Show HN: Floe – an open-source plugin for sample libraries

Show HN: Floe – an open-source plugin for sample libraries – CLAP/VST3/AU

#1

Post by windell » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 10:11 AM UTC

I'm Sam, I make sample libraries (as FrozenPlain). These sample libraries run inside Floe, my audio plugin for Linux, macOS and Windows. It's designed for musicians, composers and producers - typically people involved with film/TV/game scoring or ambient music. I open-sourced it primarily because I'm very fond of this philosophy and I want to open the door for serving a wider audience than just my own libraries.

It's totally free, no sign-ups. You'll need a DAW. To try it: - Download and install Floe: https://floe.audio - Download your choice of free packages: https:floe.audio/packages#community-packages or https://www.frozenplain.com/product/music-box-suite-free - Install the packages using Floe's 'Install Package' button. https://floe.audio/docs/installation/install-packages

I'm curious about HN's thoughts regarding the open-source nature, directions I could take for expanding the audience, and the Lua based sample-library it has (https://floe.audio/docs/develop/develop-libraries). Thanks.

Show HN: Floe – an open-source plugin for sample libraries – CLAP/VST3/AU
floe.audio

Re: Show HN: Floe – an open-source plugin for sample libraries – CLAP/VST3/AU

#2

Post by nasso_dev » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 2:07 PM UTC

i couldn't find any information about it but i still see an AGENTS.md file at the root of the source tree so: how much AI was used in the making of this? how was it used?

Re: Show HN: Floe – an open-source plugin for sample libraries – CLAP/VST3/AU

#3

Post by windell » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 2:37 PM UTC

nasso_dev wrote: post #2

i couldn't find any information about it but i still see an AGENTS.md file at the root of the source tree so: how much AI was used in the making of this? how was it used?

Since early 2026 it's mixed AI and handwritten. Before that it was mostly written by hand. Quite a lot of the code goes back to 2018 even. Typically, I do back and forth with Claude Code agents on new features and bug fixes, reading and editing code along with it.

Re: Show HN: Floe – an open-source plugin for sample libraries – CLAP/VST3/AU

#4

Post by rglover » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

Is this essentially "roll your own VST plugin" or something else?

Re: Show HN: Floe – an open-source plugin for sample libraries – CLAP/VST3/AU

#5

Post by gamegod » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 6:35 PM UTC

This looks great. Maybe a Kontakt killer? There's definitely a niche for something like this. It's good cross-promotion for your sound libraries too.

Re: Show HN: Floe – an open-source plugin for sample libraries – CLAP/VST3/AU

#6

Post by atmanactive » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 6:38 PM UTC

Is the plug in portable? In a sense: can I run it from any path, or does it require operating system's well known hard coded paths?

Re: Show HN: Floe – an open-source plugin for sample libraries – CLAP/VST3/AU

#7

Post by windell » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 6:52 PM UTC

rglover wrote: post #4

Is this essentially "roll your own VST plugin" or something else?

Not quite as generic as that. I suppose there's 2 types of users at the moment.

Musicians who just want load up virtual instruments (whether that's 'real' instrument, or synthesised-based), play them, but then also use Floe's GUI to morph the sound into something different using layers, granular, FX, etc.

Or alternatively, sample library developers who want to create a curated sample library package for musicians. They configure the sample library using Lua (and set a background image and icon) and create a bank of presets - and then musicians can load that packagr into their Floe instance.

Re: Show HN: Floe – an open-source plugin for sample libraries – CLAP/VST3/AU

#8

Post by windell » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 7:02 PM UTC

atmanactive wrote: post #6

Is the plug in portable? In a sense: can I run it from any path, or does it require operating system's well known hard coded paths?

It can run from any path so long as your plugin host or DAW is happy to load it from there (the plugin APIs define standard folders plugins should be installed to, but lots of host allow other paths).

Once running it will try to create some directories in known locations on your OS for storing libraries, presets, preferences, etc. https://floe.audio/docs/reference/file-locations

Re: Show HN: Floe – an open-source plugin for sample libraries – CLAP/VST3/AU

#9

Post by nylonstrung » Mon, Aug 31, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC

This looks great, I'll be excited to see this progressively become pure Zig and drop C++

Would be great to have something like Kontakt without all the cruft

Re: Show HN: Floe – an open-source plugin for sample libraries – CLAP/VST3/AU

#10

Post by SyneRyder » Tue, Sep 01, 2026, 7:34 AM UTC

Looks pretty good from the web page! How does this differ from Decent Sampler though? There's probably obvious differences but I haven't had a chance to dive into figuring that out for myself.

You should see if you can get a mention on the Sonic State / Sonic Talk podcast. Especially if you can get on episode with Yoad Nevo (the guy behind so many of the Waves plugins), or Ty Unwin and his Kontakt-based composing for the BBC. They'd probably have good constructive feedback while giving you a mention. I think Sonic Talk use Decent Sampler for their sample libraries for members, but maybe this will convince them to switch to Floe?