MockingByrd
JNPR LABS
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GETTING STARTED

Setup guide

About five minutes from installer to first sound. If you only read one thing, read step 5 — MockingByrd always starts muted on purpose, and that is far and away the most common reason people hear nothing.

The steps below are written for macOS. Everything applies to Windows too — the differences are called out step by step, and collected in Windows notes at the end.

  1. Step 1: Install it

    Open the downloaded .pkg and follow the installer. It needs your password, because it installs for every user on the Mac.

    You get three things in one go:

    • MockingByrd — a standalone app in your Applications folder. No DAW needed.
    • The plugin — AU and VST3, for Logic, Ableton, GarageBand, Reaper and friends.
    • The six amp profiles and a starter set of presets.
    If your DAW was open during install, quit and reopen it. Most DAWs only scan for new plugins at launch.
    ON WINDOWS

    You get a .exe installer instead, and Windows will block it the first time— the test build is not code-signed yet. On the blue “Windows protected your PC” screen, click More info, then the Run anyway button that appears underneath. That box is expected; it is not a sign of a bad download.

    You get the Standalone app and the VST3 plugin — there is no AU, which is a macOS-only format. Nothing lands in your Applications folder; the app installs to C:\Program Files\MockingByrd\ and the plugin to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\.

  2. Step 2: Plug your guitar in

    You need an audio interface — something with a jack input that connects to your computer (a Scarlett, a (Focusrite/Behringer/etc.) box, or a modelling pedal with USB out).

    A laptop’s built-in microphone will technically make noise, but it picks up the room rather than your pickups, and pairing it with laptop speakers is the fastest way to get a feedback squeal. Use an interface, and use headphones.

  3. Step 3: Point it at the right audio device

    Open MockingByrd from Applications. macOS will ask for microphone access the first time — say yes. That prompt covers all audio input, including your guitar interface; it is not about the actual microphone.

    Then open Options → Audio/MIDI Settings and set your interface as both the input and the output device.

    Set both to the same device, even if you would rather listen through something else. Mixing two different devices causes the app to drop its output when you switch to another window — it looks exactly like a crash or a dead plugin, and it is not obvious what happened.
    ON WINDOWS

    There is no microphone-permission prompt. Open the same Options → Audio/MIDI Settings dialog and set the device type to Windows Audio — that is WASAPI. This build does not include ASIO, so if you normally use an ASIO driver, ignore it here.

    Pick Windows Audio (Exclusive Mode) if your interface offers it. Exclusive mode hands the device to MockingByrd alone, which is what gets latency low enough to play through; shared mode adds enough delay to feel like a lag between your pick and the sound. The cost is that other apps go quiet while MockingByrd has the device.

    Then set the buffer as low as it goes without crackling — 256 samples is a sane starting point. WASAPI will not match a good ASIO driver, and that is a known limitation of this test build rather than something you have configured wrong.

  4. Step 4: Pick the input your guitar is actually in

    The header has an Input Source selector with three choices: Left, Right and Both (sum).

    Most interfaces put input 1 on the left channel, so Left is the usual answer for a single guitar. If you get silence, try Right — it costs one click to rule out.

  5. Step 5: Unmute the input

    MockingByrd always launches muted. The header button reads ● MUTED. Click it. It changes to ○ Input Live and audio starts flowing.

    This is deliberate, not a bug. Amp models are loud, and an app that came up live could dump a burst of feedback into your headphones before you had touched anything. Starting muted means you choose when sound begins.

    It re-arms itself whenever the audio stream restarts — changing interface, changing sample rate, sometimes waking from sleep. If sound stops for no clear reason, glance at that button first.

  6. Step 6: Link your account (once)

    Click the ⚙ gear, then Link Account…. A code appears; your browser opens so you can confirm it against your MockingByrd account.

    You only ever do this once per machine. It is what lets tones you generate on the website appear in the plugin. Your login is stored in the macOS Keychain, and updating the app does not sign you out.

    ON WINDOWS

    Identical — same gear menu, same code, same browser confirmation. The only difference is where the login is kept: Windows Credential Manager rather than the Keychain. It survives restarts and updates the same way.

  7. Step 7: Send yourself a tone

    Go to mockingbyrd.fm/generate, type a song you want to sound like, and hit Generate. When the preset appears, click Load in plugin.

    Keep the plugin open — the settings land in it within about seven seconds. Nothing gets downloaded and no file needs dragging anywhere.

Using it in a DAW

The steps above are the same, with two differences: your DAW owns the audio device instead of the app, so you set that in the DAW’s own audio preferences, and you put MockingByrd on the guitar track as an insert effect.

Everything else carries over — the mute button still starts armed, and linking is shared, so a plugin instance is already linked if you linked the standalone app.

Mono guitar tracks are fully supported and sound identical to stereo ones. Record-enable the track and turn on input monitoring, or you will hear your guitar dry and wonder where the amp went.

Windows notes

What is different, and what is deliberately not there yet.

The Windows build is an unsigned friends-and-family test build. It is the same amp engine, pedalboard, tuner and browser tone delivery as the Mac release, compiled from the same source — but it has had far less real-world playing time, and it is the version most likely to hand you a rough edge. Tell us when it does.

Recording is macOS-only for now

The take recorder and the REC button are not available on Windows, seat or no seat. The camera side of that feature is Apple-only by design, and the audio-only path has not been tested enough to put in front of a shoot. Nothing is hidden behind a setting — the button simply is not there, and that is expected, not a broken install. Everything else works: amps, effects, tuner, linking, live delivery from the browser, and Save Tone.

VST3 only, at the standard path

DAW users get the VST3 at C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\MockingByrd.vst3. There is no AU — that format only exists on macOS — and no VST2. If your host shows nothing after a restart, point its plugin scan at that folder explicitly and rescan.

WASAPI, not ASIO

The Standalone app uses Windows Audio (WASAPI). Choose the exclusive mode variant of your interface for playable latency, and expect it to be a little behind a dedicated ASIO driver. In a DAW this does not apply at all — the host owns the audio device, so use whatever driver you already use.

Your files

Amp profiles and presets live in %APPDATA%\MockingByrd\, and the uninstaller leaves them alone so your own tones survive a reinstall. Your login sits in Windows Credential Manager.

FAQ

The questions people actually hit, roughly in the order they hit them.

I hear nothing at all.
Four things, in the order worth checking. One: the header button says ● MUTED — click it. Two: the Input Source is set to a channel your guitar is not plugged into; try Left and Right. Three: input and output are set to different devices in Audio/MIDI Settings. Four: in a DAW, the track is not record-enabled or input monitoring is off. In practice it is number one far more often than the rest combined.
Why does it start muted every single time?
Because it is a guitar amp, and an amp that comes up live can hand you a burst of feedback before you have touched anything. The mute also re-arms after any audio-stream restart, so a device change never catches you out. One click and you are live.
Something is squealing / howling.
That is genuine acoustic feedback, not a bug. Almost always speakers feeding back into a microphone, or a guitar pickup sitting in front of a loud monitor. Use headphones, turn down, and step away from the speakers. Hitting the mute button stops it instantly.
The plugin doesn't show up in my DAW.
Quit the DAW completely and reopen it — most only scan at launch. In Logic you may additionally need Preferences → Plug-In Manager and to reset the AudioUnits cache. If it still refuses, confirm the install landed: the AU lives in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components, and on Windows the VST3 lives in C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3.
Windows says the installer isn't safe.
Expected. The Windows build has no code-signing certificate yet, and SmartScreen warns about every unsigned installer regardless of what is in it. Click More info, then Run anyway. If antivirus quarantines the file instead, check its SHA-256 against the one printed on the download page before allowing it — that also rules out a truncated download.
Where is the REC button on Windows?
Not there yet, on purpose. Recording is macOS-only for this release — see Windows notes. Everything else in the plugin works the same.
Do I need an audio interface?
Effectively, yes. You need a way to get a jack lead into your computer. A built-in mic will make sound but it captures the room, not your pickups, so the amp model has nothing useful to work with — and the tone will be disappointing in a way that is not the plugin’s fault.
Do I have to link an account?
Only to receive tones generated on the website, which is most of the point. Unlinked, the plugin still runs and the bundled presets still work. Linking is once per machine.
Will updating sign me out or lose my presets?
No. Your login lives in the macOS Keychain (Windows Credential Manager) and your presets in your user folder; the installer touches neither. When a new version exists the plugin shows an UPDATE badge in the header — click it, download, run the installer over the top. No uninstall needed. Restart your DAW afterwards.
Where do my presets live?
The gear menu has Open Presets Folder, which is quicker than hunting for it. Tones sent from the website apply straight to the live plugin and are not written to disk at all.
Can I play live with it?
It runs at normal plugin latency, so yes, with a decent interface and a small buffer size. It is a neural amp model, so it is heavier on the CPU than a simple distortion plugin — if you hear crackling, raise the buffer size in your audio settings.
Still stuck?

Email support@mockingbyrd.fm — tell us what happened and what you expected, and include your OS and DAW. The specifics are what make it fixable.

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