justasample/README.md
2026-07-23 23:45:17 +02:00

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Screenshot of plugin

Just a Sample

Note: This is a fork of Just a Sample by Binyamin Friedman.

Your favorite sampler shouldn't be complicated.

Promo video

See releases

Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux in VST3/AU.

Overview

Just a Sample is a powerful, modern audio sampler, with a focus on simplicity and ease of use. This is my personal fork of the project. All glory to Binyamin, not me.

Features

Detailed feature list

Core features

  • Smoothly zoom in to the level of individual samples to set bounds as accurately as you need. Waveform drawing is optimized for large samples.
  • Integrated Bungee time stretcher allows for freely modulating time and pitch independently. Try extreme slow-downs (0.01x) for unique sounds.
  • Modern navigation controls allow for easy browsing of waveforms with touchpad or mouse.
  • A routable FX chain includes reverb, chorus, distortion, and EQ for easy sound design.
  • Waveform Mode activates when small bounds are set, looping the waveform periodically like a wavetable synth. This turns Just a Sample into a unique tone generator.
  • Easily modify attack and release curves.
  • Includes equal power cross-fade looping with separate attack and release sample portions.
  • Supports pitch bend and fine-tuning.

Extras

  • Disable antialiasing for a gritty LoFi effect.
  • Record samples directly into the sampler.
  • Store samples directly in plugin state to remove dependencies (can be disabled).
  • Auto-tune to A440 (experimental, works best on simple sounds).

Installation

Pre-built

You can download installers from,

Build from source

Just a Sample is easy to build from source.

# Clone the repository
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/BOBONA/Just-a-Sample/.git

# Go to the project root
cd Just-a-Sample

# Configure the plugin (replace <platform> with windows, mac, or linux)
cmake --preset=<platform>

# Build the plugin
cmake --build --preset=release-<platform>

Note that the first time you configure the project, CMake will download JUCE and other dependencies, which may take a while.

Your built plugin will be located in out/build/<platform>/<configuration>/JustASample_artefacts/<Configuration>/<format>/ where <platform> is windows, mac, or linux, <configuration> is either debug or release, and <format> is either VST3 or AU (Mac only).

Build Options

You can set the following CMake options by passing -D<option>=<value> to the CMake configure step.

  • JAS_DARKMODE_DEFAULT: Set the default theme to dark mode (default: OFF)
  • JAS_VST3_REAPER_INTEGRATION: Enable Reaper-specific VST3 extensions (Windows only, default: OFF)

Requirements

All Platforms:

  • Git
  • CMake 3.22 or higher
  • Platform-specific build tools

Windows:

  • Ninja build system
  • Visual Studio 2019 or later

macOS:

  • Xcode 12 or later

Linux:

  • GCC 9+
  • Ninja build system
  • JUCE dependencies (install via the provided script, or do it yourself):
    ./Releases/Linux/install-dependencies.sh
    

Dependencies

Just a Sample relies on:

  • JUCE for plugin framework and UI
  • Bungee for time-stretching and pitch-shifting
  • Melatonin Blur for fast shadow-compositing
  • LEAF for a fast pitch-detection algorithm
  • readerwriterqueue for lock-free thread communication
  • Gin for AirWindows distortion and SimpleVerb reverb algorithms
  • MTS-ESP for microtuning support
  • reaper-sdk for Reaper-specific VST3 extensions

JUCE, Bungee, Melatonin Blur, and LEAF are included through CMake, readerwriterqueue is included as a git submodule, and the others are included as source files in the project.

Credits

Big shouts going out to Binyamin Friedman - Creator of the original Just a Sample. Thank you for building such an elegant and well-designed sampler, and for making it open source for the community to learn from and build upon. Thank you Binyamin, I learned a lot from you.

Also special thanks to JUCE and The Audio Programmer Discord for all the help.