vst fx

vstFx · effects

Runs one of YOUR installed effect plugins (AU builds of your VSTs) as a stereo insert via the vst-bridge native helper — 100% wet, bit-transparent bypass while nothing is mounted, local bypass when the helper is off so a lane never goes silent.

Runs one of YOUR installed effect plugins — the AU builds of your VSTs (delays, reverbs, compressors, Apple's AUDelay, …) — as a stereo insert, through the vst-bridge native helper app (macOS, ws://127.0.0.1:9309). Drop it in a channel lane and it slots into the chain like any internal effect: stereo in, stereo out, auto-wired. Pick a plugin on the card, mount it, and OPEN EDITOR raises the plugin's own native window on your machine. The path is 100% wet (use the plugin's own mix control); while nothing is mounted the bridge passes audio through bit-transparently, and if the helper is not running at all the card bypasses locally — a missing helper never mutes the lane. Latency is the transport round trip (~15-25 ms added — the feel of patching through external hardware on a send; the card shows the measured rtt plus the plugin's own reported latency). One card = one plugin instance (helper cap 16); a page refresh re-adopts the running instance, so the plugin and its state survive reloads. Requires the vst-bridge helper running locally (Chromium/Firefox; the card shows status). In a shared patch, the effect renders only on the machine running the helper with the plugin installed.

the faceplate

2 inputs · 2 outputs · 0 params

about this module

Hover a control, or open the patch panel and hover a jack.

inputs

id	cable	what it does
`in_l`	audio	Stereo insert input, left — sent to the mounted plugin as its input bus (bit-transparent echo when nothing is mounted; local bypass when the helper is unreachable). audio signal; L/R stereo pair with in_r — L-only auto-duplicates to R
`in_r`	audio	Stereo insert input, right (stereo-paired with in_l, so patching only the left side normals both). audio signal; L/R stereo pair with in_l

outputs

id	cable	what it does
`out_l`	audio	The plugin's processed return, left — each returned block carries the sampleTime of the input block that produced it, so the card places it on its own timeline. audio signal; L/R stereo pair with out_r
`out_r`	audio	The plugin's processed return, right (stereo-paired with out_l). audio signal; L/R stereo pair with out_l

controls

control	what it does
Vst connect {n}	Opens this card's own session with the vst-bridge helper — one WebSocket, one plugin instance, keyed by this node id. It also RESTARTS a live session at the engine's current sample rate, which is the recovery path when another browser tab has claimed this card's instance. The engine already connects on its own when the node is created, so this is for the case where the helper was not running yet, or where you disconnected on purpose. Until it succeeds the insert bypasses locally, so the lane keeps flowing either way.
Vst disconnect {n}	Drops the session without deleting the node — the helper PARKS this plugin instance rather than destroying it (about 90 seconds), so a reconnect re-adopts the same plugin with its state intact. The insert falls back to a local bypass, so the lane keeps its audio; you lose the effect, not the signal. Use it to hand one of the helper's sixteen concurrent instances to another card.

control

what it does

Vst connect {n}

Opens this card's own session with the vst-bridge helper — one WebSocket, one plugin instance, keyed by this node id. It also RESTARTS a live session at the engine's current sample rate, which is the recovery path when another browser tab has claimed this card's instance. The engine already connects on its own when the node is created, so this is for the case where the helper was not running yet, or where you disconnected on purpose. Until it succeeds the insert bypasses locally, so the lane keeps flowing either way.

Vst disconnect {n}

Drops the session without deleting the node — the helper PARKS this plugin instance rather than destroying it (about 90 seconds), so a reconnect re-adopts the same plugin with its state intact. The insert falls back to a local bypass, so the lane keeps its audio; you lose the effect, not the signal. Use it to hand one of the helper's sixteen concurrent instances to another card.

source

vst-fx.ts on GitHub.