Happy Accident
==============

Roll the cube and it picks a plug-in you already own at random, loads it, and
opens it on a random preset. Roll Again does it all over.


INSTALL
-------

Unzip the whole download first, then double-click:

    Install-Happy-Accident.cmd

It asks for administrator rights once, then copies "Happy Accident.vst3" into

    C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\

Open your DAW, rescan plug-ins, and look for "Happy Accident" (VST3).

"Happy Accident.exe" is the standalone version. It needs no install - run it
where it sits.

This Windows download is not code-signed, so SmartScreen may warn the first
time you run the installer. Choose "More info" then "Run anyway". (The macOS
build IS signed and notarized by Apple; Windows code signing needs a separate
certificate that is not in place yet.)


WHAT IT ROLLS
-------------

Happy Accident picks from the VST3 effects already installed on this machine -
the standard VST3 folders, plus anything on VST3_PATH.

Instruments, synths and generators are left out, and so are Happy Accident and
Rack themselves - nesting one wrapper inside the other is not a roll anyone
can make sense of.

The first roll on a new machine is the slow one: Happy Accident has to open
each plug-in module to see what is inside it. The answers are cached in

    %APPDATA%\NEAP Happy Accident\plugin-cache.xml

so you pay that once per machine rather than once per session. Delete that
file to force a full re-catalogue. After a roll lands it quietly picks the
NEXT one in the background, which is why the second roll and everything after
it are quick.


PEAK LEVEL MATCH
----------------

A rolled plug-in can be far louder than the signal going into it, and the roll
is blind, so this measures how much the hosted plug-in moved the peak level
and applies a plain trim that cancels it out. It is not a compressor - one
number multiplies every sample equally, so the dynamics are exactly as the
plug-in produced them, and it only ever attenuates. Switch it off from the
faceplate if you want the raw result.


THE INTERFACE NEEDS INTERNET
----------------------------

Happy Accident's interface is a web page, loaded at
https://neap.cloud/happy-accident/ui/index.html - so the interface can be
improved without shipping you a new plug-in. The machine running it needs
internet access for it to draw. If the panel comes up blank, that is the first
thing to check.


IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG
-----------------------

Happy Accident keeps a log of what it loaded and when:

    %APPDATA%\NEAP Happy Accident\logs\happy-accident.log

Third-party plug-ins run in the same process as their host, so one badly
behaved effect can stall it. Every step is written to the log before it runs,
so if things freeze, the last line names the plug-in and the stage it stalled
in.


LICENCES
--------

The two typefaces the interface is drawn with are licensed under the SIL Open
Font License 1.1. The licences are included in this download under
assets/fonts/.


NEAP Plugins
