GrooveTransfer — User Manual

Cross-track transient envelope transfer — no MIDI, no sidechain routing.

GrooveTransfer extracts the rhythmic groove envelope of one track and stamps it onto another. Put one instance on the track whose feel you want to borrow (the Sender) and another on the track you want to move (the Receiver); they pair by name through shared memory and the receiver rides its own dynamics to the sender's groove.

Because the link is made through inter-instance shared memory — not audio sidechain or MIDI — there is no routing to set up in your DAW, and it works across tracks, busses and even between plugin formats.

Installation

GrooveTransfer ships as VST3, CLAP and (on macOS) Audio Unit.

Windows — run the installer, or copy GrooveTransfer.vst3 to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 and the .clap to C:\Program Files\Common Files\CLAP.
macOS — open the .dmg and run the installer package. Plugins are installed to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/ (VST3, CLAP, Components).
Linux — run install.sh, or copy the .vst3 / .clap to ~/.vst3 and ~/.clap.

Restart your DAW and rescan plugins after installing.

Quick start

Insert GrooveTransfer on the source track (the groove you want to copy) and set its Role to Sender.
Insert GrooveTransfer on the target track and set its Role to Receiver.
Give the Sender a recognisable name (double-click the title to rename), then click the Receiver's Peer selector until that name shows. The two are now paired.
Raise the Receiver's Mix until the target track breathes with the source's groove.

Use Both if a single instance should simultaneously broadcast its own envelope and follow a peer.

Controls

Control	Range	Default	What it does
Sensitivity	0.0 – 1.0	0.5	How strongly the envelope follower reacts to transients. Higher values track finer detail; lower values smooth the groove out.
Attack	0.1 – 100 ms	5 ms	How quickly the follower rises on a transient. Short = snappy and percussive, long = softer onsets.
Release	5 – 2000 ms	80 ms	How quickly the follower falls after a transient. Short = tight and gated, long = sustained, flowing movement.
Mix	-24 – +24 dB	0 dB	How much of the transferred groove is applied to the receiver. Negative values duck against the groove instead of riding with it.
Role	Sender / Receiver / Both	Both	Whether this instance publishes its envelope, follows a peer's, or does both.

The interface

Title — double-click to rename the instance. This is the name other instances see in their Peer selector, and what pairing is saved under.
Peer selector — click to cycle through every other GrooveTransfer in the session (one more click unbinds). If the selected peer is set to Receiver, the selector shows a red receive-only warning — a Receiver publishes no envelope, so there is nothing to follow until its role is changed.
Scope — the last 1.5 s of envelope: what you broadcast (Sender/Both) or what you receive (Receiver).
Hints — hover any control and a one-line description appears in the bottom-left corner.
Resize — drag the bottom-right grip; the window keeps its aspect ratio and the size is saved with the project.

Roles in detail

Sender — analyses the incoming audio and publishes its groove envelope to shared memory. Audio passes through unchanged.
Receiver — reads a peer's envelope and applies it to this track's dynamics, scaled by Mix.
Both — does both at once: useful in a chain where every track should share a common groove.

How pairing works

Each instance registers under its display name in a shared registry (xa_groove_registry, up to 16 instances). Receivers pick a Sender by name with the Peer selector, so the link survives project reloads as long as the names match. Renaming a Sender breaks any Receiver still pointing at the old name — just re-select it.

The envelope is detected with a fast/slow follower pair and broadcast at a reduced control rate, so the inter-instance link is light on CPU even with many pairs running.

Tips

Kick → bass. Sender on the kick, Receiver on the bass, short attack and a medium release — the bass pumps in time with the kick without a compressor sidechain.
Drums → pad/synth. Longer release for a flowing, breathing pad that follows the drum groove.
Negative Mix ducks the receiver against the groove (a classic "make room" effect) instead of reinforcing it.
Pairing is by name — keep Sender names distinct and meaningful.

Support

Visit https://xeni-audio.com or contact support@xeni-audio.com.

GrooveTransfer is free. If it earns a place in your sessions, the rest of the XeniAudio range is one click away.

Something unclear, or missing from this manual? Write to support@xeni-audio.com.