Open Riff Box is a lightweight guitar effects processor that combines amplifier simulation, cabinet emulation and pedal-style effects in a single graphical application.
It can run as a standalone processor for a guitar connected through an audio interface or as a VST3 plugin. Its signal chain is built around reorderable effect slots, letting players shape a complete tone inside one program rather than assembling separate processors.
The application uses a vintage amp-inspired interface and provides real-time processing intended for low-latency playing. Effects can be bypassed individually, while the signal path includes an input DC blocker and output soft limiter.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Offers compressor, wah, noise gate, drive, distortion, delay, reverb, modulation and equalisation effects.
- Provides three amplifier simulation engines covering clean and crunch tones through detailed preamp and power-amp modelling.
- Includes cabinet impulse responses together with support for loading custom IR files.
- Lets users freely reorder the effect chain or restore the default signal path.
- Includes a built-in tuner with pitch detection and an analogue-style VU display.
- Provides a metronome with tap tempo, accented downbeats, adjustable tempo and multiple time signatures.
- Saves and loads presets, with quick switching between four preset slots.
- Supports ALSA and JACK for Linux audio, including PipeWire’s JACK compatibility layer.
- Uses oversampled nonlinear processing, circuit-modelled effects and convolution for cabinet simulation.
- Includes multiple compressor, wah, distortion, reverb and modulation modes for varied signal chains.
Website: github.com/dlujic/open-riff-box
Support:
Developer: dlujic
License: GNU General Public License v3.0
Open Riff Box is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 Explore our comprehensive directory of recommended free and open source software. Our carefully curated collection spans every major software category.This directory is part of our ongoing series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. It features hundreds of detailed reviews, along with open source alternatives to proprietary solutions from major corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. You’ll also find interesting projects to try, hardware coverage, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Discovered a useful open source Linux program that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know by completing this form. |
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