Making A Tool I Always Wanted

I'm building a VST plugin.

Something I always wanted to do, but never really had the skills for. After building the web app, getting used to coding languages, IDEs and especially learning how to use AI properly, it suddenly feels doable.

Breaking and fixing things basically sums up my daily routine right now.

One thing I've noticed when building with AI is that a couple of skills become far more important than people think. One is structure. Folder and file structure, modularity, keeping things separated and clean. The other is being able to "read" code.

This new environment is very different from my web app. It's C++/JUCE instead of the JavaScript/React I'm used to. A year ago this was literal gibberish to me. Now, I can read it. Not comfortably, but enough to understand what's going on and not feel lost.

I know I'm genuinely good at the first one. I've always liked organization. I need things to make sense spatially and logically, otherwise I lose control of projects very fast.

The idea for this plugin is something I've had in my head for a while. It's inspired by Gross Beat, an FL Studio native plugin, but with a step sequencer twist. With the original reference, I end up loading several instances and automating each one manually just to get different rhythmic patterns in different sections of a track. It works, but it's annoying and extremely slow. So I decided to make my own.

For now, the plugin just needs to work in its simplest version. There's also the whole licensing and distribution side. Activation systems, linking it to my web app, managing downloads. That's still far away. I'm not thinking about it seriously yet. But I know it has to happen and I know I'll get there eventually.

What I didn't expect is how much I'm actually enjoying building things with code. Tools. Systems. Creating things that support the music instead of just making music. And because all of this is connected to the same artistic project, it doesn't feel like a distraction. The web app and now a plugin - the same world, expanding outward.

I haven't always been an AI supporter, especially as a creative person. I love new technology, but I didn't fully understand this one at the time, didn't use it properly, and later on, I was afraid of the implications. And rightly so. It's disruptive. It will, and already is, changing the world.

Since last year, I've been embracing it. I use it more and more, every single day, and honestly, it's revolutionary. I can research any topic and have it presented in a way I actually understand. I can ask further questions, iterate and end up learning things deeply. I have conversations I never really had before, about topics I've always found interesting but never really had someone to explore them with. I can also automate parts of my work in a way that genuinely helps me.

Building things with code (or vibe coding, as they call it) is just another extension of that. It helps me make ideas real. It feels like there are no real limits to my imagination anymore. Not because it's easy. It isn't. It's probably the hardest thing I've ever done. But execution no longer feels impossible. Ideas don't die. They turn into problems to solve over time.

I can brainstorm freely now, already knowing that when I sit down at the computer, I'll be able to figure out how to implement things.

And I never thought I'd say this, but I've caught myself thinking it more than once lately: "AI is truly amazing."

Thank you for reading "Inside The Mind Of An Artist".

Until next time,

Vítor