# MiniCliffEQ

MiniCliffEQ is a linear phase FIR filter with 2^15 = 32768 taps. Latency is improved from initial version, however it still exceeds 0.34 seconds in 48000 Hz sampling rate. The primary purpose is to suppress direct current. It can also be used as very sharp low-pass, high-pass, low-shelf, and high-shelf filter.

- Download MiniCliffEQ 0.1.18 `full` - VST 3 (github.com)
- Download MiniCliffEQ 0.1.18 `macOS` - VST 3 (github.com)
- Download Presets (github.com)

`full` package contains following builds.

- Windows (x86_64)
- Linux (x86_64)
- macOS (Universal 2)

Linux build is built on Ubuntu 24.04. If you are using distribution other than Ubuntu 24.04, plugin will not likely to run. In this case, please take a look at build instruction.

`macOS` package is recommended for macOS user. I can’t purchase Apple Developer Program, therefore installation requires a workaround to bypass Gatekeeper. Details of workaround are written in Installation -> macOS Specific section.

## Contact

Feel free to contact me on GitHub repository or `ryukau@gmail.com.`

You can fund the development through paypal.me/ryukau.

## Installation

### Plugin

Move `*.vst3` directory to:

- `/Program Files/Common Files/VST3/` for Windows.
- `$HOME/.vst3/` for Linux.
- `/Users/$USERNAME/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST3/` for macOS.

DAW may provides additional VST3 directory. For more information, please refer to the manual of the DAW.

### Presets

Notice: Some plugins don’t have presets provided by Uhhyou Plugins.

Presets are included in the plugin package linked at the top of this page. To install presets, follow the steps below.

1. Download plugin from a link at the top of this page.
2. Extract downloaded zip file.
3. Open `presets` directory placed in extracted package.
4. Move `Uhhyou` directory into an OS specific preset directory (see below).

Below is a list of preset directories for each OS.

- Windows : `/Users/$USERNAME/Documents/VST3 Presets`
- Linux : `$HOME/.vst3/presets`
- macOS : `/Users/$USERNAME/Library/Audio/Presets`

Preset directory name must be the same as the plugin. If preset directory does not exist, create it.

- Preset Locations - VST 3 Developer Portal

### Windows Specific

If DAW doesn’t recognize the plugin, try installing C++ redistributable (`vc_redist.x64.exe`). Installer can be found in the link below.

- Latest supported Visual C++ Redistributable downloads | Microsoft Learn

### Linux Specific

On Ubuntu 24.04, those packages are required.

    sudo apt install libxcb-cursor0  libxkbcommon-x11-0

If DAW doesn’t recognize the plugin, take a look at `Package Requirements` section of the link below and make sure all the VST3 related package is installed.

- VSTGUI: Setup

REAPER on Linux may not recognize the plugin. A workaround is to delete a file `~/.config/REAPER/reaper-vstplugins64.ini` and restart REAPER.

### macOS Specific

Important: `full` package is not confirmed working. When using `full`, try removing following files.

- `Contents/Resources/Documentation`
- `Contents/x86_64-linux`
- `Contents/x86_64-win`

`macOS` package doesn’t contain above files. Also, all packages are in “ad-hoc signing” state set by `codesign` command.

#### Remove Quarantine

When trying to run plugin first time, following message may appear on macOS.

    <PluginName>.vst3 is damaged and can't be opened. You should move it to the Trash.

In this case, open terminal and try running one or both of following command to unzipped `.vst3` directory. Replace `/path/to/PluginName.vst3` according to your install location.

    xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /path/to/PluginName.vst3
    xattr -rc /path/to/PluginName.vst3

#### Bypass Gatekeeper

Plugin may be considered as unsigned/un-notarized application. In this case, open System Preferences, go to Security & Privacy → General, then click the Open Anyway button. The offcial Apple help page linked below has screenshots for the procedure. See “If you want to open an app that hasn’t been notarized or is from an unidentified developer” section.

- Safely open apps on your Mac - Apple Support

If the plugin is still not working, try changing install location to `/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST3/` or `/Users/$USERNAME/Library/Audio/Plug-ins/VST3/` whichever still haven’t tried.

If all the above methods do not work, try following the steps below.

1. Open terminal and run `sudo spctl --master-disable`.
2. Go to System Preferences → Security and Privacy → General → Allow apps downloaded from, then select “Anywhere”.

Beware that steps above degrades security of your system. To revert the settings, follow the steps below.

1. Go to System Preferences → Security and Privacy → General → Allow apps downloaded from, then select option to “App Store and identified developers”.
2. Open terminal and run `sudo spctl --master-enable`.

#### Applying `codesign`

Note This section may not relevant to `macOS` packages. However it’s not verified. (GitHub issue)

To use `full` package, following command might be used.

    sudo codesign --force --deep -s - /path/to/PluginName.vst3

`codesign` might not be available without installing Xcode.

#### Reference

- Safely open apps on your Mac - Apple Support
- java - “libprism_sw.dylib” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified. on mac JAVAFX - Stack Overflow
- How to Fix App “is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash” Error on Mac
- Allowing unsigned/un-notarized applications/plugins in Mac OS | Venn Audio

## GUI Style Configuration

At first time, create color config file to:

- `/Users/USERNAME/AppData/Roaming/UhhyouPlugins/style/style.json` on Windows.
- `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/UhhyouPlugins/style/style.json` on Linux.
  - If `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME` is empty, make `$HOME/.config/UhhyouPlugins/style/style.json`.
- `/Users/$USERNAME/Library/Preferences/UhhyouPlugins/style/style.json` on macOS.

`style.json` will be loaded for each time a plugin window opens.

Several color themes are available on the link below. To use, copy the text to `style.json`.

- VSTPlugins/package/style/themes at master · ryukau/VSTPlugins

Below is an example of `style.json`.

    {
      "guiScale"          : 1          ,
      "fontFamily"        : "Tinos"    ,
      "fontBold"          : true       ,
      "fontItalic"        : true       ,
      "foreground"        : "#000000"  ,
      "foregroundButtonOn": "#000000"  ,
      "foregroundInactive": "#8a8a8a"  ,
      "background"        : "#ffffff"  ,
      "boxBackground"     : "#ffffff"  ,
      "border"            : "#000000"  ,
      "borderCheckbox"    : "#000000"  ,
      "borderLabel"       : "#000000"  ,
      "unfocused"         : "#dddddd"  ,
      "highlightMain"     : "#0ba4f1"  ,
      "highlightAccent"   : "#13c136"  ,
      "highlightButton"   : "#fcc04f"  ,
      "highlightWarning"  : "#fc8080"  ,
      "overlay"           : "#00000088",
      "overlayHighlight"  : "#00ff0033"
    }

### GUI Scale

- `guiScale`: GUI scaling. For example, `0.75` is 75%, and `2.0` is 200%.

The minimum of `guiScale` is `0.01`. The maximum is practically non-existent (the max value of 64-bit float).

Notice: If `guiScale` is too large, DAW may place the “close” button on the plugin window out of screen, making it unclickable.

### Font Options

Following is a list of font options.

- `fontFamily`: Font family name.
- `fontBold`: Enable bold style when `true`, disable when `false`.
- `fontItalic`: Enable italic style when `true`, disable when `false`.

System font can be used as `fontFamily`. To use different fonts for different plugins, place `*.ttf` file into custom font path: `*.vst3/Contents/Resources/Fonts`.

Notice: If the combination of `fontFamily`, `fontBold`, `fontItalic` does not exist in custom font path, default font of VSTGUI is used.

If `fontFamily` is set to empty string `""`, then `"Tinos"` is used as fallback. If the length is greater than 1 and the font family name doesn’t exist, default font of VSTGUI is used.

Styles other than bold, italic or bold-italic are not supported by VSTGUI. For example, “Thin”, “Light”, “Medium”, and “Black” weights cannot be used.

### Color Options

Hex color codes are used.

- 6 digit color is RGB.
- 8 digit color is RGBA.

First letter `#` is conventional. Plugins ignore the first letter of color code, thus `?102938`, `\n11335577` are valid.

Do not use characters outside of `0-9a-f` for color value.

Following is a list of color options. If an option is missing, default color will be used.

- `foreground`: Text color.
- `foregroundButtonOn`: Text color of active toggle button. Recommend to use the same value of `foreground` or `boxBackground`.
- `foregroundInactive`: Text color of inactive components. Currently, only used for TabView.
- `background`: Background color.
- `boxBackground`: Background color of inside of box shaped components (Barbox, Button, Checkbox, OptionMenu, TextKnob, VSlider).
- `border`: Border color of box shaped components.
- `borderCheckbox`: Border color of CheckBox.
- `borderLabel`: Line color of parameter section label.
- `unfocused`: Color to fill unfocused components. Currently, only used for knobs.
- `highlightMain`: Color to indicate focus is on a component. Highlight colors are also used for value of slider components (BarBox and VSlider).
- `highlightAccent`: Same as `highlightMain`. Used for cosmetics.
- `highlightButton`: Color to indicate focus is on a button.
- `highlightWarning`: Same as `highlightMain`, but only used for parameters which requires extra caution.
- `overlay`: Overlay color. Used to overlay texts and indicators.
- `overlayHighlight`: Overlay color to highlight current focus.

## Controls

`Right Click` on the controls pops up a context menu provided by DAW.

Knob and slider provides following controls:

- `Ctrl` + `Left Click`: Reset value.
- `Shift` + `Left Drag`: Fine adjustment.
- `Middle Click` : Rotate through minimum, default and maximum value.
- `Shift` + `Middle Click` : Take floor of current value.
  - Note: For decibel (`dB`) parameters, floor is applied after the value is converted to amplitude.

## Caution

Latency is `2^15 / 2 - 1 = 16383` samples. Signal to noise ratio is around -120 dB.

## Usage

Primary usage of MiniCliffEQ is direct current (DC) suppression. It can also be used for detecting subtle noises. The filter is linear phase, so band-splitting is another application. If possible, it is always better to replace MiniCliffEQ for more lightweight EQ, because the high latency degrades your workflow.

To suppress DC, click `LP Gain` twice by mouse wheel. It sets the value to `-inf`. For ordinary speakers, it is better to stay `Cutoff` at initial value of 20 Hz. When `Cutoff` is set to below 10 Hz, the accuracy of cutoff frequency and steepness of roll-off will degrade. For example, when `Cutoff` is set to 1 Hz, amplitude response is -16.25 dB at 1 Hz, and -60 dB at 0.1 Hz.

To detect subtle noise, follow the steps below:

1. Insert limiter after MiniCliffEQ.
2. Set `LP Gain` to `-inf`.
3. Rise `Cutoff` to eliminate input signal. Don’t forget to `Refresh FIR`!
4. Set `HP Gain` to `144.5`.

For example, consider to set `Cutoff` to 200 Hz, and input 100 Hz sine wave to the above setting. If the output is not silent, then the input sine wave contains some noise. Note that the noise that can be heard when applying 144.5 dB gain is definitely not perceived by human ear. This procedure is useful to investigate plugin algorithm, rather than to measure the quality of sound.

The filter design algorithm used in MiniCliffEQ is the same one as following Python 3 code:

    import scipy.signal as signal
    samplerate = 48000
    cutoffHz = 20
    fir = signal.firwin(2**15 - 1, cutoffHz, window="nuttall", fs=samplerate)

## Parameters

Refresh FIR

  Click `Refresh FIR` to refresh filter coefficients after changing `Cutoff`. Note that clicking `Refresh FIR` resets internal states, and stops sound for the length of latency.

Cutoff [Hz]

  FIR filter cutoff frequency.

HP Gain [dB]

  Gain of highpass output.

LP Gain [dB]

  Gain of lowpass output.

## Change Log

- 0.1.18
  - Fixed a bug that plugin to show up with incorrect window size (likely 512x512 pixels) at initialization.
- 0.1.17
  - Fixed latency reporting. This fix provides proper latency reporting at initialization and at changing relevant parameters, without closing and opening the GUI again.
- 0.1.16
  - Added GUI scaling.
  - Updated the Linux patch for VSTGUI4.
- 0.1.15
  - Fixed GUI on Linux.
- 0.1.14
  - Changed to include presets in plugin zip package.
  - Fixed a bug that invalid `style.json` crashes plugin.
- 0.1.13
  - Changed default style color of `foregroundInactive`.
  - Fixed performance drop caused by subnormal floating point numbers.
- 0.1.12
  - Fixed crash on Renoise. Previous code was trying to access freed memory of GUI widgets, and it was causing the crash.
- 0.1.11
  - Fixed stuttering on Audacity where `processContext` is `nullptr`.
- 0.1.10
  - Added floor shortcut to number sliders. Shortcut is `Shift` + `Middle Click`.
  - Added mutex around FFTW3. This may prevent crash by the call of thread unsafe functions in FFTW3.
- 0.1.9
  - Added to `virtual` to destructor of common components. This may prevent some cause of crash or memory leak.
- 0.1.8
  - Updated VST 3 SDK to version 3.7.6. This also fixes the crash when opening multiple GUI of same plugin on Linux.
  - Changed convolution algorithm to further distribute CPU load.
- 0.1.7
  - Fixed crash when FIR filter is refreshed at the same time on 2 or more instances of MiniCliffEQ.
- 0.1.6
  - Changed convolution algorithm to reduce CPU load spikes.
- 0.1.5
  - Fixed crash at plugin scan on some Windows environment. FFTW3 static library for Windows is changed to build without SIMD flags.
- 0.1.4
  - Fixed a bug where one of the output of partial convolution was off by one sample.
- 0.1.3
  - Changed convolution algorithm from overlap-add to overlap-save for slightly less noise and also slightly better performance.
- 0.1.2
  - Changed convolution algorithm not to introduce latency. Average CPU load is increased due to trade-off. Latency from FIR filter still remains.
- 0.1.1
  - Changed to use `std::accumulate` to improve acculacy of FIR filter nomalization.
- 0.1.0
  - Initial release.

## Old Versions

- MiniCliffEQ 0.1.17 - VST 3 (github.com)
- MiniCliffEQ 0.1.16 - VST 3 (github.com)
- MiniCliffEQ 0.1.15 - VST 3 (github.com)
- MiniCliffEQ 0.1.14 - VST 3 (github.com)
- MiniCliffEQ 0.1.13 - VST 3 (github.com)
- MiniCliffEQ 0.1.12 - VST 3 (github.com)
- MiniCliffEQ 0.1.11 - VST 3 (github.com)
- MiniCliffEQ 0.1.10 - VST 3 (github.com)
- MiniCliffEQ 0.1.9 - VST 3 (github.com)
- MiniCliffEQ 0.1.8 - VST 3 (github.com)
- MiniCliffEQ 0.1.7 - VST 3 (github.com)
- MiniCliffEQ 0.1.5 - VST 3 (github.com)
- MiniCliffEQ 0.1.4 - VST 3 (github.com)

## License

MiniCliffEQ is licensed under GPLv3. Complete licenses are linked below.

- https://github.com/ryukau/VSTPlugins/tree/master/License

If the link above doesn’t work, please send email to `ryukau@gmail.com`.

### About VST

VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, registered in Europe and other countries.