What is AudioGridder?

Server

AudioGridder is a plugin host that allows for offloading the DSP processing of audio plugins to remote computers running macOS or Windows. The DSP code of the loaded plugins will be executed on the server machine and the plugin UIs will be streamed over the wire.

The AudioGridder server supports the VST2, VST3 and AudioUnit plugin formats.

Plugin

Plugins can be hosted and accessed across the network: simply connect your DAW using the AudioGridder plugin. This allows you to add remote insert chains or instruments into your DAWs signal paths. You get an experience close to hosting the plugins directly in your DAW.

The AudioGridder plugin is supported in the formats VST2, VST3, AAX and AudioUnit.

Open Source

AudioGridder is open source and free software licensed under the MIT license.

Donations
If you use AudioGridder, please consider supporting the project with a donation:



AUDIOGRIDDER

How does it work?

AudioGridder Server runs on a computer hosting your effect and instrument plugins. On your workstation, on which you run your DAW, you use the AudioGridder FX or instrument plugin to access your plugin library over the network. The plugin is looking for available servers on your network and once connected allows you to create insert chains or load instruments. Midi and audio data from your DAW will be streamed over the network, processed on the server and streamed back.

To control a plugin and adjust its settings, AudioGridder is capturing the plugin UI on the server side and streaming it to the client. At the same time it is capturing mouse and keyboard events on the client and replaying them on the server.

Alternatively, AudioGridder supports a Generic Editor, that allows for direct access to the parameters of a plugin.

Demo

Watch this short demo video. It shows how AudioGridder can be used in a mixing session using Cubase.

Highlights
FEATURES
  • VST2 / VST3 / AAX / AudioUnit (macOS only)
  • Effect & Instrument plugins
  • Latency compensation
  • 32/64 bit float processing
  • Audio over network
  • Midi over network
  • Streaming of plugin UIs
  • Local control of remote plugin UIs
  • Unlimited remote effect plugin chains
  • Generic Plugin Parameter Editor
  • Automation
  • Plugin search
COMPATIBILITY
  • Server: macOS 10.7+ (Intel/Apple), Windows 7+
  • Plugin: macOS 10.7+ (Intel/Apple), Windows 7+, Linux 64bit
  • The server supports AudioUnit (macOS only) and VST2/VST3 plugins
  • The plugin is available as AudioUnit (macOS only) and VST2/VST3/AAX
  • Tested DAWs: Cubase 10 Pro, Pro Tools 12/2020.12, Logic Pro X, Reaper, Ableton Live, but others are being used too

Server

The server supports VST2, VST3 and AudioUnit (on macOS only) plugin formats and is available for macOS and Windows. There are multiple possibilities for your setup. It is suggested, that you dedicate each server instance to a single remote DAW workspace. That is because each server can only stream a single UI at the same time.

The server is implemented as tray application on all platforms. Just click on the tray icon to bring up the settings, plugin manager or statistics window.

You can run multiple parallel UI user sessions on macOS and Windows. Setup a user for each remote workspace, create a UI session (via VNC, note that RDP might not be working reliably with AudioGridder) and run a separate server instance in each session. You need to assign a different server ID to each instance (in the server settings). In your DAW you can address each server instance from the AudioGridder plugin via “server[:ID]” notation.

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Plugin

The plugin is currently supported on macOS, Windows and Linux as VST2, VST3, AAX and AudioUnit (on macOS only). 

With the AudioGridder FX plugin you can plug a remote insert effect chain into your DAW’s channel inserts. From there you can insert any FX plugin available on the connected server.

Instruments work similarly. Create a software instrument track in your DAW and select the AudioGridder plugin as instrument. Now you can load any of the instrument plugins available on the server.

Each AudioGridder plugin instance will connect to a single remote server instance. But each separate loaded plugin instance can connect to a different server, so you can connect to multiple servers from your DAW at the same time.

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