The Challenge
Could AI figure out an audio plugin format it had never been explicitly taught, find the right chip emulator source code, and wrap it all into something that actually loads in a professional DAW? The CLAP plugin format was completely unknown to us going in. The goal was to take existing MSX sound chip emulators and turn them into real-time instruments that could be used in Reaper — with no prior experience building audio plugins.
The Process
This project started with a suggestion from a family member and a one- or two-sentence prompt. From that alone, the AI figured out what the CLAP format was, found the correct MSX-MUSIC (YM2413) chip emulator sources online, and built a working plugin that combined the emulator with the CLAP interface. On the very first run, it produced something that would show up and load in Reaper.
From there it was mostly fine-tuning: fixing some small bugs with multiple channels and getting the UI to scale properly on 4K displays. In very little additional time we added a second plugin for MSX-Audio (Y8950) and had it read and expose all voice presets extracted from the original MoonBlaster Z80 assembly sources.
Surprises & Disappointments
The biggest surprise was how much the AI figured out on the very first attempt. An unfamiliar plugin format, real chip emulation sources, a working build — all from a minimal prompt. It was genuinely impressive to see a functional plugin load in Reaper within minutes of starting.
The only real disappointment? Tweaking the UI ended up taking more time than the technically complex parts. Getting scaling and layout right on high-DPI screens was fiddlier than wiring up actual FM synthesis emulation — a strange inversion of what you'd expect to be hard.