About Gorilla Tester

Gorilla Tester is a VST or AU plugin that loads your .blob files (exported from Gorilla Editor) and lets you try out your plugin without having to go through the time consuming step of compiling the plugin. This lets you quickly test “in progress” instruments inside your music software alongside other plugins. It also makes the “final tweaking” stage of plugin development–the stage when you make lots of tiny adjustments to the user interface to make everything “pixel perfect”–much faster and more fun.

By default, Gorilla Tester loads an example instrument called “Piano Pad”, but you can change it to load other instruments by following the instructions later in this guide.

About Gorilla Engine SDK User Interfaces

Gorilla Engine SDK uses a YAML markup file to describe the visual layout of instruments (i.e., size of the window, background colors, location of controls and fonts, etc.) and JavaScript files to determine the application logic of the controls (i.e., specifying the name and location of your plugin’s .blob and .yaml files as well as other advanced, optional features).

Gorilla Tester lets you iterate and fine-tune the YAML-based visual layout of your instrument “on the fly.” This lets you nudge or move controls around and change many other things (product skins, colors, etc.) until they are pixel-perfect without without having to recompile the instrument each time.

Auto-Generated vs. Custom User Interfaces

If you have developed a custom user interface for your instrument, Gorilla Tester will display your interface just like it is a finalized, compiled plugin. However, if you haven’t developed the user interface yet (i.e., all you have is the .blob export from Gorilla Editor), not to worry, Gorilla Tester will auto-generate a basic user interface for you. This auto-generated interface may not win any design awards, but it will let you audition your instrument in a real-world context alongisde other plugins without having a custom graphical user interface ready to go.

How to load a example instruments into Gorilla Tester

To load any of the Gorilla Engine SDK example instruments:

Ensure that Gorilla Engine is not instantiated (running) in your host music software.
Go to the following folder and delete its contents (example instruments can be still found in the Examples folder):

Windows: /ProgramData/UJAM/Gorilla Tester/

MacOS: /Library/Application Support/UJAM/Gorilla Tester/
Locate the example instrument you would like to load in the Gorilla Engine SDK > Examples folder.
Copy the contents of the plugin_assets subfolder from your desired example instrument.
Paste those contents into the folder mentioned above.

Load Gorilla Tester in your host music software to see the example instrument.

How to load your .blob files (with auto-generated user interface)

To load your instrument with auto-generated controls:

Ensure that Gorilla Engine is not instantiated (running) in your host music software.
Find the .blob files that you just exported from Gorilla Editor
Rename them to Gorilla Tester_part1.blob, Gorilla Tester_part2.blob and so on.
Go to the following folder and delete all of the contents

Windows: /ProgramData/UJAM/Gorilla Tester/

MacOS: /Library/Application Support/UJAM/Gorilla Tester/
Copy your .blob files (from step 3) to the folder above

IMPORTANT: Make sure that the above folders above do *not* contain any .js file.

Load Gorilla Tester in your host music software to see your instrument with auto generated UI controls.

How to load your complete instruments (with a custom UI)

To load an instrument with its custom user interface:

Ensure that Gorilla Engine is not instantiated (running) in your host music software.
Take all of your plugin assets and place them in the following folder

Windows: /ProgramData/UJAM/Gorilla Tester/

macOS: /Library/Application Support/UJAM/Gorilla Tester/
When the Gorilla Tester plugin is launched, it looks for a file named Gorilla Tester.js so make sure that such a file exists in the folder. This .js file instructs the plugin to do the following:

Load a .blob file (the sound content). The default Gorilla Tester.js files from the example instruments load Gorilla Tester_part1.blob but you can change this if you like.
Load a .yaml file (the user interface and its assets). The default Gorilla Tester.js files from the examples load Gorilla Tester.yaml, but you can change this if you like.

Tip: You can use the Gorilla Tester.js file from the example instruments as a starting template for your own instrument or create a JavaScript from scratch (however be sure to put the necessary JS calls described above in your .js file).