3DVerb

Contents

1. About 3DVerb
2. Project Goals
3. Demo
4. Screenshots
5. Requirements
6. Languages
7. Installation
   • environment
   • prerequisites
   • instructions
8. Development Notes
   • Updates
   • TODO
   • Known Issues
9. Features
10. Parameter Mapping
11. Future Expansions
12. Academic Report
13. Acknowledgments
14. Credits
15. License

About

• 3DVerb is a VST3 reverb audio plugin made with the JUCE framework.
• 3DVerb utilizes the juce_audio_basics module Reverb class (juce_Reverb.h) as a reference plugin.
• It processes real-time audio data, and passes that data to a JUCE WebView frontend.
• The UI integrates ThreeJS WebGL animation library and the Three Nebula library independent library for ThreeJS that simplifies certain animations like particle emission.

Goals

• Proof of concept: audio plugins, enabled by Juce WebView2 for 3D visualizations, can react in real time to real-time data and visualize that data artistically in three dimensions.
• Push for audio plugins to be less utilitarian: Many people utilize their DAW for general music practice and don't necessarily need all their CPU power dedicated to dozens of plugins.
• Provide a relaxing virtual environment for users to visualize their music in real time.
• Practical uses:
  • Demonstrate flexibility of JUCE WebView paradigm for visualization purposes.
  • View how reverb parameters affect frequency distribution in real-time--useful for mixing as reverb can saturate low or high frequencies depending on parameter settings.
  • Visual supplement to music performance.
  • Education: view how reverb algorithm affects frequency data. Visualize how parameter changes affect high frequency attenuation.

Demo

• Link to YouTube demo

Screenshots of varying parameters

As this is a dynamic visualization, screenshots are only half the story, but these will give an idea as to how the visualization responds to parameter changes at a high level.

Params of Interest	Screenshot
damp: 0; room size: 0
damp: 0; room size: 1
damp: 1; room size: 1
damp: 0.5; width: 0
width: 1; damp: 0.5
damp: 0.4; room size: 0.75; mix: 0.61; width: 0.25

Requirements

• JUCE v8.0.8
• JUCE Projucer
• JUCE AudioPluginHost
• A system with WebView2 runtime installed (if using Windows, this is automatically included in Windows 11).
• Node JS and Node Package Manager (npm)

Languages

• C++ 17
• JavaScript
• HTML / CSS

Installation

Environment

These instructions developed in the following environment

• Windows 11 Environment
• Projucer
• Visual Studio
• Development machine hardware:
  • AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-core CPU
  • AMD Radeon 6600XT GPU
  • 32GB RAM

Prerequisites

JUCE Framework v8.0.8

Instructions

1. Clone this repository.
2. Launch JUCE Projucer
   • Load 3DVerb.jucer
   • Click "Save and Open in IDE" to generate Visual Studio .sln file.
3. Preparing for debugging in JUCE AudioPluginHost.
   • In Visual Studio Solution Explorer, right-click 3DVerb_VST3,
   • Click 'Properties'.
   • Left hand pane: Select Debugging.
   • In Command section, enter <YOUR JUCE FRAMEWORK DIRECTORY>\AudioPluginHost\Builds\VisualStudio2022\x64\Debug\App\AudioPluginHost.exe
   • In Working Directory section, enter <YOUR 3DVERB PROJECT LOCATION>\3DVerb\Builds\VisualStudio2022\x64\Debug\VST3
4. Prepare Frontend:
   • Navigate to UI directory: cd 3DVerb\Source\UI.
   • Install dependencies: npm install.
   • Launch Vite web server: npx vite.
5. Build and run the plugin: Local Windows Debugger.
6. Configure AudioPluginHost:
   • In AudioPluginHost, go to Options → Edit the list of available plug-ins
   • Click "Scan for new or updated VST3 plug-ins"
   • Navigate to your build directory: 3DVerb\Builds\VisualStudio2022\x64\Debug\VST3
   • Select the 3DVerb.vst3 file and add it to the filter graph

Development Notes

Updates

• 25-08-2025: plugin no longer crashes DAW. Frequent polling via fetch calls from frontend were overwhelming DAW UI thread causing program crashes. Now atomic and thread safe values are directly emitted from timerCallback() for frontend consumption.

TODO

• Bundle frontend assets for release (remove need for web server)
• Installation instructions for CMAKE and macOS users needed.
• Create a production branch.
• Prepare for release by determining WebView requirements and/or updating relevant code to check for environment.

Known Issues

• Occasional cache-load error when changing environment map from select dropdown.

Features

• Three-dimensional visualization of JUCE reference reverb algorithm Freeverb implementation
• Utilization of event-driven JUCE WebView paradigm.
• Hot-reload of frontend:
  • decouples visualization development from audio processing development.
  • save time not rebuilding each time the code for visualization is updated.
• Real-time parameter mapping between JUCE AudioProcessor and WebView frontend.
• Thread-safe data exchange using lockless programming techniques.
• Maxed out FPS on a mid-range PC.
• Responsive 3D camera controls using ThreeJS OrbitControls extension.
• Frequency-only FFT extracts frequency data for visualization in a "particle wave."
• Visual feedback for reverb tail length and decay characteristics.
• Particle density and behavior controlled by output level and interaction of primary reverb parameters.
• Visualization features extracted from primary params for a reactive real time visualization.
• Interaction with ThreeJS Mesh objects and utilization of Three Nebula initializers and behavior physics.
• Change ThreeJS environment map from a predetermined list.
• JUCE UndoManager integration with undo/redo buttons and ctrl+z, ctrl+y keyboard shortcut integration.

Parameter Mapping

Primary params of 3DVerb

Parameter	Type	Range	Default	Step	Description
Bypass	Bool	0/1	false	-	Bypasses the reverb effect
Mono	Bool	0/1	false	-	Forces mono output processing
Gain	Float	0.0 - 1.0	1.0	0.01	Output gain control
Size	Float	0.0 - 1.0	0.5	0.01	Room size/reverb decay time
Mix	Float	0.0 - 1.0	0.75	0.01	Wet/dry signal balance
Width	Float	0.0 - 1.0	0.75	0.01	Stereo width of reverb effect
Damp	Float	0.0 - 1.0	0.5	0.01	High frequency damping amount
Freeze	Float	0.0 - 1.0	0.0	0.01	(a boolean is set true by range being greater than 0.5) Freezes reverb tail (infinite sustain)

Parameter to visualization mapping

Audio Parameter	Visual Element	Mapping Description
Room Size	Particle Spread	Larger values increase particle distribution radius. Radius of emitted particles scales up or down. Surrounding glass cube increases in size
Mix	Anchor spheres	Anchor spheres scale up and down
Damping	Particle Color	Higher damping (threshold = damping > 0.45) shifts particles toward warmer colors on collision with surrounding cube
Damping / Room Size interaction	Particle Density	Controls life of particles inside surrounding cube
Frequency Data	Particle Wave Region Height	FFT freq. bins mapped to Y-axis particle positions in a sine wave animation
Frequency Data	Particle Wave Scale	FFT freq. bin level controls individual particle scale
Freeze Mode	Animation Speed	Freezes particle motion when enabled

Future expansions

• Allow user to upload custom environment maps.
• Allow user to change emitted sprite from a predetermined list.
  • Allow user to upload custom sprites.
• Enable preset management.
• Implement explanatory tooltips

Academic Report

For a more thorough discussion of this project, please see the academic report.

Acknowledgments

This project was completed as part of my MSCS program at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth under the guidance of Professor Jiawei Yuan. Special thanks for their supervision throughout the development process.

Credits

3D Models (All from Sketchfab.com under CC BY 4.0):

"Fine Persian Heriz Carpet" by mfb64 - https://skfb.ly/o76nI

"Sound Proofing Dampening Foam" by MiningMark48 - https://skfb.ly/6tsrX

"Floor Lamp" by bilgehan.korkmaz - https://skfb.ly/OAQK

"KRK Classic 5 Studio Monitor Speaker" by TheGiwi - https://skfb.ly/6WMwT

Environment Maps:

Rogland Clear Night: https://polyhaven.com/a/rogland_clear_night

HDRI Skies: https://hdri-skies.com/free-hdris/

License

This project is licensed under GPL v3 - see the LICENSE file for details.