Plugin Host

The Plugin Host node lets you load one of your own third-party VST3 plugins and use it right inside your MNodes patch, just like any other node. You can send audio and notes through it, control its settings from the Inspector, and move those settings automatically with CV.

Loading a plugin

Click the body of the node, or its Select Plugin button, to open the plugin chooser. Search by name or maker and click a plugin to load it.

Once a plugin loads, the node rebuilds its connection points to fit it: audio in and out for an effect, a note (MIDI) input for an instrument, and so on.

A loaded plugin runs in its own separate background program. That is good news for you: if a plugin crashes or freezes, it cannot drag MNodes down with it. MNodes spots the problem and reloads the plugin on its own.

The plugin editor

Click the preview area in the node's body, or the Open Editor button, to open the plugin's own window. It floats above MNodes and moves along with it. Click Close Editor, or the window's own close button, to hide it again.

Plugin parameters

Select the Plugin Host node and the Inspector lists every setting of the loaded plugin, under Plugin Parameters. Drag a slider and the change reaches the plugin right away.

The two stay in sync both ways: move a control in the plugin's own window and the matching slider in the Inspector follows along. The Inspector also keeps track of the last setting you touched: that row is selected and scrolled into view automatically, so you never lose sight of the control you are adjusting, even on plugins with hundreds of settings.

Exposing parameters as pins

Each setting row in the Inspector has a small dot on its left. Click it to expose that setting, and the node grows two connection points for it:

• an input pin that takes a value or a CV signal. Wire an LFO, an envelope or a sequencer into it to move that plugin setting automatically in real time.
• an output pin that sends out the setting's current value, so other nodes or panel controls can stay in step with it.

Click the dot again to remove that setting's pins. The node grows and shrinks as you add and hide settings, so the pins always have room.

Tempo sync

The loaded plugin picks up the timing (transport) from your DAW, or from MNodes' own transport when you run MNodes on its own. Plugins, arpeggiators and LFOs that lock to tempo will follow the song's position and speed automatically.

Where MNodes looks for plugins

MNodes searches your computer's system VST3 folders for plugins. To add or change which folders it searches, open Settings and find the Plugin Folders block.

Inputs and outputs

The exact connection points depend on the plugin you load.

Pin	Type	Direction	Shown when
In L / In R	Audio	Input	The plugin is an effect (hidden for instruments)
MIDI	MIDI	Input	The plugin accepts MIDI
Out L / Out R	Audio	Output	Always
MIDI	MIDI	Output	The plugin produces MIDI
Exposed parameter	Data / CV	Input	You expose a parameter (one pin each)
Exposed parameter	Data	Output	You expose a parameter (one pin each)

TIP

Only VST3 plugins are supported. A plugin and its editor always run in a separate process, so they cannot crash or freeze MNodes itself.