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.”