Plugins

Plinken runs two kinds of plugins:

Kind	Where it runs	Needs
WCLAP — CLAP compiled to WebAssembly	Inside the browser’s audio engine, downloaded from the Plinken catalog	Nothing to install
Native CLAP, VST3 and AU	On your computer, hosted by Plinken Run	The runner connected (AU on macOS only)

Native plugins appear in the picker only while the runner is connected; otherwise the picker shows WCLAP plugins only.

Adding a plugin

Open the plugin chain of a track, a subgroup or an FX return and click Add FX (or Pick instrument on an instrument track). The picker filters by category — EQ, Dynamics, Reverb, Delay, Filter, Modulation, Distortion, Utility for effects; Synthesizer, Sampler, Drum for instruments — and searches by name.

The chain panel

Each plugin in a chain is a tile with Bypass, a Mono / Stereo switch, Open plugin window and Remove. Drag tiles to reorder them.

If a chain reports latency, the panel shows PDC with the amount: playback is compensated by reading regions early, but live input through that chain still hears the delay. For tracking, use a zero-latency setting of the plugin or a lighter chain. A frozen track shows Frozen — rendered audio playing; unfreeze to edit.

Managing plugins

Settings → Plugins lists every plugin: WCLAP plugins from the catalog (marked In-browser WCLAP (WebAssembly CLAP)) and native plugins found on your computer. Tick a plugin to include it in the picker, click Validate to test-load one, Rescan all after installing new plugins, Enable all to include everything, or Reset to exclude everything and re-include plugins one by one.

When the runner is off the page says plinken-run isn’t running and hides the native rows. Scan folders, format preference and troubleshooting are on Native plugins.

This section is being expanded.