# DeepPluck Sound Manifest V1.0

Status: Normative product and sound-design document

> **DeepPluck is not designed to make every sound. It is designed to make the right sound exceptionally well.**

## Project Purpose

DeepPluck exists to create a specific sound exceptionally well. It is a
specialized instrument for modern, emotional Deep House plucks, not a universal
synthesizer or an all-purpose sound-design workstation.

Every future technical and product decision must strengthen this purpose. A
feature that does not make DeepPluck a better instrument for emotional Deep
House plucks does not belong in the product.

## Sound Identity

DeepPluck should sound:

- warm
- soft
- rounded
- musical
- elegant
- emotional
- modern
- high-quality
- organic
- melancholic
- inspiring

It should not sound sterile, aggressive, cold, brittle, harsh, or excessively
digital.

## Emotional Goals

DeepPluck should evoke:

- night and a quiet city
- rain and late journeys home
- melancholy balanced by hope
- longing, calm, and intimacy
- the transition from darkness to sunrise

It is not designed to communicate noise, destruction, aggression, chaos, or
festival-scale spectacle. Its emotional center is restrained, intimate, and
human.

## Target Genres

DeepPluck is optimized for:

- Deep House
- Melodic House
- Organic House
- Progressive House
- Chill House
- Electronica

It may also serve Ambient, Pop, and film music when its core identity remains
intact.

## Non-Target Genres

DeepPluck is not developed for:

- Hardstyle
- Hardcore
- Dubstep
- Complextro
- Brostep
- Bigroom
- Rawstyle

Compatibility with a non-target genre is not a reason to dilute the product's
identity or broaden its feature set.

## Quality Over Quantity

One beautiful, immediately useful pluck is worth more than one hundred average
presets. One exceptional sweet spot is worth more than one thousand controls.

Depth within the intended sound is more valuable than breadth outside it.
Features, parameters, algorithms, and presets are justified by musical quality,
not by their count.

## Dynamics

DeepPluck must remain dynamic and playable.

- The attack may live and breathe.
- Velocity must make an audible, musically useful difference.
- Level and timbre may move naturally over time.
- Factory sounds must retain headroom and should not be maximized merely to
  sound louder in isolation.
- Compression or limiting must never flatten the expressive response by
  default.

## Tonal Balance

### High frequencies

The highs should be soft, fine, and silky. They must not become sharp, scratchy,
glassy, brittle, or artificially hyped.

### Midrange

The midrange carries the identity of the instrument. It must not feel hollowed
out. A DeepPluck sound should remain recognizable and musically present on
small speakers.

### Low frequencies

The low end should be controlled, warm, and supportive. It must not become
exaggerated, muddy, or compromise definition.

The complete spectrum should feel balanced and intentional rather than
impressive only at first listen.

## Stereo Philosophy

Stereo can be wide, but it must remain stable.

- Mono compatibility is mandatory.
- Width must support the sound instead of weakening its center.
- The fundamental impact and musical identity must not disappear in mono.
- Excessive phase tricks are not an acceptable substitute for a convincing
  source sound.

## Effect Philosophy

Effects support the instrument; they are not the instrument.

The dry sound must already convince. Delay and reverb may add space, depth, and
emotion, but they must never hide a weak oscillator, envelope, filter response,
or preset. Effects should preserve clarity, dynamics, and the recognizable
DeepPluck identity.

## Filter Philosophy

Filters should behave musically rather than surgically. They should shape,
soften, animate, and focus the sound without making it brittle or destructive.

Useful sweet spots, smooth movement, and predictable musical results matter
more than extreme ranges. Resonance, drive, and cutoff behavior must serve the
warm, soft, emotional pluck character.

## Modulation Philosophy

Modulation should feel natural, purposeful, and generally unhurried.

- Movement should add life without drawing attention away from the music.
- Subtle evolution is preferred to hectic motion.
- Extreme wobble effects and chaotic modulation are outside the core identity.
- Every modulation path must provide an audible and musically meaningful
  result across a useful range.

## CPU Philosophy

Audio quality comes first, but unnecessary CPU use is not quality.

Choose algorithms that produce an audible musical benefit. Prefer intelligent
optimization, bounded realtime-safe work, and clear code over complexity for
its own sake. Spend CPU where listeners can hear the improvement; do not spend
it to support marketing features or negligible differences.

## GUI Philosophy

The interface should communicate calm, focus, and confidence.

- Keep the structure clear and immediately understandable.
- Use a restrained color palette.
- Avoid visual overload, decorative clutter, playful noise, and unnecessary
  animation.
- Expose a focused set of controls with obvious musical purpose.
- A musician should be able to reach the intended sound without first reading
  a manual.

The GUI should make the instrument feel simpler, not merely display its
internal complexity.

## Preset Philosophy

Factory presets should say, "This is DeepPluck," not, "Look at everything this
synth can technically do."

- Every factory preset must be musical and production-ready.
- Every preset must belong to the instrument's defined emotional and tonal
  identity.
- Presets should demonstrate distinct useful sweet spots, not fill a quota.
- Presets should retain dynamics and reasonable headroom.
- A preset must already be convincing with its global effects bypassed.

## Anti-Goals

DeepPluck must not become:

- an in-your-face EDM synthesizer
- a universal synthesizer for every possible sound
- a clone of Serum, Vital, Pigments, Massive, or another general-purpose synth
- a preset monster with thousands of interchangeable patches
- a vehicle for artificially exaggerated exciter highs
- a collection of over-compressed factory presets
- a home for marketing features without audible musical value
- an instrument with parameters whose effect is negligible or unclear
- an interface that requires a manual before meaningful sound can be made
- a system whose complexity exists mainly to impress rather than inspire

DeepPluck may be smaller than general-purpose synthesizers. It must be better
within its specialization.

## Ten Golden Rules

1. Sound before features.
2. Musicality before spectacle.
3. Simplicity before complexity.
4. Quality before quantity.
5. Inspiration before technical gimmicks.
6. Every feature must provide clear musical value.
7. A preset must already convince without effects.
8. The default state must be immediately playable.
9. Every control must have an audible, useful, and intentional influence.
10. DeepPluck should inspire musicians, not impress them with feature count.

## Mandatory Development Question

For every proposed feature, algorithm, parameter, preset, and interface change,
ask:

> Does this make DeepPluck a better instrument for emotional Deep House plucks?

If the answer is no, do not implement it.

The project's permanent guiding statement is:

> **DeepPluck is not designed to make every sound. It is designed to make the right sound exceptionally well.**
