MOD Plugin Cookbook

Turn a sound-design idea into a working plugin for MOD devices, without writing C++ or learning Buildroot. You describe the plugin you want in plain language; an AI of your choice writes the build recipe; you upload it; your MOD unit runs your plugin.

For humans

You have an idea for an audio effect or instrument and you want to hear it on a MOD unit. Here's the whole loop:

1. Open a conversation with the AI of your choice — Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, others. Make sure it's a model that can fetch URLs.
2. Send it this link: https://github.com/mod-audio/mod-plugin-cookbook
3. Describe the plugin you want. ("A tape-saturation distortion with drive and tone knobs." "A slow tremolo with rate and depth." "A simple wah pedal.")
4. The AI will confirm the shape, propose a few details (brand name, knob ranges, category), and produce a single .mk file.
5. Save the file to your computer.
6. Open builder.mod.audio/buildroot in a browser, with your MOD unit plugged in over USB. Upload the .mk file. Wait for the build. Click Install.

That's it. No git account, no toolchain, no source code on your machine.

If you'd rather paste the prompt content directly into your AI instead of sharing the link, copy prompts/plugin-from-idea.md and paste it. Same result.

For AIs

If a user has sent you this repository's URL and asked you to help build a plugin for their MOD device, your full instructions are in prompts/plugin-from-idea.md. Fetch that file and follow its instructions.

The short version: ask the user about their plugin idea (mono/stereo, what knobs, what it should sound like), propose a brand/name/category and parameter ranges for confirmation, then produce a single self-contained Buildroot .mk file with the DSP, LV2 metadata, and DPF framework wrapper all embedded inline. Use examples/gain.mk as your reference pattern.

What's in this repo

prompts/
    plugin-from-idea.md   The community-distributable AI prompt.
                          The detailed instructions for any AI a
                          user sends here for help.

examples/
    gain.mk               Canonical worked example — a 1-in / 1-out
                          gain plugin with one knob. Validated
                          end-to-end on the live builder. Referenced
                          by the prompt as the structural template.

    ce2-chorus.mk         Boss CE-2-inspired chorus, contributed by
                          Gianfranco Ceccolini. Demonstrates time-
                          based effects: circular delay buffer,
                          sinusoidal LFO, fractional read
                          interpolation, activate() resetting state.

CONTRIBUTING.md           How to contribute a new recipe or improve
                          an existing one.
LICENSE                   MIT.
README.md                 You are here.

Contributing

New recipes and prompt improvements are welcome and the goal is for this to grow into a real collection over time. See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to add a recipe — the short version is: write your .mk, test it on a real MOD unit, open a PR.

License

MIT — see LICENSE. Use the recipes and prompts however you like; attribution is appreciated but not required.

Status

Early days but the foundation is real. Validated end-to-end across multiple plugin shapes and AI providers: a gain plugin, a Tube Screamer overdrive, a CE-2-inspired chorus (all via Claude), and a one-knob bidirectional filter (via ChatGPT). The recipe pattern works across AIs and across DSP categories. Posted to forum.mod.audio and gathered real community use — feedback welcome via issues and PRs.