Mini

Overview

Spectral scatter plot

Mini displays loaded samples as colorful dots in a X / Y scatter plot, the position of which is determined by analyzing the samples' sound qualities and distributing them accordingly. The parameters are: brightness, noisiness, complexity, attack, percussiveness, length and loudness.

These can also be customized by directly choosing a specific parameter and binding it to the X and Y axes at will.

Hovering over the samples will allow you to play them back instantly.

Gesture recording + MIDI line

Turn your library into an instrument. Gesture recording lets you draw a path across your sample library and play it via automation.

MIDI line maps your samples onto MIDI keys for real-time performance.

Drag & Drop

Once you find a desired sample, drag it to your DAW. Shift+Drag will allow you to select multiple samples at once.

Polyphonic playback

Adjust attack and release envelopes to activate polyphonic playback. Layer sounds, create unique textures and randomize pitch/pan/start position per trigger to turn Mini into a sound design tool.

Handles hundreds of thousands of samples

Mini is constantly optimized for scale. Currently stress-tested to 500k samples loaded at once. Analysis results are cached per-folder, so subsequent loads are quick.

Folder groups, presets, search

Organize your samples into folders and switchable groups that can be triggered via CC and key commands, allowing them to perform in real time.

Filters & Duplicates

Solo / Mute loops, find True duplicates (exact file copies), Timbral duplicates (similar sounds) and delete if needed.

Quick Start

1. Open Mini as an instrument plugin in your DAW.
2. Click the + button and add samples to the plugin.
3. Mini analyzes each sample's characteristics and places it on the X / Y plot.
4. Hover over the samples to create textures. Adjust Attack / Release to enable polyphonic playback. Select samples via Shift+Drag and drag them to your DAW.

Interface

Scatter Plot

The central 2D space that maps all visible samples based on X/Y properties. Scroll to zoom, right-click drag to pan, double-click to reset.

Seven parameters are available for the X, Y, and color axes:

By default, hovering over the samples in the scatter plot automatically triggers its playback. By utilizing the attack / release parameters for playback and the pitch / pan / sample start randomization parameters, the user can turn mouse gestures into musical results.

Header

1. X / Y axis dropdowns - These are the most important dropdowns in the entire plugin. Each dropdown contains analyzed parameters of each sample and lets you organize your samples in the XY space. Unlike most sample browsers using t-SNE / sound similarity clustering, parameter mapping lets you differentiate between your samples with extreme precision, for instance; brightness on the X axis means that the sounds towards the left side will have an emphasis on low frequencies and the samples towards the right side would be perceptually brighter. If both X and Y axes are set to the same parameter, samples will be organized into a straight line. By combining this with the MIDI line function, you can map samples onto your keyboard organized by brightness, complexity, loudness and more.
2. Color dropdown - Choose what color represents what parameter. E.G: Length as color means sounds marked blue would be short and sounds marked red would be 30s long and more.
3. Sample count - Number of loaded samples.
4. >> button - Hide / show the right panel.
5. MIDI Line (Ctrl+Drag) - Toggle to show / hide MIDI line.
6. Hover Preview (P) - Toggle hover-to-preview samples.
7. Quantize (Q) - Toggle and configure the quantization grid for gesture playback.
8. Record (R) - Start / Stop recording a gesture.
9. Clear Gesture - Delete the recorded gesture path.

Right Panel

The right panel is reserved for sample library organization, search, presets and pool.

1. Search box - Filter samples by filename. Below it, there's the metadata search checkbox and a re-analyze button.
2. Preset indicator - Shows the active preset name.
3. Folders / Pool tabs - Switch between folder management and the sample pool.
4. Filter - Solo / Mute Loops, Solo / Mute / Delete True duplicates (identical files) and timbral duplicates (similarly sounding samples).

Search & Re-analyze

Search for sounds by their filename. Enable the "Include metadata" checkbox to also search WAV/AIFF metadata tags.

Click Re-analyze (next to the metadata checkbox) to force a re-analysis of all the loaded folders. Useful if the utilized files have changed within the disk.

Filters & Duplicates

The filter section at the bottom of the right panel lets you isolate or hide specific sample types.

Mini detects two types of duplicates across your loaded folders:

1. True duplicates - Identical files, regardless of filename.
2. Timbral duplicates - Samples matching within 0.5% on all seven sound qualities. This makes it easy to find samples that are virtually identical but differ slightly in amplitude, length or character.

Each filter category (loops, favorites, true duplicates, timbral duplicates) provides:

1. S (Solo) - Show only these samples.
2. M (Mute) - Hide these samples.
3. X (Remove) - Remove from the scatter plot view (does not delete files).
4. Del (Delete) - Move files to system Trash (with confirmation).

Footer & Controls

The footer contains playback controls and sample information.

1. Length - Filter samples in the scatter plot by duration. Drag the min/max handles. Extend to 30s to include sounds with 30s or longer. (Enable "Remove 30s playback cap" in settings for longer samples if your device has enough RAM.)
2. Gesture slider - Scrub through a recorded gesture path.
3. Waveform display - Waveform of the selected/hovered sample.
4. ATT (Attack) - 0-5000ms fade-in, log-scaled.
5. REL (Release) - 0-5000ms fade-out. Enables polyphonic layering.
6. VEL (Velocity) - 0-100% playback volume. Also responds to MIDI velocity.
7. PIT - Random pitch per trigger, up to +/-12 semitones (playback only).
8. PAN - Random pan per trigger, up to +/-100% (playback only).
9. POS - Random start position per trigger, up to 100% into the sample (playback only).
10. Sample info - File name and properties.

The power of Mini lies in polyphonic playback with randomization combined with automation, making it possible to carve out all kinds of sound textures.

Folders & Groups

The Folders tab in the right panel manages your sample sources. Click + to add a folder (scanned recursively), or drag folders from your file manager directly into the plugin. Select folders and press Delete to remove them. Multi-select with Shift+click or Ctrl+click. Drag the listed folders to reorder them.

Each folder row has S (solo) and M (mute) buttons, additionally, hovering your mouse over the folder itself will highlight the samples within it on the scatter plot grid.

Select multiple folders and press Ctrl+G to group them. Groups can be collapsed, soloed/muted as a unit, as well as renamed, or deleted. Use Ctrl+0 to clear all group solos, or Ctrl+1 through 9 to solo a specific group.

Presets

Click the preset button to open the preset manager. Save, rename (R), or delete (X) presets. Presets store folder paths, groups, solo/mute states, axes, filters, and other UI states.

Use "Save as Default" to set the current configuration as the default for new instances.

Sample Pool

The pool is a temporary area for collecting samples before doing a batch Drag&Drop. Hover or select a sample and press A to add/remove it. Shift+Drag to select multiple samples, then A to batch add. You can also drag samples from the plot onto the right panel.

The Pool tab shows collected samples as a tile grid with waveform previews. Click to preview, X to remove, drag to reorder. Use the grip icon (9-dot icon) to drag all pool samples to your DAW at once.

When the Pool tab is active, pool samples are highlighted on the scatter plot with white ring indicators.

Playback

Press P to toggle hover preview on/off - samples play automatically as you move over them. Loops play continuously on hover. Mini responds to MIDI notes with 64-voice polyphony, triggering the currently selected or hovered sample.

MIDI Line

Ctrl+Drag on the scatter plot creates a MIDI line between two points, mapping samples to the keyboard. Toggle visibility with the MIDI Line button in the header.

Gesture Recording

Press R to start recording, then move your mouse across the scatter plot. Press R again to stop. Use the gesture slider or CC1 to scrub through the recorded path, triggering samples along it. Clear with the trash icon.

Quantization

Press Q to toggle the transport quantization for gesture playback. Choose a subdivision (1/1 through 1/32, plus triplet variants). When enabled, gesture playback snaps sample triggers to the DAW's tempo grid.

Favorites

Press F while hovering over or selecting a sample to put it in your favourites. Use Shift+Drag to select multiple, then F to batch-favourite. Favorites are saved per-device and persist across sessions. Use the filter section's solo/mute controls to quickly isolate your marked samples.

Drag & Drop

1. Export single sample - Drag a dot from the scatter plot into your DAW.
2. Export pool - Use the grip icon in the Pool tab to drag all pooled samples at once.
3. Import folders - Drag a folder from your file manager into the plugin to add it as a source.

Exported files are always the original, unmodified audio - randomization settings are not exported.

Keyboard Shortcuts

External Control

By default, Mini exposes automation parameters that can be hooked to external controls:

1. Line Start X / Y, Line End X / Y, Line Curve - Controls MIDI Line endpoints and curvature.
2. Gesture Position - Making it possible to automate current position inside of a gesture.
3. Attack / Release - Adjusting polyphonic playback envelope.
4. Random Pitch / Pan / Pos Min / Max.
5. Cursor X / Y - Simulate the same action as mouse hover over the X/Y scatter plot. Hooking these parameters to external devices (such as motion tracker / LFO / Envelope follower / CV) opens up a world of possibilities.
6. Velocity - Adjust overall playback amplitude. This also affects overall MIDI input velocity.

Moreover, Mini provides additional control via these CC parameters:

The XY cursor (CC2/CC3) works without the editor open, enabling headless sample triggering from a MIDI controller.

Settings

Open the help overlay (? button) to access the following settings:

1. Mouse to Automation - This is a powerful feature. By turning it on, every mouse movement is hooked to two automation parameters, making it possible to record a performance by moving the mouse within the scatter plot, gesticulating the automation directly.
2. Remove 30s playback cap - Include samples longer than 30 seconds on the scatter plot.
3. Cursor leave preview - Moving the cursor off the scatter plot triggers a preview of the last hovered sample.
4. Small dots threshold - Threshold above which samples are rendered as dots, significantly increasing performance. Low threshold results in better performance. 0 / 20k / 50k / 100k / 200k / 500k. Setting is saved per-device.

State Persistence

Global / Per-device

Shared across all DAW projects:

1. Default folder configuration (via Save as Default)
2. Analysis cache (per-folder)
3. Favorites
4. UI scale
5. Presets
6. Small dots threshold

Per-project / Per-instance

Saved with your DAW project, independent per plugin instance:

1. Loaded folders and groups
2. Solo/mute states
3. Recorded gesture and MIDI line
4. Axis selections (X, Y, color)
5. Length filter range
6. Quantization settings
7. Envelope, velocity, and randomization values
8. Search text and filter states
9. Pool contents