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A prior pass corrected session.h:108 to :114, but :114 is the read accessor;
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# PLAN
The post-1.0 roadmap. Seventeen queued items consolidated into overlapping areas and
sequenced into a Phase → Wave → Track hierarchy that implementation specialists can be
dispatched against directly — **plus Phase Γ**, which did not come from those seventeen
(it came from a direct interview, 2026-08-01) and is scoped in
`docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md`, **and Phase Ψ**, which likewise did not
come from the seventeen: it came from a direct list of seven defects and refinements
(Daniel, 2026-08-01) and is specified inline in its own section below — there is no
backing product doc for it, **and Phase Ε**, which likewise did not come from the
seventeen: it came from a direct request (Daniel, 2026-08-02) and is scoped in
`docs/product/bank-package.md`, **and Phase Ρ**, likewise a direct request (Daniel,
2026-08-02), scoped in `docs/product/render-in-place.md`, **and Phase Λ** — the Linux port
of both artifacts — likewise a direct request (Daniel, 2026-08-02), scoped in
`docs/product/linux-readiness.md`.
## What this doc is, and how it relates to the others
- **`docs/PLAN.md`** (this file) — the active on-deck specification list. Each track is
written so a specialist brief is writable from this file alone: goal, consolidated
source items, surface boundary, behavior, acceptance criteria, open questions,
prerequisites.
- **`docs/TODO-1.0.md`** — retained as the **verbatim-provenance appendix**. It holds
Daniel's raw asks and every answer round, unedited; where this plan compresses a
behavior bullet, that file is the backing record. Items are cited here by number
(e.g. "consolidates items 1, 8, 14"). It is not a work queue any more; this file is.
- **`docs/TODO.md`** — deferred follow-ups with recorded rationale, unrelated to the
seventeen (with one flagged intersection: see "Flagged for awareness" below).
- **`docs/COMPLETED.md`** / **`docs/ARCHIVE.md`** — doc-keeper's. When a track here
finishes, its point is removed from this file and appended to `COMPLETED.md` with any
deviation between landed code and spec noted.
- **`docs/product/`** — the product-design reasoning behind prior phases. Grep for a
cited section rather than reading a file whole.
**Worktree slug convention:** `p<phase>-w<wave>-t<track>-<slug>`. Greek phase letters
transliterate: **Θ → `th`**, **Ξ → `xi`**, **Γ → `g`**, **Ψ → `psi`**, **Ε → `e`**, **Ρ → `r`**,
**Λ → `l`**. So Θ-W1-T1 dispatches into `pth-w1-t1-zone-retirement`, Γ-W1-T1 into
`pg-w1-t1-knob-interaction-law`, Ψ-W1-T1 into `ppsi-w1-t1-capture-range-exactness`, and
Λ-W2-T1 into `pl-w2-t1-linux-compile-blockers` (Phase Λ's two audit tracks already ran
under `pl-w1-t1-build-toolchain-audit` and `pl-w1-t2-source-runtime-audit`).
## Decision state
Everything carried forward from `TODO-1.0.md` is classified **[verify]** (answerable by
reading code or running the DAW) or **[propose]** (a design call made at implementation
review with a proposal, not a Daniel call); that classification is preserved per
question, attached to the track that will answer it.
**Read the Phase Λ paragraph below before relying on the plan-wide "nothing is unanswered"
claim the Γ, Ε and Ρ paragraphs make.** Λ (added 2026-08-02) carries **four open
[Daniel]-class forks**, so that claim is no longer true of the plan as a whole; it is true
of every phase except Λ, and Λ's paragraph states exactly which of its four forks gate
anything.
Θ-W3-T1's two genuine **[Daniel]** questions — which no amount of code-reading could
answer — are both ruled on and the track has landed; see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the
full narrative. **Reload tier = Grouping B** (continuous knobs live: filter cutoff/Q/
morph/drive/mod amount/key-track, every envelope stage time and level; root note, loop
span, and start frame still trigger a full reload). **Mid-stage rule = candidate (iv),
hold normalized stage position** (φ = elapsed/duration held fixed across a duration
change, then advancing at 1/newDuration). **Phase Γ opened six [Daniel]-class forks
(Γ-F1…Γ-F6) and all six are ruled** (Daniel, 2026-08-01) — the rulings are folded into the
tracks below and indexed in `docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md` §8. **Γ-F6 closed
with a correction to the analysis, not merely a ruling**: dynamic reported latency is routine
for VST3 instruments and REAPER handles it as a matter of course; what makes the mandated
restart expensive *here* is self-inflicted (`setActive(true)` calls `reloadInstrument`), so
the cost is ours to reduce and the reduction is filed in `docs/TODO.md` rather than designed
around.
**Γ-F3 was subsequently REVERSED and a seventh fork opened AND CLOSED, all by Daniel's later
rulings of 2026-08-01.** Γ-F3 (*"the stage-time ceiling stays 2.0 s"*) is replaced by *"extend
the stage lengths to 10s"* — the ceiling moves in Γ-W1-T1. **Γ-F7** (the VST3 parameter
*order*) is **RULED: signal flow***"signal flow order."* **There is now NO unanswered
[Daniel]-class question anywhere in this plan.**
**Phase Ε (added 2026-08-02) opened three more [Daniel]-class forks and ALL THREE ARE
RULED**, same day (Daniel, 2026-08-02): **Ε-F1** container format — *"proprietary
container"*, the hand-rolled `RSBK`; **Ε-F2** import target — *"always lands as a new bank,
with an auto suffix if name collision"*; **Ε-F3** import under a degraded tracking ledger —
*"refuse mismatched import."* The rulings are folded into the tracks below and indexed at
`docs/product/bank-package.md` §"Rulings". **Two of the three landed somewhere other than
the framing recommendation:** Ε-F2 dropped the proposed rename prompt in favour of a
deterministic suffix, and Ε-F3 reversed allow-with-confirm to refuse — carried by the
framing's own counter-argument, that the accepted tracking residual contemplates *one*
untracked capture while a bulk import strands hundreds in a single gesture. **The plan-wide
claim above therefore holds unqualified — no unanswered [Daniel]-class question remains
anywhere in this plan, Phase Ε included — and no track in this plan is gated on a
decision.**
**Phase Ρ (added 2026-08-02) opened three more [Daniel]-class forks and ALL THREE ARE
RULED**, same day (Daniel, 2026-08-02): **Ρ-F1** multi-track — *"refuse"*, one track per
fire, a settled non-goal rather than a deferral; **Ρ-F2** the result track's mode —
*"for this action which is not a capture, the result track should always go to
arrange"*; **Ρ-F3** tail — *"follow panel tail settings."* Ρ-W1-T1 has landed; see
`docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative, and the rulings remain indexed at
`docs/product/render-in-place.md` §"Rulings". **Ρ-F2
overrode the request's own original wording** ("stays in whatever mode was active") and
is the only one of the three that changed the spec: the result track is now an Arrange
member unconditionally, the A/B-on-the-bench behaviour mode-following would have enabled
is gone, and the ruling pulls in a two-line fix to the panel's auto-tag detector that
would otherwise reverse it on the next timer tick. **The plan-wide claim above therefore
still holds unqualified — no unanswered [Daniel]-class question remains anywhere in this
plan, Phase Ρ included — and no track in this plan is gated on a decision.**
**Phase Λ (added 2026-08-02) breaks that unqualified claim, and it is corrected here rather
than left to be discovered.** The claim as written in the three paragraphs above — *"no
unanswered [Daniel]-class question remains anywhere in this plan"* and *"no track in this
plan is gated on a decision"* — is now **scoped to Θ, Ξ, Γ, Ψ, Ε and Ρ.** It is still true
of all six. It is **not** true of Λ. **Λ opened four [Daniel]-class forks and NONE of them
is ruled** (Λ-F1 CI; Λ-F2 the dialog-resource route; Λ-F3 the copy-only drag-out invariant's
wording; Λ-F4 the declared support floor). Each is stated with the evidence for both sides
at `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §"Open forks — Daniel's", and the Phase Λ section below
carries them as a table. What they gate is narrow and is not a matter of judgement:
- **Λ-F2 is the only one that gates a dispatch** — Λ-W2-T3 `panel-dialog-resource` cannot be
briefed until the route is chosen, because the two routes own different files. Leaving it
open does not stall the phase; it slips that one track to Λ-W4 and **splits Λ-W3's
verification sweep into two Linux sessions**, which is the fork's actual price.
- **Λ-F4 gates the ship wave, not a dispatch.** Λ-W2 can record a floor and widen it; Λ-W5
cannot ship an artifact that does not say what it runs on. Answerable any time before
Λ-W5-T1 is briefed.
- **Λ-F1 and Λ-F3 gate nothing at all.** Λ-F1 (CI) decides only which paragraph Λ-W5-T1
writes; Λ-F3 decides one sentence's wording inside an edit Λ-W4-T3 makes either way.
- **The other eleven Λ tracks are dispatchable against open forks**, in the sense that none
of them waits on a decision. What every Λ track waits on instead is a Linux box — a
different kind of unknown, and the reason Λ-W3 exists.
**Λ's six [Daniel] rulings of 2026-08-02 are settled** and are recorded in the phase section
below in the same shape as Γ's and Ε's: the instrument is in scope; SWELL is reached by
`dlopen`ing REAPER's own `libSwell.so` rather than vendoring it; the editor is REAPER-only
but every other host must degrade safely; macOS is out; the Linux artifact is shipped rather
than developer-only; and a hard `unlink` prune is acceptable with a platform-aware
confirmation. **Do not re-litigate them.**
**Ruling 3 (Daniel, 2026-08-01) — real units at the host boundary.** *"The parameter values
exposed to the VST host should be in real units, such that the host automation lanes report
usable values."* Satisfied through VST3's **plain-value layer**, not its wire format (which is
normalized and cannot be otherwise): `toPlain`/`toNormalized`, `getParamStringByValue` and
`ParameterInfo::units`. Specified at **`docs/product/parameter-automation.md` §6.7** — the
per-category unit/precision table, the one-formatter invariant, the `stepCount` sweep, and the
resolution of the apparent conflict with the filter's re-taper prohibition. It lands entirely
in Γ-W4-T1 and changes no wave boundary.
### Flagged for awareness — not blocking, but decision-grade
1. **Item 15's cross-artifact seam is RESOLVED — this is no longer an unknown.** The
instrument is a read-only bank consumer by invariant (`src/shell/instrument/CLAUDE.md`),
and the one previous attempt at an instrument→extension relay (S13) closed with a
**DEGRADED** spike verdict and was deferred (`docs/TODO.md`). Resample required that
crossing. Ξ-W2-T1 ratified Decision 1 = (1b): the editor invokes the extension's bake
action directly over the VST-host bridge (`NamedCommandLookup`/`Main_OnCommandEx`), no
poller, no nonce — dissolving the S13 DEGRADED verdict rather than re-litigating it. The
read-only bank invariant held: the crossing is a bridge call, not a shell-side bank
write. See `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative.
2. **The "Γ before Ξ-W2" ordering is VIOLATED, it was never Daniel's choice, and Γ now owns
the correction.** Daniel, 2026-08-01: *"xi was started before I spun you up, we'll have to
correct phase xi inside gamma. wasn't a choice."* Ξ-W2-T1 (`resample-bake-chain`) ran
ahead of this plan's sequencing claim, so the bake's settled reset scope — which
enumerates parameters **by name** — ships incomplete: it cannot name rate, pitch offset or
the limiter flag, none of which existed when it was written.
**This is no longer a scheduling constraint to honour. It is a correction obligation with
a named owner: Γ-W3-T2 `bake-reset-amendment`.** The classification costs no Daniel
decision — `docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md` §3.4 pre-classifies all three
against Ξ-W2's own ratified rule (all **reset**) — but the amendment must be written
**against what Ξ-W2-T1 actually shipped, not against what this plan predicted it would
ship.** Ruling 1 adds a second correction of the same shape, homed on Γ-W4-T1 rather than
here: see item 3.
3. **The one-way doors are now IN-PHASE, and the sweep for them is a delivered artifact.**
Ruling 1 (Daniel, 2026-08-01) schedules VST3 parameter reporting **inside Phase Γ**, as
Γ-W4-T1. Everything that participates in a parameter's normalization therefore freezes at
the end of this phase rather than at the start of some later one, and anything that ought
to move must move first.
- **The taper** (Γ-W1-T1) — known, and the reason this phase was ordered as it was.
- **The stage-time ceiling 2.0 → 10.0 s** (Γ-W1-T1) — Γ-F3 **reversed** by Daniel's
*"extend the stage lengths to 10s."* A range endpoint is normalization exactly as much
as the curve between the endpoints is.
- **Two further doors that need action, both new**, both landing on Γ-W1-T1: every
default must have an **exact normalized preimage** (a host's reset-to-default has no
`resetDeckParam` bypass to use), and the filter's four `*Norm` controls **must not be
re-tapered** (their laws are already wire-frozen in payload v9).
- **Six more constants freeze without needing to change**, and three are already frozen
for unrelated reasons; the complete sweep, with dispositions and with what was checked,
is `docs/product/parameter-automation.md` §8. **That doc is no longer scoping-only —
§§610 are the specification Γ-W4-T1 is built from.**
## Phase-wide acceptance criteria
These bind every track in all four phases and are stated once here rather than repeated
per track. **Phase Γ adds a set of its own**, stated in its phase header. **Phase Ψ adds
none** — the structural heuristics, performance guardrails, and product invariants below
bind it exactly as written (its phase header states its performance posture against the
named hot paths).
### Structural (root `CLAUDE.md`, Daniel 2026-07-28)
- **More directories is a must; more files is good; ~600-line file ceiling.** The
ceiling is the *bar*; a responsibility seam is the *method*. Bisection-to-hit-the-
number is rejected. `sampler_core.cpp` (956 lines) is the standing documented
hot-path exception — Θ-W1-T1 re-seams it, and any surviving over-ceiling TU must
carry the same explicit justification.
- **Templates where earned** — compile-time dedup with zero runtime cost, off the hot
paths. Not for types that differ in name only.
- **SOLID is great, but saved CPU is better.** No dispatch-stack blowouts anywhere;
prefer static polymorphism where the types are compile-time-known.
### Performance guardrails
Root `CLAUDE.md`'s five extension-side guardrails (peaks envelope compute, audition,
realtime-capture tick, JSON, `FxBypassGuard`) are unchanged by this plan; no track here
touches them. The instrument adds a sixth surface that binds every Θ track:
- **`process()` — the per-voice-per-sample path — takes no new indirection.** The
filter tick, the envelope evaluation (staged *and* spline), the pitch-shift read, and
the loop read all sit on it. Concrete, inlineable types only: **no `IEnvelope`, no
`IFilter`, no virtual per-voice `tick()`**. A filter with two modes is a
branch-predictable switch or a compile-time-known dispatch, never a vtable. Spline
evaluation is a binary search over a point array, not a polymorphic curve object.
- **No allocation, no file I/O, no bridge call in `process()`.** The off-audio-thread
`reloadInstrument` + atomic pointer swap stays the only way new state reaches the
audio thread. Every new parameter this plan adds follows that path.
- **A split that would add a hot-path indirection is out of scope — rework it or drop
it.**
### Product invariants
- **Capture and placement are separate acts.** No track here may place a timeline item.
Item 15's bake explicitly must not, and one of its candidate architectures uses a
*temporary* arrange mutation — that candidate must leave the arrange byte-identical.
- **Prune is the single, exclusive file-deletion authority.** Item 15's "replace" never
deletes bytes; item 17's consolidation may not weaken any protection prune has today.
- **The instrument never writes the bank.** Item 15 is the first feature that needs to,
and it resolves that by *asking the extension*, not by breaching the invariant.
- **Migration bar: a project saved before a change reopens sounding identical.** Holds
everywhere except item 16's genuinely-multi-zone case, where Daniel deliberately
relaxed it.
- **Every pure module gets a `<module>_tests` target** that runs without REAPER or a
DAW. New pure modules in this plan are not optional-test.
---
## Phase Θ — ReaSampler 9000: one parameter set, a filter, shapeable envelopes, a legible editor
**Ships:** the instrument with the zone system retired, a resonant HP/LP filter stage in
the voice path, curve-shapeable and spline-drawable envelopes on all three EGs,
Gate-mode loop sustain, and a re-laid, high-DPI-clean editor — plus the two extension
drag/drop defects that block getting captures into it.
**Consolidates items** 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16.
**All seven waves have landed — Phase Θ is complete.** W1 through W7 each carry their own
landed note above; see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for every track's full narrative. Θ-W7 was
opened after Θ-W6-T1 shipped, to fix two rendering defects Daniel found by eye; it did not
exist in the plan when this phase was originally scoped.
**The organizing constraint.** Three surfaces in the instrument are single-writer by
nature and dictate the wave shape:
1. **The parameter model** (`zone_params.h` + `component_state_io`) — every parameter
addition touches both. Two tracks adding parameters concurrently is a merge fight
and two competing `ComponentState` version bumps.
2. **The voice render path** (`sampler_core.cpp`) — filter insertion, envelope
evaluation, loop read, and the Trigger tail all live there.
3. **The Sample face** (`editor_paint_sample.cpp` 516 lines / `editor_input_sample.cpp`
583 lines) — every UI item repaints it, and both are already at the ceiling.
Parallelism in this phase therefore comes from **splitting the Sample face into bands**
(done once, in Θ-W1-T1) and from **extension-side work being genuinely disjoint** — not
from running two parameter-model tracks at once. Where a wave has one track, the
collision is real and the serialization is the correct answer.
---
### Θ-W1 — Collapse and re-seam
**All three tracks have landed** — Θ-W1-T1 (`zone-retirement`), Θ-W1-T2
(`capture-handoff-bugs`), and Θ-W1-T3 (`filter-dsp-port`) — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for
the full narrative of each. Between them: the zone subsystem is retired, the wave's two
responsibility seams (the `sampler_core` split, the Sample-face band split) are in
place, the two extension-side capture-handoff defects are fixed, and the filter DSP has
landed as a standalone pure module — Θ-W2-T1 has since wired it into the voice path (see
below).
---
### Θ-W2 — Filter in the voice path; waveform and chrome bands
**Depends on W1 for:** the one-parameter-set model and the `sampler_core` seam that T1
writes the filter into; the `filter` module T1 wires up; the Sample-face band split and
band-stack allocator that T2 and T3 fill; and W1-T1's key-range answer, which decides
what T3's piano strip displays. Authoring any of this against the per-zone model means
writing storage plumbing W1 deletes.
**All three tracks have landed** — Θ-W2-T1 (`filter-voice-path`), Θ-W2-T2
(`stereo-waveform-lanes`), and Θ-W2-T3 (`toolbar-and-piano-strip`) — see
`docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative of each. Between them: the filter sits in the
per-voice signal path with its own deck, the waveform band shows both channels in
stereo mode behind a type-enforced full-height overlay contract, and the chrome band's
toolbar and piano strip are cleaned up per spec. The three tracks were disjoint by
band — T1 owned the parameter model and the deck band, T2 owned the waveform band, T3
the chrome band — and none re-allocated the band stack.
---
### Θ-W3 — Live parameters, then the staged envelope system
**Depends on W2 for:** the filter envelope's existence — items 1, 8, and 14 govern
*three* envelopes, and the filter is the third; and for the Filter deck, which must
exist before it can receive a corner radio switch and inner curve dials. T1 additionally
depends on W2-T1 for the filter itself: the filter is the first control set where the
latched-at-note-on delivery model fails audibly, and it is what made the defect visible.
**Both tracks have landed** — Θ-W3-T1 (`live-parameter-delivery`) and Θ-W3-T2
(`staged-envelope-curves`) — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative of each.
Between them: every continuous playback control (filter cutoff/Q/morph/drive/mod
amount/key-track, every stage time and level on all three envelopes) now reaches a
sounding voice live instead of latching at note-on, and the envelope-overlay editor
grew from an amp-only fixture into the shared graphical surface for all three
envelopes — a corner radio switch per deck (none active by default), curve-shapeable
segments on every sloped stage (0.110 exponent, an inner dial paired with an overlay
knot), the release-right-anchored AHDSR layout against the pitch envelope's 1:1 AHD,
and the Trigger amp/filter fade pair folded into a Trigger AHD, consolidating what
were two staged-shape mechanisms into one. The Trigger × Preserve end-of-sample click
is fixed; the landed fix is wider than scoped, also ringing out Gate × Preserve ×
source-exhaustion, previously a hard cut. The ordering was deliberately serial — T1's
live-delivery mechanism landed first so T2's new curve exponents and Trigger AHD
fields were authored directly into it rather than backfilled afterward.
---
### Θ-W4 — Loop sustain and the velocity deck
**Depends on W3 for:** the envelope system both tracks compose with — T1's loop-sustain
is the Gate-mode sustain the AHDSR releases out of, and T2's bipolar pitch/filter curves
modulate targets whose envelopes W3 just reshaped. T2 additionally depends on W2-T1 for
the filter's existence and on W2-T3 for the preview button's toolbar position.
**Both tracks have landed** — Θ-W4-T1 (`gate-loop-sustain`) and Θ-W4-T2
(`velocity-deck-and-bipolar-curves`) — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative of
each. Between them: loop points are now a usable feature, with a Gate-mode loop acting
as the sustain and a parameterized crossfade at the seam; and the three velocity-curve
popups (amp, pitch, filter) now live together in a new VELOCITY deck group, with the
pitch and filter curves bipolar and flat-by-default so their modulation is off until
drawn, while the amp curve stays unipolar and unchanged, and the preview button's text
is replaced by a drawn play-triangle glyph. Params payload reached v11 with T1's loop
block and v12 with T2's velocity→pitch curve appended after it.
---
### Θ-W5 — Spline EGs
**Depends on W4 for:** the bipolar velocity-curve domain (W4-T2) — the spline algorithm
is **singly implemented and multi-referenced**, so its enhancement must land against the
final consumer set, and the last consumer to change domain is the pitch/filter velocity
curve; and for the Gate-mode loop (W4-T1), since "Gate is unavailable in Spline mode" is
only a real, testable rule once Gate has something to be unavailable *for*. It also
depends on W3's radio switch, which is how a spline contour reaches the overlay at all.
**Θ-W5-T1 has landed**`spline-egs` — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative.
It shipped a free-drawn alternative to every staged envelope: pitch, filter, and amp
EGs can switch Staged → Spline and have their contour drawn directly on the waveform
overlay. The one shared monotone-spline implementation gained hard points — sharp
corners, no smoothing on either adjacent segment — flowing to every consumer including
the existing velocity→amp transfer curve, no fork. Both Staged and Spline state persist
simultaneously (saved-but-inactive, lossless round-trip); params payload reached v13,
and v12 projects still load. Gate is unavailable while a Spline EG is active; the
contour is a pure time function over the full sample length, normalized and drawn 1:1
with the sample's time axis. Point grammar converged on left-click add / right-click
delete / control-click hard-smooth toggle, one grammar across both spline consumers.
Staged segment knobs and their inner curve dials render disabled and reject edits while
Spline is active. Point-count ceiling: 128, a musical bound rather than a performance
one. A follow-on change in the same track reworked deck cell width: `-1` in `cellIds`
now means one cell's width, reserved and redistributed, rather than a blank cell holding
geometry — a Trigger face that drops Sustain and Release gets wider cells instead of
dead slots; group widths, row packing, deck height, and Gate-mode cell widths are
unchanged.
---
### Θ-W6 — Editor legibility pass
**Depends on W5 for:** the last change to a drawn surface. Item 13 is an audit whose
output is a disposition list over "every class of drawn surface," and item 10's sizing
pass is judged by eye over the finished layout — running either while the spline contour,
the disabled-knob state, or the deck inventory was still moving would have meant
auditing and then re-auditing. Θ-W5-T1 has landed (see `docs/COMPLETED.md`), so that
surface has stopped moving and this dependency is satisfied. The source doc names this
sequencing as an observation (item 13 after the layout/knob work); this plan adopts it
as the boundary.
**One track.** Both items repaint essentially every surface in the editor; concurrent
tracks would collide everywhere.
**Θ-W6-T1 has landed**`legibility-and-antialiasing` — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the
full narrative. It shipped both halves together: knobs grew 28→40 px (inner curve dial
14→20), the deck cell 48×58→60×74, and the label band 12→16 px, now drawn in
`Font::Label` rather than `Font::Micro` — group captions and toggle segments deliberately
stayed `Font::Micro`, since bumping them would outgrow row 1's headroom at the floor
width. The editor's default/minimum size grew 840×620→980×680 to fit the wider deck at
floor width; an existing saved instance's window grows on open, and the floor is
validated by a derived test rather than literals. All fourteen time-constant labels now
read in ms (display-only; internal representation untouched) — `holdFraction` knobs,
`Len %`, and the bank panel's duration readout stayed out of scope. Double-click resets
each ring independently — outer ring resets the value, inner dial resets the exponent to
1.0 — reaching the chrome's preview-velocity knob too via a shared `inKnobFace` rule.
The antialiasing audit fixed knob arcs and needle, the inner dial arc and needle, staged
and spline envelope slopes, the spline contour, the velocity-popup trace, the waveform
outline, and the preview triangle; node handles, curve knots, knob discs, buttons, piano
keys, loop markers, borders, gradients, and text were already clean. The disposition
table is a standing artifact in `docs/product/visual-design-language.md` §8. The
piano-key open question is answered: not aliasing — every key is an axis-aligned
`LICE_FillRect`, so the earlier width defect was integer-division residue in the tiling,
not a sloped edge. High-DPI host scaling itself is unverified (deferred, see
`docs/TODO.md`).
All visual outcomes remain pending Daniel's by-eye sign-off on `dev`.
---
### Θ-W7 — Arc-and-spline antialiasing fix
**Depends on W6 for:** a drawn surface to find a defect on — this wave did not exist in
the plan; it was opened after Daniel found two rendering defects by eye once Θ-W6-T1
shipped, so the audit's own output is what surfaced them.
**One track.**
**Θ-W7-T1 has landed**`arc-and-spline-aa` — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full
narrative. The stacked-`LICE_Arc` knob and dial rings never reached an opaque core (peak
alpha measured 138/255), and the staged/spline envelope and velocity-curve traces were
fully aliased rather than gapped, from integer `cy` quantizing the slope. Both defects,
plus the two needles, now route through one pure analytic thick-stroke rasterizer —
coverage in a new `core/ui/stroke_aa`, the single LICE blend in a new
`shell/instrument/editor_stroke` — replacing `LICE_Arc` and `LICE_ThickFLine` outright.
Measured: arc peak alpha 138/255 → 255/255, arc perpendicular-weight ripple 67% → 5%,
spline weight ripple 29% → 3%, at a cost of +0.09 ms per full editor repaint. Daniel then
ruled every sub-2 px stroker width up to 2 px, since the stroker only guarantees an
opaque core at width ≥ 2 px; the knob track arc, the inner-dial needle, and the deck's
mini velocity trace each moved 1.0 → 2.0 px. `docs/product/visual-design-language.md` §8
is corrected — a false "keeps every ring antialiased" claim is deleted, the rows are
re-dispositioned with measurements, and the audit's methodological lesson (verifying
which primitive was called is not verifying what it rasterized) is recorded as a standing
blockquote. All visual outcomes remain pending Daniel's by-eye sign-off on `dev`.
---
## Phase Ξ — The resample loop
**Ships:** one consolidated, fully robust provenance/usage tracking system, and on top of
it the one-click in-sampler resample — dial → bake → dial again, with the bank as the
medium each iteration passes through.
**Consolidates items 15, 17.**
**Why these two and not more.** Item 17 is a **prerequisite of meaning** for item 15's
bank-side half: the replace-vs-add rule is "does provenance-tied usage exist," which
denotes nothing until the consolidated lineage records exist. Item 17 is otherwise
independent of the editor chain — which is what makes Ξ-W1 concurrency-safe with Θ.
**Ξ-W2 onward requires Phase Θ complete.** Item 15 presupposes the processing surface it
bakes — "filtering, pitching, amp all set up nice" is the instrument items 1, 2, 3, and 14
build — and its settled reset scope enumerates the filter parameters, the spline contours,
and the loop points by name. Baking a processing chain that does not exist yet is not a
schedule preference; the feature is not expressible. Phase Θ landed as of Θ-W7-T1 (see
`docs/COMPLETED.md`); this gate is satisfied.
**All three waves have landed — Phase Ξ is complete.** W1 through W3 each carry their own
landed note below; see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for every track's full narrative.
---
### Ξ-W1 — Consolidated tracking, and the programmed-note model
#### Ξ-W1-T1 — `tracking-consolidation`
**Landed** — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative. The provenance/usage
territory is now one system: a new `src/core/tracking/` directory holds `origin_ledger`
(the record family — `OriginRecord`/`OriginKind`, the insertion-ordered `OriginLedger`,
its JSON codec, and the `Fresh`/`Loaded`/`Unreadable`/`FutureVersion` load
classification) and `tracking_authority` (the one decision surface: `pruneProtection`
and `tiedUsageExists`), retiring `core/model/owned_manifest`. Both prune's protected set
and the resample's replace-vs-add decision are computed from one borrowed
`TrackingState`, so the two safety-critical consumers cannot drift apart.
`sample_usage` deliberately **stays in `core/wire`** — the consolidation is of the
decisions, not the codecs. The deferred persisted-instance-identity fix was **not**
folded in — the deferral is restated in `docs/TODO.md`, its one home. This track
landed `OriginRecord`'s birth-time `parentSampleId` chain as the lineage mechanism, but
**Ξ-W2-T1's "naming and lineage" open question (jointly held with this track) is
unaffected and still theirs to close** — display naming and user-readable iteration
lineage were not decided here.
#### Ξ-W1-T2 — `note-program-model`
**Landed** — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative. The programmed-capture-
signal model is a new pure module directory, `src/core/instrument/note/` — a fourth
peer of `engine/`/`map/`/`ui/` under `core/instrument/` — holding `musical_division`,
`tempo`, and `note_program` (`Velocity`, the denominated `OffsetAmount`, the anchored
`StartOffset`/`EndOffset`, `NoteProgram`, `resolveNote`). **Both open questions below
are answered, for Ξ-W3-T1:** negative offsets are legal in both directions (sign
uniform, positive is later in time; only an inverted window is refused, reported via
`ResolvedNote::windowCollapsed`), and the denomination seam is confirmed as of this
landing — note length stays musical-division-only, and an offset stores the denomination
it was entered in. **Superseded by Ξ-W3-T1's landed work** (see `docs/COMPLETED.md`):
`note/CLAUDE.md`'s musical-division-only rule is amended — a note length now carries
EITHER an exact derived duration or a musical division, not division-only. The offset
denomination rule is unaffected.
---
### Ξ-W2 — The bake chain
**Depends on Ξ-W1 for:** the consolidated lineage records that make replace-vs-add
computable (T1) and the programmed-note record the offline pass renders (T2). **Also
depends on all of Phase Θ** — see the phase note above.
**This wave ran AHEAD of Phase Γ, and that was not a choice.** The plan asserted Γ must land
first so the bake's reset list would be complete on the day it shipped; Ξ-W2-T1 was already
live. The consequence is owned, not absorbed: **Γ-W3-T2 `bake-reset-amendment`** completes
the list afterwards, and **Γ-W4-T1** adds the host-notification obligation once parameters
exist. Neither is this wave's work, and neither is a defect report against it.
**One track.** The bake is one gesture and one chain; the architecture decision at its
head governs every step after it.
#### Ξ-W2-T1 — `resample-bake-chain`
**Landed** — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative. The architecture decision
(this track's first deliverable) is ratified: **Decision 1 = (1b)**, the editor invokes
the extension's bake action directly over the VST-host bridge
(`NamedCommandLookup`/`Main_OnCommandEx`), no poller/nonce, dissolving the S13 DEGRADED
verdict; **Decision 2 = (2c)**, the instrument renders in-process and the extension
banks the file, taken over the plan's leaning toward (2a) on an engine-version-skew
argument. **Extension presence** resolved to cleanly-unavailable, not silently lossy —
the affordance refuses up front when the extension is not loaded. **Reset-scope edge
cases** classified against the ratified rule: play mode → RESET to Trigger, start point
→ RESET, channel mode and preview velocity → SURVIVE. **Phase Γ's additions remain
NOT this track's** — Γ-W3-T2 `bake-reset-amendment` still amends the reset list for
Γ's own new values, unaffected by this landing. **Naming and lineage** is proposed
(`Kick``Kick r2``Kick r3`) but not itself ratified — still open jointly with
Ξ-W1-T1's lineage-record question, which Ξ-W1-T1 answered on its own side
(`OriginRecord::parentSampleId`). Nothing was verified in a live REAPER session;
Daniel's manual verification is still owed.
---
### Ξ-W3 — The capture-signal popup
**Depends on Ξ-W2 for:** the bake chain this track was originally scoped to build a
preview against, under the acceptance criterion "preview and bake cannot diverge." **That
motivation is retired, not satisfied** — see below.
**One track.**
**Ξ-W3-T1 has landed**`capture-signal-popup` — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full
narrative, and it diverges substantially and deliberately from this section's spec. The
popup this track was scoped to build (a musical-division note-length picker, ms/beat-
editable offsets, velocity, and a preview trigger) was built (~1500 lines) and then
**abandoned unmerged** on Daniel's ruling: *"I didn't realize you had already derived a
usable window. The manual stuff for baking a specific midi length was just an idea, if we
have a smarter, fewer-clicks way of doing it, that is ideal. I just don't want to lose
anything when we bake. We can abandon the whole parameterized bake window if we can
safely derive the window in gate and trigger modes."* An audit, backed by executable
tests, established the window derives losslessly everywhere except Gate over an active
sustain loop, which has no intrinsic duration to derive. What shipped instead: the bake
window derives itself in Trigger and loop-less Gate; one control, a musical-division
**Hold** picker, covers the one irreducible case and is shown only for Gate-with-active-
loop (`bakeWindowNeedsHold`, reading the engine's own loop fold); bake velocity now reads
the instance's persisted preview velocity rather than a hard-coded value; and the
chrome-row play button stays a pure MIDI trigger — Daniel's ruling: *"play button is pure
MIDI trigger, Bake parameters are their own thing."* **This retires this section's
acceptance criterion 2 ("preview and bake cannot diverge") and its preview-trigger
behavior bullet by ruling, not by shortfall** — there is no popup and no preview trigger.
Three pre-existing truncation bugs were found and fixed along the way, and
`note/CLAUDE.md`'s musical-division-only invariant is amended (see Ξ-W1-T2 above): a note
length now carries either an exact derived duration or a musical division, not
division-only.
---
## Phase Γ — The instrument's control surface
**Ships:** the deck reflowed into two categorical rows with a double-height MASTER bus deck,
a PITCH/RATE deck with playback-rate and baseline-pitch controls, a master limiter with
dynamic reported latency and a real output meter, one consistent knob interaction/taper law
across every variable control **over a stage-time range raised 2 s → 10 s**, a fix for staged
contour traces drawing straight, a re-approached loop/crossfade marker UX under an explicit
chrome-row loop enable, **the Phase Ξ bake's reset list corrected**, and — as the phase's last
track — **the instrument's first VST3 automatable parameters, reported to the host under a
frozen id contract.**
**Consolidates:** none of the seventeen. Phase Γ came from a direct interview with Daniel
(2026-08-01); the product reasoning, the measured layout table, the invariant collisions and
the fork rulings are in **`docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md`**, and the parameter
system's is in **`docs/product/parameter-automation.md` §§610**. Read §1.2 (the layout
table) and §7 (collisions) before dispatching any track here — every number in this phase is
derived there, and `docs/TODO.md`'s old deck-rework geometry is superseded.
**Fork state — SEVEN ruled, ONE OF THEM LATER REVERSED, NONE OPEN.** Indexed at spec §8,
folded into the tracks below:
- **Γ-F1** — `kEditorMinHeight` stays **680**.
- **Γ-F2** — the limiter has **lookahead with DYNAMIC reported latency** (zero when off,
the lookahead when on, reported to host PDC). *This inverted the product recommendation;*
W1-T2's scope grows accordingly — spec §3.1.1.
- **Γ-F3 — RULED, THEN REVERSED THE SAME DAY.** First ruled *"the ceiling stays 2.0 s in this
phase"*; then Daniel: ***"extend the stage lengths to 10s."*** `kEnvTimeMaxSeconds` /
`kGateStageMaxSeconds` move **2.0 → 10.0 in Γ-W1-T1**, and the `docs/TODO.md` entry that
carried the ambition is discharged rather than deferred. **The reversal's cause is Ruling 1**
— parameters now ship in-phase, so the ceiling is a one-way door that must be walked through
before them, not after. Spec §4.3.1.
- **Γ-F4** — there **is** an explicit loop enable, and it lives on the **chrome row**, not
in a deck. W2-T2's scope grows accordingly — spec §6.4.
- **Γ-F5** — MASTER's reserved slot is **one** cell. The 90 px headroom argument behind
that is spec §1.6 and governs every future control addition.
- **Γ-F6** — **ship dynamic latency as ruled.** The `restartComponent(kLatencyChanged)`
deactivate/reactivate the SDK mandates is accepted: *"the limiter will either be on or off
on its instance, toggling during playback is not a use case."* No constant-latency
fallback, no measurement gate. *This ruling also corrected the analysis* — spec §3.1.1.
- **Γ-F7 — RULED: SIGNAL FLOW.** Daniel, 2026-08-01: *"signal flow order."* The VST3 parameter
order — both the frozen id numbering and the `getParameterInfo` presentation index — is
**PITCH/RATE → PITCH ENV → FILTER → FILTER ENV → AMP → VELOCITY → VOICE → MASTER**, the
deck's own `sampleDeckGroups` rule, with each group's cells in the semantic order the id
table freezes. The editor's visual rows after the reflow were the rejected alternative.
**The reason, because a future reader will ask why the id order does not match the screen:**
the editor's layout has already moved twice (Θ-W6-T1 grew the floor 840 → 980; Γ-W3-T1 takes
it to 1190 and re-rows every group) and within-row order is settled by width fitting, not by
meaning — so **binding a permanently-frozen id order to a demonstrably mobile layout
guarantees the two drift apart**, after which the order is neither logical nor matching.
Signal flow is the axis that does not move. Full argument and the accepted residual cost:
`docs/product/parameter-automation.md` §6.4; **the resulting 44-id table is stated at §6.2.**
**Ruling 1 (Daniel, 2026-08-01) — VST3 parameter reporting ships in this phase.** Verbatim
intent: *"correct the phase gamma plan to account for complying with the VST3 standard for
parameter reporting… by the end of gamma we have the automatable params reported. Make the
parameter order logical."* `docs/product/parameter-automation.md` was written as scoping and
has been **promoted in place**: §§15 are the original analysis, **§§610 are the
specification** Γ-W4-T1 is built from. Four things it decides that the scoping pass left
open: the blob stays authoritative and parameters are a third surface onto the one model
(§6.1); the id space is an independent, hand-assigned, FOREVER-FROZEN table, **now stated in
full as 44 numbered rows in signal-flow order** (§6.2, §6.3); the exposed list is **derived
from the three-state commit predicate**, never hand-maintained (§7); and, under Ruling 3,
every parameter's **plain unit, range and display precision** (§6.7). Today the plugin has
**zero** parameters — `ReaSamplerProcessor::initialize`
(`reasampler_processor.cpp:56-73`) never populates `SingleComponentEffect::parameters`, so
`getParameterCount()` returns the SDK default 0.
**What the Γ-F6 ruling changed in the analysis, not just in the plan.** Dynamic latency
reporting is **routine** for VST3 instruments and REAPER handles it as a matter of course;
the SDK's deactivate/reactivate requirement (`pluginterfaces/vst/ivsteditcontroller.h:105-108`)
is the normal contract, not an exotic one. What makes the cycle expensive **here** is entirely
our own doing: `ReaSamplerProcessor::setActive(true)` calls `reloadInstrument()` — a bridge
read plus a full WAV re-decode (`reasampler_processor.cpp:89-97`) — where a typical plugin's
`setActive` only allocates and frees buffers, and the deactivate side's freeing of
`live_`/`draining_`/graveyard (`:98-107`) is likewise our own design. **The cost is therefore
ours to reduce if it ever matters, and the reduction is decoupling reload from activation —
not abandoning dynamic latency.** That improvement is filed as a `docs/TODO.md` entry with its
trigger condition; it is not scheduled in this phase.
**Sequencing against Phase Ξ — the ordering claim is RETIRED and replaced by an owned
correction.** This plan previously asserted that Γ must run before Ξ-W2 and called it *"a
correctness point, not a preference."* **Ξ-W2-T1 ran first.** That was not a decision anyone
took — the track was live before this phase existed (Daniel: *"xi was started before I spun
you up, we'll have to correct phase xi inside gamma. wasn't a choice."*). So:
1. **The bake's reset list is incomplete as shipped, and Γ-W3-T2 amends it.** Rate, pitch
offset and the limiter flag are all **reset** under Ξ-W2's own ratified rule (spec §3.4),
so no Daniel decision is owed — only the edit, and it must be made **against what Ξ-W2-T1
actually shipped rather than against what this plan predicted it would ship.**
2. **Ruling 1 adds a second correction of the same shape, and it lands one wave later.**
Exposing the reset-class values as VST3 parameters means the bake's reset must notify the
host, and a host automation lane on a reset-class parameter re-imposes its curve onto
already-baked audio. Both are Γ-W4-T1's acceptance criteria — that track creates the
condition, so it carries it (`docs/product/parameter-automation.md` §9).
3. **The payload-ladder half of the old claim needs re-checking, not restating** — see the
ladder block below, which now states rungs **relatively** rather than by number.
**The organizing constraint.** Six surfaces are single-writer and dictate the wave shape:
`ui/deck_values.cpp` **and the taper module extracted from it** (the taper law and the new
ceiling, then the two new controls, then the host normalization — three tracks, three waves),
`editor_paint_waveform.cpp` (the contour trace, then the loop marks), `ui/deck_groups.cpp`
(the row predicate, then the PITCH/RATE descriptor, then the reflow's row consumption — three
tracks, three waves), `engine/voice.cpp` (the Preserve read path, then the rate compounding
into it), `shell/instrument/reasampler_processor` (the limiter chain and latency, then the
parameter surface), and the params-payload ladder. **Every wave boundary below is one of
those collisions**, not a preference. Where a wave has more than one track, the tracks are
disjoint by surface.
**Resequenced 2026-08-01 (Daniel), three changes.** The prior four-wave shape put the reflow
at W3 and the Preserve stretcher at W4; both moved. **Ruling 1 then added a fourth wave**
see "The wave shape after Ruling 1" below.
1. **The reflow is split, canvas from arrangement.** The window floor and the width budget it
is derived from land **early** (Γ-W1-T4), so every other UI track in the phase is drawn,
tested and judged at the final 1190 × 680 window instead of at a size a later wave changes
under it. The two-row *arrangement* stays late (Γ-W3-T1), because it can only be measured
once the final PITCH/RATE and MASTER descriptors exist. The seam is stated at Γ-W1-T4.
2. **`preserve-time-stretch` moved W4 → W1-T5.** It is the longest pole in the phase and has
**zero dependency on any UI work** — a pure `core/instrument/engine/` module. Scheduling it
last was a scheduling error. Consequence: it is no longer Rate's *successor* but its
**prerequisite**, which retires the interim resample-and-cancel stand-in entirely — see
Γ-W2-T1.
Net: four waves become three, and both of the phase's DSP unknowns (the limiter, the
stretcher) are exposed in wave 1 rather than one of them landing last.
**The wave shape after Ruling 1 — three waves become four.** The parameter system cannot be
a track inside any existing wave, and the reason is a chain of hard prerequisites, not
caution:
- **after W1-T1**, because the taper and the 10 s ceiling *are* the host-facing
normalization, and Γ-W1-T1 is also what extracts them into the one module the host will
read through;
- **after W1-T2 and W2-T1**, because every control that could be a parameter must exist
before the list is declared — the list is derived from the control inventory, and an
inventory that is still growing produces a list that has to be re-frozen;
- **after W2-T1 specifically**, because `isLiveDeckParam` becoming three-valued is the
*prerequisite* of the classification, not an incidental of it: the exposed set is exactly
`Live NoteOnLatched`;
- **after W3-T1**, because MASTER's inventory (the limiter toggle, the GR bubble, the
reserved cell) is the last change to what controls exist at all;
- **after W3-T2**, so the bake's reset list is already complete when Γ-W4-T1 adds the
host-notification obligation over it — one amendment instead of an amendment to an
amendment.
The result is a single-track **Γ-W4**, which is the right shape for it anyway: the storage
decision governs every part of the work, exactly as Ξ-W2-T1's crossing decision governs its
chain. **And it satisfies Daniel's own framing literally** — *"by the end of gamma we have
the automatable params reported."*
**The params-payload ladder — re-checked, and now stated RELATIVELY.** The old block named
v14 and v15 as absolutes. **That is no longer safe to assume**, because Ξ ran ahead of its
sequencing and this plan is not the record of what Ξ-W2-T1 actually took. On `dev` today
`kParamsPayloadVersion` is **14** (`map/component_state_io.h:163`) and Ξ-W2-T1 was specced to
take no rung — but the plan's prediction is not evidence. So:
> **Γ owns the next three rungs above whatever `dev` carries when Γ-W1-T2 dispatches, and
> that number is READ, not assumed.** In order: **the first rung to W1-T2** (the limiter
> enable flag), **the second to W2-T1** (rate + pitch offset), **the third RESERVED for
> W4-T1** — spent only if the storage-architecture verification forces a persisted field,
> which the specification says it will not (`docs/product/parameter-automation.md` §6.1,
> §10). If unspent, that rung falls through to the next phase unclaimed.
>
> **On `dev` as of 2026-08-01 that resolves to v15 / v16 / v17-reserved.** Ξ-W3-T1 landed and
> consumed a rung (v14, the bake Hold division) — not Ξ-W2-T1, which took none as specced — so
> every number shifted by one and **nothing else about the ownership changes** — which is the
> whole point of stating it relatively.
**Every other track in the phase owns no rung**: W1-T1 changes no persisted field (the payload
stores raw engine doubles, so both the taper and the new ceiling are persistence-neutral),
W1-T3, W1-T4 and W1-T5 add no field, W2-T2's loop enable maps onto the already-persisted
`SampleLoop::hasLoop`, W3-T1 is layout only, and W3-T2 changes a reset list, not a format.
**The editor's deck is knowingly mis-composed between Γ-W1-T4 and Γ-W3-T1, and that is not a
defect report.** Raising the floor without the reflow leaves the greedy whole-group wrap
packing two ragged left-aligned rows with categorically wrong membership. Γ-W1-T4 states the
exact interim layout; do not "fix" it in a track that does not own it.
**Phase-wide acceptance criteria** (in addition to the ones stated at the top of this file):
- **Bypassed means byte-identical.** With the limiter off, the per-sample output path is
byte-identical to today's bare ramped multiply — the same discipline that makes
`live == nullptr` byte-identical to the pre-live core and the filter's exact skip at
`modAmount == 0` hold the at-rest path unchanged.
- **No `ComponentState` sound change.** A project saved before this phase reopens sounding
identical: absent rate lifts to 100 %, absent pitch offset to 0 st, absent limiter flag to
bypassed. Re-tapering a knob **and raising the stage-time ceiling** (both Γ-W1-T1) change
needle angles only — the payload stores raw engine doubles, so saved values reload
bit-identical, and a 3 s stage saved at the old ceiling is simply unreachable-by-hand
rather than altered.
- **`kVelocityPitchRangeSemitones` / `kPitchDepthMaxSemis` (24.0) does not move.** It is
load-bearing in the v12 wire format. The new Pitch knob **reads** it; it does not mint a
second ±24 constant. **From Γ-W4-T1 it is also a frozen host normalization** — one more
reason, not a new rule.
- **The taper has exactly ONE home and three consumers, and from Γ-W4-T1 the taper IS the
host's `toPlain`/`toNormalized`.** Γ-W1-T1 extracts it into a pure module; the knob's needle
(`deck_values`), the AHDSR overlay's schematic axis (`envelope_overlay` + `envelope_edit`),
and the host's `normalizedParamToPlain` / `plainParamToNormalized` (Γ-W4-T1) all call the
same function. **Three functions that agree today is a defect, not an implementation
choice** — the failure it prevents is a host automation lane that means one value and a
needle that draws another. Under Ruling 3 this stops being an analogy: `toNormalized` is
not *like* the taper, it *is* the taper (`docs/product/parameter-automation.md` §6.7.3).
- **ONE formatter per unit category, and the editor and the host are both its callers.** The
formatter is pure and returns the **digits** of a plain value in that category's single
`units` string — no embedded unit, no magnitude-switched unit, no width-conditional
abbreviation, no caller-side branch. The editor's knob label and
`getParamStringByValue` read the same function. **The editor and the host printing
different text for the same stored value is a defect class, forbidden structurally rather
than caught at review** — same discipline, same reason, as the taper criterion above.
Consequences (existing formatters stop embedding their unit; cutoff's `k` abbreviation is
retired; the curve dial's `^` is static cell chrome, not value): spec §6.7.2.
- **Every default value has an EXACT normalized preimage under its own taper.** Binds
Γ-W1-T1 (which designs the taper) and Γ-W4-T1 (which declares
`ParameterInfo::defaultNormalizedValue`). `resetDeckParam` bypasses the taper; **a host's
reset-to-default cannot**, so exactness in the map itself is the only thing that makes the
editor's reset and the host's reset land on the same value. **Ruling 3 tightens this twice
and adds one non-requirement** (§6.7.7): `defaultNormalizedValue` is **computed** as
`toNormalized(default)`, never written as a normalized literal; the assertion is made on
`toPlain(defaultNormalizedValue)`, the pair the host actually calls; and
`toNormalized(toPlain(n)) == n` at **arbitrary** n is explicitly NOT required — no log map
satisfies it in double, and demanding it would over-constrain the taper for nothing.
- **Nothing in this phase may re-map the filter's four normalized controls.** Cutoff, Q,
morph and drive persist as `*Norm` doubles in payload v9 — their laws are already
wire-frozen, and re-tapering them would re-tune every saved project independently of
automation. The snap-unit table names them; that is display, not law. **This does NOT
conflict with Ruling 3's real-unit requirement**, and the two must not be read as a
collision: `toPlain` is a pure read-side mapping that never touches the stored value, so
reporting Hz / Q / drive depth means **calling** `filterCutoffHzFromNorm` and its peers, not
replacing them — which the editor's own labels already do today. The prohibition forbids
*editing* those laws; the requirement is satisfied by *calling* them. One additive gap:
drive has no published inverse and `filterNormFromDriveDepth` must be added beside the two
that exist — the analytic inverse of a frozen law is not a change to it. Spec §6.7.5.
- **Shift-snap is a drag rule; `stepCount` is a parameter property; they are independent.**
The editor's snap grid must never be exposed as `ParameterInfo::stepCount` — that would
quantize the parameter itself, permanently and for the host's automation too, freezing the
grid into the forever contract and putting continuous cents out of reach from a lane.
**All 44 exposed parameters ship `stepCount = 0`**, swept and confirmed, and the coincidence
is structural: every discrete control is reload or rebuild tier and therefore omitted by the
predicate. Spec §6.7.6.
- **From Γ-W4-T1, the parameter-id table is FOREVER-FROZEN**, on the same footing as the
extension's `"STABLE_FOREVER_STRING"` command ids, the two VST3 class UIDs, and the
params-payload field order. No id is reassigned, reused or re-pointed; no exposed
parameter's normalization ever changes; a retired control's id is retired with it.
Full wording: `docs/product/parameter-automation.md` §6.3.
- **The exposed parameter set is DERIVED, never hand-maintained.** A control is a parameter
if and only if its commit class is `Live` or `NoteOnLatched`. There is no second table
beside `isLiveDeckParam` / `liveCommitFor`, and no list that can drift from it.
- **The window floor is 1190 × 680 and must not exceed 1280 × 720.** **Γ-W1-T4 sets it, in
wave 1; no other track in the phase may move it**, and from that point every track is
authored and judged at it. A track that pushes the floor past 1280 has failed, not overrun.
**`kEditorMinHeight` stays 680** (Γ-F1). The remaining **90 px of width headroom is the
budget for the life of this layout** — one deck cell is 60 px, so there is room for exactly
one more, once. Spec §1.6 states the ledger; read it before adding any control. Chrome-row
additions are a **separate purse** (they are paid for out of the title slot, not the floor)
and must not be charged against this one.
- **Reported latency is zero unless the limiter is on.** `getLatencySamples()` returns 0 with
the limiter bypassed, in every track and at every point in the phase. Only W1-T2 may
introduce a non-zero value, and only under the limiter-on condition.
- **Geometry stays pure.** Every new layout, cap, label and hit-test rule lands in a pure
CTest-covered module (`knob_deck`, `sample_bands`, `waveform_view`), never in a painter.
---
### Γ-W1 — Foundations
**Depends on:** nothing in this phase. **Five tracks, disjoint by surface** — re-verified
against this membership rather than carried over from the four-wave shape:
| Track | Owns |
|---|---|
| **T1** `knob-interaction-law` | a **new pure taper module** under `core/instrument/ui/`, `ui/deck_values`, `ui/envelope_overlay` + `ui/envelope_edit` (the AHDSR schematic axis and its drag inverse), `ui/param_slider`, the three `shell/instrument/editor_input_*` drag paths, `editor_controls.cpp`'s `envClampBounds` only, the shared modifier helper in `editor_internal.h` |
| **T2** `master-bus-audio` | new pure `engine/limiter` + `engine/meter_ballistics`, `shell/instrument/reasampler_processor` + `processor_state`, `map/component_state_io` + `params_payload` (**the wave's payload rung**) |
| **T3** `contour-trace-curves` | `shell/instrument/editor_paint_waveform.cpp`'s staged trace + a **new pure** tessellation module |
| **T4** `editor-floor-and-row-law` | `ui/sample_bands.h` (the floor), `ui/knob_deck.h` (budget constants + two invalidated header notes), `ui/deck_groups` (the row predicate **only**), five test fixtures |
| **T5** `preserve-time-stretch` | `engine/pitch_shift` + a new pure stretcher module, `engine/voice.{h,cpp}`'s Preserve read path |
**Two shared files in the wave, named rather than discovered at merge.**
`src/core/instrument/engine/CMakeLists.txt` — T2 declares two new pure libraries and their
test targets there, T5 declares one. **And, newly, `src/core/instrument/ui/CMakeLists.txt`**
T1 declares the taper module and its test target, T3 declares the tessellation module and
its. All four are append-only additions in separate blocks — **textual merge adjacency, not
semantic contention.** Whichever lands second rebases.
**Three near-misses that are avoided by construction, and must stay avoided.**
(a) **T3's tessellation helper lands in a NEW pure module — explicitly NOT
`ui/envelope_overlay`, which T1 now owns**, and not in `editor_internal.h`, which T1 is also
editing. The prior wording offered `envelope_overlay` as an option; Ruling 2 removed it,
because T1's schematic-axis work rewrites that module's whole time→x map. This still
satisfies the phase's geometry-stays-pure criterion, so it costs nothing.
(b) **T1 and T3 are disjoint by file but coupled by data, and the coupling has a stated
resolution.** T1 owns where an AHDSR's vertices *land*; T3 owns the stroke *between*
vertices. T3's tessellation is over φ across a segment's pixel span, so the tapered axis
changes nothing about the curve it draws — **but T3's tests must assert against the returned
vertices, not against absolute pixel literals**, or they break when T1 lands. Whichever
track lands second rebases; expressing T3's assertions relatively makes that rebase free.
(c) **T4 touches `deck_groups` but adds only the new row predicate**; it does not touch
`sampleDeckGroups`, which W2-T1 and W3-T1 own in later waves, and it does not touch
`deck_values`, which is T1's.
**Two consumption boundaries worth stating, because they look like collisions and are not.**
T1 **consumes** `engine/master_gain`'s dB taper for its whole-dB snap and does not edit it;
T2 does not touch it either. And T2's payload rung is the wave's only format change —
T1's taper and ceiling changes are persistence-neutral by construction (the payload stores
raw engine doubles).
**Both of the phase's DSP unknowns are in this wave** — T2's limiter and T5's stretcher. That
is deliberate: they are the two tracks whose gate can fail, and failing in wave 1 is
recoverable in a way that failing in the last wave is not.
#### Γ-W1-T1 — `knob-interaction-law`
**Goal.** One consistent, unit-category-driven interaction and taper rule across every
variable control, **over a stage-time range raised 2 s → 10 s**, landed **before** any new
control is added so the new ones are authored into it rather than retro-fitted — and before
any parameter is declared, so the law is what the host is handed rather than something the
host has to be reconciled with later.
**Spec:** `docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md` §4, **§4.3.1 (the 10 s ceiling and the
overlay-legibility design — new, read it before scoping this track)**, and
`docs/product/parameter-automation.md` §8 (the one-way-door sweep this track discharges).
**Surface boundary — owns:** a **new pure taper module** under `core/instrument/ui/` (the
ms/semitone/exponent maps, extracted so they have one home),
`core/instrument/ui/deck_values` (the bindings, the snap-unit table, `resetDeckParam`),
`core/instrument/ui/envelope_overlay` (the ceiling constant **and** the AHDSR schematic
axis) and `core/instrument/ui/envelope_edit` (its drag inverse),
`core/instrument/ui/param_slider` (the drag law), `shell/instrument/editor_input_*`
(modifier read + re-anchor), `shell/instrument/editor_controls.cpp`'s `envClampBounds`
**only** (it reads `kEnvTimeMaxSeconds`), and the modifier-reading helper the three input
paths share. **Does not own** any deck descriptor, any parameter, the waveform painter, or
`engine/master_gain` (consumed, not edited).
**Why this track does NOT split, asked and answered.** Ruling 2 makes it materially bigger —
tapers, modifiers, re-anchor, reset bypass, the ceiling, and the overlay's schematic scale.
Two splits were considered and both are **serial, not parallel**, so neither buys any
concurrency: an *interaction* half (modifiers, snap, re-anchor) needs the *domain* half's
taper and snap-unit table to exist first; and a standalone *overlay-axis* track needs the
taper module and the final ceiling before it can define a stage's slot width. Splitting
would therefore cost a wave and gain nothing, while putting the single most
identity-critical function in the phase across a wave boundary — the same function the host
will normalize against three waves later. **The seam that matters is internal and is a
deliverable: the taper is extracted into its own pure module**, which is what makes "the
taper IS the host-facing normalization" structurally true rather than a comment. The
~600-line ceiling is a per-file bar, and the extraction is what keeps every file under it.
**Behavior.**
- **Shift snaps to whole numbers in the control's displayed unit**; **Ctrl scales the drag by
0.05**; **Shift+Ctrl = Shift wins** (Ctrl is ignored — with an integer-quantized output a
finer drag yields the same sequence, so this is identity, not a compromise).
- **Snap unit by category:** ms knobs → whole ms; semitone knobs (incl. Rate, when it
arrives) → whole semitones; percent/fraction knobs → whole percent; the 12 curve-exponent
inner dials → whole numbers (which puts 1.0, the linear neutral, one snap away); master
gain → whole dB; already-integer controls unchanged. Full table in the spec §4.2.
- **Mid-drag modifier transitions re-anchor** — on every press *and* release during an active
drag, the current value becomes the anchor value and the current cursor position the anchor
position. The value is continuous across the transition; only the rate changes. Without
this the grab-anchored absolute drag (`kKnobDragRangePixels = 128`) jumps by
`(1 0.05) ×` the accumulated delta.
- **Millisecond knobs become log-scaled.** Exactly 0 s at norm 0 and exactly
`kEnvTimeMaxSeconds` at norm 1, monotone throughout; **10 ms lands within 0.120.20 of
travel and 100 ms within 0.420.52**.
- **The stage-time ceiling moves 2.0 s → 10.0 s** (Daniel, reversing Γ-F3):
`kGateStageMaxSeconds` (`envelope_overlay.h:85`) and, through it, `kEnvTimeMaxSeconds`
(`deck_values.h:22`). **The two move together or not at all**`deck_values.h` reads the
overlay's constant rather than restating it precisely so they cannot drift
(`deck_values.h:19-22`). The taper's landmarks above are fit against the **new** ceiling,
which is why the ceiling cannot be a follow-up: fitting the taper twice is the only other
way to get there.
- **`resetDeckParam`'s bypass becomes MANDATORY rather than merely required-anyway.**
`deck_values.h:42-46` records that exact default recovery depends on the ceiling being a
power of two; **2.0 is, 10.0 is not**, and the log taper compounds it. Nothing here may be
"simplified" back into a norm round-trip under any circumstance.
- **NEW, and the sharpest requirement in the track: every default must have an EXACT
normalized preimage under its taper.** `ParameterInfo::defaultNormalizedValue` (Γ-W4-T1)
is normalized, so a host's reset-to-default arrives as `toPlain(defaultNorm)` — and **the
host has no `resetDeckParam` bypass to use**. The bypass fixes the editor's reset and
cannot fix the host's; only exactness in the map itself makes the two land on the same
value. This binds the taper's *shape*, so it belongs here and cannot be handed forward.
Master gain's unity (≈ 0.714 norm) is the case where a hair off is audible.
- **The AHDSR overlay's schematic axis becomes the taper — the ceiling's real cost, and it
is design work, not a constant change.** Each of the four timed stages gets an equal slot
and today maps seconds across it linearly (`gatePxPerSecond`,
`envelope_overlay.cpp:33-34`). At 2 s a 30 ms attack is 1.5 % of its stage's domain; **at
10 s it is 0.3 %, under a pixel at the floor width.** The fix: a stage's slot width becomes
`slotPx × taperNorm(seconds)` instead of `slotPx × seconds / ceiling`, so a node's position
within its slot **is** its knob's needle position. Legibility becomes ceiling-independent by
construction; the one-model invariant gets stronger rather than strained; and **the drawn
curve is unaffected**, because the taper decides only where a stage's end node lands while φ
still runs linearly across the stage's pixel span — so Γ-W1-T3's φ^p trace composes with it
rather than fighting it. **The AHD policy is untouched**: an AHD maps 1:1 onto the
waveform's own PCM-aligned time axis and stays linear in seconds. Two alternatives
(content-fit auto-scale; a minimum drawn stage width) were considered and rejected — spec
§4.3.1 names why, and neither is to be reintroduced as a "simplification."
- **`envelope_edit`'s drag inverse must remain the EXACT inverse of the draw.** Both read the
same taper module; a node dragged to a pixel and the knob's value at that pixel are one
number, not two that agree.
- **The taper is EXTRACTED into its own pure module**, with its own `<module>_tests` target,
because it now has three consumers in two different dependency layers: `deck_values` (which
sits above `envelope_overlay`), `envelope_overlay`/`envelope_edit` (which sit below it),
and — from Γ-W4-T1 — the host. Leaving it inside `deck_values` would force an inverted
include edge. **Do not solve that by copying the map.**
- **Semitone knobs become log2/centre-expanded.** Symmetric, exactly 0 at centre, exactly
±`kPitchDepthMaxSemis` at the ends, monotone; **±7 st reached at 5058 % of each
half-travel**.
- **`resetDeckParam` bypasses the taper** — it writes the default value directly instead of
round-tripping through `norm → value`. This *removes* the power-of-two dependency the
header currently documents rather than working around it; that comment
(`deck_values.h:42-46`) becomes wrong and must be rewritten.
- **Scope is the parameter, not the widget.** Deck knobs (outer ring and inner dial),
envelope stage nodes and curve knots all honour it — they are surfaces onto one model, and
a snap on one but not the others is a divergence. **Waveform markers are explicitly
excluded**: they carry a shipped zero-crossing snap on the same modifier space and their
domain is frames.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- Every taper change is verified **persistence-neutral**: a project saved before the change
reopens with bit-identical stored values and identical audio; only needle angles move.
- Holding Shift mid-drag on each unit category lands the documented whole unit; releasing it
does not jump the value.
- Holding and releasing Ctrl mid-drag is continuous — no step at either transition.
- Double-clicking any knob (outer ring and inner dial independently) lands **exactly** on its
default at every taper, verified against a default-constructed `PlaySeconds` rather than a
round trip.
- The log/log2 landmark positions above are asserted in the **taper module's** own tests, and
hold at the **10 s** ceiling — the fit is against the new ceiling, not the old one.
- **Every default round-trips exactly through `norm → value`**, asserted per unit category
against a default-constructed `PlaySeconds` and against `master_gain`'s unity. This is the
criterion Γ-W4-T1 will declare `defaultNormalizedValue` from; it fails here, not there.
- **A stage time of several seconds is reachable by hand with no loss of resolution below
100 ms**, and `kEnvTimeMaxSeconds == kGateStageMaxSeconds` is asserted, not assumed.
- **A project saved at the 2 s ceiling reloads with identical stored seconds and identical
audio** — the ceiling change is persistence-neutral for the same reason the taper is.
- **The AHDSR overlay reads legibly at both ends of the new range**: a default 3 ms attack is
a visible, grabbable node at the floor width, and a 10 s decay still lands its end node at
its slot's edge. Assert the node separation, then judge the result by eye in the DAW.
- **The overlay's drag inverse is the exact inverse of its draw** at the tapered axis —
`nodeAtPoint` / `resolveNodeDrag` and `buildEnvelopePolyline` round-trip.
- **The AHD 1:1 policy is unchanged**, asserted: a sustain-less envelope's x-axis stays
wall-clock over the waveform.
- **The taper module is pure, CTest-covered, and is the ONLY definition of each map** — a
grep finds no second copy in `deck_values`, `envelope_overlay`, or the shell.
- **The filter's four `*Norm` controls are untouched by the taper pass** — cutoff, Q, morph
and drive are already wire-frozen in payload v9; a regression baseline proves their audio
is unchanged.
- One shared modifier-read helper serves all drag surfaces; no second modifier grammar exists.
**Open questions.**
- **No [Daniel] questions.** Fork **Γ-F3 is REVERSED**: the ceiling moves to **10.0 s, in this
track.** Daniel's *"a horrifically long decay with tight exp"* is the case it serves, and
the `docs/TODO.md` entry that carried it is discharged rather than deferred again. **The
reversal's cause is Ruling 1** — a range endpoint is host-facing normalization, free to
move now and permanently expensive after Γ-W4-T1. Both of the prerequisites the deferred
entry named are in this track anyway: the log taper (which is what makes a higher ceiling
usable at the low end rather than unusable) and the reset bypass (which retires the
power-of-two dependency — 2.0 is a power of two, 10.0 is not). The engineer should know the
reset bypass is now doing triple duty and must not be "simplified" back into a norm
round-trip under any circumstance.
- **[propose at review]** the exact shape of the taper, subject to the landmark bounds **and**
the exact-default-preimage requirement. Those two together are tighter than either alone,
and the second is easy to satisfy by accident and easy to lose in a refactor — **assert it,
do not observe it.**
- **[propose at review]** whether the tapered schematic axis wants a visible tick or
gradation cue, now that it is no longer linear in time. The plan's lean is **no** — the ms
labels carry the number and the editor's no-decoration policy stands — but a reader who
finds the axis illegible in the DAW should say so rather than silently adding one.
#### Γ-W1-T2 — `master-bus-audio`
**Goal.** The master limiter and the meter's **audio and publication halves**, plus **the
plugin's first latency reporting** — no editor drawing. Landing the audio ahead of the deck is
what lets Γ-W3 draw against real published state instead of a stub.
**Spec:** `docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md` §3.1, **§3.1.1 (latency — read this
first; it was rewritten when Γ-F6 closed, so an older reading of it is wrong)**, §3.23.3,
§3.5, §7.10, §7.11, §8.2.
**Surface boundary — owns:** a new pure limiter module and a new pure meter-ballistics
module under `core/instrument/engine/` (each with its own `<module>_tests` target),
`shell/instrument/reasampler_processor` (the chain, the published block state, **and the
`getLatencySamples` / `restartComponent(kLatencyChanged)` path**), and **the phase's FIRST
params-payload rung** (the limiter enable flag). **Does not own** MASTER's deck geometry or
any drawing — that is Γ-W3-T1. **Read `kParamsPayloadVersion` on `dev` and take the next rung
above it rather than assuming the number** — Phase Ξ ran ahead of this plan's sequencing, so
the plan is not the record of what the ladder currently carries. On `dev` as of 2026-08-01
that resolves to **v14**.
**Behavior.**
- **Chain:** `voice mixer → master gain (existing ramped multiply) → limiter (bypassable) →
output bus`, with the meter tapped at the **bus output, post-limiter**.
- **Limiter: a single toggle, no configurable controls.** Baked ceiling **0.3 dBTP**.
Default **off**. **No makeup gain, ever, of any kind** — transparent at rest.
Stereo-linked detection (max |L|,|R| drives one gain) so the image is not moved.
- **True-peak detection is sidechain-only** — an oversampled detector in the sidechain, never
oversampling the signal path. Factor is the engineer's call under the measure gate.
- **Lookahead, with DYNAMIC reported latency (Γ-F2, ruled).** `getLatencySamples()` returns
**0** when the limiter is off and **the lookahead in samples** when it is on; the toggle
calls `IComponentHandler::restartComponent(kLatencyChanged)`. **None of this exists today** —
there is no `getLatencySamples` override, no `kLatencyChanged`, and no `restartComponent`
call site anywhere in `src/`; the plugin ships the SDK default of 0. This track introduces
the plugin's first latency reporting.
- **The restart is routine; the fencing is against a standing scar, not against the flag.**
Dynamic latency reporting is ordinary VST3-instrument behaviour and REAPER handles it as a
matter of course. The SDK's deactivate/reactivate requirement
(`pluginterfaces/vst/ivsteditcontroller.h:105-108`) is the normal contract. **What makes the
cycle expensive here is this plugin's own `setActive`** — reactivate calls
`reloadInstrument()`, a bridge read plus a full WAV re-decode
(`reasampler_processor.cpp:89-97`), where a typical plugin only allocates buffers; deactivate
frees `live_`/`draining_`/graveyard (`:98-107`) for a documented reason (ghost sustained
voices). **Γ-F6 is ruled: ship it — the toggle is a patch-design gesture, not a
during-playback one.** Do **not** build a constant-reported-latency fallback and do **not**
gate the deliverable on a measurement. The reduction of that self-inflicted cost is filed in
`docs/TODO.md` ("Decouple the instrument reload from VST3 activation") with its trigger
condition; it is out of scope here. The four requirements below survive as engineering
hygiene against the `kIoChanged` scar, and all four are acceptance criteria:
1. **Verify the whole call sequence against the vendored Steinberg SDK** before writing it,
including the ordering rule that the new latency is what `getLatencySamples` returns
*after* `setActive(true)` — so **the reported value must derive from persisted state, not
from a transient the deactivate clears.**
2. **Prove the restart does not disturb the output bus arrangement.** The output stays one
permanently-stereo bus, never renegotiated.
3. **Ship a regression test in the spirit of `testDualMonoStereoSampleRendersCentered`** —
a dual-mono capture rendered across a limiter toggle stays centered, L ≡ R.
4. **`restartComponent` is never called from `process()`.** Main/UI thread only, and
coalesced so repeated clicks produce one restart per settled state.
**This is NOT the change `reasampler_processor.cpp:66-68` forbids.** That warning is against
reintroducing per-mode **bus** renegotiation (`kIoChanged` class), which panned a dual-mono
capture hard right in the host's pin re-routing; `kLatencyChanged` is a different flag and the
bus is untouched. But the precedent — mid-session `restartComponent` in this plugin has
already shipped one real regression — is exactly why (2) and (3) are non-negotiable.
- **Flipping the toggle during playback: apply immediately, do NOT defer to a transport
boundary** (product ruling, spec §3.1.1). A deferred restart leaves the plugin misaligned by
the lookahead with no visible cue, which is worse than a visible interruption; and the host,
not the plugin, schedules the deactivate/reactivate anyway. **Daniel has accepted the
interruption outright** (Γ-F6) — it is not a case to design for. Two things remain in scope,
and neither is a mitigation for it:
- **A short (≤ 10 ms) equal-gain crossfade over the engage/disengage.** Kept as a *quality*
measure, not a mitigation: a limiter engaging is a gain-path change, and this codebase
already ramps every gain-path change (`kGainRampSeconds`, `ValueRamp`). It also earns its
keep independently of the restart, because **we do not control when the host acts on the
request** — our own transition must be clean in the window before it does.
- **The limiter enable is classified NOT automatable**
(`docs/product/parameter-automation.md` §3.8) so nothing can flip it at rate. It is also
**not** the plugin's `kIsBypass` parameter.
- **Per block the processor publishes, as relaxed atomics:** per-channel peak `max|x|`, a
latched clip flag, and the block's maximum gain reduction. **No dB conversion, no
ballistics, no hold timers on the audio thread** — the UI converts and runs ballistics from
block peaks and elapsed time. This widens the existing advisory-peak pattern
(`reasampler_processor.h:109-113`), which is not reusable as-is.
- **Meter ballistics (pure, unit-tested):** instantaneous rise; **fall 20 dB/s**; peak-hold
latched at the running max, **held 1.5 s**, then falling at the same rate; scale **linear in
dB over 60…+6 dBFS**; clip latches at block peak ≥ 0 dBFS and is cleared on request.
- **The `ComponentState` payload rung** appends the limiter flag as a strict suffix on the
existing discipline; the preceding version's blob is a strict prefix and lifts to bypassed.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- **With the limiter bypassed the rendered output is byte-identical to the pre-change build**,
asserted by a regression baseline, not by ear.
- With the limiter engaged, no output sample exceeds the ceiling on program material that
exceeds it by up to +12 dB; with it bypassed and gain driven, the output does exceed
0 dBFS (proving the toggle is doing the work).
- **Nothing is louder at rest with the limiter on.** A signal that never reaches the threshold
is bit-identical engaged and bypassed.
- No allocation, no lock, no transcendental on the per-sample path; the measure-and-report
gate reports per-voice-block CPU with the limiter engaged at 32 voices.
- The meter-ballistics module is pure and CTest-covered: rise, 20 dB/s fall, 1.5 s hold, clip
latch/clear, and the dB↔pixel map are all asserted without a host.
- A project saved before this change reopens with the limiter bypassed and sounding identical.
- **`getLatencySamples()` returns exactly 0 with the limiter off**, and the lookahead in
samples with it on — asserted against the persisted flag, and correct across a
deactivate/reactivate cycle.
- **A dual-mono capture rendered across a limiter toggle stays centered** (L ≡ R), and the
output bus arrangement after a latency-change restart is identical to before it.
- **The plugin emits no hard step at the toggle** — the engage/disengage crossfade is asserted
on a rendered signal, not judged by ear.
**Open questions.**
- **No [Daniel] questions. Fork Γ-F6 is ruled** — dynamic latency ships as specced, the
deactivate/reactivate is accepted, and there is no fallback design and no measurement gate.
Do not reintroduce either; the constant-reported-latency option is closed, not shelved.
- **[verify]** `temp_cortex/` has already been assessed and **rejected** (spec §3.5) — do not
re-litigate it, and do not transplant from it.
- **[record, not a gate]** While the limiter is in REAPER under your hand, note what the
restart actually costs — do notes cut, is the re-decode perceptible, does transport hiccup —
and record it in this track's review. It is **not** a gate on shipping and no outcome changes
the design; it is the trigger-condition evidence for the `docs/TODO.md` entry "Decouple the
instrument reload from VST3 activation," which is where that cost gets reduced if it ever
matters. Do **not** restructure `setActive` here: its destructive shape is deliberate and its
reasoning (ghost sustained voices on reactivate) is documented at the call site.
#### Γ-W1-T3 — `contour-trace-curves`
**Goal.** Staged envelope segments draw as the curve their exponent defines, so the
mid-segment knot stops floating off its own trace.
**Spec:** `docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md` §5.
**Surface boundary — owns:** `shell/instrument/editor_paint_waveform.cpp`'s staged-envelope
trace and a **new pure tessellation module** for it. **Does not own** the loop/crossfade
marks (Γ-W2-T2), `envelope_overlay`'s vertex model, or the drawn-EG (spline) trace.
**The helper's home is now constrained, not a choice.** `ui/envelope_overlay` was previously
offered as a candidate home for the tessellation helper; **Γ-W1-T1 now owns that module**
(the AHDSR schematic axis, per Ruling 2), so the helper lands in a **new** pure module under
`core/instrument/ui/`. T1 also owns where an AHDSR's vertices land — this track owns only the
stroke *between* vertices, and tessellates over φ across a segment's pixel span, so the
tapered axis changes nothing about the curve drawn. **Express this track's assertions against
the returned vertices, not against absolute pixel literals**, and the rebase onto T1 is free.
**Behavior.** The defect is verified: `editor_paint_waveform.cpp:218` drops knots
(`if (v.knot) continue;`) and joins the remaining vertices with straight strokes, and
`curveMap` is never called in the paint path even though the exponent is in scope at `:211`.
Knot *positioning* already honours the exponent via `curveMidLevel`
(`envelope_overlay.cpp:94-105`) — that divergence is the visible symptom. The fix draws each
sloped stage through **the same `curveMap` the audio uses**, so trace and sound cannot
diverge; tessellation approach is the engineer's call.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- **At every exponent the knot's centre lies on the trace, within 1 px** — the reported defect,
stated as the gate.
- **At exponent 1.0 the segment is visually identical to today's straight line.**
- No visible faceting at the widest segment the canvas can produce; a fixed low tessellation
count is not acceptable at full width.
- All three envelopes, both play modes, all sloped stages (attack/decay/release) — one paint
path, one fix.
- The established trace grammar is unchanged: one weight, `kEnvTracePx = 2.0`, through the
analytic stroker. Both overlay layout policies (AHDSR right-anchored schematic, AHD 1:1)
are honoured unchanged. The spline overlay's own trace is untouched.
- **Audio is unchanged** — this is a drawing defect only; a regression baseline proves it.
#### Γ-W1-T4 — `editor-floor-and-row-law`
**Goal.** Commit the **canvas** — the window floor, the width budget it is derived from, and
the row every deck group belongs to — so every other UI track in the phase is drawn, tested and
judged at the final window size. The **arrangement** inside that canvas is Γ-W3-T1's.
**Spec:** `docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md` §1.1 (the two categories), §1.2 (the
floor arithmetic block), §1.6 (the headroom ledger), §7.1 and §7.4 (the two invalidated
`knob_deck.h` notes).
**Surface boundary — owns:** `core/instrument/ui/sample_bands.h` (`kEditorMinWidth`),
`core/instrument/ui/knob_deck.h` (the declared budget constants and the two invalidated header
notes), `core/instrument/ui/deck_groups.{h,cpp}` (**the new row predicate only**), and the five
test fixtures that read the floor — `test_sample_bands.cpp`, `test_deck_groups.cpp`,
`test_knob_deck.cpp`, `test_sample_chrome.cpp`, `test_keyboard_strip.cpp`. **Does not own**
`layoutDeck` / `deckRowCount` / `deckHeight` behaviour, the justification law, any descriptor,
MASTER's inventory or interior, any painter, or any parameter. It changes **no drawing code at
all.**
**Behavior — what it commits.**
- **`kEditorMinWidth` 980 → 1190. `kEditorMinHeight` stays 680** (Γ-F1).
- **Three declared budget constants in `knob_deck.h`:** the row block both rows will justify
inside (**1020**), the right-anchored spanning deck's reserved width (**MASTER 142**), and
the ceiling (**1280**). These are *declarations of budget*, not measurements — nothing
computes them from a descriptor, and Γ-W3-T1's job is to prove its content fits inside them.
- **The floor is derived, not asserted as a literal.** `1020 + kDeckGroupGap(12) + 142 +
2·kPad(8) = 1190`. `kEditorMinWidth` stays a literal in `sample_bands.h` — **do not add an
include edge from `sample_bands` to `knob_deck`**, which would invert the allocator's
deliberate independence from the deck (it takes `deckHeight` as a *parameter* for exactly
that reason). The identity is asserted in `test_deck_groups.cpp`, which already includes
both headers. This is the Θ-W6-T1 derived-floor precedent, landed once and never rewritten.
- **Row membership becomes a property of the group id:** `DeckRow { Sound, Contour, Spanning }`
+ `deckRowFor(DeckGroupId)` in `deck_groups`, an **exhaustive switch** on the
`isLiveDeckParam` discipline, so a future group is a compile error rather than a silent
default. Partition: **Sound** = PITCH/RATE, FILTER, VELOCITY, VOICE; **Contour** = PITCH ENV,
FILTER ENV, AMP ENVELOPE; **Spanning** = MASTER. **Nothing consumes it until Γ-W3-T1** — that
is the seam, and it is why the predicate is safe to land now: **membership is a property of
the group, width is a property of the descriptor**, and only the widths are still moving.
- **Γ adds no new deck group**, so no later track amends this predicate.
**The seam, stated as what this track can and cannot assert.**
*Can assert today:*
- The derived floor identity above, and `kEditorMinWidth ≤ 1280` with **90 px** of headroom.
- `kEditorMinHeight == 680`, asserted so no later track drifts Γ-F1's ruling.
- `deckRowFor` is total over `DeckGroupId` and yields exactly the partition above.
- **Row 2's natural width already fits the block, in both play modes:**
252 + 312 + 312 = **876 ≤ 1020**, leaving both its gutters ≥ `kDeckGroupGap`. Mode-stable
because FILTER ENV's and AMP's reserve slots hold them at 312 in Gate and Trigger alike.
- **MASTER's reserve is not yet spent:** `deckGroupWidth(MASTER) == 72 ≤ 142`.
- At the floor, deck band **216** and waveform band **358** — the reflow's 112 px arrives here,
two waves early (see the interim layout below).
*Cannot assert yet, and must not force:*
- **Row 1's natural width does not fit the block.** Today it is PITCH 150 + FILTER 524 +
VELOCITY 192 + VOICE 164 = **1030**, against the 1020 block. The 50 px deficit is exactly
what the two descriptor changes buy: PITCH → PITCH/RATE **+42** (Γ-W2-T1) and FILTER's
`Band|Notch` moving to the caption corner **92** (Γ-W3-T1), netting **980**. Record the
target and the two contributions as a test comment; **assert the fit in Γ-W3-T1, and do not
pre-empt either descriptor change to close it early.**
- Gutter distribution, the filter tie-line at x = 636, flush outer edges, MASTER's interior and
its meter — all Γ-W3-T1. Every one of them measures a descriptor that does not exist yet.
**The interim editor, stated exactly so it is not filed as a defect.** At the new floor,
`availWidth = 1190 2·kPad = 1174`, and the **unchanged** greedy whole-group wrap packs:
```
row 1 PITCH 150 · PITCH ENV 252 · FILTER 524 = 950 used, 224 px ragged right
row 2 FILTER ENV 312 · AMP 312 · VELOCITY 192 ·
VOICE 164 · MASTER 72 = 1100 used, 74 px ragged right
```
**Two rows, not three** — so the deck band is already 216 and the waveform already draws at its
final 358 px, in both Gate and Trigger. After Γ-W2-T1 lands PITCH/RATE the pack is row 1 = 992,
row 2 unchanged; still two rows. The composition is wrong in exactly the way the reflow exists
to fix — PITCH ENV sits up with the sound decks, VOICE and MASTER sit down with the envelopes,
MASTER is still a single-height 72 px box, and both rows are left-packed with dead space at the
right. **Worse than today in composition, better in proportion.** That is the accepted
transitional state for the rest of the phase.
**Do not convert the two-row interim into a claim.** It is a coincidence of the greedy wrap at
exactly this width, not a guarantee — which is precisely why Γ-W3-T1's criterion is "two rows
**by construction**, asserted against the group inventory, not observed as a wrap outcome."
`testDeckFitsInsideTheEnforcedMinimumWindow` currently asserts `deckRowCount == 3`; relax it to
an **upper bound** (`<= 2`), which is a real regression canary throughout the interim and is
subsumed by Γ-W3-T1's exact claim. An exact `== 2` here is acceptable only with a comment
naming it as a wrap outcome the reflow replaces.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- **The floor is 1190 × 680, reached by a derived test over the three budget constants**, not
by a literal — and the derivation is the one Γ-W3-T1 later reads rather than a second copy.
- **Headroom is exactly 90 px** against the 1280 ceiling, asserted.
- `deckRowFor` is exhaustive over `DeckGroupId`; adding a group without classifying it fails to
compile.
- Row 2's natural width and MASTER's unspent reserve are asserted, in **both** play modes.
- **All five floor-reading test fixtures pass at the new floor** — including the chrome row,
whose title slot gets *more* room at 1190, not less.
- **No drawing code changes, no descriptor changes, no parameter changes, no audio change.**
A regression baseline proves the last of those trivially.
- The two invalidated `knob_deck.h` notes (§7.1's fourteen-pixel headroom figure, §7.4's
cells-and-floor pairing) are **re-derived against the new floor, not deleted** — §7.4's
restatement is *the deck's cell metrics AND its group/row composition both drive
`kEditorMinWidth`; none of the three may move alone.*
**Open questions.** **No [Daniel] questions.** **[propose at review]** whether the three budget
constants belong in `knob_deck.h` (the deck owns the row block and the spanning-deck reserve)
or in `sample_bands.h` (the allocator owns the floor they derive). The plan's lean is
`knob_deck.h` with the identity in the test, because it adds no include edge; either is
defensible, but the *derivation must live in exactly one place*.
#### Γ-W1-T5 — `preserve-time-stretch`
**Goal.** A real pitch-preserving time-stretcher for Preserve mode, written from established
state-of-the-art literature — landed **before** the control that drives it, so Rate ships onto a
finished engine rather than onto a disposable stand-in.
**Spec:** `docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md` §2.5.
**Moved from Γ-W4-T1 (Daniel, 2026-08-01).** It is the longest pole in the phase and has zero
dependency on any UI work. **The consequence is the interesting one: it inverts the
relationship with Rate.** Under the old order the stretcher was Rate's quality upgrade and
Γ-W2-T1 shipped an interim resample-and-cancel path to make Rate complete on day one; under
this order the stretcher is Rate's **prerequisite** and **the interim path is not built at
all.** Skipping a stand-in that was only ever going to be deleted is the win; see Γ-W2-T1's
named contingency for what happens if this track's gate slips.
**Precedent for landing a DSP module ahead of its consumer:** Θ-W1-T3 (`filter-dsp-port`)
landed the filter DSP as a standalone pure module a wave before Θ-W2-T1 wired it into the voice
path, for the same reason — the unknown is the DSP, not the wiring.
**Surface boundary — owns:** `core/instrument/engine/pitch_shift` and whatever new pure module
the stretcher needs (each with its own `<module>_tests` target), plus `voice.{h,cpp}`'s Preserve
read path. **Does not own** any parameter, any UI, the varispeed path, or the deck. It adds no
`ComponentState` field and takes **no rung of the payload ladder**.
**Behavior and constraints.** The algorithm is **the engineer's call under a
measure-and-report gate — this plan deliberately names none.** The constraints:
- **The stretch ratio is an argument, not a parameter.** Nothing publishes a non-unity ratio
until Γ-W2-T1's Rate knob does. Until then the Preserve read path runs at ratio 1.0 and must
be **bit-identical to the shipped Preserve read** — a stronger and cheaper regression gate
than the old plan's A/B-against-an-interim-path, because the baseline is a build that exists.
- **CPU stance (Daniel, verbatim intent):** *"we should be efficient but accept the cost of
high-quality algorithm choices. It's 2026, most people's computers can handle audio with
ease. Just don't be wasteful."*
- **RT-safe:** no allocation, no I/O, no lock in `process()`; buffers sized at voice
allocation or at the off-audio-thread reload, on `pitch_shift`'s existing pre-warm
precedent.
- **Per-voice state, holding up at the 32-voice ceiling.** The gate is 32 simultaneous
Preserve voices at 50 % and 200 %, not one voice at 100 %.
- **No new third-party dependency** (`pitch_shift`'s standing property).
- **No dispatch on the per-sample path** — concrete, inlineable types; no `IStretcher`.
- **Onset behaviour is a regression surface.** GA2 eliminated Preserve's ~25 ms onset latency
by priming the ring with the actual upcoming source. **A stretcher that reintroduces an
onset delay or a first-frame smear is a regression, not a trade-off.**
**Acceptance criteria.**
- **Ratio 1.0 with no shift is bit-identical to the shipped Preserve read**, asserted by a
regression baseline — the null case, and the criterion that makes landing this ahead of Rate
safe.
- Preserve speaks on frame 0 — no added onset latency, no first-frame smear, in any
ratio/shift combination.
- No audible metallic or phasey artefacting on sustained tonal material at ±6 st and
75133 % ratio; transient material at 50 % / 200 % is no worse smeared than **varispeed
playback at the equivalent ratio** — the honest "what does preserving pitch cost" reference,
and the one that needs **no disposable implementation built to serve the comparison.**
- The Gate sustain-loop contract is unchanged: **loop the source, shift the output** — loop
points remain source-frame facts.
- **Measure and report before the algorithm is final:** per-voice CPU at 32 voices, added
latency (must be zero at the onset), and A/B recordings on three material classes (one-shot,
tonal sustain, full-mix bounce). Report to Daniel; the choice is not final until he has heard
the A/Bs.
**Open questions.** **[propose, with a measurement step]** the algorithm family itself.
**[verify]** that `core/instrument/CLAUDE.md`'s *"`WDL_Resampler` is not a Preserve engine —
never wire it as the duration-preserving path"* is honoured: under Preserve, Rate legitimately
changes duration, so a resampled read is an explicit duration control — but the
*pitch-preserving* mechanism must not be a resampler. **No [Daniel] questions.**
---
### Γ-W2 — New controls, and the overlay's marks
**Depends on Γ-W1 for — four dependencies, two of them new:**
1. **T1 ← W1-T1 (taper law).** Rate and Pitch must be authored into the finished
taper/modifier law, not retro-fitted into it, and the semitone taper must exist before a
second semitone knob does.
2. **T1 ← W1-T5 (the stretcher) — NEW, and the reason the interim path is gone.** Preserve
Rate has no engine without it. Under the prior four-wave order this dependency ran the other
way and was paid for with a disposable resample-and-cancel stand-in; the resequencing
inverts it. **Rate must not ship before its Preserve engine.**
3. **T2 ← W1-T3 (the contour trace).** Both write `editor_paint_waveform.cpp`; running them
together is a merge fight in one file.
4. **T2 ← W1-T1 and W1-T4, weakly.** W1-T1 also edits `editor_input_waveform.cpp` (the
modifier read), which T2 rewrites for marker hit-test routing — serial, so not a conflict,
but T2 rebases onto it. And T2's "the enable costs no window width" criterion is now
asserted against **W1-T4's** derived floor test rather than one this track has to write.
T1 additionally inherits `engine/voice.{h,cpp}` from W1-T5 — a **hand-off, not a conflict**:
W1-T5 defines the Preserve ratio seam, and T1 feeds it. Serial across waves by construction.
**Disjointness — re-verified against this wave's membership, not carried over.** Both tracks
stayed in W2 and nothing entered or left it, so the prior finding is re-checked and stands. T1
owns the parameter model, the engine and the deck descriptors; T2 owns the waveform band's
marks and their pure geometry **and the chrome row's loop enable**. The two are disjoint at the
module level with **one named exception: `shell/instrument/editor_session.cpp`.** T1 may touch
it for the third commit tier's routing; **T2 owns `pickedMarkers` and `applyMarkers` there and
nothing else.** The partition is by function and the two do not overlap — **textual merge
adjacency, not semantic contention** — but it is a shared file in a phase whose wave boundaries
are otherwise single-writer surfaces, so it is stated rather than discovered at merge. Whichever
track lands second rebases onto the first. No *new* in-wave adjacency was created by the
resequencing: T2 touches neither `deck_values` nor `deck_groups` nor `voice`.
**One cross-wave hand-off, new with Ruling 2 and NOT a contention.** Rate's taper — linear in
semitones over ±12, the stated exception to the centre-expansion law — belongs in the **taper
module Γ-W1-T1 extracts**, since that module is the one home of every map. T1 therefore
appends a law to a module a previous wave created. Serial across waves by construction, the
same shape as its `engine/voice.{h,cpp}` hand-off from W1-T5. **What would be wrong is a
second taper defined inside `deck_values`' binding** — one home, appended to, not forked.
**The format ladder stays clean.** The loop enable maps onto the existing
`SampleLoop::hasLoop`, which is already persisted and whose `start`/`end` are already written
unconditionally — **no new field, no version bump** — so T1 keeps sole ownership of **the
phase's second payload rung** exactly as specced (v15 on `dev` as of 2026-08-01; read the
ladder rather than assuming the number).
#### Γ-W2-T1 — `pitch-rate-deck`
**Goal.** PITCH becomes **PITCH/RATE**: three knobs (`Key Trk | Rate | Pitch`) under the
existing Varisp|Presrv toggle, with both new controls wired through the engine.
**Spec:** `docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md` §2.
**Surface boundary — owns:** `core/instrument/engine/play_params.h` +
`core/instrument/map/play_seconds.h` (the two new fields),
`core/instrument/map/component_state_io` + `params_payload` (**the phase's SECOND payload
rung** — v15 on `dev` as of 2026-08-01; read the ladder, do not assume the number),
`core/instrument/engine/voice.{h,cpp}` (the compounding and the note-on latch),
`core/instrument/ui/deck_groups` (the PITCH/RATE descriptor **and** the three-state live
predicate), `core/instrument/ui/deck_values` (the two new bindings). **Does not own** the
deck's row layout — that is Γ-W3-T1 — nor the time-stretcher itself (Γ-W1-T5, already landed
by the time this track runs).
**Behavior.**
- **Rate: 50 %200 %, default 100 % at true knob centre, exponential taper** — 50 % = 12 st,
200 % = +12 st, musically symmetric. This is **linear in semitones over ±12** and is the
stated exception to W1-T1's centre-expansion law (which applies to semitone knobs whose
throw exceeds ±12).
- **Pitch: a baseline pitch offset, ±24 semitones**, centred, on W1-T1's centre-expanded
semitone taper. **Reads `kPitchDepthMaxSemis`; does not mint a second constant.**
- **Varispeed:** keytrack ratio × rate ratio × pitch-offset ratio **compound into a single
read-increment multiply**; the rate offset applies to the varispeed pitch. Composes with
the pitch envelope's existing per-frame `ratio_` multiply — **no new per-sample stage**.
- **Preserve:** rate is an **absolute** value driving **duration only**; keytrack and pitch
offset drive the pitch shifter. **Rate drives the stretch ratio Γ-W1-T5's stretcher already
consumes — there is no interim path.** The stretcher is this track's prerequisite, not its
successor; the resample-and-cancel stand-in the prior plan carried is retired unbuilt (see
Open questions for the contingency). `core/instrument/CLAUDE.md`'s "never wire
`WDL_Resampler` as the duration-preserving path" is honoured by construction.
- **Rate is latched at note-on**, delivered by a **third commit class**: published into the
live block like any live parameter, read only by `snapLive`, never by `applyLive`.
`isLiveDeckParam`/`liveCommitFor` widens from two states to three
(`Live` / `NoteOnLatched` / `Reload`) in that one predicate — **not** a second table, and
**not** the reload tier (a swept knob must never trigger a WAV re-decode). **Record the
reason in the header:** loop resolution and contour mapping are note-on folds, so live rate
means re-folding a resolved loop and re-mapping a contour mid-note.
- **Pitch is live** — under Varispeed one more factor in a multiply the pitch envelope already
performs; under Preserve an addend to a shift the pitch envelope already modulates.
- **Loop points scale with rate; contours scale with rate.** Neither rewrites stored values:
the loop is source-frame facts traversed at the new increment (Varispeed) or the new read
rate (Preserve), and a contour is a function of normalized position. **Staged envelope stage
times do NOT scale** — 30 ms is 30 ms at any rate. That asymmetry is deliberate: a contour is
of the sample, a staged envelope is of the performance.
- **Deck descriptor:** three cells; `captionWidth` **70**, hard ceiling **80** (above that the
caption row overtakes the 180 px knob row and the group exceeds 192). If the text will not
fit at 80, narrow the `Varisp|Presrv` segments 48 → 44 (ceiling becomes 88) — **do not widen
the group**.
- **The payload rung** appends both fields as a strict suffix; the preceding version's blob
lifts to rate 100 % / pitch 0 st, bit-identical playback.
- **Both new `DeckParam`s are classified in the three-state predicate, and that classification
is what puts them in the VST3 parameter list three waves later** — Rate `NoteOnLatched`,
Pitch `Live`. Γ-W4-T1 derives the exposed set from this predicate rather than from a list
of its own, so a mis-classification here is a mis-declared parameter there.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- Rate at 50 % plays an octave down and half speed under Varispeed; at 200 %, an octave up and
double speed. Under Preserve the same settings change duration only — pitch is unchanged
within the stretcher's tolerance. **Preserve Rate is a finished feature the day this lands**,
because Γ-W1-T5 already shipped its engine; a degraded or inert Preserve Rate is a failed
track, not an acceptable interim.
- Rate at exactly 100 % and Pitch at exactly 0 st render **bit-identical** to the
pre-change build, in both engines.
- Shift-drag on Rate lands on whole semitones (so an octave and a fifth are reachable by
hand); Shift-drag on Pitch lands on whole semitones; Ctrl gives cents on both.
- **A Rate change while a note sounds does not alter that note**; the next note-on takes it.
**It does not trigger a reload or an engine rebuild** — assert the tier, not just the sound.
- A Pitch change **does** move a sounding note, in both engines.
- With a loop set, changing Rate changes the loop's audible period without moving either
waveform marker.
- The PITCH/RATE group measures **exactly 192 px**; adding the two `DeckParam`s produces a
compile error in `isLiveDeckParam`'s exhaustive switch until they are classified.
- A project saved at the preceding payload version reopens at rate 100 % / pitch 0 st and
sounds identical.
**Open questions.**
- **None [Daniel].**
- **[propose at review]** Rate's clamp behaviour at the range extremes as it meets the
stretcher's own ratio bounds — one clamp, resolved where the two meet, not two that can
disagree.
- **Named contingency, not a plan item, and not to be taken silently.** If Γ-W1-T5's
measure-and-report gate has not passed when this track is ready to dispatch, the pre-agreed
fallback is the **resample-and-cancel composition** spec §2.5 records — a resampled read with
the resulting pitch change cancelled in the existing SOLA shifter — shipped as an interim
Preserve path with the stretcher as its later quality upgrade, i.e. a return to the prior
four-wave order. **Escalate to Daniel rather than taking it:** it revives a disposable
implementation and re-opens the `WDL_Resampler` guardrail conversation, and the whole point of
the resequencing was to avoid building it.
#### Γ-W2-T2 — `loop-crossfade-ux`
**Goal.** Give the loop an explicit enable, make the loop and crossfade marks legible, and
paint the crossfade where it is actually heard.
**Spec:** `docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md` §6 — **read §6.1 (the diagnosis),
§6.4 (the enable) and §6.5 (trade-offs) in full before starting.** This is the phase's one
genuinely designed surface; the sections are the brief.
**Surface boundary — owns:** `shell/instrument/editor_paint_waveform.cpp`'s marker/loop draw,
`shell/instrument/editor_input_waveform.cpp`'s marker hit-test routing,
`core/instrument/ui/waveform_view` (cap rects, label boxes, the label-suppression rule — all
pure, all CTest-covered), and — **new, from the Γ-F4 ruling** —
`core/instrument/ui/sample_chrome` (the enable's rect in the toolbar control run),
`shell/instrument/editor_paint_chrome` + `editor_input_chrome` (its draw and hit-test), and
`shell/instrument/editor_session.cpp`'s **`pickedMarkers` / `applyMarkers` only** (the
retention rule — see the wave header for the shared-file partition). **Does not own**
`loop_span`, the crossfade model, any parameter, or any `ComponentState` version. **This
track changes drawing, hit-testing and one editor-state retention rule — no format change.**
**Behavior.**
- **An explicit loop enable on the CHROME ROW (Γ-F4, ruled).** A two-segment `Loop Off|On`
toggle joins the toolbar row's right-anchored control run, **immediately left of the
`Mono|Stereo` toggle**, with Browse still rightmost. Loop is a waveform-overlay concept and
**has no deck** — a deck cell was never the right home. Because the run is right-anchored
and the title slot absorbs it, **this costs zero window width and none of the 90 px
headroom**; if the title will not hold its text at the 1190 floor, **the enable's segments
narrow — the floor does not move.**
- **The enable IS `SampleLoop::hasLoop`. No new field, no version bump.** The field already
exists (`play_params.h:210`), is already what `resolveLoop` refuses on
(`loop_span.cpp:12`), and is already persisted in the payload's `loopOverride` block —
where **`start`/`end` are written unconditionally whatever `hasLoop` says**
(`params_payload.cpp:31-36`), so the wire can already carry "off, with a span remembered."
What changes is the field's *provenance*: today it is derived from the marker gesture, and
after this track it is **user-owned**, with the gestures as shortcuts onto it.
- **Collapse-to-off survives as a shortcut, not as a second state machine.** `hasLoop` is the
single authority; four gestures reach it:
| Gesture | Enable | Span | Crossfade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enable → On | on | retained | retained |
| Enable → Off | off | **retained** | **retained** |
| Collapse the span onto itself | off | **destroyed**, re-parked at `defaultLoopBounds` | **zeroed** |
| Drag either loop mark while off | **on** | takes the drag | retained, re-clamped |
- **Two consequent behaviour changes, each with its reason.** (a) `pickedMarkers`'
re-park (`editor_session.cpp:221-226`) currently triggers on `!hasLoop`; it must become
conditional on the span being **invalid** (collapsed / inverted / out of range) rather than
on the enable being off — a toggle whose off→on does not restore what was there is a delete
button, not a toggle. (b) `applyMarkers`' crossfade zeroing (`:240-243`) moves from "the
enable is off" to "the span was destroyed." **The original reasoning is preserved, not
overruled:** it zeroes so a stale length cannot silently re-apply against a span that no
longer exists; with the span retained, its clamp bound is retained too and there is nothing
stale.
- **The "drag me" affordance splits into two off-states.** Off with **no span ever set** —
pair parked at `defaultLoopBounds`, Disabled, caption `DRAG TO SET LOOP`. Off with a **span
retained** — pair Disabled *at its own positions*, caption `LOOP OFF` (there is nothing to
"set"). In both, **dragging a mark turns the enable on** — the shipped drag-to-create
gesture survives and now teaches the enable by demonstration.
- **In Trigger the enable draws Disabled and inert, and does NOT clear `hasLoop`** —
Disabled-not-hidden, the same grammar as the marks, with its state restored on the return to
Gate. This transitively covers the drawn-EG case via `enforceGateUnavailableWhileDrawn`
(`play_params.h:198-205`), which forces Trigger whenever an envelope is drawn — one
predicate, not a second rule. **Disabled-but-grabbable (the off marks) vs.
Disabled-and-inert (Trigger) is deliberate:** the user's own off is reversible by the very
gesture on offer; Trigger's refusal comes from the engine and no drag can talk it out of it.
- **One mark grammar: line + shaped cap + label. The cap IS the grip.** Four marks:
**START** (`accent/primary`, solid right-pointing triangle cap, solid line — the only
primary-ink mark, because it is the only one always in effect); **LOOP** (`accent/secondary`,
L-cap opening right); **END** (`accent/secondary`, L-cap opening left); **XFADE**
(`accent/secondary` reduced alpha, ramp cap, **dashed** line — a soft boundary). This
replaces the bare 10 px orphan tab that today marks the crossfade with no line of its own.
- **Labels** in `Font::Micro`/`TextDim`, drawn **beneath** the trace and handles in z-order.
A mark's label **re-draws on top on hover or drag** of that mark. **A label is suppressed if
its box would overlap one already placed**; placement order is grabbed/hovered first, then
START, LOOP, END, XFADE. Occlusion by an envelope node is **accepted and named** — the cap
shape carries the identity permanently, the label is for learning.
- **The crossfade moves to `[loopEnd crossfade, loopEnd)`** — where it is audible. The
handle moves to the loop-end side; **drag direction is unchanged** (left lengthens), so the
muscle memory survives.
- **The crossfade region draws as a top-and-bottom edge wedge, NEVER as a second fill.** A
triangular band at the overlay's top and bottom edges growing from zero at
`loopEnd crossfade` to ~10 px at `loopEnd`. **This is a hard constraint:** the region is
now *inside* the loop span, where a translucent fill would stack on the 0.20 loop fill, and
the envelope trace crossing that fill is a known, accepted under-floor pair at 2.25:1
(`editor_paint_waveform.cpp:28-34`), whose own note says the FILL is what changes if it is
ever resolved. **The loop fill's peak alpha must stay exactly 0.20.**
- **The ingredient draws as a ghost.** `[loopStart crossfade, loopStart)` draws the mirror
wedge at half alpha, no handle — **a hairline dashed outline at rest, filling in on hover or
drag of the crossfade handle**. This makes the `crossfade ≤ min(start, loopLength)` clamp
self-explanatory: the fade stops growing exactly when the ghost's left edge reaches START or
LOOP, so the user sees the reason instead of hitting an invisible wall.
- **Trigger mode:** the loop pair and the crossfade mark draw **Disabled and are not
grabbable**, with a dim `LOOP — GATE ONLY` caption — Disabled rather than hidden, matching
the editor's existing Gate-segment grammar, and because hiding a set loop on a mode flip
destroys information the user put there. START stays fully live.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- The four marks are distinguishable by ink and cap shape with the labels suppressed, and
named when they are not.
- **The shaded crossfade region sits over the frames where the fade is audible** — verify
against a rendered loop, not by reading the code.
- Every mark is grabbable by its cap; grabbing a mark shows its label.
- The crossfade at its clamp shows the ghost's left edge coincident with the bounding mark.
- **The loop fill's peak alpha is unchanged at 0.20** and the accepted 2.25:1 trace pair is
neither improved nor worsened.
- In Trigger, no loop mark accepts a grab, the chrome enable is Disabled and inert, and the
reason is on screen. Returning to Gate restores the enable's prior state.
- **Turning the enable off and on again restores the loop exactly** — same span, same
crossfade, no re-park. Collapsing the span instead turns it off, re-parks at
`defaultLoopBounds` and zeroes the crossfade. Both paths asserted.
- **Dragging a loop mark while the enable is off turns it on**, in both off-states.
- **The enable costs no window width:** `kEditorMinWidth` is unchanged by this track, asserted
by the same derived test that guards the floor.
- **No `ComponentState` version moves; no new persisted field; `resolveLoop` is untouched;
audio is unchanged.** The enable round-trips save/reload through the existing
`loopOverride` block, in both states, with the span retained across an off.
- All cap/label/suppression geometry is pure and unit-tested; no hit-test math in the painter.
The enable's rect lands in `sample_chrome` alongside the rest of the control run.
**Open questions.**
- **[propose at review, then verify by hand]** The claim-arbitration inputs change:
`markerHandleRect` today gives a tab to the crossfade only, and `resolveWaveformClaim`
breaks ties by smallest nominal target area. Giving every mark a cap-grip changes the
candidate set **and every nominal area in it**. The arbitration must be re-derived, and
`docs/TODO.md`'s open entry *"Pre-existing staged-envelope-node shadow at zero-attack"*
must be **re-evaluated against the new cap geometry and its outcome recorded** — resolved or
worsened, either is acceptable, silence is not.
- **No [Daniel] questions.** Fork Γ-F4 is ruled — there **is** an explicit enable and it is on
the chrome row, in this track. The prior framing ("an enable needs a cell, so it is a Γ-W3
layout decision") was wrong and is retired: loop has no deck, so it never needed one.
- **[propose at review]** every site that currently *infers* `hasLoop` — two in
`editor_input_waveform` (`:255`, `:258`), two in `editor_session` (`:222`, `:236`) — is now
writing to a user-visible control rather than to an internal flag. Re-read each in that
light; "it still compiles" is not a disposition.
- **Named escalation, not a fallback to take silently:** if the top strip reads crowded in the
DAW, the pre-designed answer is the marker rail (spec §6.2, Direction 2) — a larger build
that would also dissolve the arbitration problem structurally. Escalate; do not improvise a
half-rail.
---
### Γ-W3 — The reflow, and the bake correction
**Depends on Γ-W2 for:** the PITCH/RATE descriptor (W2-T1) — the reflow measures the real
three-cell group, and laying it out against a forecast of that group means re-measuring
afterward. **This is the whole reason the arrangement is late**, and it is why the canvas was
split out of it into W1-T4. **T2 depends on the same wave for a different reason:** rate and
pitch offset must exist before the bake's reset list can name them.
**Depends on Γ-W1 for:** W1-T2's published meter/GR/clip state, which MASTER's deck draws
(drawing against a stub would mean building the meter twice), and W1-T4's floor, budget
constants and row predicate, which T1 **consumes rather than re-derives**. **T2 depends on
W1-T2 for the limiter enable flag**, the third of the three values it must add.
**Depends on Phase Ξ for T2 — the phase's only EXTERNAL gate.** `Ξ-W2-T1
(resample-bake-chain)` must have landed on `dev` before T2 dispatches. T2 amends what that
track shipped; it cannot amend a branch.
**Two tracks, disjoint by surface — but T2's disjointness is CONDITIONAL and must be
confirmed, not assumed.** T1 owns `ui/knob_deck`, `ui/deck_groups` (row-predicate
consumption, FILTER's caption move, MASTER's inventory) and `shell/instrument/editor_paint_deck`.
T2 owns the bake's reset step wherever Ξ-W2-T1 put it. **T2's first act is to read what
actually shipped and confirm its reset surface touches none of T1's three modules.** If the
shipped reset enumerates controls through `deck_groups` or `deck_values`, the two are not
disjoint and **T2 serializes behind T1 inside the wave** — a named contingency, taken openly,
not discovered at merge. That risk is real precisely because this plan cannot predict the
shipped shape; predicting it is what put the phase in this position.
**Why T1 is one track.** The row law, the group inventory and the double-height deck are one
geometry decision spread over `knob_deck`, `deck_groups` and the deck painter. Splitting it
would put two tracks in the same pure modules. **The window floor is no longer part of it** —
W1-T4 set it two waves ago, and this track must not move it.
**Neither track takes a payload rung.** T1 is layout only; T2 changes a reset list, not a
format.
#### Γ-W3-T1 — `deck-reflow`
**Goal.** Two categorical rows plus a double-height MASTER bus deck, inside a 1280 × 720
ceiling, returning 112 px to the waveform.
**Spec:** `docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md` §1 (the whole section, incl. the §1.2
measured table **and §1.6, the headroom ledger**) and §3.23.3 (what MASTER draws). **§7 lists
the invariants this track invalidates or widens — read it before touching `knob_deck.h`.**
**Surface boundary — owns:** `core/instrument/ui/knob_deck` (the row law, the double-height
group, the justification — **consuming** W1-T4's budget constants, not restating them),
`core/instrument/ui/deck_groups` (consumption of W1-T4's row predicate, FILTER's `Band|Notch`
caption move, MASTER's inventory), and `shell/instrument/editor_paint_deck` (the MASTER
meter/limiter/bubble draw). **Does not own** `kEditorMinWidth` or any budget constant — those
are W1-T4's and are **read**, never moved — nor any parameter, the limiter DSP, or the
waveform band.
**Behavior.**
- **Row 1 (sound), one row, non-negotiable:** PITCH/RATE 192 · FILTER 432 · VELOCITY 192 ·
VOICE 164 = **980** natural.
- **Row 2 (contour):** PITCH ENV 252 · FILTER ENV 312 · AMP ENVELOPE 312 = **876** natural.
- **MASTER is double-height (216 px) and right-anchored**, outside both rows, 142 px wide.
- **FILTER's `Band|Notch` moves from its row-toggle position to the caption corner**, taking
the group 524 → **432** (92 px). It occupies FILTER's currently-unused `captionToggle2`
slot — **no new geometry is required**.
- **VOICE keeps its `Retrig|Legato` row toggle.** Moving it to the caption makes VOICE
*wider* (226, not narrower), because its caption row is the binding side. Verified; do not
"fix" it.
- **Justification law, applied to BOTH rows:** space-between within the row block; slack
divided equally among the row's (n1) gutters, integer residue to the leftmost;
**no gutter narrower than `kDeckGroupGap` (12)**. **Decks are never stretched.** MASTER is
not part of either row's justification.
- **Row block = 1020 px at the floor**, giving row 1 gutters 12/14/14 and row 2 gutters 72/72,
at which width **FILTER's right edge and FILTER ENV's right edge both land on x = 636**.
That tie-line, row 2's equal gutters, and row 1's minimum gutter being exactly
`kDeckGroupGap` all hold at 1020 and only at 1020 — **this is why the floor is 1190 and not
1186.** Above the floor the tie-line drifts and that is accepted (spec §1.3).
- **The floor is already 1190 × 680 and the bands are already 216 / 358** — Γ-W1-T4 landed all
four in wave 1, and the greedy wrap happened to reach two rows at that width. **This track
changes none of those numbers; it makes them true by construction instead of by coincidence.**
Row 1's natural width fits the block **only after this track's `Band|Notch` move**: 1030
today, +42 from W2-T1's PITCH/RATE, 92 here, = **980**. That is this track's fit assertion
and W1-T4 deliberately left it open.
- **The 90 px of remaining headroom is the budget for the life of this layout**, and one deck
cell is 60 px. **This is why MASTER's reserved slot is ONE cell** (Γ-F5, ruled): two would
spend 60 of the 90 up front on a control nobody has named, leaving 30 — which would freeze
row 1 forever, since any later row-1 addition needs 60. Widening MASTER later costs the same
60 it would cost now, and by then the trade is against a real control instead of a guess.
**State this ledger where a future reader will hit it** — spec §1.6 is its home, and a
reader proposing a new knob needs to see it before they propose.
- **MASTER's interior** (spec §1.4, exact to the pixel): caption row with the limiter toggle
and a **round** 12 px `warn` GR bubble in the far corner (non-interactive — the same slot the
envelope decks' radio uses; round so it reads as a lamp, not a control); **gain knob in the
upper-left cell at box-relative y = 26** and a **reserved empty slot at y = 138** — i.e. the
two cells land on row 1's and row 2's knob baselines exactly, which is what stitches the
spanning deck to both rows; **meter column 62 px wide × 186 px tall** on the right.
- **Three rules not to generalise wrongly:** MASTER's left column uses **fixed cell slots at
the two baselines, NOT the horizontal run-division law** (that law would stretch one knob
over 186 px); the reserved slot **draws nothing** (blank reads as breathing room, a dashed
placeholder reads as unfinished); the meter is **one rect spanning both baselines**, not two
per-row meters.
- **The meter draws W1-T2's published state**, with the ballistics run on the UI timer.
**Bar count follows the same `LaneSplit` decision `waveformSurface` already folds** (channel
mode ∧ source channel count) — one wide bar when the waveform draws one lane, two skinnier
bars when it draws two. Not a second rule: a mono source in stereo mode is dual-mono, and
two identical bars would be a lie.
- **Meter appearance:** bar in `accent/primary`; peak-hold tick 2 px in `text/primary`; clip
cap in `warn`, latched, click-to-clear; scale linear in dB over 60…+6 with ticks every
6 dB and numerals at 0/12/24/36/48/60, the 0 dB tick heavier. **No green/yellow/red
segmentation** — `warn` stays reserved for clip states.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- At the floor width the deck lays out in **exactly two rows plus the spanning MASTER**,
**by construction** — asserted against the group inventory, not observed as a wrap outcome.
- Every group's width matches the §1.2 table exactly, **in both Gate and Trigger** (row 2's
natural width is mode-stable at 876 because the reserve slots hold FILTER ENV and AMP at
312 in both modes — assert it).
- Row 1 and row 2 are **flush left and flush right**; at the floor width the filter tie-line
is exact (both edges at x = 636) and row 2's two gutters are equal.
- **Row 1's natural width is 980 and fits the 1020 block** — the fit Γ-W1-T4 could not yet
assert, closed here by the `Band|Notch` move.
- **`kEditorMinWidth` is still 1190 and the floor is still ≤ 1280 × 720** — unchanged by this
track, verified against Γ-W1-T4's derived test rather than a second copy of it.
- The waveform band is **358 px at the floor**, and the deck band is 216 — **unchanged from the
interim, now reached by construction**: `deckRowCount` at and above the floor is 2 because the
row predicate says so, not because a wrap landed there. Assert against the group inventory.
- MASTER's gain knob shares a knob baseline with FILTER's knobs; its reserved slot shares one
with AMP ENVELOPE's.
- The meter reads correctly in mono and stereo, the peak-hold tick holds 1.5 s, the clip cap
latches and clears, and the GR bubble lights only while the limiter reduces gain.
- **With the limiter engaged the clip cap never latches** on material the limiter is catching;
if it does, that is a defect report against W1-T2, not a user error.
- `knob_deck`'s and `sample_bands`' tests are updated to the new law, and the invalidated
notes in `knob_deck.h` (the fourteen-pixel headroom figure; the cells-and-floor pairing) are
**re-derived, not deleted** — spec §7.1, §7.4.
**Open questions.**
- **[propose at review]** Whether the greedy whole-group wrap survives at all as a sub-floor
degrade, or is replaced outright by explicit row assignment. What is **not** optional: at
and above the floor width the layout is the specified arrangement, reached by construction.
`DeckLayout::rowCount`/`::height` change meaning either way (spec §7.3).
- **No [Daniel] questions.** Forks Γ-F5 (**one cell**) and Γ-F1 (**680 stays**) are both
ruled; they are stated in Behavior above, not carried here as options.
- **[verify]** `deck_groups.cpp`'s `kEnvModeSegW = 23` ceiling rises to **47** once PITCH ENV
is on row 2 (AMP binds at 55). No change is required; the comment stating the old ceiling
stops being true and must be corrected (spec §7.2).
#### Γ-W3-T2 — `bake-reset-amendment`
**Goal.** Complete the resample bake's reset list against the control surface that now
exists — the correction Phase Γ owes Phase Ξ because Ξ-W2-T1 shipped ahead of the sequencing
this plan asserted.
**Consolidates:** nothing from the seventeen. It is a **correction obligation**, not a
feature (see "Flagged for awareness" item 2).
**Spec:** `docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md` §3.4, and Ξ-W2-T1's own "Reset scope"
block above — **which is the ratified rule this track applies, not a rule it may reinterpret.**
**Surface boundary — owns:** the bake's parameter-reset step, wherever Ξ-W2-T1 landed it, and
its tests. **Does not own** the bake chain, the crossing architecture, the replace-vs-add
decision, the capture path, any deck module, any painter, any parameter, or any
`ComponentState` version. **It changes what a shipped list contains — nothing else.**
**Behavior.**
- **Three values join the reset list**, all classified against Ξ-W2's own ratified rule
("reset what the bake baked in"), all **reset**, none of them a new Daniel decision:
**rate**, **pitch offset**, and **limiter enabled**. The limiter's reasoning is worth
carrying rather than re-deriving: master gain is already on the reset list, so the bake
includes the master stage, so the limiter's effect is in the audio.
- **Verified against what shipped, not against what was predicted.** This plan named three
values before either the bake or the controls existed. **Read Ξ-W2-T1's landed reset list
first** and reconcile: if it already anticipated any of the three, say so and drop it; if
it classified something differently from `docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md` §3.4,
**the landed code is the fact and this plan is the prediction** — escalate the difference,
do not silently overwrite either.
- **Re-run Ξ-W2-T1's own "genuinely new parameter" check over everything Phase Γ added**, not
just the three named. Γ also ships the loop enable (W2-T2) and raises the stage-time
ceiling (W1-T1). Classify each **against the rule**: the loop enable is a loop fact whose
effect is in the rendered audio (**reset**, with the loop points it travels with); the
ceiling is not a parameter at all. State each disposition; silence is not one.
- **Root note still survives.** The bake's most load-bearing exception is untouched by this
track — capturing at root is what makes root survivable, and resetting it would detune
every subsequent iteration.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- After a bake, **rate reads 100 %, pitch offset 0 st, and the limiter reads bypassed** — and
the root note, key-tracking and the VOICE group are still untouched.
- **The bake stays audible and faithful with the new controls dialled in**: dial rate, pitch
offset and the limiter, bake, and the neutral instrument playing the programmed note sounds
as the dialled one did — the criterion Ξ-W2-T1 already carries, now actually exercised over
Γ's controls.
- **A reconciliation note in the track's review** stating, per value, whether the landed code
already covered it, and recording any difference between what shipped and what §3.4
predicted.
- **No format change, no new field, no version bump, no change to the crossing architecture
or the replace-vs-add decision.** A regression baseline proves the bake's audio is
otherwise unchanged.
**Open questions.**
- **No [Daniel] questions.** The rule is ratified and §3.4's classification is derived from
it.
- **[verify, FIRST]** the disjointness contingency in the wave header: read the shipped reset
step and confirm it touches none of Γ-W3-T1's modules. If it does, serialize behind T1 and
say so.
- **Explicitly NOT this track's:** the two consequences automation adds to the bake — the
reset having to notify the host, and a host lane re-imposing its curve onto baked audio.
Both are **Γ-W4-T1's**, because that track creates them. Doing this correction once, before
automation, and letting Γ-W4-T1 add its own obligation on top is deliberate: the
alternative is an amendment to an amendment.
---
### Γ-W4 — VST3 parameters
**Depends on every earlier wave, and each dependency is a hard prerequisite rather than a
courtesy:**
1. **← W1-T1.** The taper and the 10 s ceiling **are** the host-facing normalization, and
W1-T1 is also what extracts them into the one pure module the host reads through. Declaring
parameters against a taper that is still moving is the one-way door this whole phase is
ordered around.
2. **← W1-T2 and W2-T1.** Every control that could be a parameter must exist before the list
is declared. The list is derived from the control inventory; an inventory still growing
produces a list that has to be re-frozen, and it cannot be.
3. **← W2-T1 specifically.** `isLiveDeckParam` becoming three-valued is the *prerequisite* of
the classification, not an incidental: the exposed set is exactly `Live NoteOnLatched`.
4. **← W3-T1.** MASTER's inventory (limiter toggle, GR bubble, reserved cell) is the last
change to what controls exist at all.
5. **← W3-T2.** The bake's reset list must already be complete, so this track adds the
host-notification obligation once rather than amending an amendment.
**One track.** The storage decision governs every part of the work — the projection rule, the
migration path, what `getParamNormalized` returns, and what the bake's reset must do — exactly
as Ξ-W2-T1's crossing decision governs its chain. Every candidate split (a pure
model/classification half and a host-wiring half) is **serial**, so it buys no concurrency and
puts the decision on one side of a boundary and its consequences on the other.
#### Γ-W4-T1 — `vst3-parameter-set`
**Goal.** The instrument reports its automatable parameters to the host, under a frozen id
contract and a logical order — which also hands it REAPER's whole per-parameter modulation
block (LFO, envelope follower, MIDI link, parameter linking) for free.
**Consolidates:** nothing from the seventeen. **Ruling 1** (Daniel, 2026-08-01): *"correct the
phase gamma plan to account for complying with the VST3 standard for parameter reporting… by
the end of gamma we have the automatable params reported. Make the parameter order logical."*
**Spec:** `docs/product/parameter-automation.md` — **§§610 are the specification; §§15 are
the analysis behind it.** Read §6.1 (storage), §6.3 (the freeze), §7 (the classification) and
§8 (the one-way-door sweep) before scoping. **Today the plugin has zero parameters:**
`ReaSamplerProcessor::initialize` (`reasampler_processor.cpp:56-73`) never populates
`SingleComponentEffect::parameters`, so `getParameterCount()` returns the SDK default 0. This
track introduces the whole surface.
**Surface boundary — owns:** a **new pure parameter-identity module** (the frozen id table,
the `DeckParam` ↔ `ParamID` mapping, the derived exposed set, the unit assignment — with its
own `<module>_tests` target), `shell/instrument/reasampler_processor` + `processor_state` (the
`IEditController` parameter surface and the `IParameterChanges` read),
`shell/instrument/editor_controls.cpp` and the editor's drag-commit sites (the
`beginEdit`/`performEdit`/`endEdit` bracketing), and the bake's reset step **for the
notification path only**. **Does not own** the taper (W1-T1's module, consumed), any control's
value semantics, any deck geometry, or the bake's reset *membership* (W3-T2's).
**Behavior.**
- **The blob stays authoritative; a parameter is a THIRD SURFACE onto the one model** —
a peer of the deck knob and the overlay node, not a second copy of the value.
`docs/product/parameter-automation.md` §6.1 states the load, host→plugin, plugin→host and
save rules, and the two verified findings that closed the fork: this plugin is a
`SingleComponentEffect`, where the SDK itself collapses `IComponent::setState` and
`IEditController::setState` (`vstsinglecomponenteffect.h:41-47`), so there is one state and
§3.3's drift hazard describes a split-component design we do not use; and the blob is a
**cross-artifact contract** the extension's `instrument_drop` writes, which
parameters-as-truth would silently make partial.
- **`ParamID` is an independent, hand-assigned, FOREVER-FROZEN table** — blocks of 100 per
deck group **in signal-flow order** (Γ-F7), steps of 10 within a block, a curve dial at its
outer knob's id + 1, blocks starting at 1000. **The full 44-id assignment is stated at
§6.2** and is to be transcribed, not re-derived. §6.2 also for why hand-assignment beats
derivation and why the within-block order is seeded ONCE rather than tracked against
`cellIds`; **§6.3 for the freeze invariant, which is to be stated in the table's header with
the same force as the command-id strings, the class UIDs and the payload field order.**
- **The exposed set is DERIVED from `isLiveDeckParam` / `liveCommitFor`, never
hand-maintained** — a control is a parameter iff its class is `Live` or `NoteOnLatched`.
**44 parameters** at the end of Γ-W3, enumerated by group in §7.1.
- **Everything else is OMITTED from the list entirely**, not exposed-and-flagged: the reload
and rebuild tiers, all structural state, and the limiter enable (§3.8, settled). §7.2
states why omission beats `kIsReadOnly`, and names the limitation plainly — the user cannot
automate filter on/off, play mode, the pitch engine, Staged↔Spline or polyphony, and the
unlock is to give the control a live path first.
- **Every exposed parameter reports REAL UNITS to the host** (Ruling 3). Each declares a
**plain range**, a **`units` string**, and a **display precision**; the complete
eight-category table covering all 44 — ranges, units, precision, and which taper each
category carries — is `docs/product/parameter-automation.md` §6.7.1, and it is a
specification, not a suggestion. VST3's wire format stays normalized (it cannot be
otherwise); the requirement is met through the **plain-value layer** the SDK provides, whose
direct precedent in the vendored tree is `public.sdk/samples/vst/common/logscale.h:221-229`
overriding `toPlain`/`toNormalized` for a log law — the exact shape our log ms and log2
semitone knobs need.
- **`normalizedParamToPlain` / `plainParamToNormalized` / `getParamStringByValue` /
`getParamValueByString` route through W1-T1's taper module and the ONE formatter per unit
category.** Three functions that agree today is a defect; the host's normalization, the
needle angle and the overlay node must be the same function. **`toNormalized` IS the
taper** — §6.7.3 — which is what makes the phase's one-way-door ordering structurally true
rather than a warning someone has to remember.
- **`stepCount = 0` on all 44, and the editor's shift-snap is never exposed as `stepCount`.**
Snapped drag and parameter continuity are independent axes; `stepCount` quantizes the
parameter permanently, including for the host's automation, and freezes into the forever
contract. The sweep is done and clean (§6.7.6) — every discrete control is reload or rebuild
tier and therefore already omitted, so continuity is structural rather than lucky.
- **`IParameterChanges` is observed at BLOCK boundaries, stated in the header** — the last
point in a block wins. Sample-accurate application would put a per-sample "did anything
change" question on the per-voice-per-sample path, which the phase-wide guardrail forbids.
- **A host parameter change takes the control's existing commit tier and no other.** Nothing
on the automation path may reach `reloadInstrument` or `rebuildVoiceEngine` — which §7.2's
omissions guarantee structurally rather than by care.
- **`IUnitInfo`: one unit per deck group**, mirroring the group inventory rather than the
editor's rows. **Order is signal flow — Γ-F7, RULED** (§6.4). Presentation index order is
ascending id, so identity and presentation agree by construction.
- **The filter's four report plain units WITHOUT being re-tapered.** `toPlain` is read-side
only; reporting Hz / Q / drive depth means calling `filterCutoffHzFromNorm`,
`filterQFromNorm` and `filterDriveDepthFromNorm` — the filter module's own frozen laws,
which `deckValueLabel` already calls today — not restating them. **The one additive piece:
`filterNormFromDriveDepth` does not exist and must be added in `filter_params`**, beside the
two inverses that do; the analytic inverse of a frozen law is not a change to it. §6.7.5.
- **No `kIsBypass` on anything.** The plugin is an instrument and exposes no bypass
parameter; the limiter is a safety device, not a bypass, and binding it there would hand
the host a control that restarts the component.
- **The bake's reset gains a notification obligation** (§9): every internal writer of a value
that is an exposed parameter must go through the one `beginEdit`/`performEdit`/`endEdit`
path, and the bake's reset is the codebase's first non-gesture writer. **Enumerating those
sites is part of this track**, not a follow-up.
- **Two adjacent SDK surfaces are assessed, with dispositions, so they are not re-surveyed:**
`IMidiMapping` is **in scope and nearly free** (a CC → `ParamID` map, one function);
`IParameterFunctionName` is **not implemented** (its vocabulary is compressor/panner
semantics that name nothing here); `IAutomationState` is **not implemented** (it reports the
host's automation mode for the whole plug-in, not per parameter, so it cannot answer the one
question §9 would have wanted it for).
**Acceptance criteria.**
- **The host lists exactly the derived set, in the ruled order, with no parameter the
predicate does not classify `Live` or `NoteOnLatched`** — asserted against the predicate,
not against a literal count.
- **Every id in the table is asserted unique, in its group's block, and on its step** — and a
test fails if any id changes value, which is what makes the freeze mechanical rather than
cultural. **The asserted values are §6.2's table verbatim**, including the signal-flow block
sequence; a test that recomputes the ids from `cellIds` would defeat the freeze it exists
to hold.
- **`toPlain(info.defaultNormalizedValue)` compares EXACTLY equal to the default**, per
parameter, against a default-constructed `PlaySeconds` (and against `master_gain`'s unity),
so a host's reset-to-default and the editor's double-click land on the same value.
**`defaultNormalizedValue` is computed as `toNormalized(default)`, not written as a
literal** — a grep finds no normalized default constant. If the exactness fails, it is a
W1-T1 defect surfacing here, not a defect of this track. **Round-trip exactness at
arbitrary values is NOT asserted** — it is not required (§6.7.7) and asserting it would
over-constrain the taper.
- **`getParamStringByValue` prints what the editor's knob label prints**, digit for digit, at
the same stored value, across every unit category — asserted by calling **the same
formatter** from both sides in one test, not by comparing two independently produced
strings. **A grep finds exactly one formatter per unit category** and no `snprintf` of a
parameter value outside it.
- **Every exposed parameter's `units` and plain range match §6.7.1**, asserted per parameter;
`stepCount` is asserted **zero on all 44**.
- **A host automation lane moving a Live parameter moves a sounding note; a lane moving a
NoteOnLatched parameter takes effect on the next note and does NOT trigger a reload or an
engine rebuild** — assert the tier, not just the sound.
- **No automation path reaches `reloadInstrument` or `rebuildVoiceEngine`.**
- **A project saved before this change opens with every parameter reading the blob's value
and sounds identical**; a project saved by this build opens in an older binary with its
sound intact; and a project with automation drawn, saved and reopened, replays against the
same plain values.
- **`process()` takes no new indirection and no new per-sample work** — the parameter read is
a block-boundary act, on the existing live-publish path.
- **The bake's reset notifies the host**, verified by the host's displayed value following it
rather than snapping back on next touch.
- **The double-processing limitation is documented, not discovered** — a bake whose
reset-class parameter carries a host lane is a named boundary of the bake's fidelity claim
(§9), stated in the product doc and in this track's review.
- **The lane-linearity consequence is stated in the header, not left to be found** — under a
tapered parameter a straight line drawn in a host automation lane is **not** linear in the
plain unit (exponential in ms, linear in octaves on cutoff, linear in dB on master gain).
This is standard and desirable, it follows directly from Ruling 3 plus the taper, and §6.7.4
gives it per category. Writing it down is the acceptance criterion; changing the taper to
avoid it is not an option.
- **The filter's four are proven untouched**: a regression baseline shows their audio
unchanged, and their persisted `*Norm` values are byte-identical across a save/reload that
passes through the parameter surface. Reporting Hz/Q/depth changed display only.
**Open questions.**
- **No [Daniel] questions. Γ-F7 is RULED — signal flow** (2026-08-01, *"signal flow order."*),
and Ruling 3 (real units) arrived specified rather than forked. **There is no unanswered
[Daniel]-class question in this track or anywhere in this plan.**
- **[verify, FIRST]** that REAPER calls `setState` (not `setComponentState`) on a
single-component plug-in, and the ordering of `setState` against the first
`IParameterChanges` block after a project load. §6.1 is built on the SDK's own
name-collapse; **verify it in the DAW before wiring, and do not build on the paragraph
alone.**
- **[verify]** whether REAPER renders `ParameterInfo::units` beside the string
`getParamStringByValue` returns, or shows the string alone. **We ship the SDK's own
convention** — digits in the string, unit carried separately, which is what
`RangeParameter::toString` and the `Parameter` constructor's signature both express. If
REAPER shows no unit at all, the fallback is to append the unit **inside the one formatter**:
a one-line change in one place, touching neither the frozen id table nor the editor, because
display strings are explicitly not frozen (§6.7.1). Do not discover this after shipping.
- **[propose at review]** promoting **key-track** and **Trigger length** from `Reload` to
`NoteOnLatched` (§7.4). Both are excluded from the live set *for the note-on-latch reason*
in the predicate's own words, so the promotion aligns routing with documented semantics —
and it is what makes them automatable at all. **If either promotion is refused, that
control simply drops out of the parameter list.** The list follows the predicate; the
predicate is never bent to fill the list. **Consequence for the frozen table:** a refusal
drops ids 1000 and 1260 (key-track) or 1450 (Trigger length) and the count falls below 44.
Those slots are then simply **never issued** — not retired, since nothing shipped under
them — and remain available to the same control if it is promoted later. No other id moves;
that is what the block-and-step scheme buys.
- **[propose at review]** whether to ship a default `IMidiMapping` CC table here or leave MIDI
control to REAPER's host-side learn. Either is defensible; **skipping it silently is not.**
- **[propose at review]** whether this track spends the reserved payload rung. §6.1 says
nothing new is persisted and therefore it should not; if the `setState` verification says
otherwise, it takes the reserved rung and says so.
- **Closed, do not reopen:** Rate lifted from latched to live (§3.5 records the cost); the
limiter enable made automatable (§3.8 — its one reopening condition is the `docs/TODO.md`
reload/activation decoupling, and the answer is to do that first, not to re-litigate the
classification).
---
## Phase Ψ — The extension trust pass: exact bounds, disjoint solo surfaces, reachable actions, honest drops, real names, true mono
**Ships:** capture ranges that mean what was asked — a time selection or razor area over
a longer item captures the selection, both scopes; per-mode solo surfaces that cache,
clear, and restore across the Design/Arrange switch, with the switch itself refused while
the transport runs; the Media-Explorer import action registered into the Media Explorer
action section so it can live on that toolbar; a drag-out gesture law that resolves its
target from what is actually under the cursor, continuously and reversibly, with no
silent no-op release anywhere; captures labeled after their source track instead of the
literal `"item"`/`"track"`, surfaced on the panel card; and lossless mono collapse for
new captures whose channels are bit-identical.
**Consolidates: none of the seventeen.** Phase Ψ came from a direct list of seven defects
and refinements (Daniel, 2026-08-01). There is no backing product doc — the design
content lives inline in the tracks below, and the seven are recorded here as the phase's
provenance, cited throughout as Ψ.1–Ψ.7:
> **Ψ.1** — item and track captures should be named (labeled) after their source track
> name, plus a discriminator (date, etc.); currently they aren't named anything useful.
> **Ψ.2** — Design vs. Arrange modes: any SOLO state in one mode is cached and removed
> when switching to another mode, disjoining the solo surfaces.
> **Ψ.3** — the Design/Arrange active-mode toggle is gated if playback is running; only
> allow the switch when the project is not playing.
> **Ψ.4** — the action that moves a Media Explorer item to a new ReaSampler on the
> selected track is not in the Media Explorer action category, so it cannot be added to
> the Media Explorer toolbar; fix this.
> **Ψ.5** — drag-and-drop targets are inexact: sometimes dropping into the arrange
> doesn't work, sometimes dropping into the FX area doesn't work; dragging between banks
> is fine.
> **Ψ.6** — capture into mono: if the left and right channels of a new capture are
> bit-identical, collapse to mono — one channel of data, mono arrange items, ReaSamplers
> load in mono mode.
> **Ψ.7** — capture item / capture track with a small time selection on a large item
> captures the entire item, not the selection/razor; make capture regions consistent and
> correct.
**Where the seven land:**
| Ψ-item | Track | Worktree slug |
|---|---|---|
| Ψ.7 | Ψ-W1-T1 | `ppsi-w1-t1-capture-range-exactness` |
| Ψ.2 + Ψ.3 | Ψ-W1-T2 | `ppsi-w1-t2-mode-switch-discipline` |
| Ψ.4 | Ψ-W1-T3 | `ppsi-w1-t3-media-explorer-section` |
| Ψ.5 | Ψ-W1-T4 | `ppsi-w1-t4-drop-target-resolution` |
| Ψ.1 | Ψ-W2-T1 | `ppsi-w2-t1-capture-naming` |
| Ψ.6 | Ψ-W2-T2 | `ppsi-w2-t2-mono-collapse` |
**Ψ-W3 is not one of the seven** — opened mid-phase, after Ψ-W2's review surfaced that
the track scope carried the same multi-track stem-collapse hole Ψ-W1-T1 had just closed
for item scope. It consolidates none of the original seven and carries no `Ψ-item` row
above; see Ψ-W3 below.
**All three waves have landed — Phase Ψ is complete.** W1 and W2 each carry their own
landed notes below; W3 carries its own too. See `docs/COMPLETED.md` for every track's
full narrative. **None of the seven tracks is DAW-verified** — all are code-complete and
unit-tested, several resting on a shared unverified inference about how REAPER's
selected-tracks render source interacts with custom time bounds, which Ψ-W3-T1's
refusal now also rests on; each track's DAW-verification obligation is restated inline
below.
Ψ.2 and Ψ.3 share one track deliberately: they share one chokepoint — `applyMode`, the
sole mode mutator (`shell/view/view.cpp:380-469`) — and one discriminator
(`targetModeId != model.activeModeId()`, the test that distinguishes a real switch from a
reapply). Splitting them is two tracks fighting over the same function.
**Concurrency with Γ and Ξ.** Phase Ψ is extension-side. Γ and Ξ-W3 live in
`core/instrument/` + `shell/instrument/`; the surfaces are disjoint with ONE named
exception — Ψ-W2-T2 touches `shell/instrument/processor_reload.cpp` for a stale comment
and an index/file consistency check, and that touch is bounded to the minimum in its
surface boundary precisely because Γ is live in that directory.
**Three invariant amendments were DELIVERABLES of this phase, not asides.** Each landed
in its owning track, as an acceptance criterion of that track:
1. **The never-touch-solo rule** (Ψ-W1-T2): `src/shell/view/CLAUDE.md:14-17`,
`src/core/view/CLAUDE.md:10`, and `docs/product/design-view.md:160-165` + `:588-592`.
Ψ.2 requires writing `I_SOLO`; the amended form is stated in the track. A track that
lands solo writes without the amendment reads as an invariant breach in review.
2. **The action-registration contract** (Ψ-W1-T3): root `CLAUDE.md`
§"REAPER extension contract" documents only the main-section 4-step pattern; the
second, non-main mechanism (`custom_action` + `hookcommand2` + `-custom_action`
mirror) must be added beside it.
3. **The channel-count-preserved rule** (Ψ-W2-T2): root `CLAUDE.md:208` — "channel count
preserved (no silent stereo fold)" — is contradicted in text (not in spirit) by a
lossless bit-identical collapse, and was already untrue in the other direction (a mono
source renders at `RENDER_CHANNELS=2` today). The amended form is stated in the track.
**Performance posture.** Every Ψ surface is cold — per-capture, per-click,
per-mode-switch, per-mouse-move. None of the named hot paths (peaks envelope compute,
audition, realtime-capture tick, instrument `process()`) is touched. Two disciplines
carry anyway: the realtime tick's single-pointer-test idle fast path is untouched by
Ψ-W1-T1's render work, and Ψ-W1-T4 keeps the inside-client drag path free of SDK
hit-tests, exactly as today (`panel_drag.cpp:273-274` — "costs nothing on the common
internal-drag path").
---
### Ψ-W1 — Exact bounds, disciplined switches, reachable actions, resolved drops
**Depends on:** nothing in this phase.
#### Ψ-W1-T1 — `capture-range-exactness`
**Landed** — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative. A ranged item capture now
renders exactly the requested window instead of the whole item, by re-sourcing through
the selected-tracks render when the item extent does not already print the window.
**Deviation:** the spec named two candidate architectures (re-source vs. render-then-
trim); the engineer shipped a conditional form of the re-source candidate — the
full-extent case runs literally unchanged code, keeping the byte-identity regression
floor structural and the fix cheap to revert if the override inference proves wrong.
Also landed: a transient isolation guard (cutting `B_MAINSEND` on direct folder
children, muting receives) so an item capture stays true to item scope, and a
post-render frame-count gate (±1 tolerance, tail-None only) that refuses a widened
render and retains it outside the bank for diagnosis rather than deleting it. New modules `core/capture/render_window`, `core/capture/track_topology`,
`shell/capture/render_selection`, `shell/capture/render_isolation`. The whole fix rests
on the unverified inference that REAPER's selected-tracks render source overrides
custom time bounds — Ψ-W3-T1 (below) now also depends on it. **DAW-verification
obligation, unmet:** the four-cell scope × selection-type matrix over a source item
substantially longer than the selection (tail None), plus one razor-union case — none of
it run in a live REAPER session yet.
#### Ψ-W1-T2 — `mode-switch-discipline`
**Landed** — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative. Per-mode SOLO surfaces now
cache, clear, and restore across a Design/Arrange switch, with the switch itself
refused, visibly, while the transport is playing or recording. The never-touch-solo
invariant — stated three times (`src/shell/view/CLAUDE.md`, `src/core/view/CLAUDE.md`,
`docs/product/design-view.md`) — is amended, in this track, to the snapshot sense of
non-destructive: solo is cached per mode on a real switch and restored verbatim, not
left untouched absolutely the way `B_MUTE` and the master track are. Also closed: a
pre-existing bug where a footer mode-segment click never persisted view state. New
`core/view/solo_cache`, `shell/view/view_solo`. **DAW-verification obligation, unmet:**
the disjoint-surface solo matrix, the playback-gated refusal (playing and recording),
and the panel-persist case — none run in a live REAPER session yet.
#### Ψ-W1-T3 — `media-explorer-section`
**Landed** — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative. The Media Explorer import
action now registers into REAPER's Media Explorer action section (32063) via
`custom_action` + `hookcommand2`, alongside its existing Main-section entry so existing
keybindings survive — a second FOREVER-STABLE id, `INGEST_IMPORT_MEDIA_EXPLORER_MX`,
minted per channel. Root `CLAUDE.md`'s "REAPER extension contract" is amended, in this
track, with the second, non-main registration mechanism beside the original four-step
main-section pattern. **DAW-verification obligation, unmet:** adding the action to the
Media Explorer toolbar and firing it from there; confirming the Main-section binding
still fires; and confirming unload/reload does not leak a duplicate Media Explorer entry
(the `-custom_action` unload mirror is unconfirmed against the SDK header) — none run in
a live REAPER session yet.
#### Ψ-W1-T4 — `drop-target-resolution`
**Landed** — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative. The drag-out gesture is now
a per-move, stateless law: target class resolves from what is under the cursor on every
move, every class transition is reversible until release or until the pointer leaves
REAPER, and the OS hand-off is reserved for leaving REAPER entirely — the whole TCP/MCP
is now an instrument-drop hotspot, and a single-card arrange drop lands a timeline item
at the pointer's track and time. New `shell/actions/arrange_drop_win`.
**DAW-verification obligation, unmet:** the full target-class matrix (single- and
multi-card), reversibility across a drag that crosses the arrange en route to an FX
window, drag-speed independence, and the narrow-TCP case — none run in a live REAPER
session yet.
---
### Ψ-W2 — Names and channels, over the settled render block
**Depends on Ψ-W1 — specifically Ψ-W1-T1**, which rewrites the capture
render-configuration block in `shell/capture/capture.cpp` and
`core/capture/render_settings.cpp`; both W2 tracks edit adjacent regions of those same
TUs, so W2 dispatches only after W1-T1 is on `dev`. (T2T4 of W1 gate nothing here; the
wave boundary is the file collision, not a semantic dependency.)
#### Ψ-W2-T1 — `capture-naming`
**Landed** — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative. Captures are now named
after their source track's name plus a discriminator
(`<Track> [+N] [#ordinal] MM-DD HHMM`) at every interactive mint site, with the name
shown on the panel card over a scrim clearing the 4.5:1 contrast floor. New
`core/capture/capture_name`. Recapture, ingest, and the bake deliberately keep their own
naming — the bake's naming-and-lineage open question stays Ξ-W1-T1's/Ξ-W2-T1's to close,
untouched here. **DAW-verification obligation, unmet:** capturing from a named track, an
unnamed track, and a multi-item selection, and confirming the labels show on the card
and in the instrument — none run in a live REAPER session yet.
#### Ψ-W2-T2 — `mono-collapse`
**Landed** — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative. A capture whose channels
are bit-identical now collapses losslessly to one mono channel, written via temp file
plus atomic rename, with `Sample::channelCount` measured off the landed file rather than
echoed from the request on every capture path — including realtime, which previously
parsed the layout and echoed the request anyway. Root `CLAUDE.md:208`'s
channel-count-preserved invariant is amended, in this track, to the landed wording:
channel count preserved, except that bit-identical channels may collapse losslessly to
mono; a lossy fold remains forbidden. The `shell/instrument/processor_reload.cpp` touch
stayed to the minimum named in its surface boundary (Phase Γ was live in that
directory). **Open, not closed here:** whether bake landings collapse too — `[propose]`,
leaning yes, still deferred to be confirmed against what Ξ-W2-T1 actually shipped.
**DAW-verification obligation, unmet:** capturing a dead-center mono source and a
true-stereo source, inserting both, loading both into the instrument, and running the
null test on the collapsed one (REAPER's mono-item-on-stereo-track summing at unity is
the specific thing to confirm) — none run in a live REAPER session yet.
---
### Ψ-W3 — Closing the track-scope stem-collapse hole
**Depends on Ψ-W2 for:** existing at all — this wave did not exist when the phase was
scoped. Daniel opened it after Ψ-W2's review surfaced that the track scope carried the
same multi-track stem-collapse hole Ψ-W1-T1 had just closed for item scope.
**One track. Consolidates none of the seven** — it came from a review finding, not from
Ψ.1–Ψ.7.
#### Ψ-W3-T1 — `track-scope-range`
**Landed** — see `docs/COMPLETED.md` for the full narrative. Any multi-track
selected-tracks render now refuses, in both scopes, keyed on the render *source* rather
than the capture scope — closing the hole Ψ-W1-T1 left open for track scope. Realtime
deliberately diverges and was left untouched, because it sums correctly. The refusal
rests on the same unverified inference Ψ-W1-T1 rests on — that REAPER's selected-tracks
render source overrides custom time bounds — so if that inference is wrong, this refusal
costs a working capture. `docs/verify-track-scope-multitrack.md` is a new standalone
verification script on this branch, for this track's multi-track refusal specifically.
**DAW-verification obligation, unmet:** confirmed nowhere in a live REAPER session yet.
---
## Phase Ε — The bank package: one file that carries a bank between projects
**Ships:** a bank exported to a single version-tagged `.rsbank` file — audio bytes
byte-exact, index metadata intact — and imported into another project's bank folder and
index, with a compatibility policy that names both directions concretely: an older package
in a newer build always imports, a newer package in an older build refuses whole with an
actionable message, and neither direction is ever a partial landing.
**Consolidates: none of the seventeen.** Phase Ε came from a direct request (Daniel,
2026-08-02) and is scoped in `docs/product/bank-package.md`. Nothing in `docs/TODO.md` or
`docs/TODO-1.0.md` records export, import, or a package format — a sweep of `docs/` for
`export|package|portable` returns only unrelated matches (prune's portable move-to-trash,
MIDI-playback prose) — so this phase **supersedes nothing and absorbs nothing.**
**Three forks were opened at framing and all three are RULED** (Daniel, 2026-08-02). The
rationale for each — including why two went against the framing recommendation — is
recorded at `docs/product/bank-package.md` §"Rulings"; the binding specification for each
is in the section of that doc named below.
| Fork | Ruling | Specified in | Bound into |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Ε-F1** | **Proprietary container** — the hand-rolled `RSBK`. ZIP via the vendored MiniZip64 (`vendor/WDL/WDL/zlib/`) and a hand-written stored-only ZIP shape are both rejected and are not to be revisited in this phase | §"The container" | Ε-W1-T1 |
| **Ε-F2** | **Import always lands as a new bank**, with an automatic numeric suffix on a display-name collision — no prompt, no overwrite. Merge-into-existing is **out of scope for Phase Ε**, not deferred | §"Identity and collision on import", incl. the auto-suffix rule | Ε-W2-T2 |
| **Ε-F3** | **Refuse** the import when the tracking ledger is degraded. No confirm-and-proceed path, no opt-out | §"Import under a degraded tracking ledger" | Ε-W2-T2 |
**No Ε track is gated on a decision.** Every track in this phase is dispatchable as
written.
### Phase-Ε acceptance criteria
These bind every track in this phase, in addition to the plan-wide set above.
- **Byte-exact round-trip is the phase's trust anchor.** Export → import → export yields
byte-identical payloads, and the `hashBytes` digest of every landed file equals the digest
recorded at export. Frame count, sample rate, bit depth, and channel count are untouched on
both sides. **No re-encode anywhere:** `wav_codec` may be called to hash and to read
metadata already recorded, never to rebuild, trim, normalize, or collapse. The mono collapse
is a capture-path behaviour and must not reach the import path — the same exclusion ingest
already carries (root `CLAUDE.md`, exact-bounds invariant).
- **The format cannot express a path.** Manifest entries are bare file names — no directory
component, no `..`, no drive letter, no leading separator — validated on encode *and*
decode. Relative-paths-only becomes structural rather than remembered, and the
archive-traversal bug class closes by construction.
- **Import places no timeline item.** Capture and placement stay separate acts; import is a
capture-shaped act, not a placement one.
- **Import never overwrites and never deletes an existing bank-folder file.** The one
deletion path is the rollback of files *this call wrote* that no index ever referenced —
the documented carve-out at `src/shell/persist/prune_fs.cpp:5-11`, which every track
touching it must **cite, not restate**.
- **Export is read-only against the project.** No ext-state write, no `bumpBankGeneration()`,
no undo point. Import does the opposite: it bumps the generation
(`src/shell/persist/session.h:121`) so live ReaSampler 9000 instances reload, and batches
its index mutation into one Ctrl-Z through `persistBankOp`.
- **All-or-nothing on both sides.** No partial export, no partial import. A truncated
`.rsbank` must never exist on disk (temp file + atomic rename, the Ψ-W2-T2 precedent); a
half-imported bank must never exist in the index (rollback).
- **At most one entry's payload in memory at a time**, on both paths. The pure codec owns
framing and offset arithmetic; the shell owns the stream. A whole-package
`vector<uint8_t>` on either side is a rejected shape, not an optimization opportunity.
- **The pure planners take value inputs, never a handle.** The decoded manifest, the
destination `BankBook`, and the set of names present in the bank folder cross the seam as
values. No `ReaSamplerSession&`, no service container, no "pass the thing that has
everything" reaches `core/package/`. If a circular dependency appears during the build, the
fix is a service split or a thin interface — **not** parameter propagation, and **not** a
base class gaining a dependency that grows its subclasses' constructors.
- **Every pure module gets a `<module>_tests` target** that runs without REAPER or a DAW.
The whole collision/version rule set is expressible as pure functions over strings and
hashes; if a rule can only be tested through the shell, the seam is in the wrong place.
**Performance posture.** Every surface in this phase is cold — per-gesture, once. None of
the named hot paths (peaks envelope compute, audition, realtime-capture tick, instrument
`process()`) is touched by any track here. The one performance fact that *is* load-bearing is
the memory criterion above, and it is stated as a structural constraint rather than a
guardrail because exceeding it does not slow the feature down, it makes it fail.
**Concurrency with Γ and Λ.** Phase Ε is extension-side and lands almost entirely in **two
new directories** (`src/core/package/`, `src/shell/package/`) that no other phase touches.
Γ lives in `core/instrument/` + `shell/instrument/`; Λ is being specced concurrently and is
not read here. The only pre-existing files any Ε track edits are named per track below —
`core/tracking/origin_ledger` (W1-T3, exclusively), the root `CMakeLists.txt`
`add_subdirectory` list (W1-T1 and W1-T2, one line each), `src/app/main.cpp` and the panel's
bank menu (W2-T1 and W2-T2, one registration line and one menu row each),
`core/model/bank_book.{h,cpp}` (W2-T2 only — **one additive public `const` member**, required
by the Ε-F2 auto-suffix rule so the name fold keeps its single home), and
`shell/persist/session.h` (W2-T2 only — one additive public accessor, `ledgerStatus()`, so the
import gate can key on `LedgerStatus` alone without going through `pruneDryRun()`'s
enumeration+scan). **No Ε track touches `core/instrument/`, `shell/instrument/`, or any
capture backend.**
---
### Ε-W1 — The contract, the filesystem, and the ledger's new kind
**Depends on:** nothing in this phase. **Three tracks, disjoint by directory** — the split is
by *what each track's inputs are*, which is why they genuinely parallelize: T1 knows only
bytes and structs, T2 knows only paths and bytes, T3 knows only the ledger.
| Track | Owns |
|---|---|
| **T1** `package-format` | the whole of the new `src/core/package/` **except** `export_plan` / `import_plan` (W2's), plus its `CMakeLists.txt` and `CLAUDE.md` |
| **T2** `package-fs-shell` | the whole of the new `src/shell/package/` **except** `export_bank` / `import_bank` (W2's), plus its `CMakeLists.txt` and `CLAUDE.md` |
| **T3** `import-origin-kind` | `src/core/tracking/origin_ledger.{h,cpp}` and its tests, exclusively |
**One shared file in the wave, named rather than discovered at merge:** the root
`CMakeLists.txt` `add_subdirectory` list — T1 appends `src/core/package`, T2 appends
`src/shell/package`. Two append-only lines in one list: **textual merge adjacency, not
semantic contention.** Whichever lands second rebases.
**All three tracks are dispatchable now.** T1 carries the Ε-F1 ruling — the container is the
hand-rolled `RSBK`, decided, not a candidate T1 chooses among. T2 and T3 never depended on
that ruling anyway: T2's API is bytes-in/bytes-out regardless of what those bytes mean, and
T3 touches no package code at all.
#### Ε-W1-T1 — `package-format`
**Goal.** The container and its version ladder, entirely pure — the contract every later
track consumes, landed once so nothing downstream re-litigates the shape.
**Spec:** `docs/product/bank-package.md` §"The container", §"Version tagging", §"What a
package carries", §"What a package deliberately does NOT carry", §"Memory".
**Surface boundary — owns:** new `src/core/package/package_format` (the magic, the header
layout, `kPackageFormatVersion`, `kPackageMinReaderVersion`, and
`classifyPackageVersion(formatVersion, minReader) -> Readable | TooNew | Malformed`), new
`src/core/package/package_manifest` (the manifest model + its JSON codec), new
`src/core/package/bank_package` (header encode, prefix decode, entry-layout arithmetic), the
directory's `CMakeLists.txt` and `CLAUDE.md`, and one appended `add_subdirectory` line in the
root `CMakeLists.txt`. **Does not own:** `export_plan` / `import_plan` (Ε-W2), anything under
`shell/`, `core/model`, or `core/tracking`.
**Behavior.**
- **The container is the hand-rolled `RSBK` (Ε-F1, ruled).** Magic `RSBK`, a fixed
little-endian header carrying the two version fields, a length-prefixed JSON manifest, then
each entry's payload concatenated in manifest order. Framing is built on `core/wire/bytes.h`
(`putLE` / `ByteReader`) and the manifest on `core/json` — both already owned and tested
here. **No ZIP, no compressor, no new third-party source in the build**; a link edge to
`vendor/WDL/WDL/zlib/` means the ruling was misread.
- **Two version integers, not one.** `formatVersion` = what this writer emitted;
`minReaderVersion` = the oldest reader that can read it safely. The reader's whole rule is
`minReaderVersion <= kPackageFormatVersion`. An **additive** change (a new optional
manifest key, a new `Sample` field with a defined absent-value) bumps `formatVersion`
only; a **structural** change bumps both. **Growing a persisted enum's vocabulary is
structural here, not additive** — `BankModel::deserialize` *rejects* an out-of-range
`SourceMode` or `Tier` rather than degrading it (`bank_model.cpp:232-239`, `:339-346`),
and every enum a package carries rides inside the nested `BankModel` blob, so a new
`SourceMode` or `Tier` value bumps both integers. The header carries the writer's semver
(`version::stampVersion()`) alongside them, informational, so a refusal message can name
what to install.
- **The ladder is documented the way `origin_ledger.cpp:8-21` documents its own** — a header
comment listing every shipped version and what changed, with the read-and-validate rule
stated, not implied.
- **Unknown manifest keys are skipped** (the `bank_book_json.cpp:182` behaviour), and
**unknown persisted enum integers — the manifest's own, not `BankModel`'s nested ones, which
reject per the bullet above — degrade to their defined `Unknown` equivalent**, never to
the numeric default and never to a parse failure (`core/wire/CLAUDE.md`'s `BakeStatus` rule,
verbatim). Both are pinned by tests, not left to inheritance.
- **The manifest nests `BankModel`'s own serialization verbatim**, exactly as
`bank_book_json.cpp:15-20` nests it, so per-sample shape has one owner and a future
`Sample` field reaches packages for free. Per entry the manifest adds only: the bare file
name, the byte length, and a `hashBytes` digest (`core/capture/wav_codec.h:143`) —
`hashBytes`, **not** `hashWavContent`, because the latter deliberately skips chunks
(`wav_codec.h:145-151`) and so cannot answer "did these bytes survive."
- **The bank's `slot_map` rides along** — display positions are part of what the user built.
- **Framing only, never a payload.** `bank_package` produces the header bytes and an ordered
`[{ name, offset, length }]` layout; it never holds, copies, or hashes an entry's audio.
Decode is symmetric: prefix in, manifest + layout out.
- **Path expression is structurally impossible.** Entry names are validated to contain no
`/`, `\`, `:`, no leading separator, and no `..` component, on both encode and decode.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- `decodePackage(encodePackage(x)) == x` over a manifest fixture exercising every field,
including every `Sample` optional in both present and absent states.
- A synthetic header with `minReaderVersion` above this build classifies `TooNew` and **no
manifest is produced** — the decode does not half-succeed.
- A synthetic header with `formatVersion` above this build but `minReaderVersion` at or below
it classifies `Readable`, and its unknown manifest keys are skipped without error. This is
the additive-forward-compatibility claim, and it is the reason the two-integer design
exists; a test that does not exercise it leaves the design unproven.
- Truncated input at every byte offset in a valid package returns `Malformed` — never UB,
never a partial manifest, never a read past the buffer. Hostile-input hardening at the
`bank_model.h:204-206` standard.
- Entry names containing `..`, a separator, or an absolute prefix are rejected on encode
*and* rejected on decode. Both directions, because a package can arrive from anywhere.
- No file in the new directory exceeds ~600 lines; the three-module split above is the
responsibility seam, and a fourth module is preferred over a bisection if one is needed.
- `package_format_tests`, `package_manifest_tests`, `bank_package_tests` all run without
REAPER or a DAW.
**Open questions.** **No [Daniel] questions — Ε-F1 is RULED** (proprietary `RSBK`), so this
track is dispatchable as written. **[propose at review]** whether `package_format` and
`bank_package` are genuinely two modules or one — the split is proposed on responsibility
grounds (constants and classification vs. offset arithmetic) and may collapse if the
arithmetic turns out to be twenty lines.
#### Ε-W1-T2 — `package-fs-shell`
**Goal.** Every filesystem and dialog act the two verbs need, landed behind an API that knows
nothing about what a package contains — so it can be authored, reviewed, and tested in
parallel with the format it will carry.
**Spec:** `docs/product/bank-package.md` §"Where it lives", §"Failure modes", §"Memory".
**Surface boundary — owns:** new `src/shell/package/package_io` (read a file's bytes, write
bytes through temp + atomic rename, read one bank file, write one landed file, enumerate the
bank folder's existing names, and the rollback delete), the file-picker seam for both verbs —
**one picker, REAPER's own, on every platform**, so this track carries **no**
`#ifdef _WIN32` / `#else swell/swell.h` split. That split is a real pattern in this codebase
(`src/shell/panel/draw_kit.cpp:11-15`, `src/shell/persist/prune_fs.cpp:35-38`); it is simply
not this track's shape, because REAPER owns the dialog. Also owns the
directory's `CMakeLists.txt` and `CLAUDE.md`, and one appended `add_subdirectory` line in the
root `CMakeLists.txt`. **Does not own:** `export_bank` / `import_bank` (Ε-W2), anything under
`core/`, and — emphatically — `prune_fs`, which stays the deletion authority.
**Behavior.**
- **Atomic write.** A package is written to a temp path in the destination directory and
renamed on complete success. A failed or interrupted write leaves no `.rsbank` behind. This
is the mono-collapse precedent (Ψ-W2-T2, temp file + atomic rename) applied to a much
larger file.
- **Streaming, both ways.** Append one payload at a time on write; seek and read one payload
at a time on read. The API must make holding the whole package awkward, not merely
discouraged.
- **The rollback delete is the carve-out, cited.** Its TU header cites
`src/shell/persist/prune_fs.cpp:5-11` and states the discriminator it satisfies — this call
created the file, and no index ever referenced it — rather than restating the carve-out's
text. Anything that does not satisfy that discriminator is not this function's business.
- **Both pickers are REAPER's own, and they are symmetric.** `GetUserFileName(int mode,
const char* caption, const char* initial_file_or_path, const char* extension_list, char*
fnOutNeedBig, int fnOutNeedBig_sz)` — **verified**,
`vendor/reaper-sdk/sdk/reaper_plugin_functions.h:3790`, documented at `:3788` — serves
both directions: `mode=0` ("choose a new file") is export's destination picker, `mode=1`
("existing file") is import's source picker. `extension_list` takes the
`'ReaSampler banks|*.rsbank|All files|*.*'` form, and `initial_file_or_path` may be a bare
`'.rsbank'` to set the default extension. There is **no `#ifdef _WIN32` / SWELL split and
no wide-char round trip here** — REAPER owns the dialog on every platform, so no
`GetSaveFileNameW` and no `BrowseForSaveFile`. `GetUserFileNameForRead` is explicitly
"Superseded, see GetUserFileName" (`:3796`) and is not used.
- **No fallback path.** `src/app/main.cpp:15` defines `REAPERAPI_IMPLEMENT` *without*
`REAPERAPI_MINIMAL`, so the resolver walks the full table — `GetUserFileName` included
(`reaper_plugin_functions.h:9084`) — and `main.cpp:292-293` aborts the extension load if
any single function fails to resolve. No REAPER build that loads this extension can lack
`GetUserFileName`, which makes a fallback unreachable code.
- **No REAPER project state is touched here.** No ext-state read or write, no undo block, no
generation bump; those belong to the verbs in Ε-W2.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- A write interrupted before completion leaves the destination path absent or holding its
prior contents — never a partial new file. Tested by injecting a failure at the writer seam.
- Reading and writing a multi-entry package never holds more than one entry's payload; the
test asserts against a seam counter, not against a memory measurement.
- The rollback deletes exactly the files it was given and nothing else, and is a no-op on a
path it did not write.
- **There is exactly one picker call site and it is REAPER's.** Both verbs reach
`GetUserFileName` — export with `mode=0`, import with `mode=1` — and no symbol named
`GetSaveFileNameW`, `BrowseForSaveFile`, or `GetUserFileNameForRead` appears anywhere in
`src/shell/package/`, nor any platform `#ifdef` in the picker's TU. Greppable, so it stays
true. `[verify — DAW]` — the picker is not exercised in a live REAPER session by this track.
- No file exceeds ~600 lines; the picker lives in its own TU with its own header. **Not** for
the `drag_out` / `drag_out_win` reason — that precedent isolates a *Win32-only* TU, and
there is no platform split here — but because the picker is the only REAPER-facing part of
an otherwise REAPER-free, unit-tested module: folding it into a shared header would drag
`reaper_plugin_functions.h` into the testable seam's include graph.
**Open questions.** **[propose at review]** where the `extension_list` and default-extension
strings live — this track's picker TU, or the Ε-W2 verbs that call it. They are user-facing
text, and the verbs own the rest of the user-facing text; the counter-argument is that they
are picker plumbing and only one picker exists. **[verify — DAW]** two things the header does
not answer: (1) whether the `mode=0` picker **appends** an extension when the user types a
bare name — `:3788` documents that `initial_file_or_path` may be `'.rsbank'` "to set the
default extension," but not that the dialog enforces it on return, so the verb may still have
to append `.rsbank` itself; (2) **dialog parenting** — `GetUserFileName`'s signature
(`:3790`) takes no owner window, where the abandoned Win32 `OPENFILENAME` path would have
passed `GetMainHwnd()`, so modality against the REAPER main window is unobserved.
#### Ε-W1-T3 — `import-origin-kind`
**Goal.** Give the ledger a birth-record kind for a package import, so an imported file is
tracked from the moment it lands rather than becoming a permanently unreclaimable foreign
file — landed as its own track, with its own review, because it edits safety-critical
territory that nothing else in this phase touches.
**Spec:** `docs/product/bank-package.md` §"What a package deliberately does NOT carry" (the
origin-ledger bullet); `src/core/tracking/CLAUDE.md` for the invariants it must not weaken.
**Surface boundary — owns:** `src/core/tracking/origin_ledger.{h,cpp}` and its tests,
exclusively. **Does not own:** `tracking_authority` (no decision changes), `shell/persist`,
or any consumer.
**Behavior.**
- **Append `OriginKind::PackageImport` as value 5.** Append only — `Capture`=1, `Ingest`=2,
`Recapture`=3, `Resample`=4 keep their integers, per `core/tracking/CLAUDE.md`'s
"PERSISTED INTEGERS — never renumber, only append".
- **A build that does not know value 5 degrades it to `Unknown`**, which is the existing
`kindFromInt` behaviour and is the safe direction: the path is still owned, so still
protected; only the kind detail is lost. This is the *field-vocabulary* rule, and it must
stay distinct from the *document-version* rule right beside it, which blocks
(`origin_ledger.cpp:18-21`).
- **Nothing else changes.** No new field, no version bump, no lineage semantics. A new enum
value in an append-only vocabulary is precisely the change that does **not** need `"v"` to
move, and demonstrating that is part of the point.
- **`recordCreated` needs no signature change** — it already takes an `OriginKind`
(`src/shell/persist/session.h:95`). Confirm that in the same pass; if it turns out
otherwise, that discovery is this track's, not Ε-W2's.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- A ledger containing a kind-5 record round-trips through serialize/deserialize unchanged.
- A record carrying an *unrecognized* kind integer (6, 99, negative) loads as `Unknown` and
the ledger loads `Loaded`, not `Unreadable` — the vocabulary gap does not halt prune.
- `kLedgerVersion` is **unchanged** at 2, and a test asserts it, so the append-vs-bump
distinction is pinned rather than assumed.
- `pruneProtection`'s output is unchanged for every existing kind — this track alters no
decision.
**Open questions.** **[propose at review]** whether the kind is named `PackageImport` or
folded onto the existing `Ingest`. The plan's recommendation is a distinct value: `Ingest`
means "the user brought in a file," which is close, but losing the distinction makes a future
"where did this bank come from" question unanswerable, and an appended integer costs nothing.
---
### Ε-W2 — The two verbs
**Depends on Ε-W1 — all three tracks.** T1 for the format the verbs speak, T2 for every
filesystem act they perform, T3 for the kind their birth records carry. No part of either
verb is authorable against a format that has not settled.
**Two tracks, disjoint by direction.** They share only the manifest type. The split is real
enough that the plan **pre-split the pure planner into two TUs** (`export_plan` /
`import_plan`) rather than one `package_plan` — that separation exists specifically so these
two tracks do not fight over a file.
| Track | Owns |
|---|---|
| **T1** `bank-export` | `core/package/export_plan`, `shell/package/export_bank`, `shell/actions/package_export_action` |
| **T2** `bank-import` | `core/package/import_plan`, `shell/package/import_bank`, `shell/actions/package_import_action`, the panel's `.rsbank` drop route |
**Two shared files, named — and the disjointness here is CONDITIONAL, unlike W1's.**
`src/app/main.cpp` (one action-family registration line each) and the panel's bank menu (one
row each). Both are textual adjacency by construction, but Phase Ψ set the precedent of
granting `main.cpp` to a single track rather than sharing it (Ψ-W1-T3). **If the dispatcher
wants zero contention, serialize T2 behind T1** — T2 is the larger track and loses nothing by
starting second. The plan's default is to run them in parallel and rebase whichever lands
second.
#### Ε-W2-T1 — `bank-export`
**Goal.** One bank leaves the project as one file, or the export refuses and says why.
**Spec:** `docs/product/bank-package.md` §"Failure modes" (export rows), §"What a package
carries".
**Surface boundary — owns:** new `core/package/export_plan` (pure: which entries, what
names, what is missing, and therefore whether the export may proceed), new
`shell/package/export_bank` (the promptless verb — takes a `ReaSamplerSession&`, returns an
outcome, **no prompts and no message boxes**, mirroring `src/shell/bank_ops/`), new
`shell/actions/package_export_action` (the bindable-action skin, mirroring `prune_action`),
one registration line in `src/app/main.cpp`, one panel menu row. **Does not own:** anything
on the import side, `bank_ops`, or `persist`.
**Behavior.**
- **The exported unit is one bank** — the pool included, since the pool is structurally a bank
(`core/model/CLAUDE.md`'s pool-privileges section). Whole-book export is an explicit
non-goal of this phase and is preserved as an additive future by the manifest's shape, not
by a promise.
- **Refuse-if-incomplete, report-before-acting.** An index entry whose file is missing or
unreadable stops the export by default; the "export the N present entries" path exists only
behind an explicit confirm that lists what is absent, distinguishing missing from
unreadable. This is prune's dry-run-then-confirm discipline applied to a non-destructive
act, and it is deliberate: a silently-incomplete package is discovered on the far side, in
another project, weeks later.
- **The project is not touched.** No ext-state write, no generation bump, no undo point. An
export that mutates project state is a defect, and the acceptance criteria name it as one.
- **Nothing is re-encoded.** Payload bytes are copied and hashed. `wav_codec` is not asked to
rebuild anything.
- **A new FOREVER-STABLE command id** is minted through `version::channelCommandId(suffix)`
per the root `CLAUDE.md` action contract, with its per-channel display name through
`channelActionName`.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- `planExport` is pure and total over its inputs: a bank with a missing file, an unreadable
file, zero samples, and one sample all classify without touching a filesystem.
- Exporting a bank and re-reading the package yields, for every entry, a `hashBytes` digest
equal to the source file's — asserted per entry, not in aggregate.
- The exported manifest contains no absolute path and no path separator, asserted by a test
that scans the emitted bytes rather than by inspecting the model.
- A failure injected mid-write leaves no `.rsbank` at the destination and the prior file, if
any, intact.
- Project ext state is byte-identical before and after an export, and `bankGeneration()` is
unchanged — a direct assertion, because "we did not mean to write anything" is not a
property that survives without one.
- Exporting an empty bank produces a valid, importable package with zero entries rather than
refusing. An empty bank is a legitimate thing to carry.
**Open questions — both answered at implementation review, recorded at
`docs/product/bank-package.md` §"Implementation decisions — Ε-W2-T1".** Affordance:
**both** the action and the panel row (the action is the only spelling that can reach
the pool; the panel row is the direct gesture on a named bank). Default file name:
the bank's **display name**, sanitized through `capture_paths::sanitizeStem`, as
recommended.
#### Ε-W2-T2 — `bank-import`
**Goal.** A package becomes a **new** bank in this project — completely, or not at all —
with every one of the four collision classes answered explicitly rather than by whatever the
model happens to do.
**Spec:** `docs/product/bank-package.md` §"Identity and collision on import" (including the
auto-suffix rule), §"Failure modes" (import rows), §"Import under a degraded tracking
ledger", §"Version tagging: both directions".
**Surface boundary — owns:** new `core/package/import_plan` (pure: the id remap table, the
parent remap, the per-entry write / skip-already-present / rename disposition, the
destination bank name after uniqueness folding), new `shell/package/import_bank` (the
promptless verb), new `shell/actions/package_import_action`, the panel's `WM_DROPFILES` route
for a `.rsbank` (routing only — the existing ingest route for audio files is untouched), one
registration line in `src/app/main.cpp`, one panel menu row, and — the **only** `core/model/`
edit in the phase — **one additive public `const` member on `BankBook`** (recommended
`std::string uniqueDisplayName(const std::string& seed) const`), so the auto-suffix probe runs
behind the model's own name fold. **Does not own:** anything on the export side,
`bank_book`'s *rules* (consumed, never re-implemented — the new member exposes the existing
fold, it does not add a second one), `origin_ledger` (Ε-W1-T3's).
**Behavior.**
- **The ledger guard runs FIRST — before the file picker opens (Ε-F3, ruled: refuse).** If
`tracking::ledgerDegraded(status)` holds for the project's loaded ledger status
(`Unreadable` or `FutureVersion`; `core/tracking/origin_ledger.h:94`, `:100-101`), the
import **refuses outright** — no picker, no bytes read, no confirm-and-proceed path, no
opt-out. `Fresh` and `Loaded` both proceed. **Do not key this on
`PruneReport::blockedByTracking`**: that flag also fires on undecodable `rsusage_*` keys,
which govern deletion-time protection and have nothing to do with writing birth records.
The refusal is a `ShowConsoleMsg` block mirroring `prune_action.cpp:30-69` in structure and
tone, with two variants (malformed / newer-build) and every recovery line naming **this
build's** namespace through `version::extStateNamespace()`. Exact wording in the spec doc.
**Export is deliberately not gated this way** — that is Ε-W2-T1's, and it stays ungated.
- **Version gate second, before any byte is written.** `minReaderVersion` above this build
refuses the whole package and reports through `ShowMessageBox`
(**verified**, `reaper_plugin_functions.h:6546`) naming three things: the package's
requirement, this build's ceiling, and the writer's semver. Two of the three is not enough
to act on. A malformed or truncated package reports **distinctly** — the two failures have
opposite recoveries, which is exactly why `origin_ledger.cpp:178-185` separates them.
- **Four collisions, four answers.** (1) **Sample id** — remint every id and remap
`Provenance::parentSampleId` (`bank_model.h:45-50`) through the same map, to the reminted
parent when it came in the same package and cleared otherwise; a foreign id never enters
the index. (2) **File name** — never overwrite; mint a fresh unique name through
`capture_paths::deriveBankPaths`, silently, counted in the summary. (3) **Content hash** —
consult `BankModel::findByHash` **before writing the payload**; on a hit, skip the write
entirely and let the entry collapse, so a dedup never manufactures an orphan. (4) **Bank
display name** — **auto-suffix, no prompt** (Ε-F2, ruled). Seed = the package's recorded
source bank name **verbatim** (or the literal `Imported bank` if absent/blank); take the
first of `seed`, `seed + " 2"`, `seed + " 3"`, … whose fold is free in the destination
book, ascending from 2. Four points that decide the behaviour and must not be re-invented:
the seed is **never re-parsed** (`"Drums 2"` colliding lands as `"Drums 2 2"`, not
`"Drums 3"` — a bare trailing integer is indistinguishable from `"Kit 808"`); the probe
**fills gaps** (first-free, not highest-plus-one, so it is a pure function of the current
name set); the probe **terminates** by pigeonhole within `B + 1` candidates for `B` banks,
so **no arbitrary cap**; and the fold is `BankBook`'s own (`bank_book.h:263-269`), reached
through the new public member, never re-implemented in `import_plan`. Sample display names
are **not** suffixed, and `slot_map` positions are untouched.
- **Always a new bank; never a merge (Ε-F2, ruled).** The import creates a bank — it never
merges into an existing one, never lands into the pool, and offers no target picker. A
pool export therefore lands as a **named** bank `"Pool 2"`, which is correct, not a glitch.
This track ships **one** action, not two; merge-into-existing is out of scope for the
phase, and move/copy already cover the after-the-fact case.
- **Birth records at landing.** Every landed file goes through
`ReaSamplerSession::recordCreated(sample, OriginKind::PackageImport)` at the same point the
`Sample` is added, in the same straight-line block, per `core/tracking/CLAUDE.md`'s
no-silent-gaps invariant. An import that lands a file without a record is the exact failure
that section exists to prevent.
- **All-or-nothing, with rollback.** Any failure after the first write deletes the files
*this call wrote* and abandons the index mutation. The rollback cites the
`prune_fs.cpp:5-11` carve-out; it does not restate it, and it does not reach outside the set
it wrote.
- **One Ctrl-Z for the index, and the file residue is stated, not implied.** The index
mutation batches through `persistBankOp` (`Undo_BeginBlock2` / `Undo_EndBlock2`, verified at
`reaper_plugin_functions.h:7758` / `:7806`). Undo does **not** un-write the files; they
remain as orphans until a prune reclaims them — the same designed window a non-empty bank
delete already produces (`core/model/CLAUDE.md`'s sample-removal section). The user-facing
summary says so.
- **`bumpBankGeneration()` on success** (`session.h:121`), so live instances reload.
- **No timeline item is placed. Ever.**
- **A new FOREVER-STABLE command id**, minted the same way T1's is.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- `planImport` is pure and total, and every one of the four collision classes has a test that
exercises it without a filesystem: colliding ids, colliding file names, a hash already
present, and a colliding bank name.
- Importing a package built from bank B back into the project that already contains B lands
a **new** bank named `"B 2"`, with every id reminted, no entry lost, and B itself
unmutated. Importing it a third time lands `"B 3"`.
- The suffix probe is pinned by pure tests over a name set, covering at minimum: a free seed
(no suffix applied), a case/whitespace-folded collision (`"drums"` blocks `"Drums"`), a gap
(`"Drums"` + `"Drums 3"` present ⇒ `"Drums 2"`), a seed that already ends in a number
(`"Drums 2"` colliding ⇒ `"Drums 2 2"`), an absent/blank recorded name (⇒ `Imported bank`),
and a package whose source bank was the pool (⇒ `"Pool 2"`, a named bank).
- A degraded ledger (`Unreadable` and `FutureVersion`, both asserted) refuses the import with
**no picker shown, zero files written, zero index mutation**, and the message names the
channel-correct ext-state namespace. An undecodable `rsusage_*` key with an otherwise
`Loaded` ledger **does not** block — asserted, because the tempting reuse of
`blockedByTracking` would silently make it.
- An entry whose payload fails its `hashBytes` check aborts the import with **zero** files
landed and **zero** index mutation — asserted on both, since either alone would pass a
weaker test.
- A write failure injected at entry k of n leaves exactly zero files from this import on
disk and the index unchanged.
- Every landed file has a ledger birth record with kind `PackageImport`, asserted by reading
the ledger after the import, not by counting calls.
- `minReaderVersion` above the build: nothing written, message names all three facts.
`formatVersion` above the build with `minReaderVersion` at or below it: **imports cleanly**,
unknown keys skipped. Both directions asserted, in this track, against real package bytes.
- No timeline item exists after an import; the arrange is byte-identical.
- **DAW-verification obligation** (to be discharged by Daniel, not by this track): import a
package produced on another machine, confirm the panel shows every sample with its
metadata, confirm a live ReaSampler 9000 instance picks up the new bank content on the
generation bump, and confirm one Ctrl-Z removes the index entries.
**Open questions.** **No [Daniel] questions — Ε-F2 and Ε-F3 are both RULED** (new bank
always with an auto suffix; refuse on a degraded ledger), so this track is dispatchable as
written and ships one action. **[propose at review]** whether the import summary is a console
block, a message box, or both; the recommendation is a console block plus a one-line message
box, so the detail is copyable and the outcome is unmissable. Note the refusal path is
already fixed at a console block by the Ε-F3 spec, so this call is about the *success*
summary only.
---
### Ε-W3 — The compatibility fixtures
**Depends on Ε-W2 for:** both verbs existing. A round-trip claim cannot be tested against one
half of a round trip, and a "this build refuses a future package" claim cannot be tested
against a package this build is incapable of writing.
**One track.** The whole deliverable is one corpus and the harness over it; splitting it
would mean two tracks writing two halves of one fixture set.
#### Ε-W3-T1 — `package-compat-fixtures`
**Goal.** Turn the version-compatibility policy from an assertion in a doc into a property
proven against **frozen bytes**, so a later format change cannot silently break either
direction.
**Spec:** `docs/product/bank-package.md` §"Version tagging: both directions".
**Surface boundary — owns:** a new checked-in fixture corpus under the package modules' test
tree, the harness that decodes it, and one `docs/` verification script for the DAW half.
**Does not own:** any production module — if a fixture reveals a defect, the fix is filed
against the owning track's module and this track carries the failing test, not the patch.
**Behavior.**
- **Frozen bytes, not regenerated ones.** The corpus holds real `.rsbank` bytes committed to
the repo: a v1 package written by the shipping build, a synthetic
`formatVersion` = N+1 / `minReaderVersion` = current package (the additive-forward case),
and a synthetic `formatVersion` = N+1 / `minReaderVersion` = N+1 package (the refuse case).
A test that regenerates its own fixture proves only that the code agrees with itself —
which is precisely the failure mode a format ladder exists to catch.
- **A truncation corpus.** The valid package truncated at a spread of offsets, each asserted
`Malformed` rather than `TooNew`, so the two recoveries never get crossed.
- **A hostile-name corpus.** Packages whose entry names carry `..`, separators, and absolute
prefixes, each refused.
- **The round-trip anchor.** Export → import → export over the v1 fixture yields
byte-identical payloads.
- **A standalone DAW verification script** in `docs/`, following the
`docs/verify-track-scope-multitrack.md` precedent — the cross-machine transfer is the one
claim no unit test can make.
- **The corpus is append-only.** When a future format version ships, its fixture is added;
no existing fixture is ever regenerated or edited. Stated in the corpus's own README so the
rule survives the person who wrote it.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- All three version fixtures classify as specified, and the additive-forward one imports with
every known field intact and every unknown key skipped.
- Every truncation offset classifies `Malformed`; none classifies `TooNew`, `Readable`, or
crashes.
- Every hostile-name fixture is refused at decode, before any planner runs.
- The round-trip fixture's payloads are byte-identical after export → import → export.
- The DAW script exists and names its steps concretely enough to run without reading this
plan.
**Open questions.** **[propose at review]** how large the committed corpus is allowed to be —
the recommendation is one-sample packages with a few hundred bytes of payload each, since the
properties under test are structural and a large payload proves nothing extra.
---
## Phase Λ — ReaSampler on Linux: both artifacts, shipped
**Ships:** `reaper_reasampler.so` and `reasampler_9000.vst3` built, installed and documented
on Linux. The extension compiles under GCC/Clang, builds optimized by default, docks its
panel, writes a bank index that survives a comma-decimal locale, and prunes without lying
about what it reclaimed. The instrument loads, scans, instantiates and processes audio in
**any** Linux host, and opens its editor under **REAPER only** — a stated contract, not a
shortfall. macOS is out.
**Four named exceptions to platform parity**, stated up front rather than discovered:
prune deletes permanently (no trash); the OS drag-out's copy-only guarantee is conventional
rather than structural, because SWELL's file-list drag takes no effect mask; the type faces
are DejaVu rather than Segoe UI and Consolas; and the ReaSampler 9000 editor comes up under
REAPER only, with every other host getting its generic parameter UI.
**Consolidates: none of the seventeen.** Phase Λ came from a direct request (Daniel,
2026-08-02) and is scoped in `docs/product/linux-readiness.md`, which is itself downstream of
two landed audits: `docs/product/audit-notes/lambda-w1-t1-build-toolchain.md` (findings
Λ-01…Λ-10, verify items V1…V10, forks D1…D7 — build system, toolchain, vendored deps,
resources, test harness, packaging) and
`docs/product/audit-notes/lambda-w1-t2-source-runtime.md` (L2-01…L2-12 — source portability
and runtime behaviour). **Grep those for a cited finding number; do not read either whole.**
This phase **supersedes nothing**, and corrects one standing promise rather than inheriting
it: `docs/product/versioning-and-release.md` already commits in writing to "three platform
artifacts per channel per release" (T1 §1e), which Λ-D4 makes **two** for now, with macOS
named as deferred rather than silently dropped.
**Nothing in this phase has been verified on a Linux machine.** Every `[verify — Linux]`
mark below is load-bearing and none may be laundered into settled voice. The structural
consequence is stated once here because it shapes the whole wave order: **Λ-W2's edits are
authored blind from the audits' citations, and Λ-W3 is the session that discharges Λ-W2's
acceptance criteria.** Λ-W2 is not "done" in the usual sense until Λ-W3 runs, and a track
that reports otherwise has laundered unverified work into landed work — which is exactly
what the audits' `[verify]` discipline exists to prevent. Both audits state their own effort
bands as provisional until the sweep runs; this plan does not restate a band the audits did
not give.
### Rulings — Daniel's, 2026-08-02. Six, settled.
Full statements with the reasoning Daniel gave: `docs/product/linux-readiness.md`
§"Settled decisions (Daniel, 2026-08-02)". **Do not re-litigate these.**
| Ruling | What it settled | Specified in | Bound into |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Λ-D1** | **The VST3 instrument is in scope** (audit fork D1 = **Fork B**). Both artifacts ship, not just the extension. **Reverses D5's platform clause in writing** — "Windows-only, VST3-only, REAPER-only" becomes "Windows and Linux; the editor is REAPER-hosted"; the VST3-only and REAPER-only clauses survive verbatim | §Λ-D1 | Λ-W6…Λ-W8; the D5 rewrite is Λ-W6-T1's first act |
| **Λ-D2** | **SWELL is reached by `dlopen`ing REAPER's own `libSwell.so`** (route **B3a**). Route B3b — building SWELL into the module, and with it GDK/GTK3, FreeType, Fontconfig, OpenGL — is **rejected**, not deferred | §Λ-D2 | Λ-W7-T1 |
| **Λ-D3** | **Non-REAPER hosts must be protected** — *"REAPER-only is good for now, but we need to protext other hosts."* A first-class acceptance criterion of two tracks, not a footnote on one | §"The non-REAPER-host safety criterion" | Λ-W6-T2 (contract), Λ-W7-T1 (runtime), Λ-W8-T1 (regression) |
| **Λ-D4** | **macOS is out** (D3 = **out**) — *"I don't have a mac to compile on."* Shared macOS/Linux edits are still made **in their shared form and noted as shared**; what is out is macOS as a deliverable, any macOS verification, signing/notarization, and L2-11's APFS half. **Do not "fix macOS while you're in there"** — an unverifiable edit to the APPLE branch is worse than none, because it looks tested | §Λ-D4 | phase-wide |
| **Λ-D5** | **The Linux artifact is shipped, not developer-only** (D6 = **shipped**), which promotes Λ-02 (a real optimized build) and Λ-08 (a documented install path) to must-fix. **And a hard `unlink` prune is acceptable**, with a **platform-aware confirmation string** saying so | §Λ-D5 | Λ-W2-T2, Λ-W4-T1, Λ-W5-T1 |
| **Λ-D6** | **The X11 editor is real work and is sequenced last.** Not a separate ruling — the direct consequence of D1+D2+D3. Everything before it ships something; halting Λ-W8 still leaves a shipped extension and a loading, processing, generic-UI instrument | §Λ-D6 | the wave order itself |
### Open forks — four, NONE ruled
Stated with the evidence for both sides at `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §"Open forks —
Daniel's". This is the one phase in this plan with unanswered [Daniel]-class questions; see
"Decision state" above for how that reconciles against the plan-wide claim.
| Fork | Question | Recommendation | What it blocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Λ-F1** | Does CI get built in this phase, and on what runner? (audit D4) | **No recommendation — genuinely a resourcing call.** For: two toolchains and one is not on the developer's machine, so every Windows-only commit becomes a latent Linux regression. Against: CI is infrastructure, its value is highest *after* the first Linux build works, and a runner forces Λ-F4 immediately | **Nothing.** Decides only whether Λ-W5-T1 writes a pipeline paragraph or a "deferred to dev-ops" one |
| **Λ-F2** | The dialog-resource route: **resource-id-0** (SWELL's documented escape hatch, `swell-functions.h:606608`; deletes the whole resgen pipeline from non-Windows builds) or **wire up resgen properly** (PHP, `add_custom_command`, an include-shim TU — the M end of Λ-01's band)? (audit D7) | **No clean recommendation; the asymmetry neither audit stated is the reason it is worth ruling.** Route A is cheaper and structurally simpler and stakes the panel's file-drop ingest on an *unverified* `ChildWindowFromPoint` descent, because with no resource there is no `WS_EX_ACCEPTFILES` bit to set (L2-07). Route B can set that bit explicitly. **A third option, if the cheap route is wanted without the exposure:** take Route A and make the file-drop check a hard gate in Λ-W3's sweep, with Route B as an additive follow-up track rather than a rewrite — it spends a second Linux session in the bad case | **Λ-W2-T3's dispatch — the ONLY fork here that gates a track.** Unruled, that track slips to Λ-W4 and Λ-W3's sweep splits into two Linux sessions |
| **Λ-F3** | Does "copy-only is structural" survive as a shipped invariant? (T2 [Daniel] 4) | **Keep the invariant, scope the *enforcement* claim to Windows** — "structurally enforced on Windows via `DoDragDrop`'s copy-only mask; advertised, not enforced, on SWELL, which takes no effect mask." The real counter: an invariant one platform cannot enforce is arguably not an invariant, and weakening the global wording would also correctly warn a Windows reader off relying on it in shared code | **Nothing.** Λ-W4-T3 makes the edit either way; only the sentence changes. Answerable at implementation review |
| **Λ-F4** | What is the declared support floor? (new — the audits raised the inputs Λ-07, V8, V10, not the decision) | **Declare a narrow floor — current-stable-distro glibc, GCC ≥ 9, `x86_64-linux` only — and widen it on request.** Counter: REAPER's Linux reputation is partly built on modest and non-x86 hardware, `aarch64` is no longer exotic, and adding it later means a second bundle directory and a second verification pass on every release | **The ship wave, not a dispatch.** Non-gating for Λ-W2 (a recorded floor can be widened); **gating for Λ-W5-T1** — a shipped artifact has to say what it runs on. Also feeds Λ-W6-T1's bundle directory set and Λ-F1's runner image |
### Phase-Λ acceptance criteria
These bind every track in this phase, in addition to the plan-wide set above.
- **Windows behaviour does not change. Every track carries that criterion explicitly.** This
is a port; a port that improves Windows by accident has also changed Windows by accident.
- **`[verify — Linux]` is a status, not a decoration.** A criterion carrying it is discharged
by a recorded observation in Λ-W3's verification record — never by inspection, never by
"should work". A track whose Linux criteria are all unrun is not landed; it is authored.
- **No vendored file is patched.** `git status` under `vendor/` stays clean through the whole
phase, including the SWELL bootstrap — which is precisely the constraint that shapes it.
- **No new third-party dependency surface.** Λ-D2 rejected route B3b for this reason: no
vendored SWELL build, no GDK/GTK3, no FreeType, no Fontconfig, no OpenGL, no `pkg-config`
in this tree. **A track that finds itself reaching for one of those has drifted and stops.**
- **Shared macOS/Linux edits are made in shared form and labelled shared** (Λ-D4). Λ-01,
Λ-03, Λ-04, Λ-07, Λ-09 and L2-09 are all shared by the audits' own marking; an
`#ifdef _WIN32` / `#else` that is right for both costs nothing and needs no mac. No macOS
verification is claimed for any of them.
- **`core/` stays pure and stays platform-neutral.** Every `#include` under `src/core/**` is
a `core/` sibling, one of 26 standard headers, or the generated `version_generated.h` (T2
§1.1) — the audits verified this rather than assuming it, and no Λ track may be the one
that breaks it. The one platform fork in the whole directory
(`capture_paths.cpp:1820`, the Windows case-fold) is already correct for Linux with both
branches asserted by `tests/test_capture_paths.cpp`.
- **Every pure module gets a `<module>_tests` target** that runs without REAPER or a DAW.
Λ-W2-T4 is the phase's proof that this is not ceremonial: it is a `core/`-only fix, fully
testable on the current Windows box, and it lands before any Linux session.
- **The ~600-line ceiling and the structural heuristics bind unchanged.** Λ-W8-T1 is the
track most likely to strain them; its own criteria name the seam vocabulary to reuse.
**Performance posture.** No named hot path is touched by any track in this phase — not the
`peaks` envelope compute, not audition, not the realtime-capture tick's single-pointer-test
idle fast path, not the instrument's `process()`. Two consequences are stated as criteria
rather than left implicit: **nothing is added to `process()`** (no `dlopen`, no probe, no
platform branch on the per-voice-per-sample path — the SWELL availability probe is computed
once, lazily, off the audio thread), and **Λ-W2-T4's locale fix stays on the JSON/persist
path**, which root `CLAUDE.md` already declares off all hot paths. Λ-02 is the phase's one
genuine performance item and it runs the other way: today a Linux build carries **no `-O`
flag at all**, on a tree whose `peaks` path is documented as presuming an optimizing build.
### The non-REAPER-host safety contract
Λ-D3 stated as something a person can check. **This is an observable contract, and it is the
specification the two instrument waves are graded against** — the full argument is
`docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §"The non-REAPER-host safety criterion", which a brief for
Λ-W6-T2, Λ-W7-T1 or Λ-W8-T1 must be written against.
**The finding that makes it urgent, and it is a fact rather than a risk.** The vendored
`vendor/WDL/WDL/swell/swell-modstub-generic.cpp` declares a **file-scope static** at `:125`,
so its constructor runs when our `.so` is `dlopen`ed — i.e. **during the host's plugin
scan** — and `:102` calls **`exit(2)`** when `dlopen` of `libSwell.so` fails, `:117`
**`exit(1)`** on an incomplete API table. Compiling the vendored `SWELL_LOAD_SWELL_DYLIB`
path unmodified therefore means **a Bitwig or Ardour plugin scan on a machine without
`libSwell.so` terminates the host process** — a killed DAW mid-scan, with the user's
session. The mitigating detail that shapes the fix: `doinit` substitutes a zero-returning
`dummyFunc` for each unresolved name, so a *partial* table degrades rather than crashes. A
partial load is survivable; `exit()` is not.
**In any Linux host, with or without `libSwell.so`:** the module scans and enumerates its one
class with no crash, hang, process exit or blacklist entry; it instantiates, produces audio,
plays MIDI, and round-trips component state byte-identically with the Windows build; when no
usable platform surface exists `isPlatformTypeSupported` returns `kResultFalse` for **every**
type — including `kPlatformTypeX11EmbedWindowID` — and `createView(kEditor)` returns
**`nullptr`**, never a view that then fails to attach and never one that draws nothing; the
host falls back to its generic parameter UI; exactly **one** diagnostic line per process
names why the editor is unavailable, through the SDK's logging or stderr, never a modal;
teardown crashes nothing and leaves no partially-initialised SWELL table reachable.
**Verified with a harness that is already on disk and that neither audit named**, because
neither swept the SDK's `samples/` tree:
`vendor/vst3sdk/public.sdk/samples/vst-hosting/validator/` is a scriptable, headless,
REAPER-free host, under `public.sdk/` and therefore pulled by the documented narrow submodule
init. The four checks, all `[verify — Linux]`: `validator` completes with **no `libSwell.so`
on the filesystem** (the direct negation of the `exit(2)` finding, and the load-bearing one);
a real Ardour or Bitwig scan reaching browser, instantiation and generic UI; a REAPER-on-Linux
load where the editor opens; and a **negative control** — rename `libSwell.so` beside a Linux
REAPER and confirm the generic-UI fallback plus the single diagnostic line.
### Cross-phase boundary — Γ-W4-T1, and the frozen parameter table
**Λ must never register a VST3 parameter.** Γ-W4-T1's `ParamID` table is FOREVER-FROZEN from
the moment it ships, on the same footing as the command-id strings and the class UIDs. A
parameter minted in Λ to make a Linux fallback look better would collide with a table Λ does
not own. **This is a hard boundary and it is the only Γ↔Λ interaction that could actually go
wrong.**
Neither phase blocks the other. The host's fallback for a plug-in reporting no usable editor
is its generic parameter UI, and today the plugin registers zero parameters — so "no editor"
currently degrades to *nothing* rather than to *controls*. **Λ-W6-T2's acceptance criteria are
written to pass with zero parameters registered**: an empty generic UI is a pass. Once
Γ-W4-T1 lands its 44 derived parameters the identical Λ code path degrades to a usable
generic UI instead — a better result, not a different criterion. **Λ assumes no schedule for
Γ**; a Λ track needing a Γ fact reads `dev` at dispatch time.
**Concurrency.** Λ is the widest phase in this plan by file surface, and it is disjoint from
the others by *kind* rather than by directory: its edits are platform guards, CMake, docs and
one new `shell/instrument/` TU. Γ owns `core/instrument/` + `shell/instrument/` **sources**
(Λ-W6…Λ-W8 own that directory's CMake, its `CLAUDE.md` files, and `editor_platform`'s
non-Windows branch); Ε lands in the new `core/package/` + `shell/package/`; Ρ touches
`core/capture`, one new `shell/capture` TU, `panel_input.cpp` and `main.cpp`. **The genuine
adjacency to watch is CMake**: Ε appends two `add_subdirectory` lines to the root
`CMakeLists.txt` while Λ-W2-T2 owns that file's language and target settings — append-only
lines against property blocks, textual adjacency rather than semantic contention. Λ's own
shared files are named in the wave sections below.
---
### Λ-W1 — The audits *(complete)*
Two tracks, both landed: **T1 `build-toolchain-audit`** (Λ-01…Λ-10, V1…V10, D1…D7) and
**T2 `source-runtime-audit`** (L2-01…L2-12). Recorded so the wave numbering matches the audit
filenames and branch names. Nothing to re-spec; nothing to dispatch.
---
### Λ-W2 — Make it buildable, and make it honest
**Depends on:** nothing. **Four tracks, disjoint at the file level.** Three are authored
blind against the audits and verified in Λ-W3; **T4 is the one track fully verifiable on the
current Windows box.**
| Track | Owns |
|---|---|
| **T1** `linux-compile-blockers` | two source blockers + `main.cpp`'s API-load failure branch |
| **T2** `toolchain-floor` | the CMake files' language, property and platform blocks |
| **T3** `panel-dialog-resource` | `panel_window.cpp`'s dialog creation, `resource.rc` / `resource.h` — **gated on Λ-F2** |
| **T4** `locale-independent-numerics` | the number codec in four `core/` TUs |
**Shared file in the wave, named rather than discovered at merge:**
`src/app/CMakeLists.txt` — T2 takes the property and platform blocks, T3 takes **one
`target_sources` line under the resgen route only**. Disjoint regions; whichever lands second
rebases. The wave's severity question is dissolved rather than adjudicated: T2 grades L2-03 a
Blocker on failure-mode quality with no direct evidence and L2-04 a Major with a confirmed
mechanism, and flags its own inconsistency — both land here, in different tracks, so the
relative grade never has to be settled.
#### Λ-W2-T1 — `linux-compile-blockers`
**Goal.** The extension compiles and links under GCC/Clang, and when it refuses to load it
says why instead of vanishing.
**Spec:** `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §Λ-W2-T1; findings L2-01, L2-02, L2-03.
**Surface boundary — owns:** `src/shell/panel/draw_kit.cpp` (`loadFont`, `:7077`),
`src/shell/actions/instrument_drop_win.cpp` (`writeTempPreset`, `:5061`), `src/app/main.cpp`
(**the `REAPERAPI_LoadAPI` failure branch only**). **Does not own:** any `CMakeLists.txt`,
`panel_window.cpp`, or any `core/` file.
**Behavior.**
- **`FF_DONTCARE` (L2-01).** `draw_kit.cpp:73` passes `DEFAULT_PITCH | FF_DONTCARE` to
`CreateFont`; the symbol has **zero occurrences anywhere in `vendor/WDL/`**, and the file is
not platform-guarded, only its include is. `draw_kit` links into **both** modules, so
nothing builds until this is fixed. Drop the term or define it locally in the non-Windows
include branch. **Do not add `windows.h`** — L2-01's stated direction. The family bits are
advisory to Windows' font mapper and meaningless to fontconfig.
- **`GetCurrentProcessId()` (L2-02).** `instrument_drop_win.cpp:59` calls it with no platform
branch anywhere in the TU; SWELL exports `GetCurrentThreadId` and not this. The PID exists
only to keep two concurrent REAPER instances from colliding in the shared temp dir, and the
atomic counter at `:52` already carries the intra-process half. Replace with a
platform-neutral uniqueness source behind a guard.
- **The silent load failure (L2-03).** Either switch `main.cpp` to `REAPERAPI_MINIMAL` plus an
explicit `WANT` list — the pattern `panel_window.cpp` and `panel_audition.cpp` already use,
and the honest inventory of what this extension actually needs — or keep the full load and
print the failure count via `rec->GetFunc("ShowConsoleMsg")` before returning 0.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- `cmake -B build -S . -G Ninja && cmake --build build` produces `build/reaper_reasampler.so`
with no errors. `[verify — Linux]` = **V1**.
- `ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure` passes all 91 test targets, **no `-C` flag
needed** on a single-config generator. `[verify — Linux]` = **V2**.
- A deliberately misspelled `WANT` entry (or a forced non-zero `failcnt`) produces a visible
REAPER console line naming the count, not a silent refusal.
- Windows build and `ctest` unchanged.
**Prerequisites.** None. **Discharges:** L2-01, L2-02, L2-03; enables V1, V2, V3.
#### Λ-W2-T2 — `toolchain-floor`
**Goal.** The Linux build is optimized when asked, links what it uses, hides what it does not
export, and reports diagnostics no one has seen yet.
**Spec:** `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §Λ-W2-T2; findings Λ-02, Λ-03, Λ-04, Λ-05, Λ-07,
Λ-09, Λ-10.
**Surface boundary — owns:** root `CMakeLists.txt`, `src/app/CMakeLists.txt` (**the target
property and platform blocks; NOT the source list — that is Λ-W4-T3's**),
`cmake/reasampler_targets.cmake`, `src/shell/instrument/CMakeLists.txt` (**thread linkage
only; the `WIN32` gate is Λ-W6-T1's**), `README.md`, and root `CLAUDE.md` §"Build and test" /
§"Install / reload" / §"One-time submodule setup". **Does not own:** any `.cpp` or `.h`.
**Behavior.**
- **Λ-02** — root `CMakeLists.txt:2830` is the *complete* list of language settings: no
`CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE`, no `CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS`, no IPO/LTO, no `target_compile_options` anywhere
in the tree. Default `CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE` when neither it nor `CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES` is
set, and correct the docs' ship instruction: `--config Release` is *accepted and ignored*
by Ninja and Make, and the README currently sends a Linux user to `build/Release/`, which
does not exist there — the module lands at `build/reaper_reasampler.so`.
- **Λ-03** — `CXX_VISIBILITY_PRESET hidden` + `VISIBILITY_INLINES_HIDDEN` on both module
targets. SWELL's own build already uses `-fvisibility=hidden`, and the symbols that must
stay exported carry their own `visibility("default")` attributes
(`reaper_plugin.h`'s `REAPER_PLUGIN_DLL_EXPORT`, `fplatform.h`'s `SMTG_EXPORT_SYMBOL`,
`swell-modstub-generic.cpp:135`'s `SWELL_dllMain`).
- **Λ-04** — `find_package(Threads REQUIRED)` + `Threads::Threads`. Correct on all three
platforms, costs nothing on Windows.
- **Λ-09** — `-Wall -Wextra` and `CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF`. **No `-Werror` in this change**
(the audit is explicit): the diagnostic-set size over this tree is not estimable from
Windows. Separately `-Wl,--no-undefined` on the module targets, restoring the
fail-at-link-time behaviour MSVC gives and GNU `ld` does not — **or** a recorded reason why
`SWELL_PROVIDED_BY_APP`'s function-pointer design makes the gap moot.
- **Λ-05** — pin the `reaper_plugin.h` → `../WDL/swell/swell.h` include coincidence with a
comment or an `INTERFACE` target carrying both include dirs as one unit. Invisible on
Windows, load-bearing off it.
- **Λ-07** — record the compiler floor (**Λ-F4's input**), or add `-lstdc++fs` and document
why.
- **Λ-10** — one sentence in the platform-support docs: on Linux `vendor/vst3sdk` is optional
until Λ-W6, so `git submodule update --init vendor/reaper-sdk vendor/WDL` is the complete
extension-only prerequisite.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- `compile_commands.json` or a verbose build log shows an explicit `-O` flag on a bare
`cmake --build build`. `[verify — Linux]`.
- `nm -D --defined-only reaper_reasampler.so | grep -E 'ReaperPluginEntry|SWELL_dllMain'`
finds **both** after the visibility preset. `[verify — Linux]` = **V6**.
- The extension links with `Threads::Threads` **removed** — proving the include-only pthread
dependency needs no flag — or the symbol forcing it is named. `[verify — Linux]` = **V5**.
- `capture_paths_tests` links without an explicit `-lstdc++fs` on the declared floor, or the
flag is added and the floor documented. `[verify — Linux]` = **V8**.
- **The warning count from the first `-Wall -Wextra` build is recorded, not fixed**, and
handed to Λ-W4 as an input.
- Windows build unchanged; `--config Release` still behaves as documented there.
**Prerequisites.** None; concurrent with T1, T3, T4. **Discharges:** Λ-02, Λ-03, Λ-04, Λ-05,
Λ-07, Λ-09, Λ-10; enables V5, V6, V8.
#### Λ-W2-T3 — `panel-dialog-resource` *(GATED on Λ-F2 — do not dispatch until it is ruled)*
**Goal.** The docked bank panel opens on Linux, and if it ever fails to, it says so.
**Spec:** `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §Λ-W2-T3 and §Λ-F2; findings Λ-01, L2-06, L2-07.
**The defect.** `panel_window.cpp:135` is `CreateDialogParam(g_hInst,
MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_BANK_PANEL), …)`, which SWELL resolves out of a per-module registry
populated by a **resgen-generated source file that is not in the Linux target**:
`src/app/CMakeLists.txt:97` has the `target_sources` line commented out (`:86` for macOS).
The registry head stays null, `SWELL_CreateDialog` returns null, `:137` returns, and the
toggle action is a **silent no-op** — no console line, no Actions-list checkmark. Three
defects stack inside the commented-out instructions themselves: the script named at `:96`
(`mac_resgen.php`) does not exist, the output filename is wrong, and the output is an
`#include`-only artifact that cannot be a `target_sources` entry at all.
**Surface boundary — owns:** `src/shell/panel/panel_window.cpp` (the `CreateDialogParam` call
at `:135137`, the dialog proc's platform contract, the drop-accept opt-in at `:145150`),
`src/resource.rc`, `src/resource.h`, and — **under the resgen route only** — one
`target_sources` line in `src/app/CMakeLists.txt`'s `else()` branch plus a new include-shim
TU. **Does not own:** any other panel TU, `draw_kit`, or any CMake target property.
`panel_window.cpp` is **deliberately not split** across tracks: the L2-06 diagnostic and the
Λ-01 resource route are the same function, and under the id-0 route the same *line*.
**Behavior.** Whichever route Λ-F2 picks, plus — **unconditionally, and on both platforms
rather than behind a guard** — a one-line `ShowConsoleMsg` on the `!g_panel.hwnd` path naming
the missing dialog resource (L2-06). That single line converts a mystery into a two-minute
diagnosis and is worth having on Windows too. The fix is shared macOS/Linux either way
(Λ-D4: made in shared form, verified on Linux only).
**Acceptance criteria.**
- The panel toggle action docks a visible, LICE-drawn bank panel in a Linux REAPER.
`[verify — Linux]` = **V7**.
- With the resource deliberately unavailable, the toggle prints one console line rather than
doing nothing. **Verifiable on Windows by forcing the branch.**
- Dragging a WAV from the file manager onto the docked panel ingests it — or, if it does not,
the failure is understood rather than mysterious. `[verify — Linux]`, T2 §5 item 3.
**This criterion's difficulty depends on the Λ-F2 route** and is the fork's substance.
- Windows panel behaviour byte-for-byte unchanged.
**Prerequisites.** **Λ-F2 must be ruled before dispatch.** If it is not, this track slips to
Λ-W4 and Λ-W3's sweep splits into a panel-independent half (run early) and a panel-dependent
half (run after this lands) — a second Linux session, which is the cost of leaving the fork
open. **Discharges:** Λ-01, L2-06, L2-07; enables V7.
#### Λ-W2-T4 — `locale-independent-numerics`
**Goal.** A persisted float round-trips identically regardless of process locale, so a bank
index written on a comma-decimal machine is not written unparseable.
**Spec:** `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §Λ-W2-T4; finding L2-04.
**Why it is pulled forward, ahead of everything it looks like it should follow:** it is the
phase's one substantial fix that **needs no Linux box at all** — two writers and three
readers, all in `core/`, all unit-testable on Windows today — and its failure mode is that
the bank index is written unparseable and **the project's whole bank is lost on reload.** It
should land before any Linux user saves a project.
**Surface boundary — owns:** `src/core/json/json.cpp` (the `%.17g` writer and the `strtod`
reader), `src/core/model/provenance.cpp` (its own `%.17g`), `src/core/wire/wire.cpp`
(`Cursor::fieldDouble`), `src/core/capture/render_settings.cpp` (the `std::stod` over
REAPER's `P_RAZOREDITS`), and the corresponding `tests/`. **Does not own:** any shell TU, any
CMake file, `wav_codec` (its byte-order handling is already explicit and correct).
**Behavior.** Make the number codec locale-independent at its two writers and three readers —
`std::to_chars`/`std::from_chars`, or a `std::locale::classic()`-bound stream. **Do not "fix"
this by calling `setlocale`**; an extension must not mutate the host's locale. Why it is not
paranoia: on Windows the CRT starts in the `"C"` locale and nothing here calls `setlocale`,
which is why it has never fired; on Linux SWELL's GDK backend calls
`gtk_init_check`/`gdk_init_check` and never calls `gtk_disable_setlocale`, and any GTK or Qt
plugin in the same process can do the same. The readers are honestly fail-closed — they
require whole-token consumption — so the failure is "the field disappears", not "the field is
silently wrong".
**Acceptance criteria.**
- New pure tests pass **on Windows today**, under a forced comma-decimal `LC_NUMERIC` set
inside the test. **This is the one Λ-W2 track that does not wait for Λ-W3.**
- The bank index, view model, tracking ledger, provenance blob and tail setting all round-trip
a fractional value under that forced locale.
- **Byte-for-byte identical output to today's writer under the `"C"` locale** — this is a
persisted format, and a changed representation is a compatibility event.
- Nothing on a hot path is touched; the JSON/persist path is declared off all hot paths in
root `CLAUDE.md` and stays there.
**Prerequisites.** None. **Discharges:** L2-04.
**Note:** T2 §5 item 1 (read `LC_NUMERIC` inside a running REAPER-Linux process) stays in the
Λ-W3 sweep, but only to record how urgent this *was* — the work is not gated on it.
---
### Λ-W3 — First light, and the verification sweep
**Depends on:** Λ-W2. **One track, deliberately** — this is a person at a Linux box working a
checklist where each answer reprices the next; splitting it across specialists buys no
concurrency and loses the thread. Precedent: Ρ-W1 and Γ-W4 are both single-track waves for
the same reason.
#### Λ-W3-T1 — `linux-verification-sweep`
**Goal.** Discharge every acceptance criterion Λ-W2 could not check from Windows, answer every
`[verify — Linux]` item in both audits, and reprice the remaining waves against what is
actually true.
**Spec:** `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §Λ-W3-T1 and §"Why this sequence".
**Surface boundary — owns: no source file and no CMake file.** Its deliverable is a
**verification record** at `docs/product/audit-notes/lambda-w3-verification.md`, one entry per
item: the exact check run, the observed result, and what it changes. **Any fix the sweep
motivates is filed to Λ-W4, not made here.** The one exception: a defect that blocks further
sweeping (the build does not link at all) is fixed in place and recorded as a deviation,
because the alternative is a wasted session.
**Behavior — the sweep set.**
| From | Items |
|---|---|
| T1 | **V1** compile, **V2** ctest, **V3** does REAPER's Linux build call `SWELL_dllMain` and populate the API table, **V4** where `UserPlugins/` actually is and whether `reaper_*.so` is the right glob, **V5** pthread link flag, **V6** visibility vs. the two exported symbols, **V7** the docked panel, **V8** `-lstdc++fs`, **V9** does `libSwell.so` sit beside REAPER's executable, **V10** which `uname -m` values the VST3 bundle must carry |
| T2 | process `LC_NUMERIC`; `REAPERAPI_LoadAPI`'s actual return value and the name of any gap; panel file-drop routing; which SWELL GDI/locale build REAPER ships; fontconfig's substitution for "Consolas"; `SWELL_InitiateDragDropOfFileList` acceptance by common targets, and whether its 500 ms no-motion timeout cancels a slow gesture; prune against an in-use file |
| New | the `-Wall -Wextra` diagnostic set, counted and categorised; whether `-Wl,--no-undefined` links clean or names an undefined set; whether the four-TU LICE slice links without `lice_colorspace.cpp` (T1 §3 leaves this an unreconciled inference) |
**Three items are load-bearing beyond their own answer and must be run FIRST:** **V1**
(nothing else is observable until it passes); **V9** (a negative answer **voids Λ-D2's route
and needs a Daniel re-ruling** before Λ-W6 is dispatched — the entire `dlopen`-REAPER's-SWELL
design rests on it, and it is a one-line `ls`); and the `REAPERAPI_LoadAPI` count (a non-zero
result promotes L2-03 from a diagnostic to a real Blocker and names the gap).
**Acceptance criteria.**
- Every item above has a recorded answer or an explicit "could not determine, because X".
**A blank is a failure of this track, not a deferral.**
- Λ-W2's four tracks each have their `[verify — Linux]` criteria marked discharged or failed,
**by name**.
- Λ-W4 and Λ-W5's scope is restated against the answers, with any effort band that moved
called out. **The audits' bands are provisional by their own statement; this is where they
stop being.**
- Λ-W6's prerequisites (V9, V10) are answered, or Λ-W6 is explicitly blocked pending a Daniel
re-ruling on Λ-D2.
**Prerequisites.** Λ-W2-T1, T2, T4. **T3 if Λ-F2 was ruled** — otherwise the panel-dependent
items (V7, file-drop routing, any font check needing a rendered panel) defer to a second
session and that deferral is recorded. **Discharges:** V1V10 and T2 §5's seven items, **as
answers rather than as fixes**.
---
### Λ-W4 — Correctness and safety, repriced
**Depends on:** Λ-W3-T1. **Three tracks, disjoint by directory.** Everything here is known
work whose *size* the sweep may have moved.
#### Λ-W4-T1 — `prune-deletion-safety`
**Goal.** Prune on Linux deletes only what it means to, tells the truth about what it
reclaimed, and tells the user the deletion is permanent.
**Spec:** `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §Λ-W4-T1; finding L2-05 (both halves) plus the
symlink row of T2 §4.
**Surface boundary — owns:** `src/shell/persist/prune_fs.cpp` (the deletion authority's
non-Windows branch and the reclaim scan) and the prune confirmation text wherever it is
composed (`shell/actions/prune_action` / `shell/panel/panel_bank_ops`). **Does not own:**
`core/reclaim/`'s orphan computation (pure, portable, unaffected), or any other persist TU.
**Behavior.**
- **The confirmation string becomes platform-aware** (Λ-D5). On Linux it states the deletion
is permanent and there is no Recycle Bin; on Windows it says what it says today. **Same code
path, one platform-dependent phrase — not a second dialog.**
- **The dead "locked" branch is reckoned with.** `if (ec) return false; // real failure
(locked/permission) -> skip` encodes Windows file-sharing semantics; on Linux `unlink` of an
open file **succeeds**, the audio keeps playing from the open fd, and the bytes are gone
when it closes — so the branch never fires. Either it is documented as Windows-only in
place, or the Linux path acquires an equivalent guard. **What it must not do is stay
silently asymmetric**: the recovery floor root `CLAUDE.md` §"The resample bake" relies on
("the superseded file survives on disk until a prune reclaims it") otherwise has nothing
under it on Linux. **This half is not covered by Λ-D5's trash ruling** — it is not a trash
question.
- **The symlink hazard is fixed.** `fs::directory_iterator` + `is_regular_file()` follows
symlinks under C++17; size is read from the target via `file_size()` but `fs::remove`
deletes the **link**, not the target — so prune reports N bytes reclaimed and reclaims
zero. Symlinked media folders are far more idiomatic on Linux than on Windows. **This is a
reporting lie, not a cosmetic issue.**
**Acceptance criteria.**
- A Linux prune of a bank file currently playing behaves as recorded in Λ-W3's sweep, and the
behaviour matches what the confirmation promised. `[verify — Linux]`.
- A symlinked bank file is either skipped or deleted with its target, and the reclaimed-byte
figure matches what actually left the disk in **both** cases. Unit-testable for the
computation; `[verify — Linux]` for the filesystem half.
- The Windows path — `SHFileOperationW` + `FOF_ALLOWUNDO`, Recycle-Bin recoverable — is
bit-for-bit unchanged.
- **Prune remains the only file-deletion path in the system** (plan-wide product invariant).
**Prerequisites.** Λ-W3-T1 (the in-use-file check). **Discharges:** L2-05 both halves, and the
symlink row of T2 §4.
#### Λ-W4-T2 — `linux-font-faces`
**Goal.** The kit asks for faces that exist on a stock Linux distro, so type is **chosen**
rather than substituted.
**Spec:** `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §Λ-W4-T2 and §"Calls made here"; finding L2-09.
**This is a product-designer call, not a fork:** silent fontconfig substitution is not
acceptable because the kit's type is part of a deliberate visual identity
(`docs/product/visual-design-language.md`), and the palette-role discipline exists precisely
so a visual direction is a single-file change rather than an emergent property of the host.
The cost is five string literals. Contradict it in review with an argument.
**Surface boundary — owns:** `src/shell/panel/draw_kit.cpp`'s five `loadFont` call sites
(`:154158`) and the face constants in `draw_kit.h`. **Does not own:** `loadFont` itself
beyond the literals, the palette, any geometry, or the two WCAG `static_assert`s — which are
on pixel height and weight, not on the face, and hold regardless.
**Behavior.** A platform face list at the five call sites: **DejaVu Sans / DejaVu Sans Mono**
as the Linux defaults, following SWELL's own no-fontconfig fallback list
(LiberationSans/DejaVuSans, LiberationMono/DejaVuSansMono) as precedent. **One code path**,
shared with macOS's eventual San Francisco/Menlo (Λ-D4: made in shared form, not verified).
The subtlety to carry into the work: `draw_kit.cpp:74`'s `if (!hf) return` guard does **not**
catch this failure mode — SWELL's `CreateFont` always returns a non-null handle even when the
face never resolved, recording the failure as a null `typedata` internally. **A wrong or
missing face is not observable at the call site, only in the rendering.**
**Acceptance criteria.**
- Every kit string renders in the intended face on a stock distro, and the numeric readouts
are tabular. `[verify — Linux]`.
- Windows renders Segoe UI and Consolas exactly as today.
- Row heights, ellipsis points and label truncation are unchanged on Windows; on Linux they
are **measured** rather than assumed correct.
**Prerequisites.** Λ-W3-T1's fontconfig answer (T2 §5 item 5), which decides whether this is
cosmetic or a readability regression. **Discharges:** L2-09.
#### Λ-W4-T3 — `source-partition-and-invariants`
**Goal.** The build's source list stops relying on every TU's own `#ifdef` discipline, and the
invariants Linux weakens are stated where a reviewer will read them.
**Spec:** `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §Λ-W4-T3 and §Λ-F3; findings Λ-06, L2-10, L2-11.
**Surface boundary — owns:** the `target_sources` list in `src/app/CMakeLists.txt:851` (**the
list; the property blocks are Λ-W2-T2's**), any new platform-sibling TU the sweep showed was
needed, `src/shell/actions/drag_out_win.h`'s invariant comment, and the corresponding
`src/shell/**/CLAUDE.md` invariant passages. **Does not own:** any behaviour change in a
shipped code path.
**Behavior.**
- **Λ-06** — partition the source list where the Λ-W3 diagnostic set says a TU needs it.
`drag_out_win.cpp` is the model (a real `#ifdef _WIN32` / `#else` split);
`arrange_drop_win.cpp` and `instrument_drop_win.cpp` are `_win`-suffixed for the **surface**
they serve, not for a platform dependency, and the audits found them portable by inspection
— **confirm against the actual compile rather than re-inspecting.**
- **L2-10 — the copy-only invariant. Λ-F3 rules the wording; this track makes the edit either
way.** Make `drag_out_win.h:711` the doc a Linux reviewer is pointed at, and treat "MOVE is
structurally impossible" as a Windows-scoped claim: SWELL's file-list drag takes no effect
mask, so nothing at the API level forbids a target from treating the drag as a move.
- **L2-11 — no Linux action.** If the predicate is touched at all it becomes
"case-insensitive filesystem", not "Windows" — but Λ-D4 puts macOS out, so the right move is
**a comment recording the known macOS defect, not a speculative fix.**
**Acceptance criteria.**
- No TU compiles on Linux only because of an `#ifdef` that happens to be complete; every
platform-specific TU is either partitioned in CMake or carries a deliberate, commented
guard.
- The copy-only invariant's text says **the same thing** in `drag_out_win.h`, the owning
`CLAUDE.md`, and any spec text that cites it.
- Zero behaviour change on Windows.
**Prerequisites.** Λ-W3-T1. **Λ-F3 for the L2-10 wording only — non-gating:** the track can
land the partition and leave the sentence for a follow-up. **Discharges:** Λ-06, L2-10,
L2-11's Linux half.
---
### Λ-W5 — Ship the extension
**Depends on:** Λ-W3-T1 (V4) and **all three Λ-W4 tracks** — shipping means the correctness
fixes are in. **One track. Gated on Λ-F4** (a shipped artifact has to say what it runs on).
#### Λ-W5-T1 — `linux-packaging-and-install`
**Goal.** A Linux user can install a correctly-built `reaper_reasampler.so` by following a
document, and a pipeline can install it by following a rule.
**Spec:** `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §Λ-W5-T1; finding Λ-08 plus Λ-02's shipped half.
**Surface boundary — owns:** an `install()` rule in `src/app/CMakeLists.txt` — **the first in
the tree** — `README.md`'s platform-support and install sections, root `CLAUDE.md`
§"Install / reload", and `docs/product/versioning-and-release.md`'s artifact and pipeline
paragraphs. **Does not own:** any source file, the toolchain properties (Λ-W2-T2's), or CI
(Λ-F1).
**Behavior.**
- Document the Linux `UserPlugins/` root **as V4 actually found it**, and the
single-config-generator output path (`build/reaper_reasampler.so`) that no doc currently
names.
- Add the `install()` rule for **both channels**. The channel fork is platform-independent by
construction — `REASAMPLER_CHANNEL` threads through `configure_file` into names only — so
`reaper_reasampler_beta.so` needs no separate mechanism, only a separate destination check.
- **Amend `versioning-and-release.md`**, which already promises three platform artifacts per
channel per release and mentions no Linux install path, no signing and no CI. Λ-D4 removes
macOS from the near-term promise: that document should say **two** platform artifacts per
channel for now, **with macOS named as deferred rather than silently dropped.**
- **The beta channel on Linux is uncosted in both audits.** Almost certainly free — the fork
is name-only — but "almost certainly" is not a ship criterion. Build and install both
channels side by side once.
- **Λ-F1 decides only which paragraph gets written here** — a pipeline paragraph, or an
explicit "deferred to dev-ops". Until it is ruled, **Λ ships nothing that presumes a
runner.**
**Acceptance criteria.**
- A clean-machine walkthrough **following only the README**: clone, narrow submodule init,
configure, build, install, restart REAPER, actions present, panel docks. `[verify — Linux]`.
- `reaper_reasampler.so` and `reaper_reasampler_beta.so` coexist in one REAPER with separate
ext-state namespaces, command ids and dock idents. `[verify — Linux]`.
- The **installed** binary shows an explicit `-O` flag in its build log — Λ-02's criterion,
re-checked on the artifact that actually ships.
- `versioning-and-release.md` no longer promises an artifact this phase does not produce.
- The declared support floor (Λ-F4) appears in the README and matches what was built.
**Prerequisites.** Λ-W3-T1 (V4), Λ-W4 (all three tracks), **Λ-F4 ruled**. **Discharges:**
Λ-08, and Λ-02's shipped half.
---
### Λ-W6 — The instrument module, and the host-safety contract
**Depends on:** Λ-W2-T2 (thread linkage, visibility, warnings) and Λ-W3-T1 (V10, plus V9 if
Λ-D2 is to survive). **Λ-W6 may run CONCURRENTLY with Λ-W4 and Λ-W5** — it touches
`src/shell/instrument/` and that directory's CMake and `CLAUDE.md` files plus
`src/core/instrument/CLAUDE.md`, none of which Λ-W4 or Λ-W5 opens; the only reason to
serialise is attention, not contention.
**Two tracks — one build + docs, one source — and they are `T1 before T2 — serial`**, the
same shape this plan already records for Γ-W3. They are file-disjoint but not order-free:
there must be a module before it can refuse to show a view.
**At the end of this wave the Linux instrument loads in any host, processes audio, and has NO
EDITOR AT ALL** — a defined, verifiable, shippable state, not a half-done one.
#### Λ-W6-T1 — `vst-linux-module`
**Goal.** `reasampler_9000.vst3` configures, builds and installs on Linux as the directory
bundle a Linux host expects, and the decision that forbade it is reversed in writing.
**Spec:** `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §Λ-W6-T1; audit findings B1, B2, B5.
**Surface boundary — owns:** `src/shell/instrument/CMakeLists.txt` (the gate, the entry-point
source selection, the bundle POST_BUILD and install rule, `SWELL_PROVIDED_BY_APP`, the modstub
TU) and the three D5 passages in `src/core/instrument/CLAUDE.md`,
`src/shell/instrument/CLAUDE.md` and `src/shell/panel/CLAUDE.md`. **Does not own:** any `.cpp`
or `.h` under `shell/instrument/`.
**Behavior.**
- **B5 first, as a documentation act.** Rewrite the three D5 passages: the platform clause
becomes "Windows and Linux; the editor is REAPER-hosted"; **VST3-only and REAPER-only
survive verbatim.** `src/core/instrument/CLAUDE.md` carries it twice (Invariants and
Non-goals), `src/shell/instrument/CLAUDE.md` once (Non-goals), and
`src/shell/panel/CLAUDE.md` once (the font/GDI clause). **Nothing else in this wave may land
before this does** — the invariant files are what a future implementer reads.
- **B1** — swap `public.sdk/source/main/dllmain.cpp` for `linuxmain.cpp` on Linux. `dllmain`
includes `<windows.h>` with no `SMTG_OS_*` guard; `linuxmain.cpp` exports `ModuleEntry` and
`ModuleExit`, **both mandatory** — the SDK's own loader refuses the module without either.
Both files are already vendored; this is a source swap plus a platform `if()`.
- **Split the `WIN32 AND EXISTS` conjunction** at `src/shell/instrument/CMakeLists.txt:9`.
Today it is a conjunction, so a Linux configure silently omits `reasampler_vst` **even with
the submodule slice fully initialised.** The `EXISTS` half stays — a fresh clone with no
VST3 slice must still configure — and the `WIN32` half becomes a Windows-or-Linux predicate.
- **B2** — the artifact becomes a **directory bundle**:
`reasampler_9000.vst3/Contents/<uname -m>-linux/reasampler_9000.so`, per V10's answer and
Λ-F4's floor. `Contents/Resources/moduleinfo.json` is **optional** — the SDK's
`getModuleInfoPath` returns empty when absent rather than failing — **so do not author
one.** Install roots: `$HOME/.vst3/`, `/usr/lib/vst3/`, `/usr/local/lib/vst3/`,
`$APPFOLDER/vst3/`.
- **`SWELL_PROVIDED_BY_APP` + the modstub TU** are added to this target in the **default
(non-`SWELL_LOAD_SWELL_DYLIB`) branch** — the same branch the extension already uses
(`src/app/CMakeLists.txt:9192`). The whole modstub file is inside
`#ifdef SWELL_PROVIDED_BY_APP`, so the VST3 target must define that symbol; today it does
not. **The `dlopen` itself is Λ-W7's**; what this track lands is the compiled-in, inert
table plus the exported `SWELL_dllMain`.
- **The channel fork applies:** `reasampler_9000_beta.vst3` with its own class UID. **The UID
pair is FOREVER-FROZEN and must not change** — a Linux build is a new platform, not a new
identity, and a saved project rebinds by UID.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- A Linux configure produces the `reasampler_vst` target; a Windows configure is unchanged.
- The built bundle's directory shape matches what the SDK's `module_linux.cpp` opens, and the
SDK's own `validator` loads it. `[verify — Linux]`.
- Both channels build and install side by side, and **the two class UIDs are byte-identical to
the Windows build's.**
- The three `CLAUDE.md` files no longer claim Windows-only, and **still** claim VST3-only and
REAPER-only.
- **No VST3 parameter is registered by this track or any other in this phase** — see the
Γ-W4-T1 boundary above.
**Prerequisites.** Λ-W2-T2, Λ-W3-T1 (V10; V9 if Λ-D2 is to survive). **Discharges:** B1, B2,
B5; and Λ-10's "vst3sdk is optional on Linux" caveat becomes conditional.
#### Λ-W6-T2 — `vst-host-safety-contract`
**Goal.** The plugin's editor surface refuses **cleanly** on every Linux host, so that adding
a real editor later is a change of branch taken and not a change of contract.
**Spec:** `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §Λ-W6-T2 and §"The non-REAPER-host safety
criterion"; Λ-D3, L2-08's fallback half.
**Surface boundary — owns:** `src/shell/instrument/editor_platform.cpp` (the
`isPlatformTypeSupported` / `createView` decision and the non-Windows stubs),
`reasampler_processor.cpp`'s `createView` site, `reasampler_embed.cpp`'s
`REAPER_FXEMBED_WM_IS_SUPPORTED`, and a new availability-probe seam under
`shell/instrument/`. **Does not own:** any CMake file, the paint or input families (untouched
— they stay whole-region-guarded), or any pure `core/instrument/` module.
**Behavior.**
- The editor's availability becomes a **tri-state probe** — untried / available / unavailable
— computed **once, lazily, off the audio thread**. In this wave the Linux answer is
unconditionally *unavailable*; **Λ-W7 gives it a real computation without changing a single
call site.**
- `isPlatformTypeSupported` returns `kResultFalse` for **every** type when unavailable;
`createView(kEditor)` returns `nullptr`. **Never a view that fails to attach.**
- **One** diagnostic line per process, naming the reason. Never a modal.
- `reasampler_embed`'s `REAPER_FXEMBED_WM_IS_SUPPORTED` continues to return 0 off Windows.
That is correct and stays correct — the TCP/MCP embed strip on Linux is an explicit
non-goal of this phase.
- **The Windows path is not restructured to accommodate this.** The probe is a Linux branch on
an existing decision, **not a new abstraction over both.**
**Acceptance criteria.** The full observable contract above, verified by **all four** of its
checks: `validator` with no `libSwell.so` present; a real Ardour or Bitwig scan; a
REAPER-on-Linux load; and the renamed-`libSwell.so` negative control. `[verify — Linux]`.
Plus:
- Windows editor behaviour bit-for-bit unchanged — same window class, same `wndProc`, same
`CS_DBLCLKS` fall-through.
- **Nothing added to `process()`** — no `dlopen`, no probe, no branch on the
per-voice-per-sample path.
- **The criteria pass with ZERO VST3 parameters registered.** An empty generic UI is a pass;
Γ-W4-T1 improves it and Λ must not.
**Prerequisites.** Λ-W6-T1 (there must be a module to load). **Discharges:** Λ-D3's Λ-W6 half;
L2-08's fallback half.
---
### Λ-W7 — The SWELL bootstrap
**Depends on:** Λ-W6-T1, Λ-W6-T2, and **V9 answered affirmatively.** If V9 is negative, **this
track does not exist and Λ-D2 needs a re-ruling** — which is why V9 runs first in Λ-W3 rather
than being discovered here.
#### Λ-W7-T1 — `swell-dylib-bootstrap`
**Goal.** The plugin acquires a working SWELL function table under REAPER on Linux, without
the vendored stub's `exit()` behaviour and without vendoring SWELL.
**Spec:** `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §Λ-W7-T1 and §"The implementation shape this
obliges"; Λ-D2 (route B3a), audit finding B3.
**Surface boundary — owns:** a new `src/shell/instrument/swell_bootstrap.{h,cpp}`, the
availability-probe computation Λ-W6-T2 left stubbed, and the `SWELLAppMain`-shaped callback.
**Does not own:** any vendored file (**nothing under `vendor/` is patched**), the CMake source
list beyond adding one TU, or the editor.
**Behavior — exactly the four-point shape in the product doc, and it is not a re-litigation of
Λ-D2 but the specification of it.**
1. **Never define `SWELL_LOAD_SWELL_DYLIB`.** Compile `swell-modstub-generic.cpp` in its
default branch, which exports `SWELL_dllMain(hInst, callMode, GetFunc)` and calls `doinit`
on the pointer it is handed.
2. **Own the load.** Resolve the host executable's directory, `dlopen` `libSwell.so`, `dlsym`
`SWELLAPI_GetFunc`, `dlsym` and call `SWELL_set_app_main`, then call our own exported
`SWELL_dllMain(hinst, DLL_PROCESS_ATTACH, getfunc)` — **using only exported surface, with
every failure returning a recorded state instead of exiting.** This also dissolves the
`SWELLAppMain`-as-a-link-requirement noted in T1 B3a: we pass an app-main because we choose
to, not because the linker demands one. `[verify — Linux]` whether a minimal app-main
suffices for a plugin that only ever creates child windows inside a host-supplied X11
window.
3. **Probe the host, not just the library.** A non-REAPER host has no SWELL message loop —
REAPER's own is what pumps SWELL windows — so even a successful `dlopen` in Ardour would
produce a window nothing drives. **Gate on the host name via `IHostApplication::getName()`
AND on the `dlopen` succeeding**; either failing means no editor.
4. **Probe once, lazily, off the audio thread.** Tri-state, computed on first `createView` and
never recomputed. No `dlopen` from `process()`, no per-`createView` retry, **no
static-constructor work.**
**The failure taxonomy the probe must distinguish**, because they need different messages:
host is not REAPER / executable path unresolvable / `libSwell.so` not present at the resolved
path / `SWELLAPI_GetFunc` missing or version-mismatched (the stub checks
`SWELLAPI_GetFunc(NULL)==(void*)0x100`) / API table incomplete. **The last is not fatal** —
`doinit` substitutes a zero-returning `dummyFunc` per miss — and whether to accept a partial
table or refuse is **[propose at review]**, with *"refuse if any name the editor actually
calls is missing"* as the starting proposal.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- Under REAPER on Linux the probe reports *available* and the SWELL table resolves with **zero
misses**. `[verify — Linux]`.
- Under `validator` with **no `libSwell.so` anywhere**, the probe reports *unavailable*, the
process **exits normally**, and one diagnostic line is printed. **This is the direct
negation of the `exit(2)` finding and is the track's headline criterion.**
`[verify — Linux]`.
- Under Ardour or Bitwig **with** a `libSwell.so` reachable, the host-name gate **still
refuses** — proving the gate is on the host, not only on the library. `[verify — Linux]`.
- No vendored file is modified; `git status` under `vendor/` is clean.
- Windows build unaffected — the whole TU is behind a platform guard.
**Prerequisites.** Λ-W6-T1, Λ-W6-T2, V9 affirmative. **Discharges:** B3 via route B3a; Λ-D3's
runtime half.
---
### Λ-W8 — The X11 editor
**Depends on:** Λ-W7-T1. **One track, and it is the phase's only L-band source item** (L2-08;
T1 B4 costs it "build S, source L"). Λ-D6 sequences it last on purpose: **halting this wave
still leaves a shipped extension and a loading, processing, generic-UI instrument** — a real
product, not a stub.
#### Λ-W8-T1 — `x11-embed-view`
**Goal.** The ReaSampler 9000 editor opens, draws and responds under REAPER on Linux.
**Spec:** `docs/product/linux-readiness.md` §Λ-W8-T1; audit findings B4, L2-08.
**Surface boundary — owns:** a **Linux sibling** to `src/shell/instrument/editor_platform.cpp`
(window creation and parenting, the run-loop timer, the event-driven input path), and the
`#ifdef _WIN32` region **boundaries** in `reasampler_editor.h` and the eight
`editor_input_*` / `editor_paint*` TUs — **boundaries only, not their contents.**
**Does not own:** `draw_kit`, any pure `core/instrument/` module, any painter's drawing logic,
`instrument_bake`, or the processor.
**Behavior.** The audits call this **a new competence rather than a port.** The build-side cost
is nil — the Linux IIDs are already in the vendored slice (`commoniids.cpp` defines
`Linux::IEventHandler`, `Linux::ITimerHandler`, `Linux::IRunLoop` under `#if SMTG_OS_LINUX`,
and that file is already in the `vst3_sdk` source list). What must be written:
- `kPlatformTypeX11EmbedWindowID` instead of `kPlatformTypeHWND`; `attachedToParent` receiving
an X11 window id.
- A `Linux::IRunLoop`-driven timer replacing `SetTimer`/`WM_TIMER` — **including the editor's
sync tick, which the bake's arm-then-run discipline rides on.**
- An **event-driven input path** replacing the `wndProc` switch. `RegisterClassW` /
`CreateWindowExW` / `DefWindowProcW` have **no SWELL analogue at all** — SWELL has no
window-class model, only `SWELL_CreateDialog` and raw `HWND__` construction.
- Substitutions the audit already resolved by name: `MoveWindow` → `SetWindowPos`;
`GetWindowLongPtr`/`SetWindowLongPtr` → the non-`Ptr` forms returning `LONG_PTR`;
`GetKeyState` → `GetAsyncKeyState`; `TrackMouseEvent`/`WM_MOUSELEAVE` → **nothing**, so
hover-leave needs its own derivation (the panel layer already documents the same gap);
`DragAcceptFiles`/`DragQueryFileW` → the drop path Λ-W2-T3 settled for the panel.
**A worked reference implementation is already on disk and neither audit named it.**
`vendor/vst3sdk/public.sdk/samples/vst-hosting/editorhost/source/platform/linux/` contains
`window.cpp` (returning `{kPlatformTypeX11EmbedWindowID, …}` and answering
`Linux::IRunLoop::iid` from `queryInterface`), `runloop.cpp`, and `irunloopimpl.h` (a
`RunLoopImpl` implementing `registerEventHandler` / `registerTimer` and their unregisters). It
is the **host** side of the contract rather than the plug-in side, which makes it a precise
specification of what our plug-in side must satisfy, and the documented narrow submodule init
already pulls it. **This does not shrink the L band** — it is a reading input, not a library;
it removes the "we are guessing at the contract" risk from the estimate.
**Acceptance criteria.**
- The editor opens, draws every face identically to the Windows build (compare screenshots at
the same window size), and every drag, click, wheel and keyboard interaction behaves the
same. `[verify — Linux]`.
- Hover-leave is correct on every hover surface, without `TrackMouseEvent`.
- **The bake's arm-then-run tick fires under `IRunLoop`, and a bake completes end-to-end on
Linux:** staged file, extension action invoked over the VST3 host bridge, outcome read back,
adopt and reset. `[verify — Linux]`.
- **Λ-W6-T2's contract still holds** — a non-REAPER host still gets `nullptr` from
`createView`. **Re-run all four checks; this is a regression criterion, not a new one.**
- **Nothing added to `process()`**; no dispatch added to any per-sample path.
- Every new file lands under the ~600-line ceiling **with a responsibility seam, not a
bisection.** The editor's existing band-axis split (`_chrome` / `_waveform` / `_deck` /
`_browse` / `_curve`) is the seam vocabulary to reuse — the Linux platform TU is a **sibling
to `editor_platform`**, per L2-08's own direction: *"it needs a sibling, not a rewrite."*
- Windows editor behaviour bit-for-bit unchanged.
**Prerequisites.** Λ-W7-T1. **Discharges:** B4, L2-08.
---
### Shared files across Λ's waves, named rather than discovered at merge
All textual adjacency, not semantic contention, unless marked otherwise.
| File | Tracks | Nature |
|---|---|---|
| `src/app/CMakeLists.txt` | Λ-W2-T2 (property + platform blocks), Λ-W2-T3 (one `target_sources` line, **resgen route only**), Λ-W4-T3 (the source list), Λ-W5-T1 (the `install()` rule) | Four disjoint regions of one file. Λ-W2-T2 and Λ-W2-T3 are the only pair in the same wave; one line each |
| `src/shell/panel/draw_kit.cpp` | Λ-W2-T1 (`loadFont`'s `CreateFont` args, `:73`), Λ-W4-T2 (the five call sites, `:154158`) | Different waves |
| `src/shell/instrument/CMakeLists.txt` | Λ-W2-T2 (thread linkage), Λ-W6-T1 (gate, entry point, bundle, install), Λ-W7-T1 (one added TU) | Different waves |
| `src/shell/panel/panel_window.cpp` | Λ-W2-T3 alone | **Deliberately not split.** The L2-06 diagnostic and the Λ-01 resource route are the same function — under the id-0 route the same *line*. Splitting them would be semantic contention |
| `src/shell/instrument/editor_platform.cpp` | Λ-W6-T2 (the refusal branch), Λ-W8-T1 (the real branch) | Different waves; the second replaces the first's computation **without touching its call sites** |
---
## Traceability — all seventeen items
The check that nothing was dropped. Every row points at a track that exists above.
| # | Item (short) | Phase-Wave-Track | Worktree slug |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Envelope editor: radio switch, curve dials, overlay recolor | Θ-W3-T2 | `pth-w3-t2-staged-envelope-curves` |
| 2 | MM preamp Filter — resonant HP/LP stage | Θ-W1-T3 (DSP) **+** Θ-W2-T1 (integration) | `pth-w1-t3-filter-dsp-port`, `pth-w2-t1-filter-voice-path` |
| 3 | Alternative Spline EGs | Θ-W5-T1 | `pth-w5-t1-spline-egs` |
| 4 | Bug: end-of-sample click, Trigger × Preserve | Θ-W3-T2 | `pth-w3-t2-staged-envelope-curves` |
| 5 | Bug: drag-out sometimes lands without audio | Θ-W1-T2 | `pth-w1-t2-capture-handoff-bugs` |
| 6 | Bug: FX-container drop loses the capture | Θ-W1-T2 | `pth-w1-t2-capture-handoff-bugs` |
| 7 | Stereo waveform shows both channels | Θ-W2-T2 | `pth-w2-t2-stereo-waveform-lanes` |
| 8 | Release anchoring; the Pitch AD becomes AHD | Θ-W3-T2 | `pth-w3-t2-staged-envelope-curves` |
| 9 | Loop points — regression + Gate loop-sustain | Θ-W4-T1 | `pth-w4-t1-gate-loop-sustain` |
| 10 | Knob/label sizing, ms units, double-click reset | Θ-W6-T1 | `pth-w6-t1-legibility-and-antialiasing` |
| 11 | Preview glyph; VELOCITY deck; bipolar curves | Θ-W4-T2 | `pth-w4-t2-velocity-deck-and-bipolar-curves` |
| 12 | Toolbar cleanup; full-width piano strip; tooltips | Θ-W2-T3 | `pth-w2-t3-toolbar-and-piano-strip` |
| 13 | Antialiased rendering audit for high-DPI | Θ-W6-T1 | `pth-w6-t1-legibility-and-antialiasing` |
| 14 | Trigger amp/filter fade → AHD consolidation | Θ-W3-T2 | `pth-w3-t2-staged-envelope-curves` |
| 15 | One-click in-sampler resample | Ξ-W1-T2 (note model) **+** Ξ-W2-T1 (bake chain) **+** Ξ-W3-T1 (popup abandoned by ruling; window derives itself) | `pxi-w1-t2-note-program-model`, `pxi-w2-t1-resample-bake-chain`, `pxi-w3-t1-capture-signal-popup` |
| 16 | Retire the zone mapping system | Θ-W1-T1 | `pth-w1-t1-zone-retirement` |
| 17 | Consolidate provenance/usage tracking | Ξ-W1-T1 | `pxi-w1-t1-tracking-consolidation` |
### Work in this plan that is not one of the seventeen
The table above is a completeness proof over `TODO-1.0.md` — every row points at a track,
so nothing from the source was dropped. It is deliberately **not** an index of the plan:
work that did not come from the source doc has no row, and inventing one would weaken the
proof it exists to give.
- **Θ-W3-T1 — `live-parameter-delivery`** (`pth-w3-t1-live-parameter-delivery`). Arose
from Θ-W2-T1's implementation review, not from `TODO-1.0.md`. The first such track in
this plan; see Θ-W7-T1 below for the second.
- **Θ-W7-T1 — `arc-and-spline-aa`** (`pth-w7-t1-arc-and-spline-aa`). Opened after
Θ-W6-T1 shipped, when Daniel found two rendering defects by eye in the editor — not
from `TODO-1.0.md`, and not a track this plan originally scoped. The second such track
in this plan today; if others appear, they belong on this list rather than in the
table.
- **All of Phase Γ** (`pg-*`). **Ten tracks across four waves**, from a direct interview with
Daniel (2026-08-01) and his four later rulings the same day, not from `TODO-1.0.md`. Listed
here as a block rather than per track, because the whole phase is outside the source doc;
the product reasoning lives in `docs/product/instrument-control-surface.md` and the
parameter system's in `docs/product/parameter-automation.md` §§610. **Two `docs/TODO.md`
entries are discharged by this phase, not deferred again:** Γ-W3-T1 discharges the
deck-rework entry (whose original "one row of taller decks with within-deck stacking" shape
Daniel explicitly superseded), and **Γ-W1-T1 discharges "Raise the stage-time ceiling above
2 s"** (Γ-F3 reversed).
- **All of Phase Ψ** (`ppsi-*`). **Seven tracks across three waves**, from a direct list
of seven defects and refinements (Daniel, 2026-08-01), not from `TODO-1.0.md`. Listed
here as a block, like Γ; unlike Γ it has no backing product doc — the seven are
recorded verbatim in the phase header as its provenance (Ψ.1–Ψ.7), and the design
content lives inline in its tracks. The seventh track, Ψ-W3-T1, is not one of the
seven defects/refinements itself — it came from a review finding mid-phase; see the
Phase Ψ section for detail.
- **Γ-W3-T2 `bake-reset-amendment` is a CORRECTION, not a feature**, and belongs on this list
for a different reason from the others: it exists only because Ξ-W2-T1 shipped ahead of this
plan's sequencing claim. If more corrections of this shape appear, they belong here rather
than in the table — the table is a completeness proof over `TODO-1.0.md`, and a correction
has no source row to point at.
- **All of Phase Ε** (`pe-*`). **Six tracks across three waves**, from a direct request
(Daniel, 2026-08-02), not from `TODO-1.0.md`. Listed here as a block, like Γ and Ψ; the
product reasoning lives in `docs/product/bank-package.md`. It **supersedes nothing** —
neither `docs/TODO.md` nor `docs/TODO-1.0.md` records export, import, or a package format,
so there is no deferred entry to absorb or contradict. Its three [Daniel]-class forks
(Ε-F1/F2/F3) were opened and ruled the same day it was framed, so no track here is gated on
a decision; see "Decision state" above.
- **All of Phase Ρ** (`pr-*`). **One track in one wave**, from a direct request (Daniel,
2026-08-02), not from `TODO-1.0.md`; the product reasoning lives in
`docs/product/render-in-place.md`. It **supersedes nothing** — a sweep of `docs/TODO.md`
and `docs/TODO-1.0.md` for `render.in.place|render to new track|preserve.source` returns
nothing. The smallest phase in this plan, deliberately: it is a thin third verb composed
out of machinery that already exists, and the burden was on any new machinery to prove it
unavoidable. Its three [Daniel]-class forks (Ρ-F1/F2/F3) were opened and ruled the same
day it was framed, so the track here is not gated on a decision; see "Decision state"
above. **Ρ-F2 was the one that moved the spec** — the result track goes to Arrange
unconditionally rather than following the active mode, which is also the only reason the
phase touches `panel_input.cpp` at all. **Ρ-W1-T1 has landed**; see `docs/COMPLETED.md`
for the full narrative.
- **All of Phase Λ** (`pl-*`). **Thirteen pending tracks across seven waves** (Λ-W2…Λ-W8),
plus Λ-W1's two audit tracks, which are landed. From a direct request (Daniel, 2026-08-02),
not from `TODO-1.0.md`; the product reasoning lives in `docs/product/linux-readiness.md`
and the evidence in the two audit notes it cites. It **supersedes nothing** and **corrects
one standing promise** rather than inheriting it: `docs/product/versioning-and-release.md`
commits to three platform artifacts per channel per release, and Λ-D4 (macOS out) makes
that two for now, with macOS named as deferred. **Λ is the one phase in this plan with
unanswered [Daniel]-class questions** — four forks, none ruled, of which only Λ-F2 gates a
dispatch and only Λ-F4 gates a wave; see "Decision state" above. It is also the one phase
whose acceptance criteria cannot be checked from the current box at all, which is why
Λ-W3 exists as a wave rather than as a checklist at the end.
### Deliberate compressions
Recorded so a reader of `TODO-1.0.md` can see what this plan did to the source, rather
than discovering it later:
- **Item 2 is split across two waves.** The DSP port (Θ-W1-T3) is deliberately separated
from the integration (Θ-W2-T1) so the external-input dependency on Daniel's Cortex-M4
code sits on a standalone, disjoint track instead of blocking a wave. Item 2's
acceptance criteria are split accordingly — the range/resonance assertions land in
W1-T3's tests, the audible/pipeline/deck criteria in W2-T1.
- **Item 2's filter envelope ships twice.** W2-T1 ships it in the existing staged AHDSR
shape; W3-T2 gives it the curve treatment and the mode-driven Gate→AHDSR /
Trigger→AHD shape. This is deliberate: waiting would put the filter behind the whole
envelope system.
- **Item 4 lands in Θ-W3, not Θ-W1.** Its fix region is the region item 14 retires, and
the only earlier instrument-side track owns the entire engine. Its acceptance gate is
stated as the post-consolidation gate. It is not gated behind the *whole* editor chain
— three waves of six — and the source doc itself requires re-verification under the
surviving mechanism either way.
- **Item 11's filter velocity curve is split from item 2's filter velocity
modulation.** W2-T1 wires the modulation path (following the amp/pitch precedents);
W4-T2 sets the curve's bipolar domain and default and homes its button. Neither track
can do the other's half.
- **Item 15's undo/recovery is carried as a note, not a criterion** — Daniel set it at
exactly "a plus." The guaranteed recovery floor (the superseded file surviving until
prune) is a criterion.
- **Nothing else was compressed.** Every other item's behavior bullets and acceptance
criteria are carried at full strength into the track that owns it.
---
## Outline at a glance
```
Phase Θ — ReaSampler 9000: one parameter set, filter, shapeable envelopes, legible editor
W1 Collapse and re-seam
T1 zone-retirement ......................... 16
T2 capture-handoff-bugs .................... 5, 6
T3 filter-dsp-port ......................... 2 (DSP) [needs Daniel's M4 code]
W2 Filter in the voice path; waveform and chrome bands
T1 filter-voice-path ....................... 2 (integration)
T2 stereo-waveform-lanes ................... 7
T3 toolbar-and-piano-strip ................. 12
W3 Live parameters, then the staged envelope system [T1 before T2 — serial]
T1 live-parameter-delivery ................. (not one of the seventeen)
T2 staged-envelope-curves .................. 1, 8, 14, 4
W4 Loop sustain and the velocity deck
T1 gate-loop-sustain ....................... 9
T2 velocity-deck-and-bipolar-curves ........ 11
W5 Spline EGs
T1 spline-egs .............................. 3
W6 Editor legibility pass
T1 legibility-and-antialiasing ............. 10, 13
W7 Arc-and-spline antialiasing fix
T1 arc-and-spline-aa ....................... (not one of the seventeen)
Phase Ξ — The resample loop (W1 concurrency-safe with Θ from Θ-W2 onward)
W1 Consolidated tracking, and the programmed-note model
T1 tracking-consolidation .................. 17
T2 note-program-model ...................... 15 (model)
W2 The bake chain [ran AHEAD of Γ; its reset list is corrected by Γ-W3-T2]
T1 resample-bake-chain ..................... 15 (chain)
W3 The capture-signal popup [popup abandoned by ruling; bake window derives itself]
T1 capture-signal-popup .................... 15 (popup abandoned; window derives)
Phase Γ — The instrument's control surface (none of the seventeen; ends with VST3 params)
W1 Foundations [5 tracks, disjoint by surface]
T1 knob-interaction-law ....... modifiers + ONE taper module + reset bypass
+ 10 s ceiling + AHDSR schematic axis [Ruling 2]
T2 master-bus-audio ........... limiter + meter ballistics + dynamic PDC [rung 1]
T3 contour-trace-curves ....... staged traces draw curved, knot on its trace
T4 editor-floor-and-row-law ... floor 1190x680 + budget constants + row predicate
T5 preserve-time-stretch ...... real stretcher [measure-and-report gate]
W2 New controls, and the overlay's marks [2 tracks]
T1 pitch-rate-deck ............ Rate + Pitch, Varisp/Presrv compounding [rung 2]
T2 loop-crossfade-ux .......... four-mark grammar; fade painted where it is heard
W3 The reflow, and the bake correction [2 tracks]
T1 deck-reflow ................ two rows + double-height MASTER, by construction
T2 bake-reset-amendment ....... the Xi correction Gamma owns [needs Xi-W2-T1 on dev]
W4 VST3 parameters [1 track]
T1 vst3-parameter-set ......... 44 derived params, frozen id table [Ruling 1]
[rung 3 RESERVED, spent only if verify says so]
[OPEN: Gamma-F7, the parameter order — Daniel]
Resequenced 2026-08-01, three times: the reflow split canvas (W1-T4) from arrangement
(W3-T1); preserve-time-stretch moved W4 -> W1-T5, retiring Rate's interim stand-in; then
Ruling 1 added W4 and Ruling 2 grew W1-T1.
Payload rungs are RELATIVE, not absolute — read kParamsPayloadVersion on dev and take the
next three above it. On dev at 2026-08-01 that is v14 / v15 / v16-reserved.
Shared files, named: engine/CMakeLists.txt (W1-T2 | W1-T5), ui/CMakeLists.txt
(W1-T1 | W1-T3), editor_session.cpp (W2-T1 | W2-T2) — all textual adjacency, not
semantic contention. W3-T2's disjointness from W3-T1 is CONDITIONAL: confirm it against
what Xi-W2-T1 shipped, and serialize behind T1 if it does not hold.
Phase Psi — The extension trust pass (none of the seventeen; a direct list of seven)
W1 Exact bounds, disciplined switches, reachable actions, resolved drops [4 tracks]
T1 capture-range-exactness ..... Psi.7 [opens with a DAW repro matrix]
T2 mode-switch-discipline ...... Psi.2 + Psi.3 [one chokepoint: applyMode]
T3 media-explorer-section ...... Psi.4 [BOTH sections; new FOREVER-STABLE id]
T4 drop-target-resolution ...... Psi.5 [gesture law, not a patch]
W2 Names and channels, over the settled render block [gated on W1-T1's render block]
T1 capture-naming .............. Psi.1 [+ the card shows the name]
T2 mono-collapse ............... Psi.6 [lossless only; ingest excluded]
Three invariant amendments are track deliverables: never-touch-solo (W1-T2, three
files), the action-registration contract (W1-T3, root CLAUDE.md), channel-count-
preserved (W2-T2, root CLAUDE.md:208).
Shared files, named: panel_input.cpp (W1-T2 footer block | W1-T4 drag-arm block);
capture.cpp + capture_realtime_finalize.cpp (W2-T1 naming lines | W2-T2 channel
lines) — all textual adjacency, not semantic contention. main.cpp is W1-T3's
exclusively.
Phase Epsilon — The bank package (none of the seventeen; a direct request 2026-08-02)
W1 The contract, the filesystem, and the ledger's new kind [3 tracks, disjoint by dir]
T1 package-format .............. core/package: framing + TWO version ints
[E-F1 RULED: proprietary RSBK. No ZIP, no zlib]
T2 package-fs-shell ............ shell/package: atomic write, streaming, pickers
[ONE picker: REAPER GetUserFileName, mode 0/1]
T3 import-origin-kind .......... OriginKind::PackageImport = 5, append-only
W2 The two verbs [2 tracks; disjointness CONDITIONAL — see below]
T1 bank-export ................. export_plan + verb + action; project untouched
T2 bank-import ................. import_plan + verb + action + .rsbank drop
[E-F2 RULED: always a NEW bank, auto-suffix, no
merge. E-F3 RULED: REFUSE on degraded ledger]
W3 The compatibility fixtures [1 track]
T1 package-compat-fixtures ..... frozen bytes prove BOTH version directions
Version policy, both directions: older package in newer build ALWAYS imports (additive
fields default, unknown keys skipped); newer package in older build REFUSES WHOLE with a
three-part message (package needs / this build reads / writer semver). The gate is
minReaderVersion <= kPackageFormatVersion — formatVersion is for the message, not the gate.
All three E-forks were ruled 2026-08-02, the day the phase was framed: NO track here is
gated on a decision. Import name collision = first free of seed, "seed 2", "seed 3", ...
seed never re-parsed, fold is BankBook's own.
Shared files, named: root CMakeLists.txt add_subdirectory list (W1-T1 | W1-T2, one
append-only line each); main.cpp + the panel bank menu (W2-T1 | W2-T2, one registration
line and one menu row each); bank_book.{h,cpp} is W2-T2's alone (one additive public const
member). W1's three tracks are unconditionally disjoint; W2's two are
textually adjacent only — serialize T2 behind T1 if zero contention is wanted.
Phase Rho — Render in place (none of the seventeen; a direct request 2026-08-02)
[LANDED — Ρ-W1-T1; see docs/COMPLETED.md; full detail section removed from this file]
W1 The verb [ONE track, deliberately]
T1 render-in-place ............. render selected track -> new sibling track,
item placed at the exact render position,
colour + "Capture " name cloned, source -> Design,
result track -> ARRANGE always. Never the bank.
[R-F1 RULED: refuse multi-track, settled non-goal.
R-F2 RULED: result track ALWAYS Arrange, never
mode-following. R-F3 RULED: follow panel tail]
The THIRD VERB. Capture = arrange -> bank (writes it). Placement = bank -> arrange
(reads it). Render in place = arrange -> arrange (bank on neither side). That is why the
load-bearing capture/placement rule survives it; the full argument is in the phase header
and in docs/product/render-in-place.md.
Structural boundary, not a convention: the render destination reaches the backend as a
TWO-VALUED ENUM (Bank | ProjectMedia), never a caller-supplied path — so no Rho caller can
name the bank folder. A renderDir string on CaptureRequest IS the drift.
Genuinely new: ONE pure sibling-placement function (folder-parent and last-in-folder are
both audibly wrong if inserted at srcIdx+1), an idempotent "Capture " prefix, a
deriveRenderPaths sibling, and CaptureResult::absolutePath. Everything else composes.
R-F2 fallout, the ruling's only cost: the result track AND its item are tagged
kArrangeModeId explicitly, and detectNewContent must drop added GUIDs that already carry
a membership record — the auto-tag detector otherwise re-tags a Design-fired result to
Design on its next tick and reverses the ruling. Firing from Design is therefore
deliberately invisible: the render waits in Arrange. No A/B-on-the-bench behaviour exists.
Four invariant amendments are track deliverables (the Psi precedent): shell/capture and
shell/actions CLAUDE.md placing-path claims, ONE sentence in root CLAUDE.md naming
the third verb without softening the prohibition, and core/view CLAUDE.md's "new tracks
are tagged to the active mode" made conditional on carrying no membership record.
Shared files, named: capture.{h,cpp} (destination enum + result field), main.cpp (one
ActionTableRow), and panel_input.cpp (detectNewContent only; Psi's two named regions in
that file are landed and are other functions) — the only pre-existing shell files
touched. Disjoint from Gamma (core+shell/instrument) and Epsilon (core+shell/package).
Phase Lambda — ReaSampler on Linux (none of the seventeen; a direct request 2026-08-02)
W1 The audits [COMPLETE]
T1 build-toolchain-audit ....... L-01..L-10, V1..V10, D1..D7
T2 source-runtime-audit ........ L2-01..L2-12
W2 Make it buildable, and make it honest [4 tracks, file-disjoint]
T1 linux-compile-blockers ...... L2-01, L2-02, L2-03 -> V1, V2
T2 toolchain-floor ............. L-02..L-05, L-07, L-09, L-10 -> V5, V6, V8
T3 panel-dialog-resource ....... L-01, L2-06, L2-07 -> V7 [GATED: L-F2]
T4 locale-independent-numerics . L2-04 [the one track verifiable on Windows]
W3 First light, and the verification sweep [1 track, deliberately]
T1 linux-verification-sweep .... V1..V10 + T2 section 5's seven; the deliverable
is a RECORD, not a fix. V1 / V9 / the API-load
count run FIRST — each reprices what follows.
W4 Correctness and safety, repriced [3 tracks, disjoint by dir]
T1 prune-deletion-safety ....... L2-05 both halves + the symlink reclaim lie
T2 linux-font-faces ............ L2-09
T3 source-partition-and-invariants . L-06, L2-10, L2-11 (Linux half)
W5 Ship the extension [1 track; GATED: L-F4]
T1 linux-packaging-and-install . L-08 + L-02's shipped half + both channels
W6 The instrument module + the host-safety contract [T1 before T2 — serial]
T1 vst-linux-module ............ B5 (the D5 reversal, FIRST), B1, B2
T2 vst-host-safety-contract .... D3's observable contract; passes with ZERO params
W7 The SWELL bootstrap [1 track]
T1 swell-dylib-bootstrap ....... B3 via route B3a, WITHOUT the stub's exit(2)
[prereq: V9 affirmative, else L-D2 re-rules]
W8 The X11 editor [1 track]
T1 x11-embed-view .............. B4, L2-08. The phase's one L-band source item.
NOTHING here has been verified on a Linux machine. W2's edits are authored BLIND from the
audits' citations and their acceptance criteria are discharged in W3 — W2 is not "done"
until W3 runs, and this plan says so rather than pretending otherwise.
W6 may run concurrently with W4 and W5 — file-disjoint; the only reason to serialise is
attention. Six D-rulings are SETTLED (instrument in scope; SWELL via dlopen of REAPER's
libSwell.so; REAPER-only editor but other hosts must degrade SAFELY; macOS out; shipped
not developer-only; hard unlink acceptable with a platform-aware confirmation).
OPEN, none ruled: L-F1 (CI — gates nothing), L-F2 (dialog-resource route — the ONLY fork
gating a dispatch, W2-T3), L-F3 (copy-only invariant wording — gates nothing),
L-F4 (declared support floor — gates W5, not a dispatch).
Lambda registers NO VST3 parameter, ever — that table is Gamma-W4-T1's and is frozen.
```