Snappy Snap _plugin Host for live creative Jams with VST/AUs / Has: morph, preset switching, randomisation, sideChain

[Funky40]

Snappy Snap,

you load your plugins, Instruments or FX, into that mini-Host => AND: access your parameters from there / which IS the catch

Only for VST3 and AU // No DAW integrated ones // Mac, Win

full version $55, Demo: 7 days / light version: free,

so far, no Mac installer verification. He says he will do it, AFAIK ( taken from YT comments)

https://electricsmudge.com/


Watch here:





The guy, Inkie, just created "it".
I´ve not tested it yet. But i am already VERY impressed.....installing it this night hopefully.
Inkie is a professional Beatboxer. Vice world champion in fact.
So, the guy comes from music making !


Anybody here is using it already ?
is it stable ?.......Mac/Win ?
It has so far no Mac intsall verification. How is this going, okey ?
CPU load ?

Users, please give feedback ! Thanks

[Arksun]

This actually looks really good! fair play.

[RPH]

I just tried the lite version, but it's not stable.

- Using Reaper loaded Arturia Acid V into the plugin.
- Set two snapshots using two different presets.
- Start morphing and it looks like it's sending note offs or so, sound stops immediately.
- I select a different plugin, want to show the GUI, plugin crashes + DAW.
- Reload DAW and try with ArcSyn, no sound at all. Try ploque OPS7, same note off situation while morphing.

[Funky40]

I´m playing right now also with the free light (LE) Version:

M4 Mac /Sequoia 15.3
- Host: Gigperformer
- plugin format loaded: AU (everything AU)
- Zebralette3 / using two sound presets
- The snapshot fader is CC mapped. i play by hand, live

_ No crashes so far !




special mention:
- hmm, ZL3 is here quite special. The two sounds use completley different settings, means: some sections (OSC FX) do switch "functionality" and from there the GUI elements. Thats actually funny to watch. Also: this creates inbetween states, unlike of what´s available in any of the two presets. Which leads to a sort of "random machine" functionality. In my case right now do i see soundgaps, coming from "unlucky" settings for a brief moment. I see the point. Some care has to be given here re. which presets to use....or effectvly try use it as your sort of random preset creator. I like that already


- i am used to CC mapp things, you folks don´t do usually in a DAW. For example do i want to open/close some main plugins by CC mapping this out to HW controls.
- the "Show" (plugin) button within Snappy is -right now- NOT CC mappable.

- plugin loading is tedious, to say the least. It´s opening here my last used folder. Then i have to navigate to / audio / plugins / components .....and scroöll thru the full list there

- when i switch a "preset" in GP, is snappy NOT closing the open GUI of my synth/plugin. GP is re. such things -on itself- very advanced. Huge plus vs. GP !


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Okey, this is getting long ! I checked vs. several other AU-instruments:


Pigments 7 /AU:
- this creates alots of crackling while morphing sounds. looks unusable
- hmm, and it sort of freezes the preset selection.


Serum 2 (not the very latest) / AU
- has crackling too...while morphing
- CPU load is anyway going supetr high
- does not look useable either ( on my system / usage)

Zebra 3 /AU:
- i have some crackling while morphing. Not as worse as above. CPU load is within boundaries. Crackling sounds similar to slight CPU overload.
- it depends a bit on the loaded sounds. No match so far with no crackling
( to notes: GP operates on itself single threaded )


Chormaphone3 / AU:
- has crackling too wMorph
- but i like it to create "inbetween" presets, and to just play with those ( and then just save the sound new)


Dawesome Myth / AU:
- one preset pairing had no crackling, but gaps. another worked. Three others have crackling
- hui, interesting parings would be doable ( but zhe crackling)


Pianoteq 9 (pro) / AU:
- looks like its working, I have a slight delay vs, the timing of the morph. no pasa nada.
- edit: wait: depends on preset pairings
- only tested Grand Piano vs. Grand Piano
- funny to morph between a completly FSU (random button) preset and a real Piano

Waldorf Microwave / AU:
- seems to work. No or just very minor crackling
- some pairings did not.....got a bbig soundgap once

i stopp this for now.
Further notes:

- it was someztimes frustrating to deal with.
- sometimes the add to snapshot was not working. Usually the fisrt two sounds, to Snap1 + snap2, would work.
- switching then further a preset can lead to lose the old ones. Dependend on the sounds, it´s sometimes not clear at first. Until i figured out that i lost my old sound, i alos forgot waht sound it was. This is here, with my hands and setup, not always working as expected. It can start to be tedious ->
- and even if all works: izt shows YOU "have" to keep things in mind !
- which sound was used on which snapshot ? i had already problems just dealing with two snaphots



IF it´s even possible to implement that as a Dev:
- it would be immensly useful if a snapshot could just auto-overtake the name of the loaded preset.


my verdict after a short test:
- re. Instruments: they do NOT all work out ! i can clearly say that already
- it takes some "get used to" to it.....to work with clear goals or a clear plan, rather than the usual FSU random f*ck ( which can be funny ofc)

So far: NO crashes here ! (again: M4mac / Sequioa // Host: Gigperformer / only AUs were used !

i´ll make then another test with FX.
- i would say this is NOT yet fully matured // CC mapping // plugin loading procedure
But imo already quite nice and useful.

[inkie]

Hey! It is me (Iurii/Inkie) the dev. Wow! Thanks for the testing, this is really useful feedback.
I know it could be frustrating at first, because the parameter interpolation is not something you may be used to in 'regular' plugins. Of course you can blast random all the time... But with complex plugins i recommend to use exclusive randomization. I had so much fun with serum2, when you map all 3 OSC's parameters, envelopes and macros and then randomize only them. Then when you bored switch to another preset in serum2(via native preset browser to serum) and randomize again, because learned parameters to randomize are there until you clear them!

Quick context on how morphing works: SnappySnap interpolates parameters, not audio. When you morph, it's moving hundreds of plugin parameters simultaneously between two stored states. So the result depends a lot on how the hosted plugin handles rapid parameter changes on its end.

On the crackling: Thats mostly the hosted plugin's DSP recalculating under rapid parameter updates. Heavier synths (Pigments, Serum) tend to struggle more with this, while simpler engines (Pianoteq, Waldorf Microwave) handle it much better. On top of that, parameters like envelopes, sample start points, or wavetable positions can cause audible artefacts when they change rapidly, the plugin is essentially rebuilding parts of its sound engine on the fly.

On the note-offs / sound gaps: This happens when discrete parameters (like oscillator type or FX routing toggles) flip at a threshold point during the morph. Some synths interpret that as a state reset. Your Zebralette observation is spot-on, you're hitting parameter combinations that exist between the two presets, which can be really cool or briefly silent depending on the combo.

Some things thatt can help:
-Increase DAW buffer size (512-1024) - gives the plugin more CPU headroom during morphs
-Pair structurally similar presets - same osc types, same FX routing, similar voice settings. The closer the two presets are in architecture, the cleaner the morph
-Or start from one preset - load it into both snapshots, then tweak a few params on Snapshot B. That way you know they're compatible
-FX plugins generally morph really well - fewer discrete params, no voice issues. Reverbs, delays,channel strips tend to be verysmooth

Also Two builtin modes that can help:
-Sanity Mode (on by default) - protects critical parameters like volume, gain, pitch, transpose, and structural toggles from being morphed or randomized. This prevents the morph from accidentally muting your sound, detuning it an octave, or flipping things like EQ band counts. If you're getting weird jumps, make sure this is enabled.
-Fast Recall - skips the plugin's full state recall and only restores parameter values. Some plugins have very slow internal preset loading that can cause glitches or gaps during snapshot switching. Fast Recall avoids that overhead entirely. Worth trying if you experience hiccups when jumping between snapshots.

Noted and on the list:
-Snapshot auto-naming from loaded preset name, love that idea
-Plugin browser UX needs work, agreed
-Reaper crash on GUI show after plugin switch, looking into it

Really appreciate the time you put into all those plugin combos. This kind of hands-on feedback is amazing!

[Funky40]

Hey! It is me (Iurii/Inkie) the dev. Wow! Thanks for the testing, this is really useful feedback.

Nice to have you here Iurii ! Welcome !


Great to see you´re recognising some points !
I´ll check tomorrow the full demo. If this runs stable too will i make my purchase, and dive into the bigger feature set, doing some testing.
This has definitly some nice potential

[krankyone]

I noticed when I took a complex vst like Zebra and saved a Snap, then loaded a different Zebra preset and saved another snap, that morphing was all over the place. I could see that things like effects might be completely different between the two Zebra presets. I could see Snappy causing effects to be created and replaced with different different effects at various Morph positions. Very crackling and distorted.
This is different than when you load a preset and then tweak parameters of the preset, saving snaps as you go along. That works much better.
One thing that was frustrating was using Drum Plugins. I tried Battalion and Microtonic. Neither one seemed to be able to sync playing with Bitwigs Play Button. That might be a bug.
I still think SnappySnap is pretty cool and has a lot of potential

[Dunc]

@ inkie

Trialing this now.
The largest of the 3 size selections is still very small on a 4K monitor, but I like that you can increase the size further by dragging the bottom right corner - so that is good.
As the size increases, the GUI text does not - the text looks tiny on a 4K monitor. Can the text size be increased somehow?

Ok, off to continue trialing Snappy Snap...

[inkie]

I will mark this into my upcoming update!

[hbw]

Really interesting plugin... a couple of features I think would be great

1. The option to make the randomisation slider unipolar/bipolar e.g. I want my first snapshot to be the foundation sound and for my following snapshots to evolve from that in more of an incremental fashion.

2. The option to be able to swap snapshots positions on the XY pad, this could lead to smoother morphing between presets etc

[RPH]

-Reaper crash on GUI show after plugin switch, looking into it

Could have been a one off, haven't gotten it since.

It seems Reaper sends note-off when switching between presets, when just making snapshots with different parameters within a preset no note-offs are sent. Good to keep this in mind.

[Thymos]

@inkie this is a really great and innovative concept!

[brewt]

Account verification emails are not coming through. And I want them to, as this looks awesome.

[dune_rave]

In Reaper, I load this and try to add a VST folder. I cant add any folder......
It's disturbing.....
OK, I had to select the default : C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3

Now its scanning .....
(I'm trying the 7 days trial of the full version for windows)

[dune_rave]

The problem is:
I've changed the mode to "target learned" then I've learned the 8 macro knobs to 8 controls on Sylenth1,
then try to morph without gaps, but it changes ALL THE PARAMETERS not just the learned ones!

Now it's totally silent....maybe the demo? no, after restart still....
Sorry to say, but it's totally not working for me