A semantic audio-effect plugin — turn descriptive words into effect chains.
PromptFX maps creative descriptors like Haunted, Underwater, or Broken Radio onto fully-realised multi-effect chains. Pick a mood, shape it with four macros, and the whole plugin — sound and interface — transforms to match. Written in C++ with JUCE, it builds as a VST3 / AU / standalone plugin for Ableton Live 12 and other DAWs.
Instead of dialing in a dozen separate effects, you choose a mode (a word) and PromptFX configures an entire chain — filter, saturation, modulation, delay, reverb, noise and stereo imaging — to evoke that word. Four macros bend the result, and the interface re-themes itself per mode.
Haunted · Warm Tape · Underwater · Broken Radio · Wide Dream ·
Dark Club · Furnace · Shatter
| Control | Role |
|---|---|
| Amount | Intensity of the mode's character |
| Movement | Modulation rate & depth |
| Tone | Spectral tilt (dark ↔ bright) |
| Mix | Global dry/wet |
| Output | Level trim |
| HP / LP | Utility high-pass / low-pass (transparent at their extremes) |
| OTT | One-knob 3-band upward+downward compressor — the EDM "OTT" sound |
The "intelligence" is a small, data-driven mapping (rule-based — no ML model in v1):
ModeLibrarydefines a base parameter recipe for each word.MacroMapperfolds the four macros over that recipe into the final per-block settings.- A fixed DSP chain consumes those settings.
The mapping layer is pure C++ with no audio-framework dependency, so it is unit-testable in isolation. A future version may swap the rule-based dictionary for text-embedding–driven selection (see Roadmap).
in → filter → saturation → modulation → delay → reverb → noise → width
→ high-pass → low-pass → OTT → output
- C++17, JUCE 8
- CMake + CPM (JUCE is fetched automatically — nothing to vendor)
- Native JUCE GUI with a custom
LookAndFeeland a reactive, per-mode visualizer - Formats: VST3 + Standalone (Windows/Linux), AU + VST3 (macOS)
Requirements: CMake ≥ 3.22 and a C++17 compiler. JUCE is downloaded by CMake on first configure.
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build --config ReleaseBuilt artifacts land in build/**/PromptFX_artefacts/. Copy the .vst3 (or
.component on macOS) into your system plugin folder, or point your DAW at the
build output directory.
On Windows with Visual Studio, configure presets are provided
(cmake --preset ninja-debug / ninja-release) — run them from a Developer
PowerShell so the toolchain is on PATH.
- Tempo-synced delay & LFO; preset randomize / morph between modes
- Spectrum / metering in the visualizer
- CLAP format; signed & notarized macOS and Windows builds
- Optional text-embedding (true semantic) mode selection
- Rule-based mapping, not a machine-learning model (by design in v1)
- Primary development & testing on Windows; macOS/Linux are built in CI
- Oversampled saturation makes some modes more CPU-intensive
Built with AI-assisted development workflows, with an emphasis on clean, modular C++ and a clear separation between the (framework-free) semantic layer and the DSP/UI layers.
Released under the GNU AGPL-3.0 — see LICENSE.
© XFZN