Concept
Deriva is a sound-design instrument built around influenced randomness. Press Fracture to generate a temporary Fragment, shape the result through the four Engines, then Offer it to The Keeper. If The Keeper preserves it, the Fragment becomes a Remnant and is stored in the Archive.
Main Flow
IdleAudio passes through normally until a Fragment exists.
FractureDeriva generates new hidden Engine parameters and visible tag values.
LiminalThe Fragment becomes active and the Engines process incoming audio.
OfferThe current Fragment is submitted to The Keeper.
ResultPreserved saves a Remnant. Lost discards the Fragment.
The Keeper
- The default decision chance is 50% Preserved / 50% Lost.
- Repeated Lost results make the next Preserved result more likely.
- Repeated Preserved results make the next Lost result more likely.
- This bias is subtle and capped, so The Keeper never becomes fully predictable.
- The Keeper aura hints at the bias: warmer amber favours preservation, deeper red favours loss.
Decision Lock
While The Keeper is deciding, or while Preserved/Lost is being shown, Fracture is temporarily unavailable. This prevents replacing the Fragment during the decision window.
Sound Engines
Engines
ErosionSaturation, tone damage, drive and destructive colour.
ScatterGranular clouds, octave fragments, texture and suspended motion.
VeilCreative filtering, resonant movement and spectral colour.
MirrorAmbient shimmer, reverse bloom and wide ethereal reverb.
Engine Controls
- Left-click an Engine to mute or unmute it.
- Right-click an Engine to solo it.
- Mute Persistence keeps muted Engines muted after Fracture. When it is off, Fracture wakes all Engines again.
- Mix controls the global dry/wet amount of the plugin.
- Click ACTIVE to enter DELTA mode, which removes the dry track and plays only Deriva's actual effect contribution at the current Engine and Global Mix values.
- Engine mute, solo, Fracture and Offer are available for host automation.
Tags
Each Engine is described by a level tag. Tags are calculated from the Engine parameters and Mix, so they describe effective sound strength rather than just raw parameter values.
NullTraceLowMediumHighExtremeVoidSingularity
Archive
Archive
- Preserved Fragments appear as Remnants.
- Click a Remnant to recall its sound, Engine mutes and Morph state.
- Remnants can be renamed, favourited, deleted and recalled.
- The Archive search field filters Remnants by name; use the X button beside it to clear the search quickly.
- Tags filter by Engine level, while Vessels filter by user category.
- Right-click a Remnant to enter Select Merge, then select 2-4 Remnants and press Merge to create a purple Merged Remnant. The source Remnants are hidden until the Merged Remnant is Severed.
- Archive data is stored locally on the user's machine.
Vessels
Vessels are fixed Archive categories for organising Remnants without changing their sound. A Remnant can be assigned to Default, Vocals, Drums, Bass, Pads, Atmos, Texture or Ruined. Use the Vessels button in the Archive to filter the list; no selected Vessel means the Archive shows every Vessel.
DefaultVocalsDrumsBassPadsAtmosTextureRuined
Integrity
Remnants include a Keeper signature. If a saved Remnant is manually edited outside the plugin, it stays visible in the Archive but becomes invalid and cannot be recalled.
Morph System
Morph
- Morph appears after selecting a Remnant from the Archive.
- When Morph is enabled, the selected Remnant stays attached while you press Fracture.
- Each new Fracture creates a 50/50 blend: half selected Remnant, half newly generated Fragment.
- The active hybrid state is called Flowing.
- If you turn Morph off before offering, Deriva returns to the selected Remnant.
- If you turn Morph off after finding a Flowing result, that Flowing result can return when Morph is enabled again.
- Offering a Flowing result can create a new Remnant marked Morphed.
- If the source Remnant was already Scarred or Extinct, the new Morphed Remnant inherits that mark too.
- If The Keeper rejects a Flowing result, the source Remnant is marked Scarred and its maximum Mix is reduced.
- If a Scarred Remnant reaches 0 maximum Mix, it becomes Extinct.
Remnant Marks
- Morphed
- Created from Morph rather than a normal Fragment.
- Merged
- Created by joining 2-4 Archive Remnants. Severing it reveals the original source Remnants again.
- Scarred
- Affected by a lost Morph Offer; its maximum Mix has been reduced.
- Extinct
- A Scarred Remnant that can no longer reach wet Mix.
Global Mix Risk
Normal Remnants can use up to 100% Mix. When a Flowing Offer is Lost, the source Remnant loses 10% from its own maximum Mix. When moving from a limited Remnant to another Remnant with a higher maximum, Global Mix rises to that new maximum; when moving to a lower maximum, it clamps down. Host automation for Global Mix is also clamped to the active Remnant's maximum.
Audio & Storage
Sidechain
Mirror exposes an optional external sidechain input in supported hosts. Route another track into Deriva's sidechain to duck only the wet reverb tail; the dry input still feeds Mirror normally, while the ambience moves out of the way when the sidechain signal is present.
Host Bypass
When the DAW bypasses, disables or suspends Deriva, the interface fades into a BYPASSED view. Some hosts report this through a bypass callback, while others are detected when audio callbacks stop arriving.
Offline Use
Deriva's audio processing and Archive are local. The plugin does not need internet access to make sound, load Remnants or preserve new ones. Internet is only used by external links and update checking.
Archive Storage
Remnants are saved in a local Deriva archive file on the user's machine and are also stored with DAW sessions. The persistent Archive is designed so removing and re-adding the plugin does not erase preserved Remnants.
Updates
Check Updates compares the installed version with the latest version published on the Deriva download site. When a new build is available, Deriva shows a Download button that opens the current Mac or Windows installer link. Installing a new version should replace the plugin binary while keeping the user's local Archive.
System
Version Menu
- Click the version number to open the system menu.
- UI Scale changes the plugin size from 75% to 200%.
- Guidance can be enabled for short control explanations.
- Low Performance Mode removes visual glows and animations, leaving a simpler static UI while keeping important information visible.
- Website, Manual and Check Updates live in this menu.
Installation Notes
- Close the DAW before installing or updating.
- On macOS, Deriva installs as VST3 and AU.
- On Windows, Deriva installs as VST3 and needs WebView2 Runtime.
- After updating, rescan plugins in the DAW if needed.