Glitchwave567

Glitchwave 567 — JUCE Circuit Simulation

A software simulation of the Glitchwave 567 guitar pedal (LM567 tone-decoder glitch pedal, schematic in glitchwave.png). Builds as a Standalone app, VST3, and (on macOS) AU — for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Vendor/manufacturer name in all builds: Illicit Apothecary.

Project plan status

• Step 1 (done): faithful sim of the stock schematic.
• Step 2 (done, current plugin v0.60): mods. LFO stack, Mu-Tron style envelope follower, stomp gestures, STARVE power model, and two CV inputs. See docs/MODS.md.
• Step 3 (next, separate session): redo the hardware from the plugin. Start with docs/HARDWARE_HANDOFF_v0.60.md. PCBWay files come after that.

Where the plugin is now (v0.60) in one paragraph

Product name Where The Fuzz Meets The Funk (internal short name WTF). The LM567 rail is modeled as a fixed LM2937-8.0 (hardware still has a 78L09 until the hardware session swaps it). The envelope follower listens to the raw input as it enters the pedal. There is one audio file player (Player 1, feeds the circuit like live input). CV 1 and CV 2 are true jack-detect inputs fed from the host sidechain (left = CV 1, right = CV 2, mono feeds both, bus off by default): CV 1 rides LFO 1 depth, CV 2 is the audio the envelope follower follows. Plugged means no fallback, even when silent. The old "assign CV to any knob" dropdowns, strength and slew knobs, and Players 2 and 3 were dropped because the hardware will not have them. Signal flow drawing: docs/WTF_signal_flow_v0.60.drawio.

Downloads (Windows / Linux / macOS)

Every push to main builds all three platforms automatically via GitHub Actions (see .github/workflows/build.yml): VST3 + Standalone for Windows and Linux, and VST3 + Standalone + AU for macOS. Grab the zipped builds from the Actions tab on the repo, under the latest workflow run's Artifacts section. Pushing a version tag (e.g. v0.10.0) also publishes a GitHub Release with all three zips attached. macOS/Linux builds from CI are unsigned — on macOS you may need to right-click > Open (or clear the quarantine flag) the first time.

Building on Windows

1. Install Visual Studio 2022 Community (free) with the "Desktop development with C++" workload. That includes CMake — nothing else needed.
2. Double-click build.bat. First run downloads JUCE and takes a few minutes.
3. Outputs:
   • Standalone: build\Glitchwave567_artefacts\Release\Standalone\Glitchwave 567.exe
   • VST3: build\Glitchwave567_artefacts\Release\VST3\Glitchwave 567.vst3 (copy the whole .vst3 folder into C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3)

In the Standalone app, click Options → Audio/MIDI Settings to pick your interface and enable the input (that's your guitar going "into the pedal").

The controls (same as the real pedal)

Set Input Trim so that normal playing feels like it drives the pedal the way your real rig would — the 567's tracking is very level-dependent, just like the real chip.

Files

• src/dsp/Glitchwave567.h — the circuit model itself (portable C++, no JUCE)
• src/PluginProcessor.*, src/PluginEditor.* — JUCE plugin wrapper + UI
• docs/SIM_NOTES.md — every schematic part → code mapping, and the assumptions made
• tools/offline_render.cpp — offline test harness (used to verify the sim in the cloud)

Evaluating the sim (suggestions)

Play the same riffs through the real pedal and the sim and compare:

1. Where on the FREQ knob each riff locks / glitches
2. Chatter texture when slightly out of lock
3. Idle squeal with strings muted (and how VOL kills it)
4. Thumps when lock engages/disengages
5. FIZZ sweep brightness range

docs/SIM_NOTES.md lists the tunable constants we can adjust based on what you hear.