Devices View

The Devices View is where you manage audio processing for your tracks. Load VST2 plugins, built-in effects, and virtual instruments, then arrange them in a signal processing chain to shape your sound.

Overview

Every track in Lumix has its own plugin chain, visible in the Devices View when that track is selected. The Devices View displays plugins as rectangular cards arranged horizontally, representing the signal flow from left to right.

The Devices View always shows the plugin chain for the currently selected track. Select a different track in the Arrangement View to see its plugins.

Adding Plugins

Plugins are added via drag-and-drop from the Sidebar:

Supported Plugin Types

VST2 Instruments

Virtual instruments (.dll files) for MIDI tracks

VST2 Effects

Audio effects (.dll files) for any track

Built-in Effects

Native Lumix audio processors

Drag-and-Drop Workflow

Select a track

Click on a track in the Arrangement View to select it and view its Devices

Find your plugin

Navigate to the plugin in the Sidebar:

Plug-Ins tab for VST2 files
Audio Effects tab for built-in effects
Instruments tab for VSTi instruments

Drag to Devices View

Click and hold on the plugin, then drag it into the Devices View area

Release to add

Release the mouse button to add the plugin to the track’s processing chain

If you try to add an incompatible plugin (like a VSTi to an audio track without MIDI), you’ll see an error dialog: “Can’t add plugin here” or “Can’t add vst here”.

Plugin Placement Rules

Instrument plugins always appear first (leftmost) in the chain
Effect plugins are added to the right in the order you drop them
Maximum visible plugins varies by track type:
- Audio tracks: ~6 plugins
- MIDI tracks: ~5 plugins (instrument + effects)

Plugin Cards

VST2 Plugin Cards

Each VST2 plugin is displayed as a card showing:

┌─────────────────────────┐
│ ● 🔧 Plugin Name       │  ← Menu bar (orange when selected)
├─────────────────────────┤
│ VST Type: Fx/Instrument │
│ Parameters: 24          │
│ In: 2    Out: 2         │
└─────────────────────────┘

Menu Bar Icons:

● (toggle) - Enable/disable plugin (orange when active)
🔧 (wrench) - Click to open the plugin’s GUI window

Information Display:

VST Type - “Fx” for effects, “Instrument” for VSTi
Parameters - Number of adjustable parameters
In/Out - Number of audio input/output channels

Built-in Plugin Cards

Built-in plugins render custom cards based on their implementation, typically showing:

Plugin name and category
Key parameters with interactive controls
Visual feedback (meters, graphs, etc.)

Selecting Plugins

Click on a plugin card to select it:

Single Selection - Click a plugin to select only that plugin
Multi-Selection - Ctrl + Click to add/remove plugins from selection
Deselect All - Click in empty space (without Ctrl)

Visual Feedback:

Selected plugins have a brighter menu bar color
Unselected: RGB(0.28, 0.28, 0.28)
Selected: Custom selection color from theme

Multi-selection allows you to duplicate or delete multiple plugins at once using keyboard shortcuts.

Plugin Operations

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action	Notes
`Delete`	Delete selected plugins	Removes from chain permanently
`Ctrl + D`	Duplicate selected plugins	Creates copies with same settings
`Left Arrow`	Move plugin left in chain	Only works with single selection
`Right Arrow`	Move plugin right in chain	Only works with single selection

Plugin reordering with arrow keys only works when exactly one plugin is selected. Multi-selection disables this feature.

Reordering Plugins

The order of plugins in the chain matters for sound processing. To reorder:

Select a single plugin by clicking on it
Press Left Arrow to move it earlier in the chain
Press Right Arrow to move it later in the chain

Signal Flow Example:

[Instrument] → [EQ] → [Compressor] → [Reverb] → Output

Moving the reverb left would change the chain to:

[Instrument] → [EQ] → [Reverb] → [Compressor] → Output

Enabling/Disabling Plugins

Click the toggle button (●) on a plugin’s menu bar to bypass it:

Enabled - Plugin processes audio (orange indicator)
Disabled - Audio passes through unchanged (gray indicator)

Disabling plugins is useful for A/B comparisons and troubleshooting, without removing them from your chain.

Opening Plugin Windows

For VST2 plugins, click the wrench icon (🔧) to open the plugin’s native GUI:

Each plugin has its own window with custom controls
Window management respects preferences (see Preferences)
Multiple plugin windows can be open simultaneously (if enabled in preferences)

Plugin Chain Visualization

The Devices View uses a horizontal scrollable container to display the plugin chain:

Visual Layout

Background Color - Dark gray (RGB: 0.22, 0.22, 0.22)
Plugin Cards - Square cards sized to viewport height
Spacing - 10px between cards
Scrollbar - Custom styled at bottom of view

Empty State

When no plugins are loaded, helpful text appears:

Audio Tracks - “Drop Audio Effects Here”
MIDI Tracks - “Drop Instruments or Audio Effects Here”

This text is centered in the available space and disappears once plugins are added.

Custom Scrollbar

A custom white scrollbar (10px thick) appears at the bottom when the plugin chain exceeds the visible width:

Scrollbar length adjusts based on content overflow
Position indicator shows relative scroll position
Offset of ±100 pixels from edges

Middle Mouse Panning

When hovering over the Devices View:

Middle Mouse Button + Drag - Pan horizontally through the plugin chain
Cursor changes to resize-all (⤢) during panning
Smooth scrolling follows mouse movement

Panning is especially useful for long plugin chains that extend beyond the visible area.

Track Type Compatibility

Audio Tracks

Audio tracks can have:

No Instrument - Only audio effects
Effect Chain - Up to 6+ plugins in series

MIDI Tracks

MIDI tracks support:

One Instrument - VSTi at the start of the chain
Effect Chain - Audio effects after the instrument
Combined total of ~5 plugins visible

Instrument Handling

Instrument plugins have special behavior:

Only MIDI tracks can load VSTi plugins
Instrument always appears first in the chain
Delete key works on instruments (removes from PluginInstrument slot)
Only one instrument per track

Technical Implementation

Plugin Management

Plugins are managed through the track’s PluginChainSampleProvider:

// Adding a plugin
SelectedTrack.Engine.PluginChainSampleProvider.AddPlugin(plugin);

// Removing a plugin
SelectedTrack.Engine.PluginChainSampleProvider.RemovePlugin(plugin);

// Accessing the chain
var fxPlugins = track.Engine.PluginChainSampleProvider.FxPlugins;
var instrument = track.Engine.PluginChainSampleProvider.PluginInstrument;

Deletion Workflow

Plugins are marked for deletion with a flag, then removed in the next render cycle:

// 1. User presses Delete key
plugin.DeleteRequested = true;

// 2. Next frame, find marked plugins
var deletedPlugins = FxPlugins.FindAll(p => p.DeleteRequested);

// 3. Remove from chain
deletedPlugins.ForEach(del => RemovePlugin(del));

This deferred deletion prevents issues with modifying collections during iteration.

Drag-Drop Implementation

The drag-drop system uses ImGui payloads:

VST2 Plugins
Built-in Plugins

// Payload: "PLUGIN_DRAG"
if (Path.GetExtension(file) == ".dll")
{
    var vst = new VstPlugin(filePath);
    var processor = new VstAudioProcessor(vst);
    track.Engine.PluginChainSampleProvider.AddPlugin(processor);
}

// Payload: "BUILTIN_PLUGIN_DRAG"
var pluginInstance = DraggedBuiltInPlugin as IAudioProcessor;
track.Engine.PluginChainSampleProvider.AddPlugin(pluginInstance);

Drop Prevention

A _hasDropped flag prevents duplicate plugin additions during a single drag operation:

Set to true when plugin is added
Reset to false when mouse drag ends
Prevents multiple additions if mouse hovers during release

Best Practices

Plugin Ordering

Consider these common signal flow patterns:

Corrective before creative - EQ before reverb
Dynamics early - Compression near the start
Modulation before delays - Chorus before reverb
Limiting last - Brick wall limiter at the end

CPU Management

To optimize performance:

Disable unused plugins rather than deleting them
Limit the number of active plugins per track
Use built-in effects when possible (lower overhead)
Freeze/bounce tracks with heavy plugin chains

Organization

Keep your plugin chains maintainable:

Name plugins descriptively in their GUI
Group related effects (all EQs, all compression)
Use consistent chains across similar tracks
Document special settings in project notes

Sidebar

Browse and drag plugins from the file browser

Preferences

Configure plugin paths and window behavior

Built-in Effects

Documentation for native Lumix processors

VST2 Support

Working with external VST2 plugins

Get Started

Core Concepts

Audio Features

MIDI Features

Plugins

User Interface

Development

​Devices View

​Overview

​Adding Plugins

​Supported Plugin Types

VST2 Instruments

VST2 Effects

Built-in Effects

​Drag-and-Drop Workflow

​Plugin Placement Rules

​Plugin Cards

​VST2 Plugin Cards

​Built-in Plugin Cards

​Selecting Plugins

​Plugin Operations

​Keyboard Shortcuts

​Reordering Plugins

​Enabling/Disabling Plugins

​Opening Plugin Windows

​Plugin Chain Visualization

​Visual Layout

​Empty State

​Custom Scrollbar

​Navigation and Panning

​Middle Mouse Panning

​Track Type Compatibility

​Audio Tracks

​MIDI Tracks

​Instrument Handling

​Technical Implementation

​Plugin Management

​Deletion Workflow

​Drag-Drop Implementation

​Drop Prevention

​Best Practices

​Related Documentation

Sidebar

Preferences

Built-in Effects

VST2 Support

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Devices View

Overview

Adding Plugins

Supported Plugin Types

Drag-and-Drop Workflow

Plugin Placement Rules

Plugin Cards

VST2 Plugin Cards

Built-in Plugin Cards

Selecting Plugins

Plugin Operations

Keyboard Shortcuts

Reordering Plugins

Enabling/Disabling Plugins

Opening Plugin Windows

Plugin Chain Visualization

Visual Layout

Empty State

Custom Scrollbar

Navigation and Panning

Middle Mouse Panning

Track Type Compatibility

Audio Tracks

MIDI Tracks

Instrument Handling

Technical Implementation

Plugin Management

Deletion Workflow

Drag-Drop Implementation

Drop Prevention

Best Practices

Related Documentation