Rhythm 'n Rust: Building a Synthesizer from A to Z in Rust
summary
Shows how to implement a complete audio synthesizer in Rust using the nih-plug framework to produce VST and CLAP plugins (Linux .so and Windows .dll) that generate 44,100 Hz audio and default to A440. Starts from a white-noise generator, adds a per-sample sine oscillator with phase increment, exposes gain and frequency parameters, compiles to a stereo plugin that runs in Ardour, and adds MIDI note-on/note-off and velocity handling to set frequency and amplitude while demonstrating realtime performance comparable to C++ with safer memory.
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chapters (13)
- 0:00Introduction
- 2:06Sound physics basics
- 8:03Computer music
- 10:34Why Rust
- 11:38Rust project setup
- 13:20First synth: white noise
- 20:20White noise demo
- 22:05Sine wave generator
- 25:35Sine wave demo
- 26:39MIDI protocol intro
- 31:29MIDI keyboard synth
- 32:38MIDI keyboard demo
- 33:22Summary
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