The JUCE Team has released JUCE 7, a major update to the open-source cross-platform C++ application framework, used for the development of desktop and mobile audio applications.

In addition to improved graphics and accessibility, JUCE now supports the Audio Random Access SDK (ARA) and the LV2 plug-in format, enabling more sophisticated audio processing workflows and access to additional platforms and communities.

“JUCE 7 brings substantial improvements to where and how you can process audio, with the Audio Random Access SDK, LV2 support, and a MIDI 2.0 API adding to JUCE’s core capabilities as an audio processing framework,” notes Tom Poole, Director of JUCE. “We have also improved our graphics backend so that drawing commands are synchronized with hardware refresh rates. This gives us full compatibility with modern devices and makes rendering GUIs more efficient in all cases. JUCE 7 will make your software better.”

Below are the major improvements in more detail:

Audio Random Access (ARA) Support

Plug-ins and plug-in hosts built on top of JUCE can now use the Audio Random Access (ARA) SDK to access a much more powerful plug-in API. The ARA SDK augments the VST3 and Audio Unit interfaces to allow plug-ins to read audio samples from a DAW outside of the normal live audio time constraints, enabling the development of plug-ins like Celemony’s Melodyne. Without being tied to individual realtime buffers plug-ins can operate more like sample editors, and the dynamic exchange of information like tempo and key provides a rich platform for building much more advanced audio effects.

LV2 Support

The addition of LV2 to JUCE’s suite of plug-in formats widens the reach of JUCE-based plug-ins and hosts. It is now much easier to integrate JUCE into many open source projects and developers can access new audio platforms and communities.

macOS and iOS Graphical Rendering Improvements

On macOS and iOS we have a new asynchronous default rendering mode that moves much of the computational burden off the main application thread, resulting in faster and more responsive GUIs. We also have the option of enabling much more precise control over redrawn regions via a new Metal layer renderer, which can improve performance of particularly busy GUIs dramatically.

Hardware Synchronised Drawing

On Windows, macOS and iOS drawing events are now synchronised with hardware screen refreshes. The batching of graphical invalidation regions eases pressure on the main application thread and provides compatibility with the dynamic refresh rates provided by Apple’s ProMotion displays. Display synchronised drawing prevents redundant computation and provides smoother animations.

JUCE 7.0 is available now.