StashTrack is a JUCE audio plug-in that lets you paste a YouTube or other yt-dlp-supported URL, download the best available audio stream, show the downloaded file as a waveform, and drag that waveform directly into a DAW playlist/track as a native audio file drag.
Publisher: N9 Records Website: https://stashtrack.n9records.com Support: vsts@n9records.com Version: v0.6 Copyright: Copyright (c) 2026 N9 Records License: StashTrack Non-Commercial License v0.1. Free to use, copy, modify, and share for non-commercial purposes only. No commercial use or profit is allowed.
Internal VST3 compatibility note: the plug-in keeps its original JUCE manufacturer code so DAWs such as FL Studio can continue opening existing StashTrack plugin database entries after branding metadata changes.
Downloading YouTube or other website content may violate that site's Terms of Service or copyright laws. Only download content you own, have licensed, or otherwise have the rights to use.
The plug-in shells out to the same class of tools used behind the scenes by Stacher7. The Windows .exe installer now bundles and launches yt-dlp.exe directly so a fresh PC does not depend on Python or on whatever yt-dlp version uvx happens to resolve.
yt-dlpuv/uvxffmpegdenofor modern YouTube JavaScript challenge solving
The installer copies yt-dlp.exe, uv.exe, and uvx.exe beside the built plug-in binary. If uv is missing, the installer downloads uv with Astral's official standalone installer and installs it into the VST3 bundle as a fallback. On Windows, that bundle location is:
build-vs/StashTrack_artefacts/Release/VST3/StashTrack.vst3/Contents/x86_64-win/
ffmpeg must still be installed on PATH, or copied beside the plug-in binary when using the development install scripts. On Windows, the full .exe installer described below bundles yt-dlp.exe, ffmpeg.exe, deno.exe, uv.exe, uvx.exe, and the Microsoft Visual C++ runtime so a fresh PC does not need Python, uv, deno, yt-dlp, or ffmpeg preinstalled.
The downloader uses a command shaped like this:
yt-dlp -f bestaudio -x --audio-format wav --print after_move:filepath --output "<downloadFolder>/%(title)s.%(ext)s" <URL>The plug-in requests bestaudio, then converts to WAV so JUCE's built-in AudioFormatManager can reliably load the result. StashTrack prefers bundled yt-dlp.exe; uvx --from yt-dlp@latest remains only as a fallback if the bundled executable is missing.
When Clip is enabled, StashTrack prefers segmented m3u8 media before falling back to bestaudio:
yt-dlp --js-runtimes "deno:<pluginToolsFolder>/deno.exe" --remote-components ejs:npm -f "best[protocol*=m3u8][height<=360]/best[protocol*=m3u8]/bestaudio" --download-sections "*<start>-<end>"This requires ffmpeg. Deno lets yt-dlp solve YouTube's current JavaScript challenges and expose m3u8 segment streams when YouTube provides them. Segment streams are much better for grabbing a short clip from a long video. If a site only exposes a single giant DASH/HTTP audio file, yt-dlp/ffmpeg may still need to scan or download more data because that is a site/format limitation.
On Windows, StashTrack first checks FL Studio's recent-project registry entries at:
HKCU\Software\Image-Line\FL Studio <version>\MRU
StashTrack now only uses an MRU .flp when the active FL Studio window title appears to match that project name. This avoids the bad unsaved-project case where FL Studio's MRU still points at the last saved project while the current project is Untitled.
If no active saved .flp can be confidently matched, StashTrack uses the operating system's real Downloads known folder on Windows, which is the same shell location used by browsers unless the browser has its own custom override. On macOS/Linux it falls back to ~/Downloads, then JUCE's documents folder if needed.
After a download finishes, the plug-in displays the audio waveform. Drag the waveform directly onto an empty FL Studio playlist track. StashTrack starts a native OS file drag using the downloaded WAV path, so FL Studio receives the same kind of file drop it would receive from Explorer.
StashTrack no longer plays the downloaded file through the plug-in's mixer output by default. The audio is meant to become an FL Studio audio clip after you drop it into the playlist.
Enable Clip, then enter Start and End as seconds, mm:ss, or hh:mm:ss. Examples:
30
1:23
2:14:05.5
The end time must be after the start time. StashTrack validates this before launching yt-dlp.
Clipped files include the crop range in the saved filename, for example
Song Title [clip 1-23-45 to 1-24-00].wav, so multiple clips from the same
source video can sit in the same folder without fighting over one output name.
The project vendors React-JUCE under external/react-juce and compiles the react_juce module into the StashTrack target when STASHTRACK_ENABLE_REACT_JUCE=ON (the default). React-JUCE is a JUCE/React bridge, but the waveform and external file drag are intentionally still native JUCE code because the host drag operation must use JUCE's native file-drag API.
The React-JUCE bundle source lives in jsui/ and uses Bun, not npm:
cd jsui
bun install
bun run buildOr build it through CMake:
cmake --build build-vs --target StashTrackReactJuceUiBundle --config ReleaseIf you clone this project somewhere else and external/react-juce is missing, restore it with:
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/JoshMarler/react-juce.git external/react-juce
git -C external/react-juce submodule update --init --depth 1 react_juce/yogaThe product site lives in stashtrack-landing/ and is configured for Render as a free Node web service. The root render.yaml uses Bun, builds only that folder, starts the Next server with Render's $PORT, and attaches the custom domain:
https://stashtrack.n9records.com
Local landing-page checks:
cd stashtrack-landing
bun install
bun run typecheck
bun run buildThe landing page download buttons point to the site redirect route:
/download/windows
That route asks GitHub for the latest release and redirects to the newest
StashTrackv*Setup.exe asset. If GitHub's JSON API is unavailable, it falls
back to GitHub's /releases/latest redirect to infer the newest tag, then uses
the predictable versioned installer URL. As a final safety fallback, each
release should also upload a second copy named StashTrackSetup.exe; GitHub's
versionless releases/latest/download/StashTrackSetup.exe URL will always
resolve to the newest release with that asset name.
After rebuilding dist/StashTrackv0.6Setup.exe, upload it to GitHub Releases
both as StashTrackv0.6Setup.exe and as StashTrackSetup.exe. Future installer
version changes should not need a Render deploy as long as the release tag and
asset filenames keep those patterns.
Visible version labels on the landing page call /api/latest-release, which
uses the same GitHub latest-release resolver.
When the plug-in editor opens, StashTrack checks the latest GitHub Release on a
background thread. If the release tag is newer than the running
JucePlugin_VersionString, it prompts the user to download the installer. When
accepted, StashTrack downloads the newest StashTrackv*Setup.exe to the user's
Downloads folder and opens it. The update prompt also includes a Changelog
button that opens the GitHub release notes for the available version.
The installer cannot safely replace a VST3 binary while the DAW has it loaded, so the user still needs to close FL Studio before completing setup, then reopen FL Studio and rescan if needed.
StashTrack's original code and project materials are under the StashTrack Non-Commercial License v0.1. You can use, copy, modify, and share it for non-commercial purposes, but nobody may profit from StashTrack or its original code without prior written permission from N9 Records.
Third-party dependencies keep their own licenses.
This repo expects JUCE to be available at H:/code/VSTs/JUCE by default. Override JUCE_SOURCE_DIR if JUCE lives somewhere else.
cmake -S . -B build-vs -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -DJUCE_SOURCE_DIR=H:/code/VSTs/JUCE
cmake --build build-vs --target StashTrackReactJuceUiBundle --config Release
cmake --build build-vs --target StashTrack_VST3 --config Release
ctest --test-dir build-vs -C Release --output-on-failureThe built VST3 will be under:
build-vs/StashTrack_artefacts/Release/VST3/
To build a real Windows installer for a clean PC, run:
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File installer/windows/build-installer.ps1 -Configuration ReleaseThe installer is written to:
dist/StashTrackv0.6Setup.exe
StashTrackv0.6Setup.exe installs to the standard system VST3 folder:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\StashTrack.vst3
The installer bundles yt-dlp.exe, uv.exe, uvx.exe, ffmpeg.exe, deno.exe, and the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable x64. The setup checks for the VC++ runtime before running the redistributable. It also removes stale StashTrack.vst3 copies from system and user-local VST3 folders before installing, so FL Studio is less likely to keep loading an old scanned plug-in. If Inno Setup is not installed on the build machine, the builder downloads Inno Setup 6 locally and uses ISCC.exe to compile the installer. The target PC still needs internet access when StashTrack first downloads from a URL because yt-dlp/Deno may fetch YouTube helper components on demand.
For a simple install after building, run:
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File installer/install-stashtrack.ps1 -Configuration ReleaseOn Windows this installs to the standard VST3 folder used by FL Studio and most DAWs:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\StashTrack.vst3
The script will request administrator permission if needed.
To also copy a local ffmpeg.exe into the VST3 bundle, pass its folder:
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File installer/install-stashtrack.ps1 -Configuration Release -ToolsDir C:/tools/ffmpegTo install only for the current Windows user, use -User. FL Studio may not scan this folder by default:
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File installer/install-stashtrack.ps1 -Configuration Release -UserTo copy to the system VST3 folder as part of the CMake build, configure CMake with:
cmake -S . -B build-vs -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -DJUCE_SOURCE_DIR=H:/code/VSTs/JUCE -DSTASHTRACK_COPY_PLUGIN_AFTER_BUILD=ONThat may require an elevated shell.
cmake -S . -B build -DJUCE_SOURCE_DIR=/path/to/JUCE -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build --target StashTrack_VST3
ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure
./installer/install-stashtrack.sh --configuration Release --build-dir ./buildThe CMake project also builds AU on Apple platforms.
cmake -S . -B build -DJUCE_SOURCE_DIR=/path/to/JUCE -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build --target StashTrack_VST3
ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure
./installer/install-stashtrack.sh --configuration Release --build-dir ./buildSource/DownloadUtils.*: URL validation, yt-dlp command construction, output parsing, andChildProcessexecution.Source/UpdateUtils.*: latest-release lookup, semantic version comparison, update installer download, and installer launch.Source/PluginEditor.*: JUCE GUI withTextEditor,TextButton, statusLabel, background download thread, message-thread status updates, waveform rendering, and native file drag into the host.Source/PluginProcessor.*: silent default processor path with retained JUCE audio-loading helpers for future playback workflows.Tests/DownloadUtilsTests.cpp: command/URL/output parsing tests.jsui/: Bun-built React-JUCE UI bundle source.stashtrack-landing/: Bun/Next static landing page for Render.external/react-juce/: vendored React-JUCE C++ module.