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Dubcycling

Dubcycling is a free VST3 instrument for Windows (and, experimentally, macOS and Linux) that plays two stereo loops against each other. Loop 1 is the master: it plays all the time, locked to your DAW's song position. Loop 2 is the slave: you cut both loops into regions, and every time Loop 1 enters one of its regions, a weighted random draw decides which Loop-2 region plays along with it, or whether Loop 2 stays silent.

The result is a loop pair that sounds a little different on every pass, without rearranging anything by hand. When a pass sounds right, you keep it in a slot and bring it back later, by mouse or by MIDI note.

Features

• Two stereo loops (WAV, MP3, FLAC, AIFF), time-stretched to the host tempo; length in whole bars per loop
• Regions set by double-click, snapped to a beat grid (Shift for free placement), or suggested at transients (AUTO)
• One rule per Loop-1 region: per Loop-2 region a weight (probability), GATE or ONE (one-shot), REV (play backwards) and a MIX between the two loops; the rest of 100 % is silence
• Four effect inserts on Loop 2: Bitcrush, Filter, Flanger, Reverb, switched on or off per Loop-2 region
• Autoplay (follows the host transport) or MIDI mode (a held note starts and stops both loops on the next bar)
• Pass slots: keep the last finished pass in one of 8 slots, repeat a slot or chain all of them, learn MIDI notes for them
• Presets in banks (a folder with bank.json and the samples), export and import as zip
• Right-click a region to hear it once, also with the transport stopped
• Resizable window (800 × 600 up to 1800 × 1400)

Pages

• Installation
• Quick Start
• User Interface
• Loops and Regions
• Rules
• Effects
• Autoplay and MIDI Mode
• Pass Slots
• Presets and Banks
• Host Integration
• Troubleshooting
• Building from Source

Requirements

• Windows x64, macOS 11 or newer (Apple Silicon or Intel), or Linux x86_64 (macOS and Linux are built and tested in CI only, see Installation)
• A VST3 host (DAW). Tested so far in Ableton Live on Windows.

License

Dubcycling is free software under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0. It is built with JUCE (AGPLv3) and the Steinberg VST3 SDK (MIT). VST is a registered trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.