Installing the SDK
Note: With SynthEdit's 'Build Code Skeleton' function It is no longer necessary to install the SDK manually, but the SDK does contain many examples of modules that you will hopefully find useful to learn from.

Unzip the SDK files somewhere. I put them in C:\SynthEditSdk

You should get several folders. se_sdk3 is the core SDK files, the other folders (se_gain, se_delay etc) are SynthEdit modules to use as examples.

3 Compilers have been tested with the SDK:

Microsoft Visual C++

https://www.visualstudio.com/

A powerful mature system. SynthEdit and the SDK were written using this compiler, so it's the most compatible.
The Visual Studio IDE Community Edition is free for small developers. Choose option "Desktop development with C++" when installing to get the right features.

Gnu C++

Code::Blocks integrated development environment.

This is good, free, modern compiler.

Test compile a module

Open the Gain folder, open the project file Gain.vcxproj, choose Build Solution from the Debug menu. The module should compile OK showing Build: 1 succeeded.

Notes

Missing "Platform Toolset"

The SynthEdit SDK examples were created in Visual Studio 2015. Any later version of Visual Studio will work just as well, but you may need a couple of extra steps.

When you first load an example project, Visual Studio will warn you that it was created with an older version and offer to upgrade it. Just choose "OK".

 Alternately, in Visual Studio you can right-click a project, choose "Properties" and update the 'Platform Toolset" (compiler version) and Target Platform (the version of Windows).

 The command "copy" failed

When you compile one of the example modules, Visual Studio will attempt to copy the resulting SEM to your SEM folder. This may fail, but it's not a fatal problem. You can copy the SEM yourself, look at the build output window to see where your new SEM is located, you can copy it by hand to your SEM folder.

Alternately you can edit the file copy command. In Visual Studio, right-click the project... Properties/Build Events/Post-Build Event, alter the command to suit your SEM folder. e.g.

copy "$(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt)" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\SynthEdit\modules\"

You may also need to alter your SEM folder's security permissions to allow files to be copied there.

• Use Windows Explorer to browse to your SEM plugins folder.
• Right-click the folder - 'Properties'
• Choose 'Security' tab.
• Click 'EDIT' (You may need to click a UAC prompt).
• Select username "Users".
• Tick options Allow 'Write' and 'Modify'.
• To finish Select 'OK' to close the two dialog boxes.