
• C:\ProgramData\vstplugins\Beat.vst3

deploy.bat copies the built Debug and Release bundles into C:\ProgramData\vstplugins.

Release Zip

Use:

release.bat

This creates BEAT.vst3.zip in the repo root from build\VST3\Release\Beat.vst3.

Use In Ableton Live

1. Add VirtualRobot / Beat to a MIDI track.
2. Create another MIDI track with your instrument on it.
3. Set the instrument track's MIDI input to the Beat track and arm or monitor that track.
4. Start playback in Live.
5. Use lane buttons 1 to 8 to choose which beat lane you are editing.
6. Adjust Bars, Loop, Beats, Rotate, Note, Octave, and Loud for the selected lane.
7. Use M, S, Mute All, Global Solo, and Reset as needed.

If you install the debug build, the plugin name is Debug Beat.