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LoopNest is a VST3 + AU instrument — it loads in just about any modern Mac DAW (Ableton, Logic, Reaper, Bitwig, and friends). It turns a folder of loops you love into a beat-making slot machine.

The loop is: curate → spin → shape → hatch. Point it at a folder of loops (it'll even go dig drum grooves out of a sample library for you), hit spin, and it pulls one out at random. Trim it, pitch it, dirty it up through a six-stage lo-fi rack until it sounds like yours — then hatch a .wav and drag it straight onto a track. Chopping and tempo-warping are your DAW's job after the drop.

What it does

• Spin — the big rotor pulls a random loop from your folder. Spin as much as you want; the trim handles reset every time.
• Shape — pitch it up or down, trim the loop right on the scope, and run it through a six-knob character rack: warp · flutter · drive · echo · reverb · width. Every knob is clean at zero, so you only ever hear what you dial in.
• Focus — tuck each effect into its own slice of the frequency spectrum, add a master EQ and a dry/wet mix, and the grit lands exactly where you want it.
• Presets — 12 factory looks that only touch the character rack, so your pitch, trim, and levels stay put.
• A/B — flip back to the untouched loop and level-match on the fly, so you're judging the tone and not just the loudness.
• Hatch — bounces what you hear, tails and all, to a .wav, and the button becomes a drag handle straight onto a track in your DAW. Nothing leaves the plugin until it sounds right.
• Curate — point the funnel at any sample library and it quietly pulls just the full drum grooves into a folder for you. Run it again later and it only adds the new stuff.

Requirements

• A VST3 or AU host on macOS. Ships in both formats, so it loads in Ableton, Reaper, Bitwig, Cubase (VST3) and Logic, GarageBand, MainStage (AU). Built and tested most in Ableton Live 12 + verified in Logic Pro.
• macOS on Apple Silicon (arm64). No Windows / Intel build.

Build

JUCE is referenced as a sibling folder (../JUCE), so clone both side by side:

git clone https://github.com/juce-framework/JUCE.git
git clone https://github.com/andrewmfoster/LoopNest.git
cd LoopNest

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
cmake --build build --config Debug

The build emits both a VST3 and an AU bundle (FORMATS VST3 AU). The AU target needs full Xcode installed, not just the command-line tools.

Install

Install whichever format your DAW uses (or both):

# VST3 → Ableton, Reaper, Bitwig, Cubase …
rm -rf ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/LoopNest.vst3
cp -r build/LoopNest_artefacts/Debug/VST3/LoopNest.vst3 ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/
codesign -s - --deep --force ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/LoopNest.vst3

# AU → Logic, GarageBand, MainStage
rm -rf ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/LoopNest.component
cp -r build/LoopNest_artefacts/Debug/AU/LoopNest.component ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/
codesign -s - --deep --force ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/LoopNest.component

The trailing codesign is not optional: JUCE writes moduleinfo.json into the VST3 bundle after signing it, which leaves a stale signature, and Ableton silently refuses to load the plugin. Re-sign after every build.

In Logic, the AU is under Software Instrument → AU Instruments → Wander Foster → LoopNest (restart Logic so it rescans, or run auval -v aumu LpNs Wndr).

Two more host quirks, both by design:

• LoopNest declares itself an instrument with a MIDI input bus even though it ignores MIDI — Ableton refuses to open an instrument VST3 with no event input, and it's harmless everywhere else.
• There's no host API for placing clips in a DAW's timeline, so export is drag-and-drop of the rendered file off the HATCH key.

Project layout

LoopNest/
├── Source/
│   ├── PluginProcessor.{h,cpp}   — audio engine, plugin state, spin/render
│   ├── PluginEditor.{h,cpp}      — monochrome-blueprint UI
│   └── CharacterChain.h          — the six-stage character DSP, shared by
│                                   audition and render (print-what-you-hear)
├── fonts/                        — bundled JetBrains Mono (OFL)
├── icon/ · screenshots/          — banner + README captures
├── CMakeLists.txt · CLAUDE.md

Aesthetic

Monochrome engineering blueprint: thin white/grey line-art on near-black with a single teal accent. Type is bundled JetBrains Mono; the wordmark and logo are hand-drawn vectors (nested hexagons — a nest in a nest).

License

Released under the MIT License. © 2026 Andrew Foster.

Bundled JetBrains Mono is licensed separately under the SIL Open Font License.