Groovebox guide · PJ Herman

Getting started

Point it at your samples

Click Library… and pick your drum folder. Subfolders named kick, snare, hat, clap, perc and so on each get their own lane. Or drop a folder on a single lane.

Generate

Pick a genre and click Generate (or press G). Press Play in FL, or Play inside Groovebox.

Dig for sounds

Hover a sample name and scroll to try the next one while the groove plays. Coloured dots show how well each sample fits.

Evolve it

Mutate (M) changes the groove a little instead of replacing it. Lock a lane to keep it as it is.

Send it to FL

Drag a lane's sample onto the Channel Rack and its notes into that channel's piano roll, or send all lanes at once.

The interface

From sample folder to groove:

Your libraryLanesSample fitGenerateMutateInto FL

Ctrl+Z undoes almost anything: steps, Generate, Mutate, sample changes and lane settings.

Groove panel: how early, late and loud a reference loop plays on every 16th.

Top bar

Library… / Shuffle samples / Randomize all: Map your library, re-dig every unlocked lane, or get new instruments, samples and patterns in one go.
Starter kit: Sets up the lanes a genre needs, including quiet foley and background beds.
Genre: From house and techno to 2-step, jungle, halftime and hip-hop, plus Hybrid, Free and From reference groove. Picking one sets a typical BPM.
Density / Variation / Irregular: How busy; ghost notes and timing feel; odd lengths and Euclidean patterns.
Loop / Song: How many bars Generate writes (1 to 64), or a full arranged song.

Lanes

M / S / Locks: Mute, solo, and lock the sample, the pattern or both.
< name > ?: Previous and next sample (or scroll), a random good fit, choose a folder.
Length / Rate: 1 to 64 steps; 1/4 down to 1/32 with triplets and dotted. Different lengths drift against each other.
Lvl, Pan, Pitch, Cut: Level, pan, pitch and filter, all automatable in FL.
Decay, Swing, Hum: Sample length, swing and humanize per lane.

Lane editor

Click a lane to open it at the bottom.

Step rows: Draw velocity, probability, pitch, pan, cutoff, sample start, nudge and ratchet for every step.
Lane sound: Filter, resonance, attack, reverse, output and choke group (an open hat stopped by the closed one).
Plays: Make a lane answer another lane's hits a few milliseconds later, like a rustle trailing the snare.
Mixer track: Give the lane its own FL mixer track, or share one.

Sample fit

Dots: Green fits the lane and genre well, yellow is usable, red is a poor fit, hollow is still listening.
Why: Hover a sample for the reason, like “too long for a techno closed hat”, and its note for pitched sounds.
Fit filter: Makes scrolling skip poor fits.

Reference groove

Drop a file: Groovebox finds its tempo and measures how early, late and loud the lows, mids and highs play on every 16th.
Groove amount: How far your lanes lean into that feel.
Copy groove / Copy timing only: Write the reference's hits and accents into your lanes, or only its push and drag.

Song mode

Make song: Pick 32 to 128 bars. Groovebox writes intro, build, main, break and outro, and decides which lanes play where.
Song strip: Click or drag to scrub. Lanes sitting out the current section are dimmed.

Setups

Save setup: Folders, samples, patterns and knobs in one file.
Last session: A new Groovebox starts where you left off, and autosaves every few seconds.
MIDI file: Save all lanes as one .mid (C3 = lane 1).

Hover any control in the plugin and the bar at the bottom explains it. The ? button opens the built-in help.

Settings

Under the gear icon. They apply to every copy of the plugin on your computer.

Density / Variation / Irregular	Defaults for how Generate writes.
Swing x / Humanize x	Scale every lane's swing and humanize. Automatable.
Mutate amount	How much Mutate changes each time.
Fit filter	Skip poor-fit samples when scrolling.

Tips

Shortcuts (click inside Groovebox first): G generate, M mutate, Shift for the selected lane only, arrows to pick lanes and samples, A to audition, R for a random good fit. Space stays FL's play/stop.

Drum lanes skip loops: files with “loop” or a tempo in the name are rated poor. Beds and vocal lanes may use loops.

Separate mixer tracks are off by default, so adding Groovebox never touches your mixer. Turn them on in the lane editor, then Auto map outputs in FL's wrapper.

Sample analysis is cached, so a big library is only analysed once.

Install

Copy

Unzip the download and copy the .vst3 folder to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\. Replace the old one when you update.

Scan

In FL Studio open Options › Manage plugins and click Find installed plugins. Tick Groovebox so it shows in your list, then add it to the Channel Rack.

Windows warning

The files aren't code signed yet, so Windows may say “unknown publisher”. Click More info, then Run anyway.