N73GPU - Neve 1073 GPU-Accelerated Emulation Plugin

A high-performance Neve 1073 preamp emulation VST3 plugin with CUDA GPU acceleration for real-time audio processing.

🚀 Features

• Authentic Neve 1073 Emulation: Classic British console preamp character
• CUDA GPU Acceleration: Real-time GPU processing for enhanced performance
• CPU Fallback Mode: Automatic fallback for systems without CUDA support
• VST3 Plugin: Professional DAW integration
• Cross-Platform: Windows (current), macOS support planned
• MIDI Ready: Architecture prepared for hardware controller integration

🏗️ Architecture

• Framework: JUCE 7.x
• Build System: CMake with Visual Studio 2022
• GPU Processing: Direct CUDA integration (CUDA Toolkit 12.9)
• Target Platform: Windows VST3, macOS AU (planned)
• Language: C++17
• GPU Support: NVIDIA GeForce RTX series (compute capability 5.2+)

🔧 Prerequisites

Required Tools

• Visual Studio 2022 (MSVC 19.44+)
• CMake 3.20+
• CUDA Toolkit 12.9 (for GPU acceleration)
• Git (for submodule management)

Hardware Requirements

• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10xx series or newer
• Driver: NVIDIA Driver 576.88+ (for CUDA 12.9 support)
• Memory: 4GB+ GPU memory recommended

🚀 Quick Start

1. Clone Repository

git clone --recursive https://github.com/LouisBHouston/N73GPU.git
cd N73GPU

2. Configure Build

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" ..

3. Build Plugin

cmake --build . --config Release

4. Install Plugin

The VST3 plugin will be built to:

build/src/N73GPU_artefacts/Release/VST3/N73GPU.vst3

Copy to your VST3 plugins directory or use directly in your DAW.

🎛️ Development Status

✅ Completed Milestones

• Milestone 1: Skeleton Plugin Validation

  • ✅ JUCE VST3 integration
  • ✅ Basic audio passthrough
  • ✅ Parameter controls
  • ✅ DAW compatibility validated

• Milestone 2: Standalone GPU Prototype

  • ✅ GPUPreAmp test harness
  • ✅ CUDA gain processing
  • ✅ WAV file benchmarking

• Milestone 3: Plugin GPU Integration

  • ✅ CUDA processor integration
  • ✅ GPU/CPU fallback architecture
  • ✅ CMake CUDA configuration
  • ✅ MSVC/CUDA compatibility fixes
  • ✅ Build system validation

🔄 In Progress

• Milestone 4: CPU Reference Implementation
• Milestone 5: GPU DSP Conversion
• Milestone 6: Professional GUI & UX
• Milestone 7: Advanced DSP Features
• Milestone 8: Cross-Platform & Packaging

🔧 Build Configuration

CUDA Support

The plugin automatically detects CUDA availability:

• GPU Available: Uses CUDA acceleration for real-time processing
• GPU Unavailable: Falls back to optimized CPU processing

CMake Options

option(BUILD_STANDALONE "Build standalone test app" ON)
option(BUILD_VST3 "Build VST3 plugin" ON)  
option(BUILD_AU "Build AU plugin" OFF)

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. CUDA Not Detected

   • Verify NVIDIA driver version (576.88+)
   • Check CUDA Toolkit installation
   • Ensure GPU compute capability compatibility

2. Build Errors

   • Use Visual Studio 2022 (17.4+)
   • Verify CMake version (3.20+)
   • Check all prerequisites installed

3. Plugin Not Loading

   • Verify VST3 path in DAW settings
   • Check plugin architecture (x64)
   • Validate audio driver configuration

🤝 Contributing

This project follows a milestone-driven development approach:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Implement changes following project architecture
4. Test with both GPU and CPU modes
5. Submit pull request with detailed description

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• JUCE Framework: Cross-platform audio application framework
• NVIDIA CUDA: GPU acceleration platform
• Neve Electronics: Original 1073 preamp inspiration

📞 Contact

Developer: Louis Houston
Repository: https://github.com/LouisBHouston/N73GPU
Issues: https://github.com/LouisBHouston/N73GPU/issues

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Built with ❤️ and CUDA acceleration