Tonecraft Tokyo — VST3 / AU Instrument

LOCUS PLUCK

User Manual — v1.0.1

LOCUS PLUCK is a synth pluck instrument where every note you play gets its own place in the stereo field and depth, and its echoes start from that place.

1. Overview

Ordinary pluck synths play every note from the same spot, even with delay or reverb placed after them. In LOCUS PLUCK, each note gets its place the moment you play it, and its echoes come back from there. It is made for track makers working on EDM, pop, lo-fi and ambient music.

Where it helps

A pluck arpeggio sounds flat in the mix: set NOTE POSITION to PITCH and low notes sit left, high notes right, like a piano.
A repeated chord stab needs movement: ALT sends notes left and right in turn. Turn SPACE up and the echoes follow each note's place.
An ambient part: set LENGTH long and SPACE high, and let MOVE carry the whole sound around slowly.

Free vs Pro

Feature	Free	Pro
TYPE	SAW / SQUARE / BELL / KEYS	+ SUPER / GLASS / LO-FI / STRING
NOTE POSITION	CENTER / PITCH / ALT	+ PATH / SCATTER
MOVE	RANDOM	+ CIRCLE / SQUARE / EIGHT
DELAY	DUAL	+ TAPE / MULTI
EDIT (10 knobs)	−	Yes
5 knobs, XY pad, RESET	Yes	Yes
Save user presets	− (the DAW project still remembers the settings)	Yes
Factory presets	4	80

The Pro parts are shown in the free edition with a PRO mark. Click a PRO mark to open the Pro page in your browser. When you open a Pro preset, Pro-only values play as the nearest free sound.

2. Requirements

Item	Details
OS	Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit), macOS 11 or later (Apple Silicon / Intel)
Format	Windows: VST3 / Mac: VST3, AU (instrument)
Hosts	DAWs supporting VST3 or AU (MIDI input required)
Output	Stereo
Window size	900 × 560 px (fixed)
Sample rates	44.1 / 48 / 96 kHz
Latency	None
Screen language	Japanese / English (the hint text follows the OS display language; panel labels are English synth terms)

3. Installation

Installation (Windows)

Extract the downloaded ZIP file.
Copy the LOCUS PLUCK.vst3 folder to:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\
Launch your DAW and rescan plugins (if you copy while the DAW is running, the change may not show).

About warnings on Windows:
The software is not code-signed, so your browser may warn you when downloading the ZIP. In that case, allow the download. Before extracting, right-click the ZIP file and open “Properties”. If you see “Security: This file came from another computer...” at the bottom, check the “Unblock” box and click OK before extracting.

Installation (Mac)

Extract the downloaded ZIP file.
Copy LOCUS PLUCK.vst3 to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ and LOCUS PLUCK.component to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ (~ is your home folder; in Finder choose Go → Go to Folder and paste the path. Create the folder if it does not exist).

Open Terminal (Applications → Utilities → Terminal), paste the following three lines one at a time, and press Return after each.

cd ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "VST3/LOCUS PLUCK.vst3"
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "Components/LOCUS PLUCK.component"

Launch your DAW and rescan plugins (if the AU does not appear in Logic Pro or another DAW, restart your Mac).

About security warnings on Mac:
If you skip the commands above, macOS shows "is damaged and can't be opened" or "the developer cannot be verified", and the DAW will not load the plugin. The commands only remove the mark macOS puts on downloaded files. Run them again whenever you reinstall or update. If nothing is printed, it worked.

Uninstall

[Windows] Delete the LOCUS PLUCK.vst3 folder you copied.
[Mac] Delete the LOCUS PLUCK.vst3 and LOCUS PLUCK.component you copied.

Free and Pro side by side:
The free and Pro editions are separate plugins and can be installed together.

4. The screen

Header (top)

Logo and version: the logo and the version (v1.0.1, right of TONECRAFT TOKYO) at the top left.
Preset bar: "<" and ">" step through presets; click the name to open the list. Saving the current settings (SAVE) is a Pro feature.

Hint bar (below the header)

Point at a knob or button and the bar tells you what it changes.

TYPE (left)

Pick the kind of sound with eight buttons. A short description of the chosen sound appears below them.

Center panel (LOCUS / EDIT)

The tabs at the top choose LOCUS (where notes sit and the echoes) or EDIT (sound shaping, Pro only).

Five knobs (bottom)

TONE / LENGTH / CHARACTER / SPACE / WIDTH. They stay at the bottom on both tabs.

OUT (right)

The output meter and volume knob. The output is kept from going over 0 dBFS.

5. Controls

TYPE

SAW: the classic EDM pluck.
SQUARE: a punchy, 8-bit leaning sound.
BELL: a bell-like metallic attack.
KEYS: close to an electric piano.
SUPER: a thick stack of detuned voices. (Pro only)
GLASS: a clear tone, like struck glass. (Pro only)
LO-FI: narrow and wobbly, like old gear. (Pro only)
STRING: a plucked string. (Pro only)

Changing TYPE resets the EDIT values to that sound's standard (loading a preset uses the preset's values).

The five knobs

TONE (0–100, default 50)
Brightness. Higher is brighter, and the high overtones ring longer.
LENGTH (0–100, default 50)
Note length. 50 is the standard length of each sound, 0 is 1/4, 100 is 2×.
CHARACTER (0–100, default 50)
How much of the sound's own character (for SAW, how wide the stacked voices spread; for STRING, where the string is plucked, and so on). Brightness and level stay the same.
SPACE (0–100, default 30)
Amount and length of the echoes. 0 means no echoes.
WIDTH (0–100, default 60)
How widely the notes spread. No effect when NOTE POSITION is CENTER (shown dimmed).

LOCUS tab

XY pad
The white dot is the base position the notes are placed around. Drag it to set left/right and depth (higher is farther). The cyan dots show where recent notes were placed and fade in about one second.
RESET
Puts the pad back at its start (the center) and turns MOVE off.
NOTE POSITION (how each note gets its place)
- CENTER: every note plays at the white dot.
- PITCH: low notes go left, high notes right (C4 in the center, two octaves either side reach the edges).
- ALT: each note goes to the other side.
- PATH (Pro only): each note steps along a shape (circle, square, figure 8). Press the button again to switch shapes.
- SCATTER (Pro only): each note lands in a random place.
WIDTH sets how far they spread. A note stays where it was placed while it sounds.
DELAY (kind of echo)
- DUAL: left and right repeat on their own, so each note keeps its place.
- TAPE (Pro only): repeats waver like tape and grow darker.
- MULTI (Pro only): four quick repeats within one beat.
TIME / SYNC
The repeat interval. With SYNC on it follows the song's tempo as a note value (1/1–1/16T). With SYNC off, it is set in milliseconds (10–2000 ms).
MOVE (OFF / RANDOM / CIRCLE / SQUARE / EIGHT)
Moves the white dot (the base for the notes) and the echoes along the chosen shape, in time with the tempo. SPEED sets how fast, RADIUS how far. The free edition has RANDOM. CIRCLE / SQUARE / EIGHT are Pro features.

EDIT tab (sound shaping, Pro only)

PITCH: AMOUNT (−24 to +24 st, pitch offset at the moment of the pluck) / TIME (1–500 ms, how fast the pitch comes back)
BRIGHT: BRIGHT (brightness at the start) / B.DECAY (how fast the high overtones fade) / KEY TRK (how much brighter higher notes get)
PICK: how much click at the moment of the pluck
AMP: ATTACK (0–200 ms) / DECAY (50–3000 ms) / SUSTAIN (0–100 %) / RELEASE (10–3000 ms)

The EDIT values cannot be changed in the free edition. A Pro preset plays with the EDIT values saved in it.

OUT

OUT (−24 to +6 dB, default 0 dB)
Output volume. Turn it down so the meter stays out of the red.

MIDI

Up to 16 notes at once. Beyond that, the oldest note stops.
Playing harder gives a louder, brighter sound (velocity).
Pitch bend ±2 semitones, sustain pedal (CC64), and mod wheel (CC1, brighter as you raise it).

6. Presets

4 factory presets are built in. Click the name in the preset bar to open the list; the preset you pick loads at once. "<" and ">" step to the previous and next preset.

In the list you can import preset files (extension .lpluck). Saving and exporting the current settings are Pro features. Your DAW project still remembers the settings.

7. Version history

V1.0.1 Minor fixes

V1.0.0 First release

8. Notes

This product is distributed free of charge (freeware) as-is, without support.
The source code is closed source.
The copyright of this product belongs to Tonecraft Tokyo.
Modification, reverse engineering, redistribution, and resale are prohibited. Please download it only from the official Tonecraft Tokyo website or the store pages it links to.
Free to use for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.
Send your impressions and feedback to info@tonecraft.blue-x.tokyo (we cannot promise individual support).

9. Disclaimer

This product is provided "AS IS", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement of third-party rights.
Tonecraft Tokyo is not liable for any damages arising from the use of, or inability to use, this product, including but not limited to loss or corruption of project files or audio data, equipment malfunction, lost working time, or lost profits.
Operation is not guaranteed for every combination of DAW, operating system, and hardware.
Specifications may change, and the product may be discontinued, without notice.
Use this product at your own risk. Back up your projects before important work.

10. Licenses

VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.
This product uses JUCE.
Noto Sans JP / JetBrains Mono — SIL Open Font License 1.1