The Blapp Machine

01Getting Started & Install

The Blapp Machine is NHOF Software's flagship instrument — a hybrid sampler, drum machine, and mini-DAW in one window. It ships as a plugin for your DAW and as a full standalone application on both Mac and Windows. Every binary is Universal (Apple Silicon + Intel) and Apple-notarized, so it runs natively and passes Gatekeeper without a fight.

Formats

Installing — the one-click installer (recommended)

Blapp ships with a one-click auto-installer for each platform:

• macOS — open The Blapp Machine Installer.pkg and follow the prompts. It's Universal (Apple Silicon + Intel) and Apple-notarized — installs clean, no warnings. It places the VST3, AU and Standalone for you and removes any older copy so you never run a stale build.
• Windows — run The Blapp Machine Installer.exe. (Right-click the .zip → Properties → tick Unblock before extracting if shown; if SmartScreen appears, More info → Run anyway.)

On first launch in a DAW, let the host complete its plugin scan so the AU/VST3 is validated.

Prefer to place the files yourself?

You can also copy each format into its standard folder by hand:

• VST3 → /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ (Mac) · C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\ (Windows)
• AU → /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ (Mac)
• Standalone → /Applications/ (Mac) · its Program Files location (Windows)

Because the installer and the binaries are notarized, macOS opens them without a security prompt. Rescan plugins in your DAW after installing so it picks up the new VST3.

First sound in 30 seconds

1. Open the standalone (or add the instrument to a track in your DAW).
2. Trigger a few pads on the grid — the factory kit is already loaded.
3. Nudge the Thickness + Punch knob up and feel the kit thicken and slam.
4. Hit RECORD in the control bar, play a groove, and Blapp writes it into the sequencer.

02The Universal Control Bar

The single most important thing to learn first: the Universal Control Bar is identical on every page and never changes as you navigate. Transport, recording, count, and pattern selection are always in the same place, whether you're on the pads, the sequencer, the console, or a song arrangement. You never lose the transport under a menu.

From left to right, the bar always gives you:

03Pads & Banks

The grid

Blapp gives you 128 pads across 8 banks (A–H) — a 16-pad grid per bank — with 32-voice polyphony and oldest-voice stealing. Any pads can share a choke group so, for example, an open hat is cut the instant a closed hat fires. Reloading a sample mid-note never chops off a sounding voice.

Selecting vs triggering. Tapping a pad plays it; the pad you last touched is the selected pad, and its controls fill the knob strip. Pads always sound while a sequence is playing, so you can audition and jam over a running pattern at any time.

Loading sounds onto pads

There are three ways to get a sound onto a pad:

• Drag & drop a file — drop a WAV, AIFF, or FLAC file from Finder / Explorer straight onto any pad. The pad highlights as you hover; release to load it there.
• The Sound Library browser — click LIBRARY on the main page to open the built-in browser. Pick a category on the left (Kick, Snare, Hats, Perc, and any folders you've added), then click a sound to audition it on the currently selected pad. When you've found the one, press → PAD to assign it. Use IMPORT FOLDER… to pull in your own folder of samples (it scans sub-folders too) so it lists alongside the factory sounds.
• Bounce / record / chop — print a performance, resample the output, record an input, or slice an import onto pads (see Recording, BOUNCE and Sample Import & Chop).

To empty a pad so you can reload it, select it and press Delete / Backspace. You can also drag one pad onto another to reorder / move the sound between pads.

Cycle layers — up to 3 sounds per pad

Each pad can hold up to three sounds. In the Library, assign the main sound with → PAD, then load alternates with → CYCLE 2 and → CYCLE 3. Turn on the per-bank CYCLE button (on the main page) and repeated hits step through the sounds 1 → 2 → 3 in order, or at random (press CYCLE again to switch modes) — an easy way to add round-robin realism to hats, snares, and one-shots.

Bank mute, solo & groups

Treat each bank of 16 pads as a group. BNK M mutes the whole current bank and BNK S solos it, so you can drop or isolate a whole layer instantly. You can also right-click any bank button (A–H) to mute or solo that bank directly without switching to it. Bank mute / solo — and per-pad mute / solo — are fully MIDI-learnable (see MIDI-Learn) and can be recorded as live automation.

Velocity modes

• FULL LEVEL — every hit plays at full velocity, however hard you strike.
• 16 LEVELS — all sixteen pads play one chosen sound at sixteen rising velocities, so you can perform dynamics across the grid.

Per-pad shaping

Every pad carries its own tuning, envelope, filter, and 3-band EQ — all host-automatable:

Pads also carry a velocity-to-level amount, a choke-group assignment, and a draggable start/end play region.

Mono & stereo pads

Each pad carries a MONO / STEREO toggle and defaults to MONO. Mono pads are lighter on memory and CPU, sit dead-center, and are the right default for kicks, snares, and especially bass, where a centered mono sub is exactly what you want. Flip a pad to STEREO and it captures and plays back true stereo — both channels, full width.

This matters most when you bounce a stereo source into a pad: a bounce of the hosted synth (Analog's Dream) keeps its full stereo image, panning, and stereo effects intact instead of folding to the middle. Switching a stereo pad back to MONO folds it down to a centered mono sum and immediately frees the extra RAM. Leave drums and bass on MONO for the tightest, smallest-footprint sound; reach for STEREO on wide sources where the width is part of the sound.

04Sampling & Bit Depth

This is why Blapp sounds the way it does. Every pad's sample is stored twice — clean and character-crushed — so switching between them costs nothing at trigger time. The character engine sample-and-holds the audio down to a target rate without anti-aliasing (the aliasing is the sound), optionally overdrives into the quantiser, then bit-reduces. It is a bit-exact match to the reference — a total null in testing.

Fully selectable bit depth

Dial the bit depth anywhere from a pristine 24-bit down to a crunchy 6-bit, including a precisely modeled 12-bit character at ~26.04 kHz — the signature grit that defined an era of sampling. Sample rate is selectable independently, so you can pair a clean rate with crushed bits or vice-versa.

A deep rack of converter voicings

Rather than one flavor of lo-fi, Blapp gives you the character of five or six classic drum machines in one — arguably the most user-configurable sampler ever made. Pick a voicing by character, or set the rate, bit depth, and drive by hand:

Independent controls let you set the Sample Rate, the Bit Depth (down to 6-bit), and the drive into the quantiser yourself. Clean, non-crushed playback uses high-quality 4-point interpolation.

05Thickness + Punch — the secret sauce

How to use it

• Start clean, drive to taste. With the knob down, you hear the sample as it is. As you raise it, the front-end converter is pushed harder — density and saturation build, transients thicken.
• It hits the converter first. Because the drive lands before the pads, everything downstream — bit depth, tuning, envelopes, the whole kit — inherits that weight. This is why the whole machine feels thicker, not just one pad.
• Pair it with a 12-bit voicing for the classic knock, or with a clean voicing when you just want density without grit.

06The Sequencer & Swing

Blapp's 128-step sequencer holds one track per pad. Program hits step-by-step or record them live; each track has mute, solo, and a view lock.

Swing

Swing nudges the off-beat hits late — off the rigid grid — for a human, behind-the-beat feel. Low settings keep things tight; higher settings drag the groove into that laid-back pocket that makes programmed drums breathe.

Patterns, host sync & loops

Timing is sample-accurate off the host clock. There are 32 pattern slots (the sequence selector in the control bar) — choose a new one while playing and the switch queues to the next downbeat. A Clock toggle chooses whether Blapp follows the DAW or runs as its own master; when the host stops, the playhead holds. Loop mode loops the whole pattern, and a grid-snapped sub-loop region loops any span you drag on the ruler.

Time signatures

On the Sequencer page, a time-signature selector reshapes the step grid to the meter you're working in — pick from 4/4, 3/4, 5/4, 6/8, 7/8, 4/4 ×2 bars, 4/4 (1/32 grid), 1/8 triplet, and 1/16 triplet. A partnering bars selector multiplies the pattern length. Changing the signature re-lays the grid (steps-per-beat and loop length follow) so odd meters and triplet feels stay locked to the transport.

Loop length, SNAP & quantize

• Loop length (bars) — the universal LOOP LENGTH selector under SWING sets the loop size in bars for every page except Song mode.
• SNAP — a single toggle that governs the grid for both audio regions and MIDI-note editing. Off = free placement / free drag; on = everything snaps to the grid.
• Q — quantize — snap incoming or edited hits to a grid as fine as 1/128, giving you a much finer grid for live-played drums, with a triplet option.

Sequence tools — the ⋮ menu

A ⋮ menu gives one-click management of whole sequences. It sits next to the sequence picker and next to the 1–32 pattern grid, so it's always within reach:

• Duplicate → next empty — clones the current sequence into the next empty slot and jumps you there, for an instant alternate take. The clone is a full clone: it carries the sequence's steps, piano-roll notes, micro-edit hits, and knob automation.
• Copy / Paste — copy a sequence and paste it elsewhere; if the target slot is already in use, Blapp asks before overwriting.
• Delete — clears the current sequence (with a confirm, so you never wipe a take by accident).

Every one of these is undoable. Sequencing is independent per sequence — each has its own steps, notes, micro-hits, automation, and mute/solo states, so variations never step on each other — while the pad sounds (the samples loaded on your pads) are a single shared kit across all sequences.

07Scales, Chords & Progressions

Switch the pads into Scales & Chords play modes and the grid becomes a musical instrument — every pad is in key, so you can play melodies and progressions without hitting a wrong note.

The scale library

Jazz modes: Dorian, Mixolydian, Lydian, Phrygian, Locrian, Lydian Dominant, Altered, Whole Tone, Diminished, Bebop.
Common: Major, Minor, plus the everyday shapes.
Pentatonics & Blues: Major/Minor pentatonic, Blues.
Chromatic: all twelve.

New — World / Exotic bank

A fresh bank of scales from around the world for instantly cinematic, out-of-the-ordinary color:

Chord voicings

Play whole chords from single pads: 7th, 9th, 6th, triads, sus, power, and octave voicings.

Genre mood progressions

Load a ready-made progression tuned to a feel and walk it across the pads: Pop, Jazz, Soul, Funk, Gospel, Doo-Wop, Blues, Neo-Soul, Rare Groove, and Prog Rock.

08Recording

Blapp gives you three clearly-labeled record buttons, each with a specific job — no guessing what "record" will capture:

• Count-in — a visual 4-3-2-1 before the take, set in the control bar. Your count-in setting now persists across relaunches — it no longer resets each launch.
• Quantize on input (Q) — snap incoming hits to a grid as fine as 1/128, with a triplet option.
• Overdub or replace — layer onto the take, or wipe and re-record.

REC: NOTES vs REC: DRUMS

A REC: NOTES / REC: DRUMS toggle decides how a live pad hit is recorded. It appears in two handy spots — on the home page (under BNK M / BNK S) and on the MIDI-edit page (next to BOUNCE) — and the setting is saved with the project.

• REC: NOTES (default) — pads and keys you play record into the piano roll as notes, the normal way to perform a melodic or drum part into MIDI.
• REC: DRUMS — a pad hit lays a drum step and fires the sound instantly, staying out of the piano roll. This is how you re-lay a bounced audio take back into the sequence as steps: tap the pad in time and you're building a step pattern, ready to chop, mute, or automate like any drum.

True timeline placement

Recorded audio takes land exactly where you played them on the timeline — not snapped to the front — and each region is fully draggable. Turn SNAP off for free placement or on to lock to the grid.

You can also move an audio clip Up or Down to another open pad; it keeps its position in time, so you can reorganize a take across pads without it drifting off the beat.

09Audio-into-Pads & BOUNCE

One of Blapp's most powerful moves: render a performance directly onto a pad as an editable sample. Build up a part on the MIDI-edit or Micro-edit page, then use the BOUNCE button on that page to print it to a pad.

1. Perform or edit your part on the MIDI-edit / Micro-edit page.
2. Press BOUNCE and pick a target pad. Choose what to render:
   • Isolated lane — just that page's lane / part on its own.
   • Whole mix — the full mix as it sounds in context.
3. Blapp renders it, tempo-synced, to a new sample on the pad — and it stays editable like any imported sample.
4. Free the edit page — the pad now holds the whole performance, so you can clear the edit and keep building.

This is how you flatten complexity: turn an intricate programmed passage into one trigger, then chop it, tune it, or drive it through Thickness + Punch like any other sample.

Micro-edit editing parity

The Micro-edit page now edits with the same power as the rest of the app: multi-select, a marquee SELECT tool to rubber-band a group, Select All, and group cut / copy / paste / nudge — so you can move, duplicate, and shift whole clusters of events at once.

10Song, Loop, Console & Master

Song mode — building an arrangement

Open Song (the W key or GO TO → Song) to chain your patterns into a full track. You place any pattern in any order, any number of times — e.g. 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 3, 4 — and the blocks lay out on a timeline with a live play-head.

1. Turn the SONG button on (so the transport plays the arrangement, not a single loop).
2. Append blocks — use the pattern pickers to add sequences to the end of the arrangement; repeat a picker to add a pattern several times in a row.
3. Edit blocks — click a block to select it; press Delete or right-click to remove it. Turn on ERASE to click-remove blocks one by one, or CLEAR to wipe the whole song.
4. Name sections — select a block and press MARK (or M) to label it Intro / Verse / Hook / Drop etc.; the name draws on the timeline.
5. Choose the ending — LOOP wraps back to the top and keeps playing; PLAY THRU plays the song once, start to finish, then stops.

From here MIX jumps to the Console, and the master strip prints the finished track (see Print & extract below). The universal loop-length selector does not apply in Song mode — each block plays its own pattern length.

Stems & bounce (Song page)

On the Song page, ARM STEMS then press PLAY to record every used channel — pads, MIDI clips, and the hosted synth — to its own lossless 24-bit WAV stem, sample-exact, ready to hand to a mixer. A one-shot BOUNCE renders each channel to its own stem offline. You can capture stems PRE (dry) or POST (through the master chain).

Loop mode

Loop the active pattern, or drag a grid-snapped sub-loop over any span for tight, focused jamming and beat-building.

Long samples & full songs

Blapp plays long samples and full songs their entire length — up to about 10 minutes. Press STOP (the transport button or the Space bar) to halt a long sample instantly; your drums are unaffected and keep grooving. This makes Blapp comfortable hosting a full backing track alongside the kit.

The Console

The dark-styled Console is a full mixing desk — one vertical channel strip per pad, a dedicated strip for the hosted synth (Analog's Dream), plus a master strip. Each strip has a grabbable fader, pan, MUTE / SOLO, an EFX send, a stereo/mono fold, and a peak meter. Any MIDI-learned control shows a small CC chip in its corner.

Live, real-time faders

Console faders now move sound the instant you ride them. Grab a fader while a note is ringing out or a loop is sustaining and its level follows your hand in real time — the change is no longer latched to the moment the note was triggered. Every fader move is smoothed, so rides are completely zipper-free even when you move fast. That makes the Console a genuine live-mixing surface: ride the loop down under a vocal, swell a pad in, and hear it happen as you do it.

Group channels (DCAs)

Two group channels — DRUM GRP and SYNTH GRP — let you ride whole groups at once. Each is a DCA-style strip with its own fader, pan, MUTE, SOLO, and EFX, so you can pull the entire drum bus or the whole synth down with one move.

EFX — hosting effects in the mix

Every Console strip carries an EFX button that hosts a plugin insert on that channel — load FORGE, Vocal Sauce, or any VST3/AU there to process just that pad, the hosted-synth strip, or a whole group. The two group strips (DRUM GRP and SYNTH GRP) have their own EFX inserts, so you can put one effect across the entire drum bus or the whole synth. The master gets its own insert via the control bar's FX button (or OPEN FX on the master strip). The signal flows mix → performance-FX → master compressor → master FX insert → out, and every hosted effect gets Blapp's tempo (host-BPM sync). Loading happens off the audio thread, so a swap never glitches — and every insert is restored with the project by Total Recall.

Performance FX — the FX page

Press FX PERFORM on the main page (or the E key) to open the Performance-FX page: eight big hold-to-engage effect pads, each snapping back the instant you let go — the DJ / turntablist way to throw an effect across the whole mix live. The eight effects are:

• Trigger — press an effect pad to engage while held, or hit keys 1–8 for effects A–H. Each pad has its own WET and a MODE toggle that switches the effect's behaviour (e.g. ISOLATOR's single sweep vs 3-band kill).
• LATCH holds an effect on without keeping the pad pressed; BYP bypasses a slot.
• TAP sets the tempo, SYNC sets the global musical division for the synced effects, and LOCK ties them to the BPM/beat grid.
• ASSIGN — MIDI-learn a controller pad or button to fire an effect (right-click to clear); AUTO REC records your FX moves so they loop with the pattern.

PAD FX groups — effects on chosen pads

Click PAD FX on the FX page to open the group panel, where you can run an effect on just the pads you choose — stem-style — while everything else stays dry. There are four groups, G1–G4:

1. Pick a group (G1–G4) — everything below edits that group.
2. Choose its EFFECT (the same eight effects; switching loads that effect's factory defaults).
3. Set WET and the effect's parameters, and press ON to engage it (click-free).
4. Add members: tap BANKS A–H to move whole banks in, or use the 16-pad picker to tap individual PADS in and out. A pad belongs to one group at a time.

The DJ crossfader

Along the bottom of the main page is a real DJ crossfader that fades the mix between a LEFT and a RIGHT source. Click LEFT / RIGHT to choose what each side controls — a bank, a set of pads, or an effect — then ride the fader to cut and blend between them. Pads assigned to a side show a small XF A / XF B badge so you can see what the fader is moving.

• ON / OFF — off means the crossfader has no effect on the mix.
• CURVE — cycle SMOOTH (constant-power), LINEAR, or CUT (sharp, for scratch-style cuts).
• HAMSTER — reverses the fader direction.
• MIDI Learn the fader to a hardware crossfader or knob, and record your rides as automation.

The master bus

On the master sits a 3-model master compressor with a real sidechain. Switch models for glue, character, or vintage grit; the compressor engages click-free and passes clean when it's out. Turn on the sidechain KEY to duck the mix from selected pads or incoming notes — classic pump — with a sidechain high-pass so low end doesn't over-duck the detector.

Print & extract — WAV or MP3

Render your track to a file straight from Blapp. Pick the format — a full-resolution 24-bit WAV, or a compressed MP3 for quick sharing (the MP3 encoder is now bundled, so export just works, with nothing to install) — and choose where in the chain to capture: before the master bus (the raw mix, pre master-comp/FX), after the master bus (the finished, mastered sound), or both in one pass — handy when you want a clean version to mix and a printed master to hand off. Stem and MIDI export are available too.

11Sample Import & Chop

Drag in your own material. Blapp imports WAV, AIFF, and FLAC, with defensive limits checked before any memory is reserved.

The Sample Edit page is a high-resolution waveform editor with ultra-zoom, a draggable play region, and audition looping. Its chop engine was rebuilt for v1.2 into a fast, musical, fully undoable slicer. A single sensitivity / grid knob drives the whole thing — sweep it from one bar all the way down to 1/128 — while a tempo-grid backdrop is drawn straight over the waveform so you can see exactly where the bars and beats fall as you chop. Cycle the slice mode and lay the slices across pads:

• Bars / Grid — auto-slice on the musical grid at the current tempo; the knob sets the division (1 bar → 1/128) and the markers stay draggable.
• Transient — auto-detect the hits; the sensitivity knob sets how many transients are found (drag any marker to fine-tune).
• Manual — click to add a slice point, drag to move it, double-click to remove.
• Pads — hit PLAY and strike a pad to drop a chop at the playhead — perform your slice points in time.

Press SLICE to chop at every marker and lay the slices onto consecutive pads from a pad you choose. The slices are laid out grouped by bank, so a chop that spills past 16 pieces spills cleanly onto the next bank rather than scrambling. Every slice gets a short declick fade so chopped hits never tick or pop, and the whole chop — slicing, re-slicing, and laying to pads — is a single undoable action, so you can dial the sensitivity knob aggressively and just undo if it isn't right.

12Using Hardware MIDI Controllers

In the standalone, Blapp reads your MIDI hardware directly and — this is the key feature — lets you route each physical controller independently. You can drive the drums from one controller while a completely different controller plays a hosted synth, each on its own MIDI channel.

Standalone audio & MIDI setup

The first time you run the standalone, open its Options / Settings → Audio & MIDI Settings panel to pick your output device (and input device if you'll use REC INPUT), set the sample rate and buffer size, and tick the MIDI input devices you want Blapp to listen to. Only ticked inputs send notes to the app. In a DAW you don't need this — the host handles audio and MIDI, and Blapp appears as an instrument on a track.

Where the routing lives

Open the Analog's Dream menu and choose "Per-controller routing (devices)." Every connected controller is listed, and you assign each one to:

• Blapp — the controller plays / records the drums.
• Synth — the controller plays / records the hosted Analog's Dream on its dedicated synth MIDI channel.
• Both — the controller drives drums and synth together.

This is also the fix for two controllers stuck on the same MIDI channel: routing by device sends each one exactly where you want it, regardless of the channel it transmits on.

Per-controller routing (an example)

Say you own two controllers:

• A Nektar Panorama P4 — set it to Blapp, so its pads/keys trigger the drum kit.
• A Novation SL MkIII — set it to Synth, so it plays and records Analog's Dream on its own synth MIDI channel.

Now the P4 plays the beat and the SL MkIII plays (and records) the synth part, at the same time, with no crosstalk. Assignments persist by device name across rescans, so your rig comes back the way you left it.

Factory controller maps & AUTOMAP

Rather than learn every knob by hand, load a factory map in one click. Open the AD (Analog's Dream) menu and choose "Controller automap (P4 / SL MkIII / …)" — the presets are grouped by brand (Nektar, Novation, Akai, Arturia, Korg, plus a generic 8-knob fallback). Each maps its rotaries to the pad tone knobs and a fader to master. You can always MIDI-learn on top of a factory map afterward. (Per-controller routing lives in the same menu — see above.)

MIDI-Learn — map almost anything

Blapp's global MIDI-learn binds almost any control to a hardware knob, fader, or button. Click MIDI ASSIGN, click the Blapp control, then move a knob or press a button on your controller — that CC (or note) is now bound. A small amber CC chip appears on the learned control, and a right-click clears it. Learning works even with the editor closed. Learnable roles include:

• Per-pad MUTE and SOLO, and the bank (group) mute / solo.
• The pad tone knobs — including ATTACK, RES, and VEL — and the pad's REVERSE.
• Transport (PLAY/STOP, REC), MASTER, SWING, TAP, the crossfader, bank filters, FX macros, and every pad trigger.

Piano-roll conveniences

• Used-pitch keys light up — the piano keys down the left edge glow for the pitches the current clip uses, so you can see your notes at a glance.
• Double-click to add a note; a single click selects (or marquee-selects a group), so you no longer drop accidental notes while working.

13Hosting NHOF Plugins

Blapp can host another plugin right inside the groove. There are three places a plugin can live:

• AD (control bar) loads the hosted synth, Analog's Dream — an instrument you play from the pads or a routed controller.
• FX (control bar) loads an effect — FORGE, Vocal Sauce, or any VST3/AU — onto the master bus, where it processes the whole mix.
• EFX (per Console strip) hosts an effect on a single channel or group — see EFX — hosting effects in the mix.

Loading always happens off the audio thread, so a swap never glitches.

Blapp also installs its transport into the hosted plugin, so a tempo-aware hosted instrument — like Analog's Dream's arpeggiator, or any time-based effect in FORGE — slaves to Blapp's clock (host-BPM sync) exactly as it would to a DAW.

Saving & loading projects

Your work lives in a Blapp project file (.blapp). On the main page:

• SAVE — write the whole project (kit, sequences, mixer, hosted plugins, loop length) to a .blapp file you name.
• LOAD — open a saved .blapp project.
• NEW — start a blank project (it offers to save your current work first).
• RENDER — print / export audio (see Print & extract in Song, Loop, Console & Master).

Blapp also autosaves as you work and reopens your last session automatically on the next launch, so you rarely lose anything. In a DAW, the full Blapp state is additionally stored inside the host session, so it returns with the song — no separate save needed.

Total Recall — projects restore everything

Saving a project is now Total Recall: when you reopen it, every hosted-plugin patch is restored exactly — your Analog's Dream patch, your FORGE rack, and your group-FX settings all come back to the letter, along with your loop length. No more hosted plugins reloading to a default state — the whole rig returns precisely as you left it.

14Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcuts are solid on every page — including the Console, with universal page navigation so you can jump anywhere from anywhere, and they stay active even when a hosted plugin window is in focus. Press ? at any time to pop up the app's own live shortcut list. On Mac the command modifier is ⌘; on Windows it's Ctrl.

Transport

Pages & view

Editing (Sequencer, MIDI & Micro editors)

Performance FX page

Help

Because the Universal Control Bar is present on every page, the transport shortcuts do the same thing everywhere. To arm recording, click a record button in the control bar (there's no single record hot-key — the button you press chooses what gets captured; see Recording).

15Troubleshooting & FAQ

My DAW doesn't see the plugin.

Confirm the file is in the right folder (see Install) and rescan plugins. On Mac, the AU is validated on first host launch — give it a moment.

macOS says the app can't be opened.

It shouldn't — the build is notarized. If you moved the app off a network volume or an old cached copy is interfering, drag the fresh copy to /Applications and launch again.

My controller stopped triggering after I renamed the standalone.

Renaming a standalone can empty the OS Active-MIDI-Inputs list. Re-tick your controllers once in Settings — it's a one-time reset, not a code bug.

A hosted synth's arpeggiator isn't in time.

Make sure the transport is running. Blapp feeds its clock into hosted instruments, so tempo-based features follow Blapp automatically once it's playing.

My imported sample won't load.

Blapp accepts WAV, AIFF, and FLAC within its size and length limits. Convert other formats first, and check the file isn't corrupt.

The sound is thin.

Reach for Thickness + Punch first (see Section 05) — front-end drive usually restores weight faster than EQ. Pair it with a 12-bit voicing for the classic knock.

Is my license tied to the internet?

No. Licensing verifies offline with machine binding. Your purchase is your license.