10ceb95ddd
Settle forks D-A..D-D: bare Steinberg VST3 SDK + LICE editor; split seam with root-note/loop-points on Sample now; Tier 0-1 committed; embedded TCP/MCP UI scheduled. Phase S added to PLAN.md and CONTEXT.md spec.
1331 lines
83 KiB
Markdown
1331 lines
83 KiB
Markdown
# ReaSampler — implementation briefing
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A native C++ REAPER extension that captures any arbitrary audio source into a
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per-project **sample bank** (cached files + a docked grid), decoupled from the
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arrange view, with keyboard/MIDI-bindable capture and placement. Built as a
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precision tool: deterministic, non-destructive, no clutter.
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This document is the spec. Read the existing scaffold first (`src/main.cpp` is
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the REAPER<->extension contract; the pure/testable-core split in `src/mpe_model.*`
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is the pattern to preserve — the MPE model is being replaced, the *discipline*
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is not). Verify every REAPER API name and signature against
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`vendor/reaper-sdk/sdk/reaper_plugin_functions.h` before use — the API names in
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this brief are correct-by-intent but treat them as hints, not gospel, and check
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argument order/types.
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## The load-bearing principle
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**Capture and placement are separate acts.** Capturing audio writes a file to
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the bank and adds an index entry — it NEVER puts an item in the arrange. Placement
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is a distinct, on-demand action (insert / drag). Any code path that auto-inserts a
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capture into the timeline violates the entire point of the tool and must be
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rejected in review. This single rule is why the tool exists.
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## Settled decisions
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- **Capture modes:** offline render (deterministic, the default) AND realtime
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record (for hardware / performed FX). Both sit behind one capture interface and
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produce identical bank entries.
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- **Bank scope:** per-project, travels with the `.rpp`. Files live in a
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project-relative subfolder; the index persists in project ext state. No absolute
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paths anywhere in the index.
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- **Material:** must handle full-mix/stem bounces, chops/one-shots, and
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single-cycle/wavetable grabs equally. That means exact sample-accurate bounds,
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explicit tail control, channel-count preservation, and loop/zero-crossing
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handling all matter from day one.
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## Module architecture
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Preserve the scaffold's split: pure, REAPER-free logic in one set of files
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(unit-tested outside the DAW via the existing `tests/` + CTest harness), REAPER-
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facing shells in another.
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Pure (no REAPER types, fully unit-tested):
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- `bank_model` — the `Sample` metadata struct and the `BankIndex` (add / remove /
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query / tier moves / dedup-by-hash) plus JSON serialize/deserialize to a
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`std::string`. This is the heart; test it hard.
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- `peaks` — compute waveform min/max bins from raw PCM. Feed it a known signal
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(sine, ramp) and assert the envelope. We compute our own thumbnails from the
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captured file rather than depending on REAPER's peak API — we own the file
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format, so this is simpler, testable, and dependency-free.
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REAPER-facing:
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- `capture` — the `ICaptureBackend` interface plus `OfflineRenderBackend` and
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`RealtimeRecordBackend`. Input: a `CaptureRequest` (capture scope — item or
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track, time range, tail, SR/bit-depth/channels, output path). Output: a finished
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file + a populated `Sample` handed to `bank_model`. Capture is always wet; the FX
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*scope* (not a wet/dry dial) is the control — the pure `render_settings` module
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maps a scope to its render-source bits and its FX-bypass plan (see §Capture FX
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scope below).
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- `insert` — placement via `InsertMedia`; conform-to-project-tempo vs literal,
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as an explicit flag (never silent stretching).
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- `bank_panel` — the docked grid: LICE-drawn thumbnails, audition, multi-select,
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keyboard navigation. Reuses the docking setup already in `mpe_view.cpp`.
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- `persist` — project ext state <-> `bank_model` JSON; project-relative path
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resolution (resolve bank folder from the current project path).
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- `actions` — registers the capture/placement/slot action family and routes each
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to the modules above (the `command_id` + `gaccel` + `hookcommand` pattern from
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`main.cpp`).
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## Data model (sketch — refine in code)
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`Sample`: id, display name, relative file path, source mode, source range (start/
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end in project time + PPQ), track GUID(s) if applicable, wet/dry, channel count,
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sample rate, length (seconds + musical/beats), capture tempo, optional key,
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peak/RMS/LUFS, clip flag, tier (scratch | archive), content hash, provenance
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(parent sample id + FX-chain snapshot string, when resampled from another sample),
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created timestamp.
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`BankIndex`: ordered collection of `Sample`, keyed by id; hash lookup for dedup;
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tier filtering; JSON round-trip. Scratch tier is auto-prunable; archive is kept.
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## REAPER API surface (verify all signatures)
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Offline render (the crux — prototype this first):
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- Drive render settings with `GetSetProjectInfo` (`RENDER_BOUNDSFLAG`,
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`RENDER_STARTPOS`, `RENDER_ENDPOS`, `RENDER_TAILFLAG`, `RENDER_TAILMS`,
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`RENDER_SRATE`, `RENDER_CHANNELS`, `RENDER_SETTINGS`) and
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`GetSetProjectInfo_String` (`RENDER_FILE`, `RENDER_PATTERN`, `RENDER_FORMAT`).
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The `RENDER_SETTINGS` bit choice is driven by capture scope: **item** scope renders
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selected media items (single-file), **track** scope renders selected tracks via
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master. There is **no master-mix scope** (to capture the master, render a track).
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Render is always wet — REAPER has no true pre-FX "dry" render bit; FX scoping is done
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by the FX-bypass-around-render mechanism, not a render bit (see §Capture FX scope).
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- Trigger a no-dialog render via the appropriate render action / `RENDER_SETTINGS`
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bit. Confirm the exact command id and the "render without opening dialog" flag
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against current REAPER — do not assume; test that it runs headless.
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- Determinism is a hard requirement: two identical requests must produce
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bit-identical files (enables the null test below).
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Realtime record (**track scope** — item realtime is deferred):
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- Taps the **selected track**, not the master. Recipe: create a hidden temp track,
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route a **post-fader send from each selected source track into it**
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(`CreateTrackSend`, default post-fader/full-stereo — captures each track's own
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output *before* the parent/master sums it, so the tap is chain-independent by
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construction and needs no FX bypass), set the temp's record mode to record-output
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(latency-compensated, `B_MAINSEND=0` so it does not sum back), arm (`I_RECARM`),
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`CSurf_OnRecord`, run for the range, `OnStopButtonEx`, then move the recorded file
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into the bank and delete the temp track (which drops the sends — no source track is
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left mutated). Verify `I_RECMODE` values for output-recording.
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- Master→track sends are refused by REAPER as feedback loops — this is *why* the tap
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is the selected track's post-fader output, not the master.
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Sources & metadata:
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- Time selection: `GetSet_LoopTimeRange`. Razor edits:
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`GetSetMediaTrackInfo_String(track, "P_RAZOREDITS", ...)`. Tempo:
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`Master_GetTempo` / `TimeMap2_timeToBeats` / `GetProjectTimeSignature2`.
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Selected items/tracks: `CountSelectedMediaItems` / `GetSelectedTrack`.
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Placement:
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- `InsertMedia(path, mode)` at edit cursor / new track / replace selection
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(verify mode bits). `SetEditCurPos`. Wrap edits in `Undo_BeginBlock2` /
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`Undo_EndBlock2`.
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Persistence & paths:
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- `SetProjExtState` / `GetProjExtState` (namespace e.g. `"reasampler"`) for the
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index JSON. Resolve project folder via `EnumProjects` / `GetProjectPathEx`;
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store the bank under a project-relative subfolder; keep only relative paths in
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the index.
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## Build order (each milestone independently testable)
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1. `bank_model` + JSON round-trip + unit tests. (pure — no REAPER)
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2. `peaks` + unit tests. (pure)
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3. Offline capture of the time-selection master mix to a wav in the project bank
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folder; add a `Sample`; log it to the console. (the render-driving spike)
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4. `persist`: write the index to proj ext state, reload on project open; confirm
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it survives Save / Save As. (bank travels with the .rpp)
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5. `bank_panel`: docked grid with thumbnails, audition, selection.
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6. `insert`: "insert selected sample at edit cursor" action via `InsertMedia`.
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7. Capture action family: two FX scopes — **item** (item/take FX only) and **track**
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(item FX + the selected track's own track FX), each chain-independent (the
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out-of-scope chain is neutralized to unity for the render). No master scope — to
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capture the master, render a track. Each scope captures over a **time-or-razor
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range** (razor is a range source, not a mode: razor-when-present, else time
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selection). Capture is always wet; the scope is the control. All registered as
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bindable actions (tail off; a tail-on variant is a later opt-in).
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8. `RealtimeRecordBackend` behind the same interface.
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9. Slots: "capture to slot N" / "insert slot N", MIDI-bindable (MPC-style).
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10. Provenance + "re-capture from source"; null-test verify action.
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11. Polish: batch capture (per selected item / per razor area), resample-and-mute-
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source, conform-on-insert, drag-out to OS.
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## Precision invariants (enforce, test)
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- **Null test:** a dry offline capture of a range, re-inserted at its source
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position, nulls to silence against the source. Ship this as a verification
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action; it is the tool's trust anchor.
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- **Bit-identical repeats:** identical offline requests produce identical files.
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- **Non-destructive:** capture never mutates source items or tracks (realtime's
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temp track is created and removed cleanly; source routing is restored).
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- **Exact bounds:** no rounding of the requested range; no added silence unless a
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tail is explicitly requested; channel count preserved (no silent stereo fold).
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- **Relative paths only** in the persisted index.
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## Non-goals / guardrails
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- No auto-insertion of captures into the arrange (see the load-bearing principle).
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- Native OS drag-out is deferred to the final milestone — `InsertMedia`-driven
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placement is the primary path and must work first.
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- Do not depend on REAPER's peak API for thumbnails; compute from the captured
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file.
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- Do not silently time-stretch on insert; conform is opt-in.
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- Do not trust this brief's API names blindly — verify against the SDK header.
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## Open questions to resolve during build
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- Exact no-dialog render command/flag on the current REAPER build.
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- ~~Realtime record routing that captures wet master output without altering the
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user's monitoring.~~ **Resolved:** realtime taps the *selected track* (track scope),
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not the master — a post-fader track→temp send is chain-independent by construction,
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so there is no wet-master-routing problem and monitoring is untouched (see the
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Realtime record API surface above).
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- Audio format for the bank (wav bit depth default; allow float for wavetable
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fidelity).
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- Thumbnail cache: recompute vs store peak bins alongside the index.
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---
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# Design View — additive phase spec
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> **Additive section.** This is a standalone phase parallel to — not part of — the
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> M0–M11 capture roadmap above. Nothing above changes. Product framing (workflow
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> narrative, screenset differentiation, N-mode reasoning, design-direction calls)
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> lives in `docs/product/design-view.md`; this section is the authoritative
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> technical spec, matching the house style of the capture spec. Same standing
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> discipline applies: **verify every REAPER API name/signature against
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> `vendor/reaper-sdk/sdk/reaper_plugin_functions.h` before use.**
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## What it is
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A **track-visibility-plus-processing "mode" system**, toggled from the ReaSampler
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window. Tracks used purely for sound design (scratch oscillators, FX mangling,
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resampling sources) are tagged into **Design** mode; the arrangement's real tracks
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are **Arrange** mode (the default). Toggling to a mode **hides and disables** the
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tracks that don't belong to it. Workflow value: mental separation + clutter
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elimination — be in Design view, resample into the bank, flip to Arrange, place it.
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Design View is a **mode projection over REAPER's single arrange timeline** —
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reaching both **tracks** (parked per mode) and **items** (lane-split per mode on
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shared tracks). It approximates two canvases without a second surface: same project,
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same timeline, but each stance sees its own tracks and its own items. It **never**
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duplicates the project or opens a second window.
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> **Two-canvas reach — settled (2026-07-23).** The original single-canvas framing
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> here was derived from a REAPER constraint, not chosen as a product stance. Daniel
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> reopened it — "as close as possible to two separate design and arrange canvases,
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> same project, different items and leaves" — and has now signed off on the
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> mechanism and resolved all forks. The "different leaves" half is delivered by
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> track-parking (D1). The "different items" half is delivered by **per-item mode
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> membership via REAPER fixed lanes** (track-side `I_FREEMODE=2`, `I_NUMFIXEDLANES`,
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> `C_LANEPLAYS:N`; item-side `I_FIXEDLANE`, `C_LANEPLAYS`, `B_FIXEDLANE_HIDDEN`):
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> each mode owns a lane on a shared track, and toggling shows/plays only the active
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> mode's lane. This is an item-visibility projection over the one timeline — the
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> exact analog of today's track-visibility projection — with still **no** literal
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> second surface, window, or duplicate project. It is an **additive sub-phase (Phase
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> D2 / Phase E)** on top of D1, spec'd in *§Two-canvas sub-phase* below. Full framing
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> and the rejected alternatives (timebase-offset, subproject) live in
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> `docs/product/design-view.md` §Two-canvas direction.
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It is the visibility/processing analog of the capture pillar's load-bearing rule:
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**designing and arranging are separate stances on one timeline**, and the tool
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enforces the separation **without ever destroying the user's real state.**
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## Settled decisions
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- **Membership.** Default = Arrange; every untagged leaf belongs to it. Leaves
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**opt in** to Design (or any mode). No track appears in two modes at once except
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(a) via an explicit **show-both** toggle, or (b) parent/folder derivation.
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- **Parents are derived, never tagged.** A parent/folder track is visible in mode M
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if **either** (a) any descendant leaf is visible in M (descendant-derived), **or**
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(b) the parent belongs to M by its **own membership** — and an untagged parent is
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an Arrange member by default. So an untagged folder carrying its own FX/media
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above all-Design leaves shows in **both** Arrange (its own default) and Design
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(derived from its children). A parent is **never parked** in any mode it is visible
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in. Rule of thumb: **tag leaves; parents follow** — the common case, since a
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content-bearing folder still surfaces wherever its own membership places it.
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Master track is always visible and never touched.
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- **N-mode model, two-mode UI.** The data model carries arbitrarily many modes; the
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UI ships **Arrange** + **Design**. A mode is (stable id, display name, ordinal).
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Arrange is special only as the default home for untagged leaves.
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- **Parking a track** (inactive-mode leaf): `B_SHOWINTCP=0`, `B_SHOWINMIXER=0`
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(hide both panels), `B_MAINSEND=0` (out of mix), `I_FXEN=0` (FX bypassed), and
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`TrackFX_SetOffline(track, fx, true)` for **each** FX (reclaim CPU). Full CPU-park
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is the deliberate choice over mix-removal-only.
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- **Never touches `B_MUTE` / `I_SOLO`.** The tool owns only visibility,
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`B_MAINSEND`, `I_FXEN`, and per-FX offline — on every managed leaf, tagged or
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untagged. User mute/solo survives every toggle untouched.
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- **Persistence.** Membership index + last-active mode + per-track flag snapshots
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ride in the existing `"reasampler"` project ext-state namespace and travel with
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the `.rpp`. On project open, reapply the active mode's visibility + processing.
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## Precision invariants (enforce, test)
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- **Non-destructive restore.** For every flag the tool drives, snapshot the prior
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value **before** parking; on toggle-back restore **from the snapshot**, never to a
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hardcoded "on." Round-trip (snapshot → park → restore) returns every driven flag
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to its captured value. This is the phase's trust anchor — the analog of the
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capture null test — and is enforced in the pure layer.
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- **Mute/solo untouched.** No toggle ever reads or writes `B_MUTE` / `I_SOLO`.
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- **Master untouched.** The tool never drives the master track's visibility flags
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(the SDK forbids `B_SHOWINTCP`/`B_SHOWINMIXER` on master; the invariant agrees).
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- **GUID-keyed, reorder-safe.** Membership keys on track GUID (`GetTrackGUID`),
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never track index; tolerates unknown/stale GUIDs (prune on reconcile).
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- **Relative/portable state only** in the persisted view section (GUID strings, mode
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ids — no absolute paths, no index positions).
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## Documented caveat
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Offlined FX **re-instantiate** when a track returns to the active mode. Stateful
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plugins (convolution, loaded samplers, tail-holding effects) re-initialize on
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return — possible load hitch, un-persisted internal state lost. Accepted cost of
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the CPU reclaim; surface it at the toggle affordance (tooltip).
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## Module architecture (preserve the pure/shell split)
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Pure (no REAPER types, unit-tested — the mirror of `bank_model`):
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- `view_mode_model` — mode registry (id/name/ordinal; Arrange + Design seeded);
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membership index (`track GUID → { mode ids }` + per-track show-both flag; add /
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remove / retag / query); **folder-tree-aware** visibility derivation (given the
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current parent↔child tree supplied by the shell + the active mode, compute the
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visible set); the **parking/restore planner** (given active mode + snapshot
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record, emit the exact (track, flag, value) operation lists for park and
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restore — where the restore invariant is enforced); JSON round-trip of modes +
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membership + show-both + snapshots + active mode.
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REAPER-facing:
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- `view` shell — reads `I_FOLDERDEPTH` across the track list to build the
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parent↔child tree and feeds it to `view_mode_model`; applies the planner's operations
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via `SetMediaTrackInfo_Value` (`B_SHOWINTCP` / `B_SHOWINMIXER` / `B_MAINSEND` /
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`I_FXEN`) and `TrackFX_GetCount` + per-FX `TrackFX_SetOffline`; snapshots prior
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flag values before parking; resolves GUIDs via
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`GetTrackGUID` / `guidToString` / `stringToGuid`. Never touches master
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visibility, never touches `B_MUTE` / `I_SOLO`.
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- `persist` (slice) — serialize/deserialize the view section into the
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`"reasampler"` namespace alongside the bank; on project open, rebuild the tree
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and reapply the active mode.
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- `actions` (entries) — toggle active mode; activate mode: Arrange / Design;
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tag/untag selected tracks → mode; show-both for selected tracks. Registered with
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the `command_id` / `gaccel` / `hookcommand` pattern; toggle + mode-jumps
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MIDI-bindable.
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- UI (in the ReaSampler / bank_panel window) — a **segmented mode switch**
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(`[ Arrange | Design ]`) in the window header, active segment lit; small per-mode
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membership count; the offlined-FX caveat as a tooltip. Tag/untag acts on the
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current REAPER track selection, not a per-track widget.
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## Show-both semantics
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A **per-track "pin visible across modes"** flag that **re-enables processing**
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whenever shown. A show-both leaf appears in every mode's visible set and is **never
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parked** — its driven flags stay at snapshot/restored values, FX online, in the
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mix. ("Show but keep parked" is not offered — a visible-but-silent-and-offline
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track is clutter with a thumbnail.) Stored on the membership record; persists;
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togglable per selection.
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## REAPER API surface (verify all signatures)
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- Visibility/routing/FX flags via `GetMediaTrackInfo_Value` (snapshot) /
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`SetMediaTrackInfo_Value` (apply): `B_SHOWINTCP`, `B_SHOWINMIXER`, `B_MAINSEND`,
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`I_FXEN`. (Note: brief cited `B_SHOWINMCP`; verified SDK name is `B_SHOWINMIXER`.)
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- Per-FX offline: `TrackFX_GetCount` + `TrackFX_SetOffline(track, fx, offline)`.
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- Folder tree: read `I_FOLDERDEPTH` per track to derive parent↔child structure.
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- GUID keying: `GetTrackGUID`, `guidToString`, `stringToGuid`.
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- Persistence: `SetProjExtState` / `GetProjExtState` under `"reasampler"` (shared
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with the bank index — one blob, two logical sections).
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- Wrap flag mutations in `Undo_BeginBlock2` / `Undo_EndBlock2` as appropriate.
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## Non-goals / guardrails
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- **No *literal* second canvas.** A literal second arrange surface, a second window,
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or a duplicated project stays **rejected** — reject any such path in review. This
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guardrail was **narrowed (2026-07-23), not lifted**: per-item mode separation via
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REAPER fixed lanes on shared tracks (an item-visibility projection over the one
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timeline) is now **allowed** and specified in *§Two-canvas sub-phase* below. Paths
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that remain **rejected**: subproject / second-project-file approaches, and
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overloading item `D_POSITION` with mode semantics (timebase-offset regions) — the
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latter collides with the capture null test. See `docs/product/design-view.md`
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§Two-canvas direction for why those were rejected.
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- **Never touch mute/solo.** Any code path reading/writing `B_MUTE` / `I_SOLO` is a
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bug.
|
||
- **Never drive a manual lane** (Phase D2). A mode toggle touches only **managed**
|
||
lanes (minted by the mode system, keyed in the lane-ownership index). Any code path
|
||
that shows, hides, silences, or re-lanes a **manual** lane — a user-created comp/take
|
||
lane outside the mode system — is a bug. The tool drives only lanes it created.
|
||
- **Every leaf is managed.** The mode system owns all leaf tracks: an untagged leaf
|
||
is an Arrange member, and when the active mode is not Arrange it is fully parked
|
||
and snapshot-restored exactly like a tagged leaf out of its mode. **show-both** is
|
||
the only way to opt a leaf out of parking. (Parents stay visibility-only, master
|
||
is never touched — see below.)
|
||
- **Restore from snapshot, never to a default.** No hardcoded "on" restores.
|
||
- **Verify API names** against the SDK header before use.
|
||
|
||
## Open questions to resolve during build
|
||
|
||
- Reconcile residuals (bulk behavior shipped — `ViewModeModel::reconcile(liveGuids)`
|
||
prunes orphaned snapshots on every toggle/load; folder restructure is self-healing
|
||
because the tree is rebuilt each toggle; membership is intentionally kept so
|
||
undo-delete preserves the tag). Two sub-items remain deferred:
|
||
- **FX-GUID keying for `restoreFxOffline`:** currently restores by slot index; a
|
||
reshuffled FX chain while parked will restore to the wrong slot. Fix requires
|
||
FX-GUID keying + snapshot-schema migration — deferred.
|
||
- **Dormant membership entries:** truly-deleted tracks accumulate stale entries in
|
||
persisted `view_state` (harmless and bounded); natural home is a future
|
||
user-initiated "compact" action, not automatic pruning (which would reintroduce
|
||
undo-delete tag-loss).
|
||
- Interaction with the user having a screenset active (Design View drives the same
|
||
flags a screenset recall would; last writer wins — confirm no surprising fight).
|
||
|
||
## Two-canvas sub-phase (Phase D2 / Phase E) — additive to D1
|
||
|
||
> **Additive sub-phase, settled 2026-07-23.** Extends D1's track-level mode
|
||
> projection to **item level** so each stance owns its own items as well as its own
|
||
> tracks. Nothing in D1 changes; this wraps it. Runtime floor rises to **REAPER 7**
|
||
> for this sub-phase (fixed lanes shipped in v7). Product framing in
|
||
> `docs/product/design-view.md` §Two-canvas direction.
|
||
|
||
### What it adds
|
||
|
||
On a track present in **both** stances (a show-both track, or a folder carrying its
|
||
own media), each mode owns a **fixed lane**: the active mode's lane shows and plays;
|
||
the inactive mode's lane is hidden and silent. A Design take and an Arrange take can
|
||
then live on the *same track, same time position*, without colliding on the view.
|
||
Track-only-in-one-mode content is still handled by D1 track-parking, unchanged.
|
||
|
||
### Settled decisions
|
||
|
||
- **Mechanism: fixed item lanes.** Map mode → lane; toggle drives per-lane play/show
|
||
so only the active mode's lane is present. Items keep their real position and real
|
||
track — nothing is moved in time or deleted. SDK surface (**verified present in
|
||
`vendor/reaper-sdk`**): track-side `I_FREEMODE = 2`, `I_NUMFIXEDLANES`,
|
||
`C_LANEPLAYS:N`; item-side `I_FIXEDLANE`, `C_LANEPLAYS`, `B_FIXEDLANE_HIDDEN`.
|
||
**`I_FREEMODE` changes require `UpdateTimeline()`** to take visible effect.
|
||
- **Membership: auto-tag by active mode at creation.** New content — **both new
|
||
tracks and new items** — is tagged to whatever mode is active when it is created.
|
||
Pre-existing content defaults to **Arrange**. Membership is **exclusive**:
|
||
Design-created content never appears in Arrange and vice versa, except via the
|
||
existing **show-both** escape hatch. (This is the same tag-to-active-mode rule as
|
||
D1 track membership, now reaching items on shared tracks.)
|
||
- **Inactive-mode content is hidden AND silenced.** The off-mode lane is set
|
||
`C_LANEPLAYS = 0` — neither shown nor played — consistent with exclusive
|
||
membership and with D1's "flipping modes is a real change, not cosmetic." Show-both
|
||
is the deliberate opt-out for a lane that must stay audible across modes.
|
||
- **Managed vs. manual lanes — indexed and distinct.** Fixed lanes are also REAPER's
|
||
native comping surface: a user may keep **their own** manual lanes (comp takes,
|
||
alternate reads) on a track alongside the mode system's lanes. The tool maintains a
|
||
**lane-ownership index** — per (track GUID, lane): **managed** (which mode owns it)
|
||
vs **manual** (user-minted, outside the mode system). Mode operations touch **only
|
||
managed lanes**; manual lanes are never shown, hidden, silenced, or re-laned by a
|
||
toggle, and their `C_LANEPLAYS` stays exactly as the user set it. Items a user adds
|
||
to a **manual** lane are **not** auto-tagged (auto-tag governs normal timeline
|
||
content, not hand-managed lanes). The ownership index rides in `"reasampler"`
|
||
`view_state` alongside the membership index, GUID-keyed and portable.
|
||
- **Capture placement is mode-aware.** An **explicit** placement while in Design mode
|
||
— including capture-and-place — lands the item in the **Design lane**; the same
|
||
rule governs manual insertion. **The capture load-bearing principle is untouched:**
|
||
capture still writes a file + index entry and **never** auto-inserts; this governs
|
||
only *where an explicit placement lands*.
|
||
- **REAPER floor: v7.** No version-gate branch — below v7 this sub-phase is simply
|
||
unavailable.
|
||
|
||
### Precision invariants (unaffected — called out explicitly)
|
||
|
||
The capture precision invariants — **null test, bit-identical repeats,
|
||
non-destructive, exact bounds, relative-paths-only** — are **entirely unaffected** by
|
||
this sub-phase. No capture path changes; lanes are a placement/view concern
|
||
downstream of the written file. Lane assignment and `C_LANEPLAYS` are **reversible
|
||
flags**: the item is never relocated in time or deleted, so the sub-phase extends the
|
||
D1 non-destructive snapshot/restore contract to a new (item-lane) flag family rather
|
||
than introducing any destructive operation.
|
||
|
||
**New invariant — mode operations touch only managed lanes.** A mode toggle drives
|
||
only lanes the mode system minted (managed lanes, keyed in the lane-ownership index).
|
||
Manual lanes — user-created comp/take lanes outside the mode system — are **never**
|
||
shown, hidden, silenced, or re-laned by a toggle; their `C_LANEPLAYS` is left exactly
|
||
as the user set it. This is the fixed-lane analog of *never touch `B_MUTE`/`I_SOLO`*
|
||
and *never touch master*: **the tool drives only what it created.** Enforceable and
|
||
testable in the pure layer — the "which lanes may this toggle touch" decision is a
|
||
pure query over the ownership index; only reading REAPER's live lane state is shell.
|
||
|
||
### Module architecture (preserve the pure/shell split)
|
||
|
||
- **Pure (`view_mode_model` extension).** Lane math — which lane maps to which mode,
|
||
which `C_LANEPLAYS` value per mode, the item-lane op family alongside the existing
|
||
track-flag op family — is **REAPER-free and unit-tested**, mirroring the D1
|
||
planner. The **lane-ownership index** (per (track GUID, lane): managed-which-mode vs
|
||
manual) and the **"which lanes may this toggle touch" query** (managed only) are
|
||
pure and unit-tested — the planner emits lane ops for managed lanes only and never
|
||
for manual lanes. The **auto-tag decision** is pure too: given *a set of new
|
||
track/item GUIDs + the active mode* — and, for items, whether the item landed in a
|
||
manual lane (exempt) — produce the membership writes.
|
||
- **Shell.** Two shell responsibilities. (1) **Apply** the planner's item-lane ops
|
||
(`I_FREEMODE`/`I_FIXEDLANE`/`C_LANEPLAYS`/`B_FIXEDLANE_HIDDEN` via the media-item
|
||
info setters, `UpdateTimeline()` after `I_FREEMODE` changes) — for managed lanes
|
||
only. (2) **Detect** new content and read live lane state — see below.
|
||
- **Persistence.** The tool persists which lane maps to which mode **and the
|
||
managed/manual ownership index** (a small addition to the `"reasampler"` view
|
||
section); REAPER stores fixed lanes and lane-plays in the `.rpp` natively.
|
||
|
||
### New-content detection (implementation design point)
|
||
|
||
REAPER exposes **no clean "item added" / "track added" event callback.** Auto-tagging
|
||
therefore requires the shell to **diff project state on the panel's existing timer** —
|
||
the `bank_panel` already polls and fingerprints the bank; this extends that machinery
|
||
to the timeline's tracks and items.
|
||
|
||
- Each poll, compare the live track/item GUID set against the previous poll's set;
|
||
**any GUID new since the last poll is tagged to the then-active mode.**
|
||
- Correctness the implementation must handle: the **first poll after project open must
|
||
not mass-tag** pre-existing content (pre-existing defaults to Arrange, per the
|
||
membership rule).
|
||
- **Manual-lane exemption (design point).** An item added to a **manual** lane is
|
||
**not** auto-tagged — auto-tag governs normal timeline content, not lanes the user
|
||
hand-manages. Distinguishing the two may need a heuristic at detection (e.g., an item
|
||
whose `I_FIXEDLANE` is marked manual in the ownership index is exempt; content
|
||
outside any managed lane on a mode-managed track follows the active-mode rule). The
|
||
precise rule is an **open implementation design point**; the settled boundary is that
|
||
manual-lane content is off-limits to auto-tag.
|
||
- **Lane-identity fragility (design point).** `I_FIXEDLANE` is the lane's identity and
|
||
is how the ownership index keys to a lane. Whether the index survives lane
|
||
reorder/renumber/deletion without going stale is an **implementation design point**
|
||
(same class as GUID-keyed reorder-safety for tracks) — flag, don't solve here.
|
||
- Pure/shell seam: the **detection** (diffing REAPER's live set each tick, reading live
|
||
lane ownership) is shell; the **tagging decision** and the **managed/manual lane
|
||
query** (new GUIDs + active mode + manual-lane exemption ⇒ membership + lane writes)
|
||
are pure and unit-tested.
|
||
|
||
### REAPER API surface (verify all signatures)
|
||
|
||
- Fixed lanes — track: `I_FREEMODE` (=2), `I_NUMFIXEDLANES`, `C_LANEPLAYS:N` via
|
||
`GetMediaTrackInfo_Value`/`SetMediaTrackInfo_Value`; item: `I_FIXEDLANE`,
|
||
`C_LANEPLAYS`, `B_FIXEDLANE_HIDDEN` via `GetMediaItemInfo_Value` /
|
||
`SetMediaItemInfo_Value`. Call `UpdateTimeline()` after `I_FREEMODE` changes.
|
||
- Detection reuses the `bank_panel` timer + GUID fingerprinting already in place;
|
||
item GUIDs via the item's `GUID` (`GetSetMediaItemInfo_String` `"GUID"`), track
|
||
GUIDs via `GetTrackGUID` as in D1.
|
||
- **Verify every name/signature against the SDK header before use** — the surface is
|
||
verified *present*, but confirm argument order, types, and flag values.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
# Multi-bank — additive phase spec
|
||
|
||
> **Additive section.** This is a standalone phase parallel to — not part of — the
|
||
> M0–M11 capture roadmap and Phase D above. Nothing above changes. Product framing
|
||
> (workflow narrative, pool-privilege reasoning, movement semantics, UI-direction
|
||
> calls) lives in `docs/product/multi-bank.md`; this section is the authoritative
|
||
> technical spec, matching the house style of the capture and Design View specs.
|
||
> Same standing discipline applies: **verify every REAPER API name/signature
|
||
> against `vendor/reaper-sdk/sdk/reaper_plugin_functions.h` before use.**
|
||
|
||
## What it is
|
||
|
||
The single per-project **bank** (`bank_model` / `BankIndex`) is generalized into a
|
||
**multi-bank system**. The existing bank becomes **the pool** — a default,
|
||
always-present bank that every capture lands in unless another bank is the active
|
||
target. On top of the pool the user creates **named banks** ("Drums", "1-Shots",
|
||
"Synth Hits") that group samples for a purpose. Samples move freely between any
|
||
banks, including to and from the pool. Exactly one bank is the **active bank** — the
|
||
capture target — the pool by default.
|
||
|
||
**This is the container generalization of the capture pillar's bank.** The pool is
|
||
to banks what Arrange is to modes: structurally one member of an N-collection, but
|
||
privileged as the default home. The capture pillar's load-bearing rule is
|
||
untouched — capture still writes a file + an index entry and never inserts into the
|
||
arrange; the only change is *which* index the entry lands in.
|
||
|
||
## Settled decisions
|
||
|
||
- **The pool is privileged, not special-cased.** Structurally the pool is one
|
||
`BankIndex` among many in the container (mirror of "Arrange is just another
|
||
mode"). Semantically it is privileged: it **always exists**, is **un-deletable**,
|
||
and is **un-renamable** (fixed id + fixed display name "Pool"). New projects and
|
||
migrated single-bank projects start with the pool and **zero** named banks. This
|
||
keeps the data model uniform (no pool-shaped special type) while the rules layer
|
||
enforces the three privileges.
|
||
- **Container in the pure core; a `BankIndex` per bank.** A new pure module
|
||
`bank_book` owns an ordered registry of banks, each bank = `{ stable bank id,
|
||
display name, ordinal, BankIndex }`. **`BankIndex` is untouched** — the multi-bank
|
||
layer wraps it, it does not modify it (additive; no `bank-id` field on `Sample`).
|
||
Bank id is the stable key (GUID-style, minted on bank create); display name and
|
||
ordinal are mutable (rename / reorder). **Display names are unique**, enforced in the
|
||
pure model on create and rename: `createBank` / `renameBank` reject a name that
|
||
duplicates an existing bank's (renaming a bank to its own current name is a no-op
|
||
success). The comparison is **trimmed + case-insensitive (ASCII)**, so "Drums",
|
||
"drums", and " Drums " cannot coexist; the pool's reserved name "Pool" is protected
|
||
by the same check. Uniqueness makes by-name resolution in the action shell
|
||
unambiguous by construction. The pool is the first, seeded, fixed-id
|
||
member. `bank_book` is the mirror of `bank_model` and `view_mode_model`: pure, no
|
||
REAPER types, unit-tested outside the DAW, JSON round-trip.
|
||
- **Active bank lives in the model, routes through the capture path.** `bank_book`
|
||
carries the active bank id (defaults to the pool). The capture action family
|
||
resolves "which bank does this capture land in?" by asking the session for the
|
||
active bank's `BankIndex`, then adds exactly as today. No capture backend changes;
|
||
only the add-target is selected upstream. Activating a bank is a model mutation +
|
||
a persist write; it never touches the timeline.
|
||
- **Movement moves the index entry, not the file.** Moving a sample from
|
||
bank A to bank B is an **index-only** operation: remove the `Sample` from A's
|
||
`BankIndex`, add it to B's. The underlying file stays in the project bank folder —
|
||
banks are logical groupings over one shared file pool, not separate folders on
|
||
disk. This keeps movement cheap, non-destructive, and immune to path-rewrite bugs.
|
||
(Per-bank subfolders on disk are an explicit non-goal — see guardrails.)
|
||
- **Dedup-by-hash is per-bank.** Each `BankIndex` dedups within itself, unchanged.
|
||
Moving a sample whose hash already exists in the destination bank **collapses**
|
||
onto the existing entry there (the move is a no-op add on the destination side,
|
||
and the source entry is still removed) — the same collapse semantics
|
||
`BankIndex::add` already has, now observed across a move. Cross-bank dedup is
|
||
**not** enforced: the same hash may exist in the pool and in a named bank
|
||
simultaneously (that is the point — copy lets a sample be grouped into "Drums"
|
||
while still living in the pool).
|
||
- **Move vs. copy are distinct acts; move is the default.** *Move* removes from
|
||
source, adds to destination (one logical sample, regrouped) — it is the **primary,
|
||
low-friction gesture**, so a sample lives in exactly one bank at a time. *Copy* adds
|
||
to destination and leaves the source entry intact (same file, two index entries, two
|
||
banks) — the **deliberate secondary act** for the "in two places at once" case. Both
|
||
are index-only; both share the destination-collapse rule. Under move-as-default the
|
||
pool is the default home and staging ground, not a permanent superset: moving a
|
||
sample into a named bank takes it out of the pool. (See product notes for the
|
||
mental-model reconciliation.)
|
||
- **Delete drops members; evacuate returns them.** Deleting a **named** bank drops
|
||
its member index entries (files are **not** deleted — file lifecycle stays owned by
|
||
the capture/prune path). A separate **evacuate** operation moves all of a bank's
|
||
members back to the pool (index-only, same destination-collapse-by-hash as move),
|
||
leaving the bank empty. Intended workflow: *evacuate then delete* to keep the
|
||
samples, *plain delete* to drop the grouping and its members. A plain delete of a
|
||
non-empty bank orphans those members out of every index — their files persist on
|
||
disk until prune, referenced by no bank — so the UI **confirms on non-empty delete**
|
||
and offers evacuate as the alternative. Evacuate cannot be applied to the pool.
|
||
- **Persistence: a new ext-state key; the pool folds in and the legacy key is
|
||
retired.** The multi-bank state serializes to a new key `banks` in the existing
|
||
`"reasampler"` namespace, alongside `view_state` and `project_guid`. The pool's
|
||
index rides *inside* the `banks` blob as bank-zero — persisted identically to any
|
||
named bank (one blob, one section, one JSON shape). **Migration:** on load, if a
|
||
`banks` key is absent but a legacy `bank_index` key is present, the legacy index is
|
||
promoted into the pool inside a freshly-minted `banks` blob and the book is
|
||
`{ pool }` with zero named banks — a one-way, lossless promotion. After migration
|
||
the `banks` blob is **authoritative**; the legacy `bank_index` key is **retired** (not
|
||
written or read back going forward). The one-way retirement trades pre-multi-bank
|
||
backward-read compatibility for the clean single-blob shape — an accepted,
|
||
forward-only migration consistent with how M4 project state already moves forward.
|
||
- **Vertical-split UI, pool on top.** The bank window splits vertically: **pool on
|
||
top**, the **named-banks region below** (a tab-page strip, one tab per named bank,
|
||
empty when none exist). Two full-height toggles collapse the split: **pool
|
||
full-height** (hide the named-banks region) and **banks full-height** (hide the
|
||
pool). The Design View segmented mode switch already in the window header is
|
||
**orthogonal** and stays — it governs timeline visibility, not bank grouping; the
|
||
two coexist in the header/body without interaction.
|
||
|
||
## Precision / invariant implications
|
||
|
||
- **Relative-paths-only survives unchanged.** Every `BankIndex` in the book keeps
|
||
the relative-path invariant at its `add` boundary — the book adds no new path
|
||
handling, because movement is index-only and files never relocate. The invariant
|
||
is enforced N times (once per bank) by the exact code that enforces it today.
|
||
- **Non-destructive.** Bank create / rename / delete / activate / evacuate and sample
|
||
move / copy mutate only index + ext-state; no file is written, moved, or deleted,
|
||
and no timeline item is touched. Deleting a **named** bank drops its member index
|
||
entries but does **not** delete their files; file lifecycle stays owned by the
|
||
capture/prune path, not the bank container. A file referenced *only* by the deleted
|
||
bank becomes an orphan on disk — present but indexed by no bank — until the
|
||
capture/prune path reclaims it. That orphaned-until-prune window is designed, not
|
||
accidental; the *evacuate* verb and the confirm-on-non-empty-delete guardrail exist
|
||
to keep the user out of it unintentionally.
|
||
- **Travels-with-the-.rpp preserved.** The `banks` blob rides the same ext-state
|
||
namespace and the same GUID-primary project-identity / Save-As-relocation
|
||
machinery as the bank index does today (M4). One shared physical bank folder, one
|
||
ext-state namespace, now three logical sections (banks + view + identity).
|
||
- **Determinism / null-test / bit-identical are untouched** — they are properties
|
||
of the capture path and the file, and the multi-bank layer sits above the file
|
||
entirely.
|
||
|
||
## Module architecture (preserve the pure/shell split)
|
||
|
||
Pure (no REAPER types, unit-tested — the mirror of `bank_model` / `view_mode_model`):
|
||
- `bank_book` — ordered bank registry (`{ bank id, display name, ordinal,
|
||
BankIndex }`); pool seeded with fixed id + name; create / rename / reorder /
|
||
delete named banks (pool-privilege rules enforced here: reject delete/rename of
|
||
pool; delete drops member index entries; **display names unique** — create/rename
|
||
reject a name that duplicates another bank's, trimmed + case-insensitive, "Pool"
|
||
protected); **evacuate** a bank (move every member to
|
||
the pool, index-only, destination-collapse observed; pool cannot be evacuated);
|
||
active-bank id (get/set, defaults to pool); **move** and **copy** a sample between
|
||
banks (index-only, destination-collapse observed); query a bank's index; JSON
|
||
round-trip of the whole book (pool-as-bank-zero inside the blob + named banks +
|
||
per-bank indices + active id + ordinals) and legacy-`bank_index`→pool migration on
|
||
parse (one-way; blob authoritative thereafter).
|
||
|
||
REAPER-facing:
|
||
- `persist` (slice) — serialize/deserialize the book under the `banks` key in
|
||
`"reasampler"` (pool-as-bank-zero inside the blob; no separate `bank_index` key
|
||
going forward); migrate a legacy `bank_index` key into the pool on first load
|
||
(one-way; blob authoritative thereafter, legacy key retired); reload-on-open and
|
||
Save-As survival ride the existing M4 machinery. The session exposes the book the
|
||
way it exposes the bank today; the active bank's `BankIndex` is what the capture
|
||
layer adds to.
|
||
- `bank_panel` (extension) — the vertical split: pool grid on top, named-banks
|
||
tab-page region below; two full-height toggles; the active-bank indicator; the
|
||
create / rename / delete / activate affordances. The named-banks tab strip is
|
||
**LICE-drawn** to match the M5 grid and the Design View segmented switch (not a
|
||
SWELL-native tab control), with an **overflow/scroll affordance** so it scales past
|
||
the ~8–12-tab point. Sample move ships **both ways**: a "move to bank" menu on the
|
||
current selection (the bindable front-end for the B3 move action) and
|
||
drag-between-regions (the direct-manipulation accelerator); copy is the deliberate
|
||
secondary act, offered on the menu. Drag carries clear drop-target highlighting on
|
||
the destination region/tab, and a mis-drop is recoverable by design (move is
|
||
index-only and reversible — the user moves the sample back). Reuses the existing
|
||
LICE grid render loop per bank region.
|
||
- `actions` (entries) — create bank / rename bank / delete bank (confirm on
|
||
non-empty delete); evacuate bank → pool; activate bank (direct + cycle); move
|
||
selected samples → bank; copy selected samples → bank; pool/banks full-height
|
||
toggles. Registered with the `command_id` / `gaccel` / `hookcommand` pattern;
|
||
bank-activate + move/copy + evacuate MIDI-bindable to suit the capture-heavy
|
||
workflow.
|
||
|
||
## REAPER API surface (verify all signatures)
|
||
|
||
No new REAPER API is invented at spec stage — the multi-bank layer is pure model +
|
||
persistence + panel UI over machinery M0–M6 already established. Shells will need to
|
||
verify against the SDK header where they extend existing surfaces:
|
||
- **Persistence:** `SetProjExtState` / `GetProjExtState` under `"reasampler"`, new
|
||
key `banks` (shared blob machinery from M4 — no new API, new key only).
|
||
- **Panel UI:** the docked-window + LICE-grid surface from M5 (`bank_panel`),
|
||
extended to two grid regions + a **LICE-drawn** tab strip (with overflow/scroll) +
|
||
toggles. The tab strip, the toggle affordances, and the drag hit-testing are
|
||
custom-drawn on the M5 LICE surface (not SWELL-native tabs); the "move to bank" menu
|
||
uses a SWELL popup-menu surface. **Verify LICE drawing and any SWELL menu/drag
|
||
hit-test usage against the M5 reference / SWELL headers**, and confirm the drag
|
||
hit-test does not collide with the M5 grid's multi-select drag. No new REAPER audio
|
||
API involved.
|
||
- **Actions:** the `command_id` / `gaccel` / `hookcommand` contract from `main.cpp`
|
||
(unchanged), new command-id strings under the sampler family prefix.
|
||
|
||
## Non-goals / guardrails
|
||
|
||
- **No per-bank folders on disk.** Banks are logical groupings over one shared
|
||
project bank folder. Do not create a subfolder per bank or move files on
|
||
bank-move — reject any such path in review (it reintroduces the path-rewrite
|
||
bug class M4 closed).
|
||
- **No cross-bank dedup enforcement.** The same hash may exist in multiple banks
|
||
(that is what copy is for). Do not add a global dedup that collapses across banks.
|
||
- **Pool privileges are inviolable.** No action path may delete or rename the pool,
|
||
leave a project with zero banks, or **evacuate** the pool (the pool is evacuation's
|
||
destination, not a source). Enforce in the pure rules layer, not just the UI.
|
||
- **Delete drops members; files are never deleted by a bank op.** Deleting a named
|
||
bank removes its member index entries only. No bank operation writes, moves, or
|
||
deletes a file — file lifecycle stays with capture/prune. The UI **confirms on
|
||
non-empty delete** and offers evacuate; do not silently orphan members.
|
||
- **Capture still never inserts into the arrange.** The load-bearing principle is
|
||
unchanged; multi-bank only redirects which index the capture lands in.
|
||
- **Additive only.** Do not alter `BankIndex`, the M0–M11 capture roadmap, or Phase
|
||
D semantics. `bank_book` wraps; it does not modify.
|
||
- **Verify API names** against the SDK header before use.
|
||
|
||
## Open questions to resolve during build
|
||
|
||
Forks 1–5 are all settled (see product notes → *Settled forks* and *Fork 5 — settled*,
|
||
and the settled-decision prose above). One panel-polish detail remains open.
|
||
|
||
- **Fork 5 — tab rendering + move affordance (B4). Settled (2026-07-23).** (5a) The
|
||
named-banks region is **LICE-drawn** to match the M5 grid and the Design View
|
||
segmented switch — not a SWELL-native tab control — with an **overflow/scroll
|
||
affordance in scope from the start** so the strip scales past the ~8–12-tab
|
||
breakdown. (5b) Move ships as **both** a "move to bank" menu (the precise,
|
||
MIDI-bindable front-end for the B3 move action) **and** drag-between-regions (the
|
||
direct-manipulation accelerator); copy stays the deliberate secondary act via the
|
||
menu. Drag mis-drop is mitigated by drop-target highlighting and is recoverable by
|
||
design (move is index-only and reversible). Folded into the `bank_panel` prose and
|
||
the API surface below. **Verify LICE tab drawing and any SWELL menu/drag hit-test
|
||
surface against the M5 reference / SWELL headers before use** (confirm no collision
|
||
with the M5 grid's multi-select drag). Analysis in product notes → *Fork 5*.
|
||
- **Active-bank indicator placement (B4 polish)** — per-region headers vs. a single
|
||
header readout vs. lit-tab treatment. The "visually unmistakable" requirement is
|
||
settled (fork 4); only the placement is open. Panel-polish detail.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
# Sample removal — additive spec (Phase B, point B5)
|
||
|
||
> **Additive section, part of the Multi-bank pillar.** The sample-level companion
|
||
> to move/copy/evacuate/delete-bank: a verb that **drops a `Sample`'s index entry**
|
||
> from a bank (or the pool). Index-only, non-destructive to the file — it sits on
|
||
> the same side of the index/file line as every other Phase B op. Product framing:
|
||
> `docs/product/removal-and-prune.md` §Sample-remove. Same verify discipline:
|
||
> **verify every REAPER API name/signature against the SDK header before use.**
|
||
|
||
## What it is
|
||
|
||
Move, copy, and evacuate all keep a sample *somewhere*; there was no verb to drop
|
||
a sample outright. **Sample-remove** is that verb: it removes one `Sample` entry
|
||
from one `BankIndex`. It exposes the `remove` primitive `bank_model`'s `BankIndex`
|
||
**already has** — B5 wires it to an action + a panel affordance, it does not add a
|
||
model capability.
|
||
|
||
## Settled decisions (spec-level)
|
||
|
||
- **Remove is index-only.** It removes the `Sample` from a `BankIndex` and mutates
|
||
only index + ext-state. No file is written, moved, or deleted; no timeline item
|
||
is touched. Identical non-destructive posture to move/copy/evacuate/delete-bank.
|
||
- **Remove can orphan a file — the same designed orphaned-until-prune state a
|
||
non-empty delete-bank produces.** When remove drops the *last* index reference to
|
||
a file (no other bank holds its hash), that file becomes an orphan on disk,
|
||
referenced by no bank, reclaimed later by **prune** (Phase R) — never by remove.
|
||
This is not a new hazard class; it is the existing "files persist until prune"
|
||
window, reached by a sample-level verb instead of a bank-level one.
|
||
- **Collapse-by-hash is unaffected.** Remove targets a specific entry in a specific
|
||
bank. Because cross-bank dedup is deliberately not enforced, removing a sample
|
||
from one bank leaves any same-hash entry in another bank intact — the same
|
||
coexistence copy relies on.
|
||
- **The pool's *contents* are removable; the pool *container* is not.** Pool
|
||
privileges (un-deletable, un-renamable, un-evacuable) govern the pool as a
|
||
container. Individual samples **can** be removed from the pool — otherwise the
|
||
pool would be a one-way trap. Remove-from-pool is the pool's own "drop this
|
||
sample" verb and is allowed.
|
||
- **Remove scope (fork R-A, SETTLED 2026-07-24 — this-bank).** Remove drops the
|
||
entry from *this* bank only, leaving copies in other banks untouched — the core
|
||
and only shipped verb. The action carries a `scope: this-bank | all-banks` seam,
|
||
but **this-bank is the settled default and the only surfaced affordance**;
|
||
all-banks stays a latent parameter (promotable later behind the seam without a
|
||
rewrite), never a surfaced verb now. See product notes §Fork R-A.
|
||
|
||
## Precision / invariant implications
|
||
|
||
- **Non-destructive** extends to remove verbatim: index + ext-state only, no file
|
||
touched, no timeline item touched.
|
||
- **Relative-paths-only** is unaffected — remove deletes an entry, it adds no path
|
||
handling.
|
||
- **Determinism / bit-identical / null-test (capture)** untouched — remove sits
|
||
above the file, same as all of multi-bank.
|
||
|
||
## Guardrails
|
||
|
||
- **Confirm on last-reference remove; don't confirm otherwise.** A remove that
|
||
drops the *last* index reference to a file orphans it (until prune) — confirm
|
||
that case, naming the consequence ("…its file remains on disk until pruned"). A
|
||
remove of a sample still referenced by another bank is cheap and re-derivable
|
||
(re-copy it back) and needs no confirmation. The confirmation is *earned by
|
||
actual orphan risk*, not fired on every remove.
|
||
- **Undo (fork R-B, SETTLED 2026-07-24 — batched REAPER undo points, Phase-B-wide).**
|
||
Bank/index mutations integrate into REAPER's undo system as **batched undo points**
|
||
(`Undo_BeginBlock` / `Undo_EndBlock`): the related index mutations of one bank
|
||
operation are batched into a single undo point, so one bank operation is one
|
||
Ctrl-Z. This is a **Phase-B-wide** decision — it applies to
|
||
create/rename/reorder/delete-bank, move, copy, evacuate, *and* remove, retro-
|
||
touching B1–B4, not just B5. **Must-verify before build:** confirm against
|
||
`vendor/reaper-sdk` that `"reasampler"` ext-state mutations participate correctly
|
||
in `Undo_BeginBlock`/`Undo_EndBlock` undo blocks — the whole approach depends on
|
||
it. Surfaced with remove because remove is the first verb whose *only* effect is
|
||
index-entry destruction with no relocation, so it is where the gap first bit; the
|
||
fix is shared. See product notes §Fork R-B.
|
||
|
||
## Module architecture (preserve the pure/shell split)
|
||
|
||
- `bank_book` / `BankIndex` (pure) — expose remove of a `Sample` from a bank's
|
||
index (the existing `BankIndex::remove` primitive, surfaced through the book);
|
||
pool contents removable, pool-container privileges unchanged.
|
||
- `actions` (entry) — "remove selected sample(s) from bank" (and, under fork R-A,
|
||
a scope parameter); registered with the `command_id`/`gaccel`/`hookcommand`
|
||
contract; MIDI-bindable to suit the capture-heavy workflow.
|
||
- `bank_panel` (affordance) — remove on the current selection (menu entry / key),
|
||
reusing the M5 selection model exactly as move/copy do; confirm-on-last-reference
|
||
at this layer.
|
||
|
||
## REAPER API surface
|
||
|
||
No new REAPER API. Pure model + a new action command-id string under the sampler
|
||
family prefix + a panel affordance on the existing M5 LICE surface. Verify the
|
||
command-id/gaccel/hookcommand usage against `main.cpp` (unchanged contract).
|
||
|
||
## Settled forks (Daniel, 2026-07-24)
|
||
|
||
- **Fork R-A — remove scope.** Settled: **this-bank** (this-bank-primary, all-banks
|
||
a latent seam-only parameter). Folded into Settled decisions above.
|
||
- **Fork R-B — undo model for index mutations.** Settled: **batched REAPER undo
|
||
points** (`Undo_BeginBlock`/`Undo_EndBlock`), Phase-B-wide (retro-touches B1–B4),
|
||
with the ext-state-participation SDK check as a must-verify-before-build. Folded
|
||
into Guardrails above and the Phase B / B1 plan points.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
# Prune — file-lifecycle spec (Phase R — Reclaim)
|
||
|
||
> **New pillar, its own lettered phase.** Prune is the file-lifecycle path the
|
||
> capture and multi-bank specs forward-reference throughout ("files persist on disk
|
||
> until prune", "the capture/prune path reclaims it") but that had no phase, module,
|
||
> or point until now. It is the **only** operation in ReaSampler that deletes bytes
|
||
> off disk. Namespaced **`R` (Reclaim)** alongside `M` (capture), `D` (Design View),
|
||
> `B` (Banks) — it is a distinct pillar, not a Multi-bank sub-step, because it
|
||
> serves *every* orphan-producing path (delete-bank, sample-remove, re-capture) and
|
||
> carries a new risk class (file deletion) with its own invariants. Product framing
|
||
> and the phase-placement justification: `docs/product/removal-and-prune.md` §Prune.
|
||
> Same discipline: **verify every REAPER/SWELL/filesystem API name/signature against
|
||
> the SDK/SWELL headers before use.**
|
||
|
||
## What it is
|
||
|
||
Over a project's life, delete-bank and sample-remove (and, potentially, M10
|
||
re-capture superseding an old file) leave `.wav` files on disk that no bank index
|
||
references — the "orphaned-until-prune" state the specs design in on purpose.
|
||
**Prune is the reclaim pass**: reconcile the physical bank folder against the union
|
||
of every bank's index, and reclaim the files nothing references. It makes good on
|
||
the promise the rest of the spec keeps making.
|
||
|
||
## The load-bearing rule
|
||
|
||
> **Remove creates orphans; prune reclaims them.** Sample-remove and delete-bank
|
||
> drop index entries and may leave a file referenced by nothing. Prune is the
|
||
> single path that turns such an orphan back into free disk space. **No other
|
||
> operation deletes a file; prune deletes *only* files that no index references.**
|
||
> A bank op that deletes a file is still a bug — prune is not a bank op, it is the
|
||
> file-lifecycle op.
|
||
|
||
This asymmetry is deliberate and must be stated loudly: every *other* invariant
|
||
says "no operation deletes a file." Prune is the sole, explicit exception, and its
|
||
entire job is deletion — so it must be the *only* file-deleting authority in the
|
||
system, with the strongest guardrails.
|
||
|
||
## Mirror of `reconcile` — the pure pattern one level down
|
||
|
||
Prune reuses the shape Design View already shipped. `view_mode_model`'s
|
||
`ViewModeModel::reconcile(liveGuids)` reconciles *membership entries* against *live
|
||
tracks* and returns the residuals to drop. **Prune reconciles *files on disk*
|
||
against *referenced files*** (the union of every bank's index) and returns the
|
||
orphan set to delete. Same pure pattern, one level down (files instead of GUIDs).
|
||
|
||
The **decision is pure and unit-tested**: given the set of files present in the
|
||
bank folder and the set of files referenced by the book, compute the orphan set.
|
||
Only the two ends touch the shell — *enumerating* the bank folder and *deleting*
|
||
the orphans are filesystem I/O. Keep the "which files are orphans" core REAPER-free
|
||
and hard-tested (this is the safety-critical part); keep the I/O thin. Same
|
||
pure/shell split as `bank_model` / `view_mode_model` / `bank_book`.
|
||
|
||
## Settled decisions (spec-level)
|
||
|
||
- **Referenced-set is the union across ALL banks, pool included.** A file is an
|
||
orphan iff **no** bank in the book references it. Because copy lets one file be
|
||
referenced by several banks, prune must union references across the whole book
|
||
before deciding. This is the safety-critical computation — the **prune null
|
||
test** is *prune never deletes a file that any index references.*
|
||
- **Project-relative resolution, current folder.** Prune enumerates and deletes
|
||
within the project bank folder using the **same M4 project-relative path
|
||
resolution** the index uses, against the *resolved current* folder — never a
|
||
stale absolute path — so a Save-As relocation cannot cause it to mis-identify or
|
||
mis-target orphans.
|
||
- **Dry-run first, always.** Prune reports before it deletes: the orphan count,
|
||
reclaimed size, and (for a small set) the files. The dry-run — compute-and-report,
|
||
the pure core with no deletion — is the primary surface; actual deletion is the
|
||
confirmed second step. A prune that silently sweeps is unacceptable for an
|
||
irreversible file-delete.
|
||
- **Scope is the bank system's own leavings, not the folder at large.** Prune
|
||
reclaims files that *were* bank files and are now unreferenced — never a file a
|
||
user hand-dropped into the folder. Prune is a reclaimer of ReaSampler's own
|
||
orphans, not a general folder cleaner.
|
||
- **Orphan attribution is an owned-file manifest (fork R-D, SETTLED 2026-07-24).**
|
||
The book tracks the set of files it has created (an **owned-file manifest**);
|
||
prune reclaims `(owned ∩ on-disk) − referenced`. This is the honest encoding of
|
||
"reclaim only our own leavings" and rejects folder-sweep (which would delete
|
||
hand-dropped files). **The seam lands early:** because the manifest is cheap to
|
||
maintain from capture onward but a backfill cliff to reconstruct later, **capture
|
||
writes each file it creates into the owned-file manifest starting in Phase B**,
|
||
even though prune consumes it only in Phase R. R1/R2 consume the manifest; they do
|
||
not build it. The manifest is persisted in the `"reasampler"` ext-state; the exact
|
||
persistence shape (a sibling key vs. folded into the `banks` blob) is a small
|
||
build-time residual, but the manifest-now decision is firm.
|
||
|
||
## Precision / invariant implications
|
||
|
||
- **The single intentional exception to "no operation deletes files."** Stated
|
||
above; called out again here so the invariant table is honest: prune is
|
||
destructive-to-files *by design and by exclusive authority*.
|
||
- **Relative-paths-only / Save-As machinery reused** — prune resolves paths the
|
||
same way the index does (M4), so it inherits relative-path correctness and
|
||
Save-As survival; it introduces no new path handling.
|
||
- **Determinism / bit-identical / null-test (capture)** untouched — prune sits
|
||
below the capture path entirely.
|
||
- **Prune null test (new invariant):** a prune of a folder whose every file is
|
||
referenced by some bank deletes nothing; a prune deletes exactly the
|
||
`present − referenced` orphan set and nothing else. Ship as a tested property of
|
||
the pure core.
|
||
|
||
## Guardrails — the genuinely destructive act
|
||
|
||
- **Dry-run + confirm-with-manifest** (above): the user approves a *specific*
|
||
deletion (count + size + files), never an abstract "clean up."
|
||
- **Never a referenced file; never a non-bank file.** The union-across-all-banks
|
||
rule protects referenced files; the ownership-attribution rule (fork R-D)
|
||
protects hand-dropped files.
|
||
- **Safest platform deletion available (fork R-C, SETTLED 2026-07-24 — trash-
|
||
preferred, unlink fallback).** Route deletions to the platform recycle bin / trash
|
||
wherever a portable move-to-trash is available (recoverable outside the app); fall
|
||
back to unlink — behind the dry-run + confirm guardrail — only where the platform
|
||
affords no portable trash. "Delete where possible" means recoverable-trash-
|
||
preferred, never plain unlink-by-default. The move-to-trash surface is an explicit
|
||
per-platform **to-verify** (see REAPER/platform API surface).
|
||
- **Manual, explicit trigger (fork R-E, SETTLED 2026-07-24 — manual action + panel
|
||
button).** Prune runs via a bindable manual action (dry-run-first, confirm-to-
|
||
delete) **and** a `bank_panel` button that fires that same action — never a silent
|
||
background sweep. The earlier optional "…and prune now at the delete-bank
|
||
confirmation" convenience was **not** selected and is out of scope; a periodic
|
||
background sweep remains rejected (silent irreversible file-deletion violates the
|
||
guardrails).
|
||
|
||
## Module architecture (preserve the pure/shell split)
|
||
|
||
Pure (no REAPER types, unit-tested — the mirror of `reconcile`):
|
||
- **Prune-reconcile core** — given `{ files present in the bank folder }`,
|
||
`{ files referenced by the book }`, and `{ files the book owns }` (the owned-file
|
||
manifest, R-D), compute the orphan set `(owned ∩ present) − referenced`.
|
||
REAPER-free, filesystem-free, unit-tested hard (the prune null test lives here).
|
||
The referenced-set is unioned across all banks by asking the `bank_book`.
|
||
|
||
REAPER-facing / filesystem-facing (thin):
|
||
- `persist` / session — supplies the referenced-set (union across the book) and the
|
||
owned-file manifest (R-D, written from capture onward in Phase B); resolves the
|
||
current project bank folder via the M4 project-relative machinery.
|
||
- A **prune shell** — enumerates the bank folder (filesystem I/O), feeds the
|
||
pure core, presents the dry-run manifest, and on confirmation deletes the orphan
|
||
set (via OS trash where portably available — fork R-C — else unlink). Filesystem
|
||
I/O only; the decision stays in the pure core.
|
||
- `actions` (entry) — "Prune bank folder" (dry-run-first, confirm-to-delete),
|
||
registered with the `command_id`/`gaccel`/`hookcommand` contract; **plus a
|
||
`bank_panel` button** (R-E) that fires the same action.
|
||
|
||
## REAPER / platform API surface (verify all signatures)
|
||
|
||
No new REAPER *audio* API. New surfaces to verify before use:
|
||
- **Filesystem enumeration + delete** — directory listing and file removal for the
|
||
project bank folder. **Verify** the portable approach against SWELL / the existing
|
||
file-handling in `persist` / `capture` (which already resolve and write files);
|
||
prefer reusing whatever path/file machinery M4 established.
|
||
- **Move-to-trash (fork R-C, settled trash-preferred)** — verify a portable
|
||
move-to-trash exists (SWELL, or per-platform: Win `IFileOperation`/
|
||
`SHFileOperation`, macOS `NSFileManager trashItemAtURL:`, Linux XDG trash spec).
|
||
This is a **must-verify per platform** before use, not an assumed capability;
|
||
where it is unavailable, fall back to unlink behind the dry-run/confirm guardrail.
|
||
- **Owned-file manifest persistence (fork R-D, settled)** — a new tracked set in
|
||
the `"reasampler"` ext-state (a sibling key or folded into the `banks` blob —
|
||
build-time residual); shared M4 blob machinery, new data only. **Written from
|
||
capture onward in Phase B** (the seam lands early), consumed by prune in Phase R.
|
||
- **Actions** — the `command_id`/`gaccel`/`hookcommand` contract from `main.cpp`
|
||
(unchanged), a new command-id string under the sampler family prefix.
|
||
|
||
## Non-goals / guardrails
|
||
|
||
- **Prune is the ONLY file-deletion authority.** No bank op, no capture op, no
|
||
Design View op deletes a file. If any path other than prune deletes a bank file,
|
||
reject it in review.
|
||
- **No general folder cleaning.** Prune reclaims the bank system's own unreferenced
|
||
leavings, not arbitrary files a user placed in the folder (fork R-D governs the
|
||
attribution).
|
||
- **No silent deletion.** Dry-run + explicit confirm always; no background sweep.
|
||
- **No file deleted while any index references it.** The referenced-set union
|
||
across all banks is the safety-critical invariant — enforce and test it in the
|
||
pure core, not just the UI.
|
||
- **Additive only.** Prune reads the book and the folder; it does not modify
|
||
`BankIndex`, `bank_book`, the capture roadmap, or Design View semantics.
|
||
|
||
## Settled forks (Daniel, 2026-07-24)
|
||
|
||
- **Fork R-C — deletion mechanism.** Settled: **trash-preferred, unlink fallback.**
|
||
Route to the OS trash where a portable move-to-trash is available (recoverable),
|
||
else unlink behind the dry-run/confirm guardrail. Per-platform trash surface is a
|
||
must-verify. Folded into Settled decisions + Guardrails + API surface above.
|
||
Product notes §Fork R-C.
|
||
- **Fork R-D — orphan attribution.** Settled: **owned-file manifest**, `(owned ∩
|
||
present) − referenced`; folder-sweep rejected as unsafe. The **seam lands early** —
|
||
capture writes each created file to the manifest starting in Phase B, prune
|
||
consumes it in Phase R. Persistence shape (sibling key vs. `banks` blob) is a
|
||
build-time residual. Folded into Settled decisions + Module architecture + API
|
||
surface above, and added as an up-front Phase B / capture plan point. Product
|
||
notes §Fork R-D.
|
||
- **Fork R-E — trigger.** Settled: **manual action + `bank_panel` button**, dry-run-
|
||
first, confirm-to-delete; no background sweep. The delete-time "…and prune now"
|
||
convenience was not selected (out of scope). Folded into Guardrails + Module
|
||
architecture above and the R3 plan points. Product notes §Fork R-E.
|
||
|
||
**Build-time residual (not a fork):** the owned-file manifest's exact persistence
|
||
shape (sibling `"reasampler"` ext-state key vs. folded into the `banks` blob).
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
# MIDI-playback instrument — additive phase spec (Phase S — Sampler)
|
||
|
||
> **New pillar, its own lettered phase, and — uniquely — its own build artifact.**
|
||
> Every prior phase (M / D / B / R / V) ships inside the one `reaper_reasampler`
|
||
> extension binary. Phase S does **not**: a REAPER extension *cannot* be a
|
||
> MIDI-triggered instrument (it is not a node in any track's signal chain), so the
|
||
> instrument is a **second, separate binary** — a native **VST3** plugin the user
|
||
> instantiates on an instrument track — that reads ReaSampler's banks and plays them
|
||
> MIDI-triggered. Namespaced **`S` (Sampler)** rather than "D" (which would collide
|
||
> with Design View). The `M`/`D`/`B`/`R`/`V` extension pillars are untouched. Product
|
||
> framing, the plugin-format reasoning, the bare-VST3-vs-JUCE assessment, and the
|
||
> settled decision record: `docs/product/midi-playback.md`. Same standing discipline:
|
||
> **verify every Steinberg VST3 SDK and REAPER/SWELL API name/signature against the
|
||
> vendored headers before use.**
|
||
|
||
## What it is
|
||
|
||
A native **VST3 sampler instrument** — a separate product/artifact from the
|
||
extension — that maps ReaSampler's captured bank samples across a MIDI keyboard and
|
||
plays them back with a real voice engine (polyphony, velocity, envelopes). The
|
||
extension stays the sole owner of **capture + organization**; the instrument is the
|
||
**playback surface**. The two are *tightly integrated but distinct acts*: the
|
||
extension captures and organizes; the instrument plays. Neither crosses into the
|
||
other's role — the instrument never captures, the extension never becomes an
|
||
instrument.
|
||
|
||
**Why a VST3 and not the extension (load-bearing, settled — see D1/D5/D6 below).** An
|
||
instrument track's "read live MIDI, emit audio per-voice, in REAPER's
|
||
routing/record/render path" contract belongs to VST/VST3/CLAP/JSFX plugins, hosted
|
||
through an entirely different mechanism than the extension API. The extension SDK's
|
||
audio-adjacent surfaces (`Audio_RegHardwareHook`, `kbd_OnMidiEvent`, `PlayPreview`,
|
||
`pcmsrc` subclassing) are each the wrong tool for a live-MIDI instrument — the full
|
||
reasoning is in `docs/product/midi-playback.md` §1. The instrument is therefore a
|
||
standard VST3 plugin; this is not an engineering-around-able limitation, it is what
|
||
the plugin *format* is.
|
||
|
||
## The three locked decisions this spec assumes
|
||
|
||
Settled by Daniel (2026-07-26); everything below assumes them. Reasoning preserved in
|
||
`docs/product/midi-playback.md` §4.
|
||
|
||
- **D1 — native VST3.** Not JSFX. Full sampler sophistication, clean integration, and
|
||
access to the REAPER VST-host bridge. JSFX retired (cross-platform-for-free is
|
||
worthless under D5, and JSFX gets no bridge).
|
||
- **D5 — Windows-only, VST3-only, REAPER-only.** No cross-platform DSP/build/signing
|
||
matrix, no multi-format wrapper, no standalone-in-other-hosts concern. REAPER-coupling
|
||
via the bridge is intended. This is the single biggest simplifier — it deletes most of
|
||
what makes VST3 painful.
|
||
- **D6 — two products, tightly integrated.** A separate artifact, but **not** a
|
||
divorced file-only companion: via the VST-host bridge it reads the live
|
||
`"reasampler"` project ext-state and is project-aware.
|
||
|
||
## The VST-host bridge (the integration mechanism, stated once)
|
||
|
||
A VST3 *hosted inside REAPER* can call back into REAPER's own API by resolving
|
||
function pointers by name over the host callback
|
||
(`hostcb(&effect, 0xdeadbeef, 0xdeadf00d, 0, "FunctionName", 0.0)` — the same
|
||
string-keyed API table the extension uses; verified in `video_processor.h` and the
|
||
`reaper_plugin_functions.h` `GetProjExtState`/`SetProjExtState`/`EnumProjExtState`
|
||
entries). The plugin can also fetch its **host context** — the track/take/project it
|
||
was instantiated in (opcode `0xdeadf00e`). **Consequence:** the instrument reads the
|
||
*same* live `"reasampler"` ext-state that `persist` writes, follows the active
|
||
project, and needs no "point me at the bank folder" wiring — it asks REAPER which
|
||
project it is in. This capability exists *because* the plugin is hosted in REAPER; it
|
||
is the technical affordance D6 leaned on. **Must-verify before build:** confirm the
|
||
bridge opcodes and the by-name resolution against the vendored
|
||
`vendor/reaper-sdk/sdk/` headers (`reaper_plugin.h`, `video_processor.h`,
|
||
`reaper_plugin_functions.h`) — the framing doc's opcode citations are verified from
|
||
those headers but the exact call marshalling should be confirmed at the spike.
|
||
|
||
## The two seams (audio via files, mapping via live state)
|
||
|
||
- **File seam (audio, permanent).** The sample **audio** is the on-disk 32-bit-float
|
||
WAVs — project-relative, travelling with the `.rpp` via the M4 machinery. The
|
||
instrument resolves those paths **the same way `persist` does** (a shared convention,
|
||
not a re-implementation). There is no live PCM stream across the bridge, by design.
|
||
- **Live-state seam (the mapping, via the bridge).** For everything that is *not* raw
|
||
audio — the bank index, the mapping, which project is active — the instrument reads
|
||
the live `"reasampler"` ext-state via the bridge. It sees what `persist` last wrote
|
||
and follows the active project.
|
||
|
||
## The seam fields — what becomes a bank intrinsic (D-B, settled 2026-07-26)
|
||
|
||
**The split model (option iii) is the settled answer.** It mirrors the
|
||
capture/placement separation:
|
||
|
||
- **Bank intrinsics (facts about the captured file) live on `Sample`.** **Root note**
|
||
(the MIDI note the sample was recorded at, so it can be repitched across the
|
||
keyboard — distinct from the existing optional *musical key* field) and **loop
|
||
points** (sustain-loop start/end for held notes; sample-accurate, zero-crossing-aware)
|
||
are *facts about the file*, analogous to sample rate, length, and peaks. They are added
|
||
to `Sample` as an **additive field extension** — the same shape as how `provenance`
|
||
was added in M1: new optional fields with JSON round-trip, populated at/after capture,
|
||
defaulting cleanly for pre-existing samples. This keeps the bank a clean,
|
||
tool-agnostic library (WAVs + facts, readable by anything).
|
||
- **The performance map (a creative arrangement) lives in the instrument.** **Key
|
||
zones** (low/high note per sample), **velocity layers**, **round-robin groups**,
|
||
**amplitude envelopes** (ADSR), and per-sample tuning/gain trim are a *performance
|
||
choice*, not a fact about a file — they belong to the instrument, not the bank. Under
|
||
the live-state seam the instrument may still *read* performance-map data out of shared
|
||
`"reasampler"` state, so "who owns which field" is a data-ownership decision, not a
|
||
transport one.
|
||
|
||
**Why the intrinsic fields are added early (D-B, the backfill-cliff reasoning).** The
|
||
`Sample` field addition is scheduled as an **early Phase S point** even though the
|
||
instrument that consumes them lands later. Rationale (the *design-the-seam-even-if-you-
|
||
defer-the-feature* instinct, same as Fork R-D's owned-file manifest): if the fields are
|
||
added only when the instrument needs them, every sample captured before then lacks a
|
||
root note / loop points and must be backfilled by hand. Adding the fields now — so
|
||
capture starts populating them (or at least defaulting them cleanly) — costs almost
|
||
nothing and closes the cliff. The field addition touches the **extension** codebase
|
||
(`bank_model` + capture + persist), is independently shippable, and lands before the
|
||
instrument build leans on it.
|
||
|
||
## Scope tiers (D-C, settled 2026-07-26 — Tier 0–1 committed, Tier 2 held, Tier 3 optional-forever)
|
||
|
||
Tiers are minimal → sophisticated; **Tier 0 delivers the core promise** and each tier
|
||
above is optional depth, not a prerequisite for the one below.
|
||
|
||
- **Tier 0 — "the bank plays" (committed).** One sample mapped chromatically across
|
||
the keyboard from its root note; basic polyphony; a simple amp envelope; velocity →
|
||
volume. The honest MVP: point a bank sample at a MIDI track and play it repitched.
|
||
On the native path this is the `SingleComponentEffect` skeleton plus a single-voice
|
||
core, editor deferrable behind a parameters-only default view.
|
||
- **Tier 1 — "a keymap" (committed).** Multiple samples zoned across the keyboard (key
|
||
ranges), each with its own root note — a captured *kit* or a *multisampled instrument*
|
||
plays correctly. This is where the root-note + key-range seam fields earn their place.
|
||
One sample per key-region.
|
||
- **Tier 2 — "expressive" (HELD — noted, not specified).** Velocity layers, round-robin
|
||
(the anti-machine-gun feature), full ADSR, per-sample tuning/gain trim, sustain loops.
|
||
Where it becomes a tool people reach for. **Explicitly a follow-on** — its points are
|
||
not drawn up in this spec; it is recorded as the next depth increment once Tier 0–1
|
||
proves the instrument belongs in ReaSampler's world.
|
||
- **Tier 3 — "instrument polish" (optional-forever).** Filters, filter/pitch envelopes,
|
||
LFOs, per-voice pan, choke groups, a modest FX slot. A direction to leave room for,
|
||
never a commitment. Do **not** let a Tier-3 feature list inflate the build-shape
|
||
decisions.
|
||
|
||
## The build shape (D-A, settled 2026-07-26 — bare Steinberg VST3 SDK + LICE editor)
|
||
|
||
**Settled: bare Steinberg VST3 SDK, no JUCE, with the editor drawn in the same
|
||
LICE/SWELL stack `bank_panel` already uses.** Reasoning (full assessment in
|
||
`docs/product/midi-playback.md` §1a and §4 D-A):
|
||
|
||
- **The audio-processing scaffolding is bounded.** Using `SingleComponentEffect` (the
|
||
SDK's combined processor+controller base — sanctioned for a non-distributable,
|
||
REAPER-only plugin under D5/D6) plus the SDK's factory macros, a silent-but-loading
|
||
VST3 instrument skeleton is order-of-magnitude a few-hundred lines of
|
||
adapt-from-example ceremony, written once. The AGain / Note Expression Synth SDK
|
||
examples are the copy-source. Not a tar pit.
|
||
- **D5 deletes JUCE's biggest justification.** JUCE exists largely for multi-format /
|
||
cross-platform, both of which D5 removed. Its one genuine remaining pull is the editor
|
||
UI — and ReaSampler is the atypical case where even that is weak, because it already
|
||
has a working, docked, custom-drawn LICE UI (`bank_panel`) and a house style. Drawing
|
||
the editor in a VST3 `IPlugView` that hosts a LICE surface reuses that muscle, keeps
|
||
the look house-consistent, and avoids JUCE's AGPL-or-pay license posture (the Steinberg
|
||
SDK is permissive, no revenue gate).
|
||
- **The one real edge — the `IPlugView`↔LICE bridge** (window lifecycle, sizing, event
|
||
routing from the host into the draw/hit-test loop) — is *the same class of work*
|
||
ReaSampler already did to dock `bank_panel`, not a new competence, but it is less
|
||
trodden than dropping in a JUCE editor. It is therefore the phase's **opening spike**
|
||
(below), which also converts §1a's experienced-estimates (Windows module-export
|
||
symbol names, factory-macro spellings, exact bridge marshalling) into verified fact
|
||
before the engine build leans on them. VSTGUI (the SDK's bundled toolkit) is the noted
|
||
fallback rung *only if* the LICE bridge proves gnarlier than the panel work suggests;
|
||
JUCE is the last resort behind that.
|
||
|
||
## The pure core (D3 — the load-bearing split, transplanted)
|
||
|
||
**The sampler's voice engine, envelope math, key/velocity mapping, repitch/interpolation,
|
||
and keymap resolution are a pure, REAPER-free, DAW-free, unit-tested module** — the
|
||
mirror of `bank_model` / `peaks` / `view_mode_model` / `bank_book`, tested in the CTest
|
||
harness outside any host. This is the heart of the phase; **test it hard.** The VST3
|
||
wrapper — the `SingleComponentEffect` subclass, bus setup, the `process` call
|
||
marshalling MIDI→core and core→audio-buffer, the `IPlugView` LICE editor, and the bridge
|
||
calls that read `"reasampler"` ext-state — is the **thin shell**, the only part that
|
||
touches VST3 or REAPER at all. Critically, this split is **invariant under the build-shape
|
||
choice**: whether the shell is bare-SDK or (hypothetically) JUCE, the pure core is
|
||
identical, REAPER-free, and tested the same way. The format choice is a shell choice; the
|
||
core is invariant.
|
||
|
||
## Module architecture (preserve the pure/shell split — in the new artifact)
|
||
|
||
Pure (no REAPER types, no VST3 types, unit-tested — the mirror of `bank_model`):
|
||
- **Sampler core** — voice allocation/polyphony, amplitude envelope (ADSR), key→sample
|
||
and velocity→sample mapping (the keymap), repitch/interpolation from root note, and
|
||
keymap resolution. REAPER-free *and* VST3-free, unit-tested in CTest against known
|
||
signals (mirror of how `peaks` asserts an envelope). This is D3's pure core and the
|
||
heart of the phase.
|
||
|
||
Shell (VST3-facing / REAPER-facing, thin):
|
||
- **VST3 wrapper** — `SingleComponentEffect` subclass: `initialize` (declare an event
|
||
input bus + an audio output bus, no audio input), `setupProcessing`, `setActive`,
|
||
`setState`/`getState`, and the hot-path `process` that reads MIDI off the event bus,
|
||
drives the pure core, and writes the core's per-voice audio to the output bus. Plus the
|
||
module factory (`GetPluginFactory` + Windows `InitDll`/`ExitDll` — verify exact export
|
||
names at the spike).
|
||
- **`IPlugView` LICE editor** — hosts a LICE-drawn surface in the VST3 view seat
|
||
(window creation/sizing, host→draw/hit-test event routing). Reuses the `bank_panel`
|
||
LICE/SWELL competence and house style.
|
||
- **Bridge/state reader** — resolves `GetProjExtState`/`EnumProjExtState` by name over
|
||
the host callback, fetches the host project context, reads the live `"reasampler"`
|
||
ext-state (bank index + intrinsic fields + performance map), and resolves WAV audio
|
||
paths the same project-relative way `persist` does.
|
||
|
||
## Precision / invariant implications
|
||
|
||
- **The bank is one source; the instrument is another view of it (never a fork).** The
|
||
instrument is a pure *consumer* of the bank — it does not copy samples, does not own a
|
||
private sample store, and does not mutate the bank. The bank stays the single
|
||
authoritative artifact (the one-source-multiple-views instinct). Any instrument path
|
||
that writes back into the bank or keeps its own sample copies is a bug.
|
||
- **Capture/placement/playback stay distinct acts.** The instrument reads and plays; it
|
||
never captures and never inserts into the arrange. The capture load-bearing principle
|
||
is untouched — Phase S adds a *third* distinct act (playback) without weakening the
|
||
capture↔placement separation.
|
||
- **`Sample` field addition is additive and lossless.** Root note + loop points are new
|
||
optional fields with JSON round-trip, defaulting cleanly for samples captured before
|
||
the addition — the same additive, backward-compatible shape as `provenance` (M1). No
|
||
existing `Sample` field changes; no `BankIndex` behavior changes.
|
||
- **Relative-paths-only survives.** The instrument resolves audio via the M4
|
||
project-relative machinery; it introduces no absolute paths.
|
||
|
||
## Embedded TCP/MCP UI (D-D, settled 2026-07-26 — SCHEDULED as a later Phase S point)
|
||
|
||
A REAPER-hosted VST3 can draw its own UI **inline in the track/mixer control panel**
|
||
via `reaper_plugin_fx_embed.h` (the plugin implements `IReaperUIEmbedInterface`; the
|
||
same Cockos surface REAPER's own embedded FX use). A ReaSampler instrument can render a
|
||
compact keymap/level strip inline in the TCP/MCP, not only in its own window. Because
|
||
this uses the **same LICE-class drawing as the D-A editor path**, it composes naturally
|
||
with the bare-SDK-plus-LICE build — the groundwork is the groundwork.
|
||
|
||
**Settled: scheduled, not deferred.** This is a real, in-phase later point — it lands
|
||
**after** the main `IPlugView` editor exists (it composes with that LICE path), not a
|
||
someday-note. It is polish, not a Tier-0 need, so it sequences last in the phase; but it
|
||
is on the roadmap. **Must-verify before build:** the `IReaperUIEmbedInterface` contract
|
||
and embed message/lifecycle against `vendor/reaper-sdk/sdk/reaper_plugin_fx_embed.h`.
|
||
|
||
## REAPER / Steinberg API surface (verify all signatures)
|
||
|
||
- **VST3 SDK (a new vendored dependency — vendor it at the spike).** `FUnknown` and the
|
||
`IComponent` / `IAudioProcessor` / `IEditController` interface family; the
|
||
`SingleComponentEffect` / `EditControllerEx1` / `AudioEffect` base classes; the class
|
||
factory (`GetPluginFactory` + factory macros); `IPlugView` for the editor;
|
||
`ProcessData` / `ProcessSetup` for the hot path. **Verify** interface members, the
|
||
base-class overrides, factory-macro spellings, and the Windows module-export symbol
|
||
names (`InitDll`/`ExitDll`/`GetPluginFactory`) against the vendored SDK at the spike —
|
||
the framing doc flags several of these as experienced estimates.
|
||
- **REAPER VST-host bridge.** `hostcb` opcode `0xdeadf00d` (resolve API function by
|
||
name) and `0xdeadf00e` (host context); the by-name resolution of
|
||
`GetProjExtState`/`SetProjExtState`/`EnumProjExtState`. **Verify** against
|
||
`vendor/reaper-sdk/sdk/reaper_plugin.h` + `video_processor.h` +
|
||
`reaper_plugin_functions.h`.
|
||
- **Embedded UI (D-D, later point).** `IReaperUIEmbedInterface` and the embed
|
||
message/lifecycle contract — verify against
|
||
`vendor/reaper-sdk/sdk/reaper_plugin_fx_embed.h` before use.
|
||
- **LICE/SWELL editor.** Reuses the `bank_panel` LICE/SWELL drawing surface; verify the
|
||
`IPlugView`↔LICE window/bitmap bridge at the spike (window creation, sizing, event
|
||
routing) — the least-trodden edge of the phase.
|
||
|
||
## Non-goals / guardrails
|
||
|
||
- **The instrument never captures and never inserts into the arrange.** Playback is a
|
||
read-only act over the bank. Any instrument path that captures, places a timeline item,
|
||
or writes back into the bank is a bug — reject in review.
|
||
- **The instrument keeps no private copy of the samples.** It consumes the one
|
||
authoritative bank; per-instance sample stores are a non-goal (they refork the source
|
||
the one-source-multiple-views instinct keeps single).
|
||
- **No cross-platform / multi-format.** Windows-only, VST3-only, REAPER-only (D5). Do
|
||
not add an AU/AAX/VST2/CLAP wrapper, a mac/Linux build, or a standalone host target.
|
||
- **The pure core stays REAPER-free *and* VST3-free.** The voice engine / envelope /
|
||
keymap / repitch module takes no VST3 or REAPER type at its boundary — the shell
|
||
marshals. Any VST3 or REAPER type leaking into the core is a bug (the D3 split).
|
||
- **Additive to the extension.** The `Sample` intrinsic-field addition is additive
|
||
(new optional fields; no existing field or `BankIndex` behavior changes); everything
|
||
else in Phase S lives in the *second* artifact and does not alter the extension's
|
||
M/D/B/R/V pillars.
|
||
- **Do not spec Tier 2/3.** Tier 2 is held (noted, not specified); Tier 3 is
|
||
optional-forever. Do not let their feature lists drive Tier 0–1's build shape.
|
||
- **Verify Steinberg SDK, bridge, embed, and LICE-view surfaces** against the vendored
|
||
headers before use — several §1a claims are experienced estimates until the spike
|
||
confirms them.
|