EigenD 3.0 - It's happening

[thetechnobear]

It’s the 3rd attempt, over many years (6+?)

this time its for real…this time it works…
It may not look different, but under the hood, pretty much everything has been update.

what’s new

release scope undecided yet… but here is what is already done.

• Native Apple Silicon support.
• Python 3.14 - latest version
• Juce 8 - latest version
• Scons 4 - latest version
• C++17
• Convolver is back (using latest fftw)
• Improved build support
• Dev documentation !
• Improved Windows development environment (ongoing)

(the above has also required fixing some latent bugs )

Status

Tested only on Mac Apple Silicon.
Testing shows all setups loading and appear to work.
Testing with Alpha/Tau/Pico no issues.

however, I need decide on scope of ‘deliverable’
Ive so many ideas, but it might be better to get his out in the wild, to check stability, also a beta test has much more 'coverage e.g. testing plugins/ midi.

Next steps

Mac
Beta test?
a lot of code has changed, in pretty fundamental ways.
Im almost certain there will be issues… even if I haven’t found them yet

Windows
No testing yet, but the code etc is cross-platform so should be ok
Ive started improving build environment for it, so that needs testing and no doubt further work on…also installer has been tweaked.
I hope to get access to a window machine later this week to start on it.
Beta testing after that…

Linux
already improved, I need to test and frankly, its a lower priority, as Im not sure anyone is really using
It’s likely it’ll stay ‘experimental’ just because its not getting the usage for me to be really confident in it. - also, Ive no idea what platforms to release on.

for ‘real’ release, Im hoping to move to GitHub actions aka automated release.
If I do, that would make releasing to non Mac (M series) much easier for me, and so helpful improve release cycle…
another step in modernisation.

---

Why 3.0?

coincidence of Python 3, my 3rd attempt.

but also, because it feels like a major step forward, a modern toolset and environment.
frankly, 2.x felt like a dead-end - Id pretty much given up on its future, it would die when Python 2 dies.

Now actually feel more confident, and even motivated excited to develop for it - I have ideas for the future !

[thetechnobear]

tl;dr; skip if you wish…
but, I think an important part of AI usage is disclosure… here is mine!

Backstory - why now ? rise of the machines ?

Why and how is there a new EigenD after so many years?

short answer is… AI.
but not for the reasons you might think!

Honestly, after last attempt, even though Id got quite far (running Eigen), I’d given up on this project, it was tedious, time consuming, and Id lost motivation

Ive been using google copilot (AI) on a couple of other project, nothing major, just creating a few scripts etc.
however, Id found it quite fun and found it interesting to see how it could work as a tool.

I wondered “How would it work on a complex code base? like EigenD?”
so I thought, lets give it a go for a few hours… I actually expected it not to go anywhere…

so I found initially, it was 'ok, it’d relieved some of the drudgery, but it’d also often also make big mistakes.

so, you have to watch it like a hawk
its really easy to fall into the trap of “letting it get on with it” - its answers / solutions are almost always plausible.
but like a rookie coder - its often wrong - and create more damage, lead you on wild goose chases.

It’s a tool, and it’s only as good as the developer driving it !

BUT, the surprise was…it was really motivating.

not only was I making good progress,
but as a lone developer, having ‘someone’ to talk thru issue with, to problem solve with … just made it more fun, more engaging.

sure if it was a human, Id have likely fired it on multiple occasions for ineptitude and wasting my time. here, all I could do was to terminate that chat session.

anyway, imho, AI is here to stay in all fields , the genie is out of the bottle, no going back.
for me its just a tool, and Im happy to have found a way to embrace it.

end of my ted talk

tech details for those interested:
vscode w/ google copilot.
agent: mostly Claude Sonnet 4.5, but a bit of Grok Code Fast 1 (and others)

is it free?
yes, and no…
Github as a free tier, with limited ‘premium tokens’, and you can use some free services.

however, , I have the next tier up - Team ? (they keep changing its name)
Even then, I blew thru all my ‘premium tokens’ quite quickly, so been topping them up. but it’s not too bad. and I have been on a huge dev push.

[NothanUmber]

Yay, thanks, this is great! Nostalgia Workbench wiring sessions and re-exploring old experimental setups incoming

[GoneCaving]

Wow, wow, wow! That’s amazing work Mark. Did the process shed any light on where the thread locks encountered in previous attempt arose?

I can’t help with testing right now, not least because I need a new laptop, but im hopeful that will happen early in the New Year.

[Kai]

This is huge! Let me know if there is anything I can help with. Testing on Win/Mac/Ubuntu, say, or perhaps updating factory setups (if that would make sense to do) or anything else like that.

[keymanpal]

Well…as they say: “third time is the charm” and I sometimes wondered when you bend AI to your will eheh

Im sure alot of work, no mater … Congrats!

It seems we can now rest the old machines (MBP/imac/macmini ) and jump on new, fast computing.

I’m always available ; shows/work is starting to slow down.

[mikemilton]

Applause! It would be wonderful to get my Alpha going again!

[thetechnobear]

glad you’re as excited as I am

I’ve actually done this all in relative short space of time, about 10-14 days.,
That said. Ive been pulling some 16 hour days, staying up till 3-4 am, just doing ‘one more thing’ like resolving a particular awkward bug / issues.
as I said, fun / motivating way to develop.

Ive had a fun day, today fixing the last few workbench bugs, that I wanted squash before a beta.
oddly enough, seems increasingly uncovering / fixing more bugs that date back to EigenLabs days.

also create a new custom form, so we can use GitHub issues for bug tracking.
(took me longer than it should have ;))

Beta should go live tomorrow…
So, just I posted the ‘beta’ topic, this will be updated as we go thru difference phases

Initially it’s macOS / Apple Silicon .
I’m hoping to use this to catch some quick n’ simple issues, before having to worry about platform differences.

Beta -2 will depend on number of issues I see.
I may need it to get issues verified before we move on.
or, if Im more confident / less issues then Beta-2, will include Windows.

then I can hopefully focus on GitHub Actions to automate the build/release, and so then each beta / release will then include all platforms Ive managed to get working on it.

anyway, as you can hopefully see, Im taking this a bit more seriously now…

I’ve kind of moved on from ‘just keep it running’, to rather trying to set it up as a more “professional” development setup. - issue tracking, automated release
…we might even get some automated testing ! … all the trappings of modern development

[keymanpal]

ummmm… what is a PICO doing at FOH?? (front-of-house /regie) @thetechnobear

[thetechnobear]

ok, Beta 1 is OUT

ofc, couldn’t resist fixing a few more things before it went out…

so a few things, for those trying it out…

watch the installer, theres a new step

I wanted to fix the ‘uninstall’ situation.

for linux , windows - I sorted this out, just use installer/package manager.
Mac’s awkward, since macOS doesn’t have an uninstaller.
basically the ‘convention’ is you just delete the folder in Applications.

But for EigenD thats incomplete, as a lot of the binaries are in /usr/local/pi !
SO, Ive moved them, you’ll now find all the applications under the Application folder (see pi subdirectory), so now you can do ‘as expected’

for NOW, however Ive left global resources (factory loops etc) under /usr/local/pi.
this is to be compatible with older versions.
later… I might move them to somewhere more accessible / conventional.

some other odd notes, which were true become , but ‘just in case’

• VST3 support native binaries
  due to licensing
• commander/browser,
  still not available, use very old python libs. Ive ideas in this area… but likely 3.0.x

I’ve generally left in old links to EigenLabs.com, though, thats probably going to have to change soon, need to think how to sort this out… wording etc.
Really, I want a decent user experience , not with dead links etc.

Ive disable ‘version checker’ as EigenLabs servers are not responding, and would not give you latest version anyway. perhaps I might point this to GitHub at some point.
same with bug reporter, I should probably just ditch the dialog form for now?!

think thats about it - enjoy