I have been developing plugins for many years but don’t have any idea how the new “ARA/ARA2” interface works. Is anyone here working with it? It seems to require collaboration with the DAW developers, and is more involved than “plugins”, but could it be added as a build target in iPlug - or does ARA require something else entirely?
Anyone have input/info?
ARA differs a lot. Process Block, main part of a plugin, does “not exist”. Think like DAW inside DAW.
Practical advice from ChatGPT, if you want to explore ARA:
1. Grab the ARA SDK
From Celemony (it’s open/free but licensed)
2. Start outside your framework
Prototype a minimal VST3 + ARA bridge
Understand the lifecycle first
3. Then consider framework integration
You’d likely need:
New abstraction layer in iPlug2
Conditional compilation for ARA hosts
Separate “ARA document controller” class
Bottom line
ARA is not just another plugin format
It requires explicit DAW support
You can’t simply “add ARA target” like VST3/AU
Frameworks like iPlug2 would need significant architectural extension
Thank you for the info. Seems pretty involved (which likely explains why it’s so problematic, IME) and really only useful for certain types of processes (pitch/timing correction, etc.).
It also appears that DAWs have to provide for/integrate with new ARA plugins, i.e., they have to “let you in” by some path/agreement? I heard from one developer who said Avid requested 10 copies of their ARA plugin for testing before release (and it still doesn’t work right!).
Think I’ll stick with the established VST/AU/AAX formats.