Mayerism
An open-source guitar emulation VST plugin designed to replicate the sound of John Mayer's signature guitar tone.
Year
2025
Duration
3 months
Category
Live
Stack
C++, JUCE
Problem
In October 2025, there was no VST guitar plugin that replicated John Mayer's iconic guitar tone. I took on the challenge of building such a plugin from the ground up, creating an all-in-one solution that captures his signature sound. Ironically, just weeks before I finished, Neural DSP released their official collaboration with John Mayer himself. I still decided to release my plugin as it's completely free and open-source, providing a budget-friendly alternative to the excellent Archetype: John Mayer.
Solution
An audio plugin designed to replicate the pedalboard and amplifier setup commonly associated with John Mayer. It includes a compressor, clean boost, Tube Screamer, and Klon Centaur, as well as chorus, delay, and reverb effects. The plugin is available in AU and VST formats for macOS and Windows, and the complete codebase is publicly available on GitHub.
