Use audio plug-ins

Wabcut hosts CLAP and VST3 audio effects on clips, tracks and the master bus. A plug-in's parameters work like a built-in effect's: you can change them and keyframe them.

Plug-ins run outside the editor, in a helper process. A plug-in that crashes or hangs is switched off with a badge, and the editor and your other plug-ins carry on.

Where Wabcut finds plug-ins#

Wabcut looks in the standard plug-in folders:

• %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\CLAP and %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\VST3 (usually under C:\Program Files\Common Files);
• %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Common\CLAP and %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Common\VST3;
• any folder you add.

It finds .clap files and .vst3 files or bundles up to eight folder levels deep. When Wabcut starts, it scans new and changed plug-ins in the background. A plug-in it has already scanned, and that hasn't changed, isn't scanned again.

Add a plug-in folder or scan again#

1. Open Settings (Ctrl+,) and choose "Audio". Under "Plug-ins", next to "Audio plug-ins", click "Open…".

   You can also click the settings button in the "Audio Plugins" header of the Effects panel.

2. In "Audio plugins":

   • "Add folder…" adds a folder to scan. The standard folders are marked "Standard"; a folder you added has an × that stops scanning it.
   • "Rescan" scans new and changed plug-in files.
   • "Scan all again" scans every plug-in file, unchanged ones too.

The rescan button in the Effects panel's "Audio Plugins" header scans new and changed files too.

Add a plug-in effect#

Open the Effects panel (Shift+7). Its "Audio Plugins" section lists your plug-ins "By vendor" or "By category". Each one shows its format (CLAP or VST3) and the latency it reports, and the panel's search finds plug-ins by name, vendor or category.

• On a clip: drag the plug-in onto an audio clip in the timeline, or onto Effect Controls. Or select the clip and double-click the plug-in (or press Enter). When you select a video clip, its linked audio clip gets the effect.
• On a track or the master bus: in the "Audio Track Mixer", drag the plug-in onto a strip's effects, or click the strip's "Effect" slot and choose it. Plug-ins are listed after the built-in effects, with their format, for example "TDR Nova · VST3".

Each one you add is one undo step.

Open the plug-in's own window#

• In Effect Controls, click the "Edit plugin…" button in the effect's header.
• In the Audio Track Mixer, click the effect's slot and choose "Edit plugin…".

The plug-in's own interface opens in a separate window, not inside Wabcut's panels. For a plug-in without a window of its own, the button in Effect Controls is greyed out. Changes you make in the window are saved into the project as you go, one undo step per editing session, so your export has them.

The slot's menu in the mixer also has "Bypass" (or "Turn on"), "Move up", "Move down" and "Remove".

When a plug-in crashes or hangs#

Each plug-in file runs in its own helper process, shared by every use of that plug-in. If a plug-in crashes, only that plug-in's effects stop: they let the unprocessed sound through, still in time, and show a badge. The editor and your other plug-ins keep playing. The next time the effect plays, Wabcut starts the plug-in again.

Hold the pointer over a badge to see the reason.

Wabcut also checks the sound a plug-in sends back: broken samples are replaced with the unprocessed sound, and very loud output is limited to +24 dB.

Plug-ins blocked while scanning#

A plug-in that crashes while it is scanned, or hangs for more than 30 seconds, goes on the blocklist with the reason. Every file is scanned in its own helper process, so this never takes Wabcut down.

1. The Effects panel shows a line saying how many plug-ins are blocked. Click it, or open "Audio plugins" from Settings.
2. Under "Blocked", each file shows why it was blocked. Click "Try again" to take it off the list and scan it again.

A blocked file is skipped until it changes (for example, after you update the plug-in) or you try it again.

Latency and timing#

• Wabcut compensates for the delay each plug-in reports, so the processed sound stays in time with the rest of the mix.
• When playback starts, a plug-in that is still loading plays the unprocessed sound for a moment, then switches over, so a slow plug-in never holds up playback.
• On the master bus, playback never waits for a plug-in. If one is late, that moment plays unprocessed, and a warning dot appears on the effect; its tooltip says how many blocks it missed. Exports wait for every plug-in, so the file isn't affected.
• Plug-ins on the master bus reset when playback jumps or loops.
• Plug-ins always hear the timeline at 100 % speed. When you shuttle with J and L, the speed change is applied after the mix.

Preview and export#

A plug-in gets the same blocks of sound in playback and in export, so a deterministic plug-in exports exactly what you heard. Plug-ins that aren't deterministic (random modulation, analogue noise models, demo versions that add noise) can sound different in the export, as they would in any host.

Limits#

• Windows only for now. No AU or LV2 plug-ins, and no video plug-ins (OpenFX).
• Effects only: no instruments and no sidechain inputs.
• Stereo effects: a plug-in processes left and right. Mono clips are upmixed first. On a 5.1 track or master, the other channels pass through unprocessed, kept in time.
• A plug-in effect can store up to 45 KB of its own settings in the project. Wabcut refuses a larger state and says why.
• A plug-in on the master bus that changes its latency during an export keeps the latency it had when the export started.