C++ on Windows with Visual Studio Code

Requirements

Note

Windows 10 or later is recommended.

Before we can setup Eurorack-blocks, we will need to have on your system:

If you are a developer, there is a chance that most of them are installed already.

In all cases, please make sure that the Python in use is not the one from the Windows Store.

Experienced developers might already have one (or multiple!) versions of Python installed. For Eurorack-blocks, please use at least Python 3.7.

For all the following commands, we will use Git Bash that comes included with git on Windows.

Important

All commands are expecting the use of Git Bash. They are not compatible with Cmd or PowerShell.

Note

Please use the copy button on the top right corner of the following code blocks to copy/paste the commands in your terminal.

You can check your installation by trying the following commands, and checking it doesn’t return an error or something else than it version. Versions are shown here for a concrete example, they might be different on your computer.

MyPC:~ $ git --version
git version 2.41.0

MyPC:~ $ python3 --version
Python 3.11.4

Cloning

Clone the repository. This will create a eurorack-blocks directory into the current working directory, with all dependencies.

MyPC:~ $ git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/ohmtech-rdi/eurorack-blocks.git

Will typically output:

Cloning into 'eurorack-blocks'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 14327, done.
...
Submodule path 'submodules/libDaisy/tests/googletest': checked out 'f5e592d8ee5ffb1d9af5be7f715ce3576b8bf9c4'
Submodule path 'submodules/vcv-rack-sdk': checked out '91fd742827c04d36ba9b0e5e179571e393682326'

Setting up

First change the current directory to eurorack-blocks:

MyPC:~ $ cd eurorack-blocks

Then install by running the script below:

MyPC:~/eurorack-blocks $ ./build-system/install.py

This will add the erbb script to your PATH, but the PATH will be set only for new terminals. You can either close your current terminal and open a new one, or source the erbb environment explicitly into your current shell session:

MyPC:~/eurorack-blocks $ source ./build-system/init.sh

Then:

MyPC:~/eurorack-blocks $ erbb setup --with-vscode-support

This will take a bit of time depending on your Internet connection.

erbb setup by itself is installing dependencies internally without modifying anything on your system. If you delete the eurorack-blocks folder, boom, everything is gone.

The additional options, usually starting with --with do change your system. For example here we install the syntax highlighting for the custom languages that Eurorack-blocks use, but this is pretty harmless.

If you want to see exactly what it does and copy, navigate to build-system/setup/__init__.py, and look at the install_vscode_support function.

You can now start to use eurorack-blocks 🎉

Testing a Sample

Let’s test a sample. We’ll use the Drop sample.

MyPC:~/eurorack-blocks $ cd samples/drop
MyPC:~/eurorack-blocks/samples/drop $ erbb configure

If you inspect the drop folder, it now contains an artifacts directory, with some folders and files.

../_images/windows-configure.png

The Drop.code-workspace is a VS Code workspace, to develop, build and debug the firmware and the simulator module on Windows. Let’s open it:

../_images/windows-cpp-vscode-workspace.png

To debug your module:

  • Choose the Run & Debug tab in the side bar,

  • Select the target you want to debug,

    • Launch Firmware Release will debug the firmware in Release configuration on the connected Daisy using a STLink probe with OpenOCD,

    • Launch Firmware Debug will debug the firmware in Debug configuration on the connected Daisy using a STLink probe with OpenOCD,

    • Launch Simulator Debug will debug your module with the simulator in VCV Rack,

  • Hit the green play button to start debugging.

../_images/vscode-workspace-debug.png

Warning

On Windows, to stop on a breakpoint after Rack is already running, you must press the F12 key when Rack has focus to break into the debugger.

Warning

On Windows, you must select “Git Bash” for your default terminal profile.

To do so:

  • Choose Terminal > New Terminal if the terminal is not already visible,

  • Click on the + v button in the top right of the terminal window,

  • Choose Select Default Profile

  • Then choose Git Bash for your default terminal profile.

../_images/windows-cpp-vscode-bash1.png ../_images/windows-cpp-vscode-bash2.png

Testing in VCV Rack

In VCV Rack the Drop module will appear in the library when right-clicking in the rack empty space.

../_images/vcvrack-drop.png

Important

Before starting to play with it, make sure to setup your audio device, and set the sample rate to 48kHz! This requirement will be explained later in the tutorial.

../_images/windows-vcvrack-audio.png

Testing in your Eurorack System

If you bougth the Eurorack-blocks Starter Kit, it comes with the Drop module, and you should have already assembled it by now.

You can build the firmware by running:

MyPC:~/eurorack-blocks/samples/drop $ erbb build firmware
BUILD libDaisy
mkdir Release
ACTION UI
ACTION Daisy
...
LINK Release/Drop.elf
Memory region         Used Size  Region Size  %age Used
           FLASH:       81928 B       128 KB     62.51%
         DTCMRAM:          0 GB       128 KB      0.00%
            SRAM:      519696 B       512 KB     99.12%
          RAM_D2:       16968 B       288 KB      5.75%
          RAM_D3:          0 GB        64 KB      0.00%
         ITCMRAM:          0 GB        64 KB      0.00%
           SDRAM:          0 GB        64 MB      0.00%
       QSPIFLASH:          0 GB         8 MB      0.00%
OBJCOPY Release/Drop.bin
OBJCOPY Release/Drop.hex

To install the firmware, that we previously built in the section above:

  • Connect the same USB cable that you used for installing the Frohmager firmware,

  • Run the following command and follow the on-screen instructions:

MyPC:~/eurorack-blocks/samples/drop $ erbb install firmware
Enter the system bootloader by holding the BOOT button down,
and then pressing, and releasing the RESET button.
Press Enter to continue...
...
../_images/stlink-v3-mini.png

Note that if you bought a STLink V3 Mini for example from Electro-smith, you can use it to program the Daisy Patch Submodule. It has the advantage to be more convenient, as:

  • It is typically faster than using the USB port on the Daisy Patch Submodule,

  • You don’t need to remove your module from your base to press those BOOT and RESET button,

  • It can be also used to debug the firmware in the event a bug in the firmware doesn’t appear in the simulator.

The install command will automatically select the STLink V3 Mini to install the firmware if it is plugged on your computer.

Have fun!

Maybe now is a good time to head over to Your First Module with C++ to learn more about the Eurorack-blocks’ C++ framework.