ENSEMBLE

A spectral texture forge that transforms live audio into evolving, Penderecki-inspired orchestral swarms.

ENSEMBLE captures your audio into a circular buffer and continuously re-reads it through 8 voices with golden-ratio panning, incommensurate LFOs, and dual MASS/DUST grain layers; producing dense, breathing textures from any input.

↑ Click for Youtube Video Demo ↑

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Installation

Download the latest release for your platform from the Releases page.

Windows: Copy the ENSEMBLE.vst3 folder to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\

macOS: Copy ENSEMBLE.vst3 to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/

Rescan plugins in your DAW. ENSEMBLE appears as an audio effect.

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How to Use

1. Place ENSEMBLE on an effects/send track or your master bus — it processes incoming audio, it's not an instrument.
2. Feed audio into it: synths, guitar, vocals, samples, whatever. Play sounds one at a time and let the texture build between each.
3. Dial in the parameters as it plays back to you. Start with defaults and experiment.
4. Press CLEAR to wipe the buffer and start fresh whenever you want to erase the current audio playback.

Tips

• Feed sounds in one by one in real time. Let each sound layer into the texture before adding the next.
• Melodic and harmonic sources work best. Pads, guitars, vocals, strings, textural samples. Drums and percussion tend to produce harsh results.
• PERSIST controls how long audio stays in the buffer. Higher values build denser, more layered textures over time.
• BLEND shifts between pointillist stippling (left) and smeared bowing (right). Try automating it slowly.
• EVOLVE controls how much the texture moves on its own. High values create constant internal motion without any input.
• DRY mixes your original signal back in. Keep it low for pure texture, or bring it up for parallel processing.
• The 12-band EQ is for carving out mud or taming harsh frequencies in the texture.
• The bandpass filter (toggle on, then sweep the frequency) can isolate a specific range of the texture for focused, narrow sounds.

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Building from Source

ENSEMBLE — Build & Usage Guide

Windows Build (Visual Studio 2026)

1. Delete your old build folder:

   rmdir /S /Q C:\ensemble-vst\build
   

2. Replace the Source folder in C:\ensemble-vst\ with the new Source folder from this download. Also replace CMakeLists.txt.

3. Make sure C:\ensemble-vst\CMakeLists.txt has this line:

   set(JUCE_DIR "C:/JUCE" CACHE PATH "Path to JUCE framework")
   

[REPLACE: set(JUCE_DIR "/home/claude/juce" CACHE PATH "Path to JUCE framework") WITH: set(JUCE_DIR "C:/JUCE" CACHE PATH "Path to JUCE framework")]

4. Open Developer Command Prompt for VS 2026 and run:

   cd C:\ensemble-vst
   mkdir build
   cd build
   cmake .. -G "Visual Studio 18 2026" -A x64
   cmake --build . --config Release
   

5. Install:

   xcopy /E /I "C:\ensemble-vst\build\Ensemble_artefacts\Release\VST3\ENSEMBLE.vst3" "C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\ENSEMBLE.vst3"
   

6. Rescan plugins in your DAW.

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macOS Build

1. Install Xcode command line tools:

   xcode-select --install
   

2. Install CMake:

   brew install cmake
   

3. Clone JUCE (if you haven't):

   git clone --depth 1 --branch 8.0.4 https://github.com/juce-framework/JUCE.git ~/juce
   

4. Extract ensemble-vst-plugin.tar.gz and edit CMakeLists.txt:

   set(JUCE_DIR "$ENV{HOME}/juce" CACHE PATH "Path to JUCE framework")
   

5. Build:

   cd ensemble-vst
   mkdir build && cd build
   cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
   cmake --build . --config Release
   

6. Install:

   cp -r Ensemble_artefacts/Release/VST3/ENSEMBLE.vst3 ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/
   

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Controls

Weave Engine

• BLEND: Left = pointillist stippling (DUST), Right = smeared bowing (MASS)
• TENSION: Metallic string resonance / comb filter stress
• TEXTURE: How loud the weave texture is
• EVOLVE: How much the texture moves on its own (LFO depth)

Mix

• PERSIST: Buffer feedback (0.5–0.99). Higher = denser layering over time
• INPUT: Input level going into the capture buffer
• DRY: Pass-through of your original dry signal
• OUTPUT: Master output level

12-Band EQ

• Vertical sliders: boost/cut each frequency band (±12 dB)
• EQ MIX: Wet/dry for the EQ (0 = EQ bypassed)

Filter

• FILTER: Sweep from Low Pass → Band Pass → High Pass
• CUTOFF: Filter frequency. When maxed out, filter is bypassed

Clear

• CLEAR button: Wipes all buffers and starts fresh

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Tips

• Press CLEAR to reset buffers and start over
• Drums don't work well — this is oriented toward melodic, harmonic, and textural sounds
• Best use case: put ENSEMBLE on your master bus or send fx bus and feed multiple sounds into it one by one
• Start with default settings, play something, and let the texture build
• Use PERSIST to control how dense the texture gets over time
• Turn DRY up if you want to hear your original signal mixed in
• The Processing Lab knobs all start at 0 (off), the core engine is the weave + grains

See BUILD.md for full instructions. Requires JUCE 8.0.4 and a C++ compiler (Visual Studio 2022+ on Windows, Xcode on macOS).