Mac 12.7 install issues

[priestbh]

I am trying to install the fluidpatche desktop version my Macbookpro (prior to setting it up on a Pi zero 2 w) for a touch based bass midi controller I am wanting to make.

I have encountered the following issues with the mac instructions thus far:

1. fluid-soundfont-gm no longer exists as a homebrew package. I searched and was able find this site https://member.keymusician.com/Member/FluidR3_GM/index.html and download a zip file to extract in to ~/fluidpatcher/SquishBox/sf2/ (before I saw How to install fluid patcher on Mac #36 about using archive.org)
2. pip3 is now just part of the python3 package (easy to work around)
3. now for my blocker: brew install ladspa-sdk is failing with a dependency error. According to https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/ladspa-sdk it appears the only depency is libsndfile (which I already have installed: libsndfile 1.2.2 is already installed and up-to-date.)

I haven't gotten to the patchcord compile yet due to the ladspa-sdk issue.

Does anyone have a workaround for the ladspa-sdk issue?

Also it may be time to update the mac install instructions. Which I am happy to assist with once I get it working myself.

[priestbh]

I now see in the error and in the homebrew requirements ladspa-sdk is requiring Linux:
ladspa-sdk: Linux is required for this software.

Any workaround?

[priestbh]

Progress of a sort: I brushed off unused Makefile skills I haven't used in about 25 years. I first tried to brew install ignoring dependencies. That started the linker errors. Osx's dynamic linker /usr/bin/ld does not support the "--version-script" option. I finally broke down and downloaded source from https://www.ladspa.org/ladspa_sdk/download.html and removed "--version-script=gcc_exports.map" from the makefile targets. I finally got ladspa-sdk to compile and install in /usr/local/[include,lib,bin] and then found out the brew version of fluidsynth was not compiled with ladspa support. So tomorrow looks like I'll be compiling that from scratch as well.

[priestbh]

oh, one other error I had to fix:
applyplugin.c:9:10: fatal error: endian.h: No such file or directory
9 | #include <endian.h>
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27073837/fatal-error-endian-h-file-not-found
I had to change the include to be <machine/endian.h>

[albedozero]

I could definitely use some help updating the mac install instructions, and in general testing on Mac OS - help from anyone on this is most appreciated.

Some comments/clarification on your issues:

1. The included bank file bank1.yaml is based on using FluidR3_GM.sf2, but any GM (general midi) soundfont would work. Like fluidsynth, fluidpatcher doesn't require a specific soundfont - that choice is up to the user. It is nice to have a good GM soundfont available. Maybe it makes sense to provide a link to download it - but as pointed out in What's the official download link for sound fonts (FluidR3_GM.sf2, FluidR3_GS.sf2)? FluidSynth/fluidsynth#479 there doesn't seem to be an official location. Archive.org seems like a location that would be stable, but your suggestion or another might be good too.
2. Does the brew install python3-pip command fail if it's already installed, or is it just ignored? Any idea what minimum Mac OS version has pip installed by default?
3. ladspa-sdk is only needed to compile patchcord.c, and that is only needed if you want to use LADSPA effect plugins to provide additional effects like delay, autowah, etc. on top of FluidSynth's built-in chorus and reverb. I have a bit of documentation about using them in bank files here (more to come soon I hope). Plugins have to be obtained separately and are platform-dependent. A bunch of good ones can be obtained in the debian/RPiOS packages tap-plugins, swh-plugins, and wah-plugins packages, and these might be available in brew or macports too. They are definitely not available (in compiled form anyway) on Windows, and I've had issues gettting other LADSPA plugins to work on Windows, so it might be a problem with Mac too. The L in LADSPA does stand for Linux, after all, so maybe it's not meant to be.

In summary, I think your issues are more with optional things and don't break fluidpatcher itself. Seems I should make it clearer what's optional and what's required in the install instructions. I do appreciate your efforts and continued comments/suggestions - keep it coming!