Architecture Overview

This document provides a high-level overview of the Sidechain plugin architecture. For a comprehensive guide covering modern C++26 patterns, reactive state management, and implementation patterns, see Backend Architecture.

System Overview

The Sidechain plugin is built using the JUCE framework and follows a modular architecture:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                  Plugin Editor (UI Layer)                   │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  │         UI Components & Components Management           │
│  │  (Feed, Messages, Profile, Recording, Stories)          │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
└──┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
   │ dispatch actions
   ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Store Layer (State)                       │
│  (PostsStore, ChatStore, UserStore, etc.)                  │
└──┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
   │ network calls
   ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                  Network Layer                              │
│  ┌──────────────────┐  ┌──────────────────┐                │
│  │  Network Client  │  │ WebSocket Client │                │
│  │  (HTTP API)      │  │ (Real-time)      │                │
│  └──────────────────┘  └──────────────────┘                │
└──┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
   │
   ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   Backend Services                          │
│  (Go Server + GetStream.io + Audio CDN)                    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              Plugin Processor (Audio Layer)                 │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐     │
│  │ Audio Capture│  │ MIDI Capture │  │ Audio Player │     │
│  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Core Components

Plugin Editor

The SidechainAudioProcessorEditor class is the main UI component that manages:

View navigation and state
User authentication
Component lifecycle
WebSocket connections
Notification handling

See Reactive Components for detailed UI component patterns.

Plugin Processor

The SidechainAudioProcessor class handles:

Audio processing pipeline
Audio capture from the DAW
MIDI capture
Audio playback

Network Layer

The network layer consists of:

NetworkClient: HTTP API client for REST endpoints
WebSocketClient: Real-time WebSocket connections
StreamChatClient: GetStream.io chat integration
FeedDataManager: Feed data management and caching

Audio System

The audio system includes:

AudioCapture: Captures audio from the DAW
MIDICapture: Captures MIDI events
HttpAudioPlayer: Streams audio from URLs
BufferAudioPlayer: Plays audio from memory buffers
KeyDetector: Detects musical key from audio

UI Components

The UI is organized into functional components:

AuthComponent: Login and signup
PostsFeedComponent: Social feed display
MessageThreadComponent: Chat interface
ProfileComponent: User profiles
RecordingComponent: Audio recording interface
StoryRecordingComponent: Story creation interface

Data Models

The plugin uses several data models:

FeedPost: Represents a post in the feed
Story: Represents a story (24-hour expiring content)
User: User profile data
Message: Chat message data

Storage

User data is stored locally using:

UserDataStore: Centralized user data management
JUCE’s PropertiesFile for persistent storage

Build System

The plugin uses CMake for building:

Cross-platform support (macOS, Windows, Linux)
JUCE integration
Dependency management (ASIO, websocketpp, libkeyfinder)
Test framework integration (Catch2)

For more details, see the Development Guide guide.