In this article, we will review the new Romplur Software; a free VST plugin maker and development software with a simple no-code approach.
While designing sounds, every sound designer thinks about their ideal plugin at least once. They think about making their own VST that can produce the sound they like. However, the reality is quite different. To develop a VST, you need to be good at not just coding, but also graphic design & visual coding, mathematics, signal processing, and more. As such they have to hire people who can make their plugins at a high rate.
Recently, Studiolinked has released new software that is capable of building outstanding ROM VSTs within a matter of minutes. The software is called Romplur. Romplur has changed the way of VST development and become popular among producers and sound designers alike.
In this article, we will look at this amazing software in detail.
What is Romplur?
Romplur is a software tool for designing outstanding VST plugins. It can change your samples into a full-fledged instrument in minutes. The best part about this software is that anyone can use it. You don’t need a background in coding, signal processing, mathematics, script writing, or graphic design. Romper has everything pre-made for you.
Romplur is available for both Windows and macOS. It creates and exports VST plugins for both Windows and macOS.
The plugin is developed by Studiolinked; a company popular for building outstanding VSTs, Kontakt Instruments, Tutorials, Courses, and more.
Romplur – Pricing, Specifications, and Trial
Although you can download and create your plugins for free, you need to buy a full license of Romplur in order to export and sell your plugins. Here are the pricing and subscriptions of Romplur –
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Romplur runs on both Windows and macOS.
Romplur VS Kontakt 7
Kontakt 7 is arguably the most popular Sample Instrument Builder out there. It is used by many sound designers and companies. As such, the question arises how does Romplur compare to the Kontakt? Let’s find out.
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From the table, you can see that although Romplur is very easy to use and is good for simple instruments, it is not good for creating advanced organic VSTs. However, having your own dedicated VST plugin has its own pros. Furthermore, the software is in its initial phase and the developers come with new updates all the time. Hopefully, it will bring more advanced features in the near future.
How to make VSTs using Romplur?
Creating VSTs using Romplur is rather easy progress. The process can be divided into 4 main steps.
- Creating preset groups
- Mapping the samples for each preset.
- Editing the presets, instruments, and effects
- Designing the GUI, adding UI elements, and mapping with internal controls.
- Exporting VSTi.
Let’s look at each step one at a time.
Step 1 – Creating Preset Group
The first step to building your own VST plugin is to create the preset group in the Romplur. After you have recorded or designed all your sampled instruments. You can go to Romplur’s main UI, go to the preset panel, and add preset groups. Each preset will have different samples, mappings, and effects. Furthermore, in each presets, you can edit layers.
The preset section has 4 main options
- Add presets – Adds newly preset to the plugin.
- Remove preset – Removes selected preset.
- Move Down – Changes the order of the preset.
- Move Up – Changes the order of the preset.
Step 2 – Mapping the samples for each preset.
The next step is the most important step in building your VST. In this step, we will map samples to their corresponding notes. You have 2 separate options here. One, you can map one sample to multiple notes, or two you can map one sample per note.
If you are planning to make an organic physical instrument like a Piano, Guitar, Mallets, etc mapping one sample per note will be a good choice. Each note in an instrument has its own timbre and resonance. It brings life to the sound. However, if you are making a synth library, you can map one sample for multiple notes. The resampling algorithm of Romplur is actually good.
To map the samples, simply drag and drop your sample/samples into the mapping window. Doing this will pop up a window where you can assign the lowest and highest key of your sample.
Important – While some DAW use note range from C0-C10(like FL Studio) Romplur has a range of C-2 to C8. While importing samples, make sure you assign the right sample to the right key.
Step 3 – Editing the presets, instruments, and effects
The 3rd step is Editing the presets, instruments, and effects in Romplur. In plugin settings, you can Name your Plugin, Vendor, and add the code. In preset settings, you can set the initial configurations of your preset, that is the parameters when users load your presets.
There are many essential basic effects and synth controls in Romplur, for example –
- ADSR
- Drive
- LP and HP filter, with Orders up to 48dB/Oct.
- Chorus
- Phaser
- Delay
- Reverb
- Gain
- Limiter
Almost all parameters of these effects can be assigned to Knobs, Labels, and other GUI elements.
The layer controls have essential ADSR and Panning options.
On the other hand, the Sample editor packs a lot of essential editing features for individual samples. For example-
- Root Note
- Loop
- Sample Start Position
- Loop
- One Shot
- Fade
- Decay
- One Shot
Step 4 – Designing the GUI, adding knobs, sliders, analyzers, etc.
Arguably, the most powerful feature of Romplur is its GUI Designer. Although you can design your main GUI elements on Romplur’s GUI Editor available on their official website, you can also edit and fine-tune it further in the software.
The GUI designer of Romplur has a simple load and map approach. You can load your main GUI Image, add your UI elements and map them to controls. There are 12 main UI elements in Romplur –
- Knobs
- Faders
- Buttons
- Dropdown
- Label
- Meter
- VU Meer
- Spectrum Analyzer
- Keyboard
- Drum Pad
- Midi Meter
- Vendor Button
You can assign allowed controls to each of these parameters with ease.
Step 5 – Exporting VSTi
Once you are happy with your GUI and mappings, it’s time to export your VST plugin. Exporting the VST is very easy in Romplur.
Pros and Cons of Romplur
Pros
- No knowledge of programming languages such as C++ or C Sound is required.
- Romplur can design VSTs in minimum time.
- Free online GUI builder.
- Advanced GUI Editor with resizable UI elements.
- Simple UI mapping.
- One-time as well as Subscription Pricing options.
- Lifetime Free Updates.
- You can buy impressive UI sets from Rompler UI Shop.
- Impressive Effects and Synth controls.
Cons
- The biggest disadvantage of Rompler is no support for Disk Streaming. It takes a lot of CPU to load plugins with a large library. (Feature being added according to Romplur discord)
- No Copy Protection support. (Feature being added according to Romplur discord)
- No shortcuts for Sample mapping.
- The main software menu lacks features(Create New project, Save As, etc)
- No official documentation.
- No Sync option in Delay.
- There is no legato play mode in Romplur.
- Loop mode is set to Sample Point which is not convenient.
Final Thoughts
Romplur is a rather new software in the market. Although it has some drawbacks, it is a very powerful VST development software. And I think the developers at the Romplur share the same view. That is why they are coming up with new updates almost every month with many fixes and feature additions.
According to official sources, Romplur is bringing many new features such as Disk Streaming, Copy Protection, and more. Overall, it is good software for anyone who wants to build a Sample instrument without going into the coding aspect of Synth development. Thanks for Reading!