Mini

Overview

2D 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 sample 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 lets you select multiple samples at once.

Polyphonic playback

Adjust attack and release envelopes to activate polyphonic playback and create textures. 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 - Each dropdown contains analyzed parameters of each sample and lets you organize your samples in the XY space. 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 the parameter colors represent. E.g: Length as color means sounds marked blue would be short and sounds marked red would be 30s+ long.
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. Check Include metadata to extend the search. Click re-analyze to re-analyze samples.
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.

Loops provide S (Solo) and M (Mute) controls. True duplicates and timbral duplicates provide all four: S (Solo), M (Mute), X (Remove from view — does not delete files), and Del (Move 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. X / Y sliders - Directly position the XY cursor on the scatter plot without using the mouse, triggering the sample at that point. They track your mouse while you hover the plot, and drive the same Cursor X / Y automation parameters (CC2 / CC3) - so dragging them can be automated or recorded.
4. Waveform display - Waveform of the selected/hovered sample.
5. ATT (Attack) - 0-5000ms fade-in, log-scaled.
6. REL (Release) - 0-5000ms fade-out. Enables polyphonic layering.
7. VEL (Velocity) - 0-100% playback volume. Also responds to MIDI velocity.
8. PIT - Random pitch per trigger, up to +/-12 semitones (playback only).
9. PAN - Random pan per trigger, up to +/-100% (playback only).
10. POS - Random start position per trigger, up to 100% into the sample (playback only).
11. 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 visualizes folder structures and lets you reorder and make your own structures. Click + to add a folder (scanned recursively), or drag folders from your file manager directly into the plugin. Multi-select with Shift+click or Ctrl+click, and drag rows to reorder or nest them.

Each row has S (solo), M (mute) and X buttons. Hovering a folder highlights its samples on the scatter plot grid.

X deletes that folder (or group, or whole tree) and the samples it contains from the plugin — it never deletes the audio files on your disk. Deletions persist: a removed folder stays gone when you reopen the project or relaunch. Drag the folder back in to restore it.

You can also ungroup a group or a folder by right-clicking it and choosing Ungroup.

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. Folder/group solo & mute and the folder layout are saved per project instance.

Presets

Click the preset button to open the preset manager. Save, rename (R), or delete (X) presets. Presets store the folder layout: folder paths, groups, the tree structure (drop roots, collapse and reorder state), and per-folder and per-group solo/mute. Plot settings such as axes and filters are not part of a preset.

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 supports 64-voice polyphony. When a MIDI line is drawn, MIDI notes trigger samples along the line based on note number.

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. Drag into DAW - Drag a dot from the scatter plot into your DAW.
2. Export pool - Use the 9-dot pattern 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) also 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 - 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. XY scrub mode - Remaps the X/Y cursor so that samples are evenly distributed across the entire CC/slider range. Without it, densely-clustered samples can share a narrow slice of the range. Scrub mode also attempts to prevent flickering between adjacent samples.
3. Remove 30s playback cap - By default, audio for playback is loaded up to 30 seconds. Enable this to load the full duration of longer samples for playback.
4. Force Mono - New triggers cut the previous voice with a fast click-free fade, so moving across the plot plays one sample at a time instead of stacking voices - handy with long release times.
5. Cursor leave preview - Moving the cursor off the scatter plot triggers a preview of the last hovered sample.
6. Disable auto loop - Samples detected as loops stop looping on playback and play through once, like any other sample.
7. 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
7. Help-overlay toggles: Remove 30s playback cap, Cursor leave preview, Force Mono, Disable auto loop (Force Mono and Disable auto loop are also saved with each project)

Per-project / Per-instance

Saved with your DAW project, independent per plugin instance:

1. Loaded folders, groups and tree layout (including folder X-deletions)
2. Solo/mute states
3. Recorded gesture and MIDI line
4. Cursor X / Y position
5. Axis selections (X, Y, color)
6. Length filter range
7. Quantization settings
8. Envelope, velocity, and randomization values
9. Hover preview, XY scrub mode and Mouse to Automation toggles
10. Search text and filter states
11. Pool contents