Aestra

Changelog

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

[Unreleased]

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.

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