Product manual

DERIVA Manual

A practical reference for the native AU and VST3 release. Interface labels stay in English so you can find the same controls in the plugin.

Version 1.5.0 AU · VST3 English

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DERIVA is an audio effect, not a sound source. Insert it on a track carrying audio. There are no factory presets: a Fracture generates a temporary processing state called a Fragment; a preserved state becomes a Remnant in your Archive.

Fracture: Click the star-like symbol to generate a new state. This replaces the unpreserved Fragment; it does not add anything to the Archive. It can also change engine order unless Order Lock is enabled. Wait for the Keeper decision and result reveal to finish before generating again.
Offer: Click the Keeper symbol with an offerable Fragment active. The Keeper decides; this is not a Save/Delete choice. Recalled Remnants and temporary Archive auditions cannot be offered. A Fragment can be offered only once, including after reopening a saved project.
Preserved / Lost: Preserved stores a new Remnant, including its engine settings, mutes and order, then loads it. Lost removes the active Fragment and returns to the idle state. In Morph, Lost can also damage the source Remnant: read the Morph section before offering a hybrid.
The Keeper: The baseline is 50/50, with bounded history-dependent bias. The current implementation also guarantees preservation after three consecutive Lost outcomes. Do not expect independent coin flips, or a different result by reopening the same Fragment. A persistence failure is not a completed Lost result.

Engines and sound

The four engines process the signal in the displayed order. Their detailed sound parameters are generated, not exposed as individual editing knobs. Engine labels describe the stored state, not audio loudness or musical quality.

EROSION: Saturation and tonal transformation. Fracture generates drive, tone and internal mix. Muting bypasses this engine; it does not erase its generated settings.
SCATTER: Granular transformation with generated grain duration, density, dispersion, pitch, formant, rupture and internal mix. The audible result depends on the input and on the surrounding engine chain.
VEIL: Filter-based spectral transformation with generated resonance, texture, movement and internal mix. Changing its position in the chain changes whether it processes the original input or the output of preceding engines.
MIRROR / Sidechain: Spatial processing with generated space, persistence, shimmer and reverse character. To duck Mirror's wet output, route a signal to the plugin's optional sidechain in your DAW. Mono and stereo sidechains are supported. This is host routing, not a sidechain button in DERIVA; the reverb continues receiving its main input.
NULL / TRACE / LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH / EXTREME / VOID / SINGULARITY: Each engine has its own deterministic classification based on generated parameters and internal mix. Internal mix zero gives NULL. Global Mix, mute and solo do not rewrite the stored classification. SINGULARITY is an extreme classification, not an extra mode, automatic loss, or Keeper event.
Waveform: The waveform is a generated visual identity with animated feedback, not an oscilloscope or a calibrated level meter. On the main screen, colour follows the highest displayed engine classification, excluding muted engines where applicable; ties also use internal intensity. Changing its style does not change the sound.

Main controls

Keyboard / focus: When the DAW passes keyboard input to DERIVA, Tab/Shift+Tab moves focus and Enter/Space activates a focused action. Shift+F10 invokes its secondary action, such as engine solo or Archive operation selection. Text fields use normal text editing instead. Host shortcuts may intercept these keys; keyboard support in every DAW is not established by this manual.
Engine: click / right-click: Left-click an engine to toggle mute; right-click to toggle solo. Multiple solos are possible. A normal mute click exits solo and restores the underlying mute configuration first. Mute changes on the selected Remnant are saved to that Remnant; solo is a temporary listening configuration, not a new Fragment.
Engine: drag: Drag an engine horizontally to move it in the chain. Dropping it in its original position does not mute it. With keyboard focus, Left/Right Arrow also reorders it. A recalled Remnant stores order changes. Order Lock prevents Fracture randomisation, not deliberate manual reordering.
Engine Locks / Mute Lock / Order Lock / Reset: Hover over the lock symbol to reveal controls, or click to pin them open. Mute Lock preserves engine mutes during Fracture; without it, Fracture unmutes engines. Order Lock preserves order during Fracture. Reset restores EROSION → SCATTER → VEIL → MIRROR without regenerating parameters. Lock defaults are retained for later instances.
Mix: Click anywhere on the horizontal Mix track or drag to set the global dry/effect balance; hold Shift for finer movement. Keyboard increments are one percentage point. A Scarred or Extinct Remnant may limit the ceiling. This changes playback, not the generated engine labels or a Remnant's stored maximum Mix.
Delta: Click the Delta symbol; hover to identify it. It monitors the difference between processed and original audio, scaled by Global Mix, rather than a separate pure-wet bus. It needs an active Fragment and is unavailable while host-bypassed. Toggle off to restore normal monitoring; Archive data is unchanged.
Remnant name: With a recalled or preserved Remnant active, click its name on the main screen to rename it. The Archive and main screen share that name. Temporary Fragments cannot be named here. Renaming changes metadata, not the sound, identity or lineage.

Browse the Archive

Click the diamond-shaped Archive symbol. Close returns to the main screen without deleting the active Remnant or the operation selection. Lists scroll when they exceed the available space. Unnamed entries have an UNTITLED display name.

Remnant: click / preview: Click a row or map point to load its stored sound, mutes and order. This replaces the current Fragment and clears Morph; it does not offer it. The separate preview control loads and closes the Archive on a short click. Hold that control for about 350 ms to audition temporarily; release restores the previous sound.
Favourite / rename: The star toggles a favourite; FAV filters favourites without loading them. Click a Remnant name in the list to rename it, up to 64 characters. Enter or leaving the field commits; Escape cancels. These edits change metadata only and do not create another Remnant.
Shuffle / Recall: Click the shuffle symbol to load a random playable Remnant from the filtered candidates. Hold for about 500 ms for Recall, which favours less recently heard and less-used candidates. Recall excludes the current Remnant; if no alternative is available, nothing changes. Neither action generates a new sound or risks a Remnant.
Listening Trail: Use the back/forward arrows in the Archive header to revisit available Remnants in the current listening trail. This loads sound; it is not Undo for renames, Merge, Suture, deletion or Keeper decisions. Missing, hidden and invalid entries are skipped.
Selection / Clear / Add to Set: Right-click a row or map point to add or remove it from the operation selection, labelled A, B, C and so on. This is separate from the currently playing Remnant. Clear clears this selection only. Compare needs at least two; Merge needs two to four; Suture exactly two. Add to Set changes membership, not sound.

Search, filters and sorting

Search updates as you type. It changes the displayed candidates, not the active sound. Text is case-insensitive. Put a phrase in quotes; combine terms to require them together. Unknown operators are treated as ordinary text, not executed as commands.

name: / note: / set:: Plain text searches names and context notes. Use name:"distant room", note:vocal or set:"live set" to target a field. Set matches its name and actual membership. A note excerpt may appear in matching rows.
favourite / sealed / morphed / merged / sutured / scarred / extinct: These standalone words filter by favourite, protection, origin or fate. 'favorite' is also accepted. They do not apply those states. For example, sealed note:drums finds sealed Remnants whose notes contain drums.
erosion: / scatter: / veil: / mirror:: Follow an engine name with one of its eight labels, for example mirror:void or scatter:high. These clauses require that exact label. The Tags panel offers the same engine/label filter: multiple labels within one engine are alternatives; filters across different engines must all match. Clear resets Tags only.
intensity: / spatial: / rarity: / similar:active: intensity accepts low, medium or high; spatial accepts narrow, balanced or wide (also low/medium/high). rarity accepts common, unusual, singular or unmapped: this is Archive-relative Distinction, not SINGULARITY. similar:active ranks other results by estimated similarity to the active Remnant; load a Remnant first. These are parameter-derived guides, not audio measurements.
before: / after:: Use ISO dates: before:2026-10-01 or after:2026-09-01. Boundaries are exclusive. YYYY-MM is supported: before:2026-10 means before October; after:2026-09 means after September. Missing or unparseable archive dates cannot satisfy a date filter.
Newest / Oldest / Name / Intensity: Choose a sort control to reorder displayed results, without changing the Archive's sounds or Set member order. Newest/Oldest use Archive insertion order; Intensity uses the internal descriptor, not an average of the eight label names. Search, Tags, FAV and Sets can be combined. The empty-result reset clears search, Tags and Set filters together.

Archive views

Views organise the same Remnants; switching a view does not generate, alter or preserve a sound. A map's positions and links are descriptive, not draggable DSP parameters. Use Settings → Archive to choose the default view or hide tabs.

ALL / FAV: ALL is the list of visible Archive entries; FAV restricts it to favourites. Rows include a visual sound signature, engine labels and state information. Merged/Sutured originals remain hidden until Separate/Unstitch restores them. Invalid entries cannot be auditioned.
FIELD: Maps estimated spatial character horizontally and transformation intensity vertically. Nearby points have related descriptor values; that does not guarantee identical audio. Click to load or right-click to select for an operation.
STARS: Places the reference Remnant near the centre and others according to estimated parameter similarity. Connections indicate similarity, or a network within a selected Set when applicable. They are not proof of shared ancestry or recorded audio analysis.
COMPASS: Positions Remnants by the balance of the four engine descriptors. It is an engine-character map, not a stereo panner. Selecting a point loads the corresponding Remnant; its position is not edited by dragging.
LINE: Shows available parent/child relationships created by Morph. Click a Remnant to load it; click a relationship to compare its two available endpoints. Left/Right follows parents/children; Up/Down moves among sibling branches. Relationships with unavailable sources cannot provide a playable comparison.

Details and text editing

… / Details / Compare / Lineage: Open a Remnant's three-dot menu. Details inspects it without loading it. Compare requires a different playable active Remnant. Lineage opens LINE around that entry. The same menu offers Seal/Open Seal and the appropriate Delete, Separate or Unstitch action. Disabled actions reflect the entry's current protection, integrity or available relationships.
Character / Memory / Listening: Details shows engine labels, Mix ceiling, order and mutes; archive date, origin, fate/protection, favourite and Sets; and locally recorded listening counts and dates. These are readouts, not parameter editors. Missing history is shown as unrecorded rather than reconstructed.
Distinction / Closest Memory: COMMON, UNUSUAL, SINGULAR and UNMAPPED describe how distinctive a Remnant is relative to other valid Archive entries. Fewer than eight comparable entries produces UNMAPPED. Closest Memory is parameter-based similarity, not an audio null test. Distinction can change as the Archive grows and is separate from engine SINGULARITY.
Context Note / text fields: Use the note field in Details for up to 280 characters. Return adds a line; leaving commits; Escape cancels. Names use Return to commit. Set name/note edits remain a draft until SAVE in the Set workspace. The first text-field interaction can occasionally be slow in 1.5.0; this is a known issue, not a required hold gesture.

Morph

Morph is the operation here that puts an existing source Remnant at risk through the Keeper. Merely browsing, comparing or previewing does not carry that risk.

Morph symbol: Load a valid, non-Extinct Remnant, then enable the Morph symbol on the main screen. It is unavailable for sealed Remnants and members of a locked Set. Fracture now creates a 50/50 parameter hybrid of that source and a new generated Fragment. It does not mix two audio recordings.
Flowing / MORPHED / SCARRED / EXTINCT: Offering the hybrid can preserve a new MORPHED Remnant with its source relationship and inherited Mix ceiling. If Lost, the source ceiling falls by 10 percentage points and becomes SCARRED; at zero it becomes EXTINCT. Its stored generated parameters remain, but its maximum effect amount is restricted. These changes are persistent.
Morph off: Turning Morph off before offering restores the selected source sound without a Keeper decision or a new Archive entry. A cached hybrid may be recalled by turning Morph back on while that source remains selected. Loading another Remnant or generating without Morph leaves this workflow; an already completed Lost cannot be undone by switching Morph off.

Compare

Select at least two Remnants with right-click, then choose Compare in the selection bar. A Remnant menu can instead compare its entry with the active Remnant; a LINE relationship compares its endpoints. Comparison does not combine or delete the candidates.

Listen / 1–9: Click a candidate to audition it, or use keys 1–9 for the corresponding available candidate while Compare has keyboard input. Scroll the tray to reach additional candidates. This temporarily changes the sounding state, not names, parameters or Archive identity. Extinct or invalid candidates cannot be auditioned.
Blind / Level Match: Blind hides candidate identities and shuffles their presentation order; switching it can end the current audition. Level Match adjusts audition output gain using the live signal, so allow it to settle with audio playing. It is a listening aid, not offline normalisation or a rewrite of candidate levels.
Move / Remove: In ordinary non-Blind comparison, arrows reorder candidates. Remove takes a candidate out of the tray and operation selection, not out of the Archive. Fewer than two closes comparison and restores the pre-comparison state. Reordering/removal are restricted in Ladder mode.
Ladder / Promote: For a selection of more than four, Ladder compares groups of up to four. Promote advances one chosen candidate from each group through successive rounds. The final winner is revealed and auditioned; accept it to keep that sound. No losing candidate is deleted or damaged. Ladder is not available for a two-endpoint Lineage comparison.
Return / close / Escape: Return cancels the audition and restores the sound from before Compare. Closing with the cross, Escape, or closing the Archive keeps the last auditioned candidate by loading it normally. Without an audition there is no new selection to keep. Level matching is not retained as a saved gain adjustment.

Merge

Select two to four distinct, valid, unsealed Remnants outside locked Sets. Choose Merge in the selection bar. This combines processing parameters, not rendered audio files, and does not require a Keeper decision.

Merge field: Click or drag in the field to adjust source contributions and hear the preview. Two sources use a horizontal blend; three use a triangle; four use a four-corner field. Contributions are normalised. This changes only the audition until Merge is confirmed.
Merge: confirm: Creates and loads one MERGED Remnant. Source originals are hidden, not erased, and can be recovered with Separate. Parameter values and Mix ceiling are weighted; the strongest source supplies engine order, and each mute follows weighted majority. Related Sets receive the result. A failed commit is not a completed merge.
Cancel / close: Cancels the temporary composition and restores the previous sounding state. Source parameters, identity and Archive membership remain unchanged. After confirmation use Separate, not Cancel, to recover the sources.

Suture

Engine exchange / Result A / Result B: Select exactly two valid, unsealed Remnants outside locked Sets, then Suture. Toggle one to three engines to exchange their complete generated settings between A and B. Select Result A or Result B to audition either complementary result. Zero or four exchanged engines cannot be committed.
Suture: confirm: Creates two linked SUTURED Remnants and hides both originals. Each result retains its base source's name, favourite, order and Mix ceiling; exchanged engines bring their settings, mute and deterministic identity. The auditioned result is loaded. Related Set membership is propagated. There is no Keeper decision.
Cancel / close / Unstitch: Cancel or close restores the previous sound without changing the Archive. After committing, Unstitch on either linked result removes both results from that operation and reveals the originals. It is not a single-engine undo; check both results before unstitching.

Protection and removal

Seal / Open Seal: Use the Remnant menu or Details. Seal blocks using the selected Remnant for Morph, Merge or Suture and blocks destructive commands launched directly on it. Playback, renaming, favourites, engine mutes and order remain available. For a SUTURED pair, Unstitch from the other result still removes the pair in 1.5.0; sealing one result is not an independent safeguard against that operation. Sealing is immediate; Open Seal requires confirmation. Neither repairs existing scars.
Delete / Separate / Unstitch: The menu chooses the action from the entry's origin. Delete permanently removes an ordinary Remnant and its Set references; there is no general Undo. Separate removes a MERGED result and reveals its retained sources. Unstitch removes the linked SUTURED pair and reveals its sources. Seals and locked Sets can block these actions.
Confirm Destructive: Settings → Archive controls confirmation for Delete, Separate, Unstitch and Set deletion. Turning it off can make these immediate. Open Seal and unlocking a Set still require confirmation; invalid entries retain extra confirmation. Export a backup before destructive work or restoring an older Archive.

Sets

Sets are named, ordered groups of references to Remnants. They do not duplicate audio or generated parameters. A Remnant can belong to several Sets. Legacy Vessels are migrated to Sets; the current interface does not offer a separate Vessel editor.

SETS / New Set / Add to Set: Open SETS to filter by one or more groups; Clear removes Set filters, not the groups. Create a Set with a unique non-empty name, up to 40 characters. From the operation selection, Add to Set adds selected members; choosing a Set that already contains all of them removes those memberships instead. Locked Sets cannot be changed.
Set workspace / SAVE: Open a Set's workspace using its open control. Edit its name, note and transition, then SAVE to persist that draft. Closing without SAVE discards the metadata draft. Membership and ordering actions are separate and persist when performed; closing is not Undo for those actions. Add Current adds the currently loaded Archive Remnant.
Members / reorder / remove: Click a member to load it using the Set's transition. Use previous/next or Left/Right to move through playable members, without wrapping at the ends. Reorder with the drag handle or its keyboard Up/Down controls. Remove removes membership only, not the Remnant from the Archive.
INSTANT / FADE / TAIL: The Set's saved transition overrides the instance switching choice when loading through that Set. INSTANT uses a short protected handover; FADE crossfades; TAIL allows the previous processing tail to decay under controlled limits. These modes do not regenerate stored sounds or edit their engine parameters.
Lock / Unlock / Delete Set: Save pending metadata before locking. A locked Set blocks its metadata, membership, order and deletion, and protects members from Morph/Merge/Suture/destructive operations. Playback remains available. Unlock asks for confirmation. Delete Set removes only the group, leaving its Remnants in the Archive.

Statistics

Stats: Overview / History / Engines / Milestones: Open Stats in the Archive header. Overview describes the current visible Archive; History records Fractures, Offers, Preserved/Lost, deletions, shuffles and composition events; Engines shows aggregate engine information; Milestones shows reached local milestones. Inspecting or switching these pages does not load a sound.
Tag profile / legacy history: Engine-label counts from the new classification are kept separately from legacy counts. Old aggregate events cannot be retroactively classified. Current Remnants can therefore show updated labels without rewriting historical totals. Usage statistics are local, not a shared online ranking or a prediction of Keeper outcomes.
AVG MIX / DOMINANT ENGINE / SCARRED: Overview covers the visible, valid Archive as a whole, not only the current search. AVG MIX averages stored Mix ceilings, not your current slider. Engine dominance and averages use internal descriptors and may differ from the highest displayed label. The SCARRED total also includes Extinct entries. History counts operations, not simply the remaining library size.
Milestones: The milestones track 1, 10, 25, 50 and 100 remembered Remnants, first Morph and Merge results, a scar, extinction and a formed lineage. They are local historical markers with visual notifications, not rewards that change sound or Keeper odds. Restoring a backup does not import another device's local statistics.

Settings

Open the three-line menu at the top right. Close or click outside its panel to return. Interface, Appearance, Archive and System are the available categories. Archive has two pages; use PREV/NEXT at the bottom. Preferences are local user settings, not new Fragments.

Interface: 75% / 100% / 125% / 150% / 175% / 200%: Select a scale to resize the editor at a fixed aspect ratio. 100% is 980 × 420 logical units. Host window resizing may also be available; host chrome is not a DERIVA resize handle. Scaling changes presentation only, preserves sound and is remembered locally.
Interface: Startup / Gaze: NORMAL/GAZE chooses the starting view for later editor openings. ENTER GAZE opens the focused fullscreen presentation with reduced controls. Move the pointer or use the keyboard to reveal them. Escape or Exit Gaze returns to the editor; Archive also exits Gaze before opening. Gaze does not generate audio or change Keeper rules.
Interface: Switching / Guidance / Performance Mode: INSTANT/FADE/TAIL chooses sound-change handover for this instance; a Set's own transition takes precedence when used. Guidance enables contextual explanations. Performance Mode reduces visual animation/effects, not engine quality or generated parameters. It is not the separately hidden Live Performance/MIDI controller feature.
Appearance: Presence / Waveform / Keeper: LOW/STANDARD/FULL changes visual presence. CLASSIC, SPECTRAL, MAGNETIC, CURRENT, REVERIE and CAUSTIC select six waveform treatments. DYNAMIC/MONOCHROME changes the Keeper accent. These are appearance choices; they do not alter generated sound, classification, preservation probability or Archive content.
Archive: default / tabs / filters / dates: LAST reopens the last view; the other default choices open the named view. Visibility toggles hide tabs, but at least one must remain visible. REMEMBER FILTERS preserves current filters across closing/reopening the Archive in this editor, not a portable saved search. Date/time formats affect display only. CONFIRM DESTRUCTIVE controls removal prompts.
System: updates / licence / links / diagnostics: Automatic Update Checks and Check Updates Now query release availability; they do not install a plugin inside the DAW. Open Brama Dock manages entitlement and installation. User Manual, Website and Report a Bug open external pages; Report a Bug also copies diagnostics. Copy Diagnostic Info copies a technical report for you to review and send, not an automatic bug submission.
Reset Preferences: Immediately restores user interface preferences, including size, appearance, Archive defaults and update-check preferences. It does not delete the Archive, licence or statistics, and does not reset all processing state in the DAW instance. There is no separate confirmation dialog in this version.

State and Archive backup

DAW project / local Archive: Saving the DAW project stores instance controls, the active unpreserved Fragment and a recovery copy of an active Remnant. It does not back up the entire Archive. The Archive is shared local user data stored separately; removing the plugin from a track does not delete it. Use an Archive backup when moving computers, and save/bounce important audio normally.
Settings → Archive → Scan Archive: Re-reads and validates local Archive data. It may apply safe repairs or recover from the retained local backup; it is not a sound randomiser or a way to bypass a seal. Busy, read or write failures can prevent completion. Invalid memories remain restricted rather than being silently treated as valid.
Export Backup: In Settings → Archive, choose a destination file. Requires active licensed access and the owner credential provisioned by Brama Dock; trials do not receive that backup credential. The encrypted owner-bound backup contains Archive entries and Set organisation, not licence keys, personal identity or local listening statistics. Export does not remove or change the Archive.
Restore Backup: Select a compatible backup for the same licensed owner. After validation, Restore replaces the current Archive and its Set organisation; it does not append or merge both libraries. Export the current Archive first. Cancelling the file chooser changes nothing. Wrong-owner, damaged, unsupported or unwritable backups fail rather than importing partially.

Licence, trial and automation

Brama Dock / trial: Start the 30-day trial or activate a purchased licence in Brama Dock on the same device. The trial requires no payment details. DERIVA reads local device entitlement rather than asking for a key inside its native interface. If access is missing, expired or invalid, open Dock to activate or refresh it; do not delete the Archive to troubleshoot activation.
Offline / updates: Processing uses the locally validated entitlement until its expiry. Internet is needed in Dock for activation and refresh, and for downloads, update checks and external links. If DERIVA requests a refresh, open Dock online. An update check alone does not replace an already loaded plugin: close the DAW before installing, then reopen or rescan as needed.
DAW automation: Published host parameters are Fracture, Offer, each engine's Bypass and Solo, Mute Persistence, Global Mix and Archive Shuffle. Trigger controls act on a rising edge. They still obey access and workflow guards; automating Offer can cause real preservation/loss and Morph risk. Engine order, Delta and the hidden generated parameters are not additional host parameters in this release.
Archive Shuffle: host parameter: The host's Archive Shuffle trigger uses the whole eligible Archive, not the search/Tags/Set filter in the open native Archive. Its current candidate checks also differ from the on-screen shuffle for Extinct entries. Do not use this parameter expecting filtered Recall behaviour or deterministic reproduction of a generated sequence.

Installation and version scope

macOS / Windows: The 1.5.0 release contains macOS Universal AU/VST3 and Windows x64 VST3, not a Standalone app or AAX. Install/update through Brama Dock with the DAW closed. Windows DERIVA requires the Microsoft Visual C++ v14 x64 runtime, not WebView2 for its native interface. Brama Dock has its own separate runtime requirements.
Not available in 1.5.0: Live Performance/controller setup, compact Archive rows and the In Use/This Project tab are temporarily hidden. Existing data and mappings are retained, but these are not current manual workflows. Gaze and the visual Performance Mode remain available and are different features. This manual does not claim every host/OS combination has been physically qualified.

Open Brama Dock Get support Version 1.5.0 release notes