Focus Time by Touch The Universe (DC26 Entry)

[Touch The Universe]

Hi everyone,

I entered Focus Time in the KVR Developer Challenge 2026.

I'm opening up a discussion thread to share some tips and tricks in using the plugin and hopefully gather some feature requests if anyone has any.

I don't have a paid developer account for Mac0S. I'm hoping someone kind enough is willing to notarize it then I can replace the current .vst3 with a proper installer.

In the meantime: Temporary macOS install workaround

Until I can get a properly signed/notarized Mac installer, macOS may block the plugin because I do not currently have an Apple Developer account.

After downloading and unzipping Focus Time, you may need to remove Apple's quarantine flag manually.

For VST3, run this in Terminal:

sudo xattr -cr "/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Focus Time.vst3"

Then restart your DAW or rescan plugins.

Please only do this if you trust the download. This does not sign or notarize the plugin; it only removes the quarantine flag macOS adds to downloaded files.



I'm looking forward to making many more videos and sharing some presets as well and tutorials, so hoping you guys will follow this thread.

Cheers

[Touch The Universe]

I’m also looking for anyone who might want to help build a small free factory bank for Focus Time.

Focus Time is a sample-based glitch / time-warp instrument, so useful source material could be things like:

short pads
drones
vocal-ish textures, no copyrighted vocals
plucks
bells
noise beds
field recordings
synth loops
one-shot textures
glitchy source sounds
atmospheric samples

Important copyright note: please only submit sounds that you personally created, recorded, synthesized, or have clear permission to redistribute.

Please do not use samples from commercial sample packs unless the license explicitly allows redistribution as part of another plugin/factory bank. “Royalty-free” usually means you can use the samples in your songs, not necessarily repackage them into a new sound bank.

If you contribute, please include a short note saying something like:

“I created these sounds myself and give permission for them to be included in the free Focus Time factory bank.”

The factory bank would be free, credited, and included to help users quickly test the plugin.

Good for factory bank:

You own recorded samples.
Your own synthesized/resampled sounds, made from synths they are allowed to use.
Public domain sounds.
Creative Commons sounds only if the specific license allows redistribution and you follow attribution/share-alike rules.
Samples from libraries that explicitly allow redistribution inside virtual instruments or sample-based preset banks.
Heavily processed sounds only when the original license permits that kind of derivative redistribution.

Avoid for factory bank:

Splice/Loopcloud/Loopmasters/etc. samples unless the license clearly says redistribution in a sample library/plugin bank is allowed.
“Royalty-free” sample-pack sounds used as the actual sample content.
Famous recordings, movie/game audio, YouTube rips, commercial music, isolated vocals, etc.
Any sample where the contributor says, “I bought this pack, so it should be fine.”

[tatanka]

So did I get it right that it has no presets so far and if you load it you get an empty green window ?

I thin some presets for the start would really help to get a first impression at least...

[Seafire Mk2]

So this is AI coded, and you want users to make your factory bank?

What effort have you actually put in for this?

[Touch The Universe]

So did I get it right that it has no presets so far and if you load it you get an empty green window ?

I thin some presets for the start would really help to get a first impression at least...

Good point. Will get on it.

[Touch The Universe]

So this is AI coded, and you want users to make your factory bank?

What effort have you actually put in for this?

Try building your own and you will see how much it actually takes. I hope you find it interesting enough to want to contribute to the factory. Its fun to create and share.

[TechHaus]

This already came out?

www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9256515

[Touch The Universe]

This already came out?

www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9256515

Thanks for the reminder. I probably should have locked the thread a while ago, after I removed the links and decided to enter the contest.

I’m sure you already know the situation, so I’m mostly using this comment as a cue to send Ben a PM explaining everything, and I’ll let him decide how to handle it.

If I get kicked out, then I guess that’s the rules. Good job succeeding in dampening my contest spirits But hopefully it’ll be okay.

From being called lazy to now being told I should just stick to the rules, I can definitely feel the love.

That said, I’m not saying you guys are entirely wrong. I probably should have had presets ready, and I probably should have emailed Ben beforehand to clarify the situation. So I’ll own that part.

But still, the way this has come across has been pretty discouraging.

[Touch The Universe]

That said, I'm making presets for this thing and its more incredible than I had realized, lol. This is stunning for sound design and I do not think i can stop myself from adding more into it as I design prests, so I'll likely have a parallel branch running. I think this needs presets with the fx and a base of sample that users can experiment themselves without maybe needing to load samples, but I wonder if that is necessary.

In my mind the natural thing to do is load a sample and explore but sometimes I forget others may not be that way, haha. I'm a sound designer so there should be no excuse releasing a synth with no presets, which I find funny. It was a last minute decision to enter the contest so I spend the last 5 days or so perfecting the code instead. This thing is defintely rad, so I highly recommend experimenting with it. Videos and Presets incoming!

[Shabdahbriah]

I have 3 one minute 24/48 WAVs, extracted from the full 3-minute one, (which is too big for hosting here), that I'll upload if you or anyone-else is interested, that do fit within the "Good for factory bank" description.

They are the combination of half-a-dozen 30-second mods for a 12 String Iterative Music Project!

One 30-second segment plays in this YOUTUBE video @10:34 ObsidianAnvil

The full 3-minutes are the first track "MakeNoise__12-string-guitar-drone-MOD" on my Soundcloud page in my signature below.

[carrset]

I'm a Logic Pro user, so I use the vst3 wrapper "Plugin Buddy" from Modalics, but Focus Time is not working in the wrapper.
When it opens in the vst3 wrapper, only the name "Focus Time" displays. nothing else functions.
I tried the Terminal command (sudo xattr -cr "/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Focus Time.vst3") but that changed nothing.
Any suggestions? The video looks good, so I want it to work for me.