Plugins & Effects
pi-Stomp ships with over 600 open-source LV2 plugins — effects, modeled amps and cabinets, loopers, synths, drum machines, and utilities. These plugins are built by talented musicians and developers across the open-source community.
Plugin categories
Chasing a specific sound? Each category maps to one or more editorials — buying guides that pick the plugins worth loading, with settings and chain-position advice.
| Category | Editorials |
|---|---|
| Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz | Tube Screamer, Blown-Out Overdrive, Vintage Fuzz |
| Dynamics | Compressors |
| Filter / EQ | Equalizers, Wah |
| Modulation | Chorus, Uni-Vibe and Phaser, Tremolo |
| Delay | Atmospheric Delay, Digital Delay, Glitch Granular Delay |
| Reverb | Everyday Reverb, Shimmer and Cloud Reverb |
| Pitch / Spectral | Pitch Shifter |
| Simulator (Amp/Cab) | Amp, Cabinet, and Neural Capture |
| Generator (Synth/Drum) | MIDI Instruments, Analog Polysynth |
| Utility | Utility Staples, Loopers |
Want the whole catalog instead of picks? The All Plugins index lists every LV2 plugin on the device — searchable by name, category, or maintainer, with a usage column showing how often each one turns up in shared pedalboards.
Browsing and adding plugins
Use MOD-UI to browse, add, and remove plugins:
- Open http://pistomp.local in a browser
- Open the plugin browser at the bottom of the screen
- Search by name or browse by category
- Drag the plugin onto the pedalboard canvas
You can also install additional plugins from the Patch Storage cloud directly from MOD-UI — look for the Patch Storage tab in the plugin browser.
Editing on the device
You do not need MOD-UI to edit plugin parameters; rich, tactile parameter editing lives on the device itself. Long-press a plugin tile on the LCD and it opens a deep-edit panel for that effect: the main controls pinned up top as dials, and a scrollable list for the rest.
Controls carry small numbered badges (1, 2, or 3) telling you which physical tweak encoder will change them. Generally speaking, Tweak1 will edit the currently-selected parameter, chosen by rotating the Navigation encoder.
Compressors draw a live gain-reduction meter and plot input/output against the transfer curve while audio plays, letting you see the compressor in action.
CPU and XRUN monitoring
In MOD-UI, the top bar shows real-time CPU usage and XRUN (buffer underrun) count. If you see frequent XRUNs or CPU above 75%, try:
- Removing CPU-intensive plugins (generators, simulators, pitch shifters)
- Reducing the number of active plugins on the pedalboard
- Adjusting the JACK period size (see Performance Tuning)