AMYplug

A free, open-source AU / VST3 instrument plugin that puts the AMY synthesizer inside your DAW — and can also drive a real AMYboard as hardware.

AMYplug loads AMY as a normal instrument: play it live, design and save patches, automate every knob, and have the whole sound recall perfectly with your project. It’s the first AMY plugin to exist.

• macOS · Audio Unit + VST3 + Standalone · Apple Silicon & Intel · macOS 11+
• License: AGPL-3.0 (it links JUCE). AMY’s own C engine is MIT.

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Two modes

Mode	What makes the sound	When to use it
Software (default)	AMY’s C engine compiled into the plugin, rendered right in your DAW	Everyday use. Full host automation, sample-accurate recall, and no hanging notes — the plugin owns every note on/off.
Hardware	A physical AMYboard over USB-MIDI; the plugin is the editor/librarian	Play and edit real AMYboard hardware from your DAW. The plugin sends silence; you record the board’s audio through your interface.

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Install — the easy way (no coding)

1. Download the latest AMYplug-macOS.zip from the Releases page.
2. Unzip it. You’ll get the AMYplug instrument (.component / .vst3), the AMYplugFX effect (.component / .vst3), an optional AMYplug.app (Standalone), and install.sh.
3. Run the installer. Open Terminal, type cd (with a trailing space), drag the unzipped folder onto the Terminal window, press Return, then run the script:

   cd /path/to/AMYplug-macOS
   ./install.sh

   It copies the AU + VST3 into your user plug-in folders and clears macOS’s Gatekeeper quarantine so your DAW will load them.
   • Want the standalone app too? ./install.sh --standalone
   • To remove everything later: ./install.sh --uninstall
4. Restart your DAW (or rescan plug-ins). AMYplug appears as an instrument by Mando369.

Why the installer, and why Gatekeeper? The plugins are ad-hoc signed, not notarized by Apple, so a downloaded copy is quarantined and macOS may say it “can’t be opened” or “is damaged.” That’s not a real problem — the installer runs xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine and re-signs locally, which is the standard fix. To do it by hand, see Troubleshooting.

Manual install (if you’d rather not use the script): copy AMYplug.component to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ and AMYplug.vst3 to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/, then run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine on each.

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Install — build it yourself (developers)

Requires Xcode command-line tools, CMake ≥ 3.22, and git.

git clone https://github.com/Mando-369/AMYplug.git
cd AMYplug
./scripts/bootstrap.sh            # fetches the JUCE and AMY submodules
cmake --preset mac-release
cmake --build --preset mac-release
./scripts/install.sh              # installs what you just built

Run the tests / validation:

ctest --preset mac-release        # unit tests (Catch2)
auval -v aumu Amyp Mand           # AU validation

See CLAUDE.md for the architecture brief and docs/ for deeper notes.

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Quick start

1. Add AMYplug on an instrument track and play — it boots on a Juno-6 patch and makes sound immediately.
2. Open the editor. Use the patch browser at the top to pick any of AMY’s built-in sounds (Juno, DX7, piano, PCM…).
3. Switch tabs to edit per engine:
   • Juno — a full analog editor (OSC A/B, LFO, VCF + filter env, amp ADSR, effects).
   • DX7 — a 6-operator FM editor; import your own .syx cartridges.
4. Tweak, then Save… to store a named user patch. Everything you change is host-automatable and recalls with the project.

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Features

• All AMY engines reachable, with proper per-engine editors for Juno-style analog and DX7-style FM.
• Built-in patch browser with real names (Juno 0–127, DX7 128–255, piano, PCM presets).
• User patches — save/load your own; organized by cartridge on import.
• Import DX7 .syx cartridges (32-voice bulk dumps) straight into the browser.
• Voice modes: Poly / Mono / Legato (true pitch-only slur with glide/portamento), plus Unison with detune.
• Juno LFO modes (Poly / Free / Key / Tempo-Sync) and full effects (reverb, chorus, echo, EQ).
• Full host automation of every sound parameter, with bit-faithful recall — the plugin keeps a canonical patch model that saves and restores with your DAW project.
• No hanging notes: deterministic note-off, transport-stop flush, and a Panic button.
• Hardware mode to drive a real AMYboard (see below).

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Hardware mode (driving a real AMYboard)

Full guide: docs/HARDWARE_MODE.md.

Short version:

1. Connect the AMYboard by USB. In the plugin, switch to Hardware and pick the board’s MIDI port and Serial port (use Detect).
2. Notes are sent over USB-MIDI; patch/parameter edits go over the board’s serial REPL (the plugin handles both).
3. The plugin outputs silence in this mode — record the board’s audio through your interface.
4. Check for Firmware Update reads the board’s build over USB and compares it to the latest AMYboard release on GitHub. AMYboard firmware is a rolling release (no version number — a YYYYMMDD-<hash> build id), so it reports “up to date” or shows the newer build with a link to the WebSerial flasher. It never flashes for you. See docs/FIRMWARE_UPDATE_CHECK.md.

🌐 Heads-up: one optional internet request

Pressing Check for Firmware Update is the only time AMYplug talks to the internet — it makes a single HTTPS GET to the public GitHub Releases API (api.github.com/repos/shorepine/tulipcc) to read the latest firmware’s date + commit hash. No account, no token, and no data about you or your project is sent (just a User-Agent: AMYplug header). Nothing happens unless you click the button. Everything else in the plugin — audio, patches, editing, saving — is 100% offline.

⚠️ If hardware audio ever sounds glitchy, “bitcrushed,” or drifts in pitch/latency — CHECK YOUR AUDIO MASTER CLOCK FIRST.

A misconfigured macOS Aggregate Device (two interfaces with bad drift correction) causes exactly these symptoms, intermittently, and it will masquerade as a board or plugin bug. Use your interface directly on its own clock, or set a single clock master. This cost us a full debugging session — don’t repeat it. Details in docs/HARDWARE_LATENCY.md.

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AMYplugFX — the synth’s whole FX bus as an effect plugin

The download also includes AMYplugFX, an AU/VST3 audio effect that is AMYplug’s complete output section, usable as an insert on any track. Its DSP is extracted from AMY itself (engine-free, so any number of instances run independently), in the synth’s exact signal order:

Filter → EQ → Chorus → Echo → Reverb → Bitcrush → Diode Clipper → Output

• Filter — AMY’s analog VCF (LP 24/12, HP, BP) with cutoff/reso and an envelope follower so it opens with input level.
• EQ — 3-band (800 / 2500 / 7000 Hz), Chorus, Echo (time/feedback/tone), Reverb (size/damp) — the same AMY bus effects the instrument uses.
• Bitcrush + Diode Clipper — the Faust output-stage DSP (the diode is driven non-compensated here, so pushing Drive clips hotter/louder).
• Each effect has a bypass toggle in its title bar; every control is host-automatable.

It’s especially handy in Hardware mode: the instrument outputs silence, so insert AMYplugFX on the AMYboard’s audio-return track to process the board’s sound with the same effects.

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Troubleshooting

• “AMYplug can’t be opened” / “is damaged” → Gatekeeper quarantine. Run the installer, or by hand:

  xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/AMYplug.component
  xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/AMYplug.vst3

• Plugin doesn’t show up → rescan plug-ins in your DAW. For AU, first-scan validation can take a moment; force it with auval -v aumu Amyp Mand. Logic caches AU results — quit and reopen if needed.
• No sound in Software mode → check the track isn’t muted and the plugin’s master volume is up; try loading a bright patch (e.g. a Juno lead) from the browser.
• Hardware mode is glitchy / laggy / pitch-drifting → see the master-clock warning above. Then confirm the board plays cleanly from amyboard.com/editor to isolate board vs. host.
• Wrong architecture → if the release build won’t load, build from source for your machine.

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Requirements

• macOS 11 (Big Sur) or newer, Apple Silicon or Intel.
• Any AU or VST3 host (Ableton Live, Logic, Reaper, Bitwig, Cubase, GarageBand, …), or run the Standalone app.
• Hardware mode additionally needs an AMYboard connected by USB.

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License & credits

The plugin links JUCE 8 (free license: AGPLv3), so any distributed binary is AGPL-3.0 — see LICENSE. AMYplug’s own first-party sources are additionally offered under MIT where noted, but any binary that includes JUCE must comply with AGPL-3.0. Bundled AMY remains MIT and is kept as an unmodified submodule. Full third-party breakdown in NOTICES.md.

• AMY by DAn Ellis & Brian Whitman / Shore Pine Sound Systems (MIT).
• AMYboard hardware · shorepine/tulipcc.
• Built with JUCE (AGPLv3).
• AMYplugFX DSP — the filter, EQ, chorus, echo and reverb are extracted from AMY (MIT) into src/amyfx/; the bitcrusher and WDF diode clipper are ported from Faust under the STK-4.3 license (ba.bitcrusher by Julius O. Smith III, ba.downSample by Romain Michon, diode WDF model by Dirk Roosenburg, KalosSoftClipper.dsp by Thomas Mandolini). Full attribution in NOTICES.md; STK text in licenses/STK-4.3.txt.

This is an independent community project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Shore Pine Sound Systems.

Repo: https://github.com/Mando-369/AMYplug — issues and PRs welcome.