CHANGELOG.md

Changelog

All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.

The public repository is currently on a 0.x pre-beta line. The release target tracked in the roadmap is v1 Beta in December 2026.

[Unreleased]

Fixed

• Piano Roll: dropdown menu (Scale, Snap, Root Key) now responds to clicks — was using local bounds for positioning but global bounds for hit-testing

Device Resilience (EPIC K)

• Telemetry wiring: Driver-level underrun/xrun counters now flow to engine telemetry across WASAPI Shared, WASAPI Exclusive, and RtAudioDriver
• Health monitor thread: Automatic driver health polling (500ms interval, 2s stall detection → safety driver fallback)
• Hot-plug detection: IMMNotificationClient implementation for both WASAPI drivers — device removal/default device change events
• RT safety: Removed all std::cout/std::cerr from WASAPI audio thread loops; added Linux SCHED_FIFO scheduling + mlockall in RtAudioDriver
• Fallback reasons: AudioDeviceManager now populates descriptive fallback reason strings during driver fallback loop
• PerformanceHUD: Enhanced with underrun detail, overruns, consecutive underruns, recovery mode, thread priority status, and last callback timing (% of budget)
• Driver soak test: New AestraAudioDriverSoakTest exercises real audio driver path with live stream, monitors telemetry, reports every 5s
• AudioTelemetry fix: lastCallbackNs, maxCallbackNs, lastBufferFrames, lastSampleRate now updated every callback frame (previously always zero)

Export / Offline Render

• Rewrote AudioExporter from scratch — the previous implementation was fundamentally broken (never started transport, never advanced position between blocks, hardcoded 60s duration → produced silence).
• Now uses AudioRenderer::renderBlock() — the same proven offline rendering path as bounceRangeToWav() — ensuring export matches real-time playback.
• Duration computed from actual playlist via PlaylistModel::getTotalDurationBeats() instead of hardcoded values.
• Position advances correctly between render blocks (sample-accurate).
• Master output stage applied during export: DC blocking, soft clipping, TPDF dither for PCM — matching the playback signal path.
• Three render scopes supported: FullSong, LoopRegion, Selection.
• Bit depths: 16-bit PCM, 24-bit PCM (stored in 32-bit containers), 32-bit IEEE float.
• Progress callbacks and cancel support for UI integration.
• Wired File > Export Audio... menu item — exports to WAV using project sample rate, 24-bit PCM, with 2s tail for reverb/decay.
• Added friend class AudioExporter to AudioEngine for safe access to renderer internals.

Playlist / Clip Editing

• Fixed clip split bug: PlaylistModel::splitClip() now copies patternId, name, and colorRGBA to the newly created clip half. Previously the second half received a default empty patternId (value 0), producing one valid clip + one empty pattern.
• Wired Cut/Copy/Paste/Delete to the edit menu and keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Delete):
  • cutSelectedClip() — copies to clipboard and removes via RemoveClipCommand
  • copySelectedClip() — copies to clipboard
  • pasteClipboardAtCursor() — pastes at playhead position
  • deleteSelectedClip() — removes without clipboard
• Split tool now works via both blade tool click and keyboard shortcut (S key), all routed through SplitClipCommand for full undo/redo support.

Piano Roll / Pattern workflow

• Double-click pattern clips on the timeline to open them in the Piano Roll panel.
• Piano Roll unit routing: notes now carry unitId for Arsenal unit routing. New notes inherit the currently selected Arsenal unit.
• Piano Roll ↔ Sequencer sync: editing a pattern in Piano Roll refreshes the Sequencer panel. Selecting a unit in Arsenal updates the Piano Roll's editing context.
• PianoRollPanel now auto-saves on note changes and displays the active pattern name + unit label.

Arsenal Panel

• Unit selection state: Arsenal now tracks a selected unit, highlights it visually, and broadcasts selection changes to Piano Roll and Sequencer.
• Remove units: Delete/Backspace removes the selected unit (minimum one unit enforced). Notes belonging to the removed unit are cleaned from all patterns.
• Unit row redesign: rows now show group label (Synth/Drums/Audio), source summary (Plugin/Sample/Empty), and a source tag badge. Selected rows get accent-colored border and shadow.
• Progress header now displays the selected unit name and active pattern info.

Build / CI

• Low-memory build preset (lowmem): configured for 4GB RAM laptops — 2 parallel jobs, no LTO, no tests, Release mode. Use cmake --preset lowmem && cmake --build --preset lowmem-release.

Internal Arsenal / Rumble milestone

• Added a verified internal instrument validation stack around Aestra Rumble.
• Added and validated:
  • RumbleStateTest
  • RumblePluginFactoryTest
  • RumbleUsagePathTest
  • RumbleDiscoveryTest
  • RumbleRenderTest
  • RumbleArsenalAudibleTest
• Strengthened Rumble plugin behavior:
  • aligned parameter defaults with implementation
  • added versioned plugin state blob with magic/version header
  • clarified MVP mono/decay-led note behavior
  • strengthened render regression checks for tail decay and preset differentiation

Internal plugin architecture

• Added canonical built-in plugin metadata via BuiltInPlugins so internal plugin identity no longer drifts across scanner/plugin/runtime code.
• Registered built-in plugins in the normal discovery flow so internal instruments can be found via standard manager lookup.
• Made PluginManager headless-safe for internal plugin workflows by treating platform-utils/cache access as optional in headless mode.

Unit / project / Arsenal integration

• Reworked UnitManager from a placeholder-oriented stub into a minimally real runtime/persistence layer.
• Units can now persist:
  • plugin ID
  • plugin state
  • ordering
  • route/group data
  • key UI-facing state
• Units now expose a real AudioArsenalSnapshot for audio-engine consumption.
• Internal plugin units now survive project round-trips and restore plugin state on load.
• AestraContent::loadInstrumentToArsenal(...) now creates and attaches a real plugin instance instead of creating a placeholder-only unit.
• Arsenal unit enable/attach/load flows now activate plugins consistently instead of relying on test-only lifecycle setup.

Project reliability

• Fixed a real project serialization bug where playlist clips could be serialized with an invalid patternId: 0 even when a valid source pattern existed.
• Restored reliable project clip round-tripping by serializing/restoring the effective pattern linkage correctly.
• ProjectRoundTripTest is passing again after the serializer fix.
• Added InternalPluginProjectRoundTripTest to prove internal instrument units survive save/load.

Audible proof

• Added ArsenalInstrumentAttachmentTest to verify units expose attached plugins to the audio path.
• Added RumbleArsenalAudibleTest to prove headless Arsenal pattern playback can route MIDI to Rumble and produce real audible output.

Documentation

• Updated README and core technical docs to reflect the current verified March 2026 state instead of older aspirational roadmap language.
• Added a documented high-value confidence suite in docs/technical/testing_ci.md.
• Updated roadmap/task-list docs with the new internal Arsenal / Rumble validation status.

Notes

• OfflineRenderRegressionTest is built and available, but remains fixture-driven rather than self-contained.
• It still needs canonical .aes + reference WAV fixtures before it can act as a dependable nightly/CI regression gate.

v0.1.1 - 2025-12-28

Added

• ASIO Driver Support (Professional Audio):
  • Dual-Tier Driver System: Seamless startup with automatic failover between ASIO (via ASIODriver) and WASAPI/DirectSound (via RtAudioBackend).
  • Native COM Integration: implemented a clean-room ASIODriver class handling safe COM loading (QueryInterface), binary compatibility (__stdcall, 4-byte packing), and STA threading enforcement.
  • Low-Latency Streaming: Verified sample-accurate callback loop (bufferSwitch) with zero allocations and lock-free processing.
  • Robust Diagnosis: Added detailed error reporting for COM (HRESULT) and ASIO initialization failures.

Optimized

• Audio Engine Performance:
  • Pan Law: Replaced expensive per-sample trigonometry (sin/cos) with per-block gain smoothing (gainL/gainR), significantly reducing CPU overhead in the mixing loop.
  • Resampling: Implemented pre-calculated window tables for all Sinc Interpolators (8, 16, 32, 64-point), removing iterative Bessel function calculations from the audio callback.

Fixed

• Audio Engine Stability:
  • Fixed "Master Silence" bug where buffer reallocation invalidated routing pointers (added compileGraph to setBufferConfig).
  • Restored missing audio summing loop in renderGraph.
  • Added Safety Fallback for unmapped tracks to ensure consistent gain behavior if UI parameters are missing.

v0.1.0 - 2025-12-23

Added

• Audio Preview Scrubbing:
  • Real-time scrubbing (click/drag) on waveforms in the File Preview Panel.
  • Dual-mode duration: 8-second initial limit, unlocked to 300 seconds upon scrubbing.
  • Auto-restart logic: Scrubbing a finished sample now automatically restarts playback from the seek point.
  • Real-time playhead visualization on the waveform.
• File Preview Panel UX:
  • Professional "Empty State" with a large file icon when no selection is active.
  • Improved Metadata display: Duration, Sample Rate, and Channel configuration.
  • Compact Folder info layout with side-by-side icon and text.

Fixed

• Audio Engine:
  • Fixed critical crash/silence issue when scrubbing short samples or performing rapid seek requests.
  • Removed hardcoded 5-second duration limit in AestraContent.
  • Fixed duplicate seek method implementation in PreviewEngine.
• UI:
  • Fixed Folder name clipping/ellipsis behavior in the Preview Panel.
  • Disabled playback interactions for folders to prevent invalid engine states.
• Build System:
  • Suppressed CMake deprecation warnings from the FreeType dependency for cleaner build output.

Changed

• Tests:
  • Updated WavLoaderTest.cpp to use PlaylistTrack.h instead of the legacy Track.h.
• Documentation:
  • Created ALL_WALKTHROUGHS.txt as a central index for project history.