Hi, just found an interesting command line tool that processes audio files through a plugin: https://github.com/teragonaudio/MrsWatson It might work on our current systems without too much effort if we use coding agents to fork and update the repository (I'll make it free and opensource if I do this). But first I want to gauge if people might want a reincarnation of MrsWatson. Vote above!
Yes, that would actually be incredibly useful, I went and looked at a couple of options like that. A version of Mrs. Watson that could load, 32 Bit (or Jbridged 32 Bit files), 64 Bit, and VST3 would be very useful. The reason being is that you could batch process stuff very rapidly. You'd want it to be able to load presets with each VST, ideally in a chain, and probably in serial and parallel, i.e. if you had one chain of effects/VSTs, but, at certain instances, you want both clean and processed audio (like parallel compression or so on) maybe by specifying MIX amount or something for that particular operator. It would actually be really usefult, you'd think there would be a major DAW with command line options, but there really isn't and it would make it so you could process like a whole directory of kicks or claps or whatever very efficiently just in the background. There is a Python DAW, called DAW Dreamer as well, but I'm unsure how useful it is/the stage of development: https://github.com/DBraun/DawDreamer It would be really cool, though, if Mrs. Watson were up and running as a bulk processing command line tool . . .
lots of options exist for batch processing audio (my fav 30 years later is still sound forge), while I generally appreciate and support command line options, I'm not sure I understand the particular need this fills
What do you mean "it might work on modern systems"? It still compiles and works fine. *edit*: On Windows, that is, should've clarified. But I agree with @stopped that there are handier ways of doing batch processes, because things like setting parameters and doing previews is easier with a graphical environment. Last edited: Jan 22, 2026 at 9:45 AM
This made me think of a potential workflow of adding modulation after a first round of listening. Btw command line can be used by most AI agents so perhaps you can tell claude in natural language what you want to do with your plugins. For example, "listen to the hi-hats and duck the reverb volume" and after listening to the hi-hat signals it applies volume automation to the reverb (one may further suggest how smooth the ducking is, etc). Just thinking out loud. PS. just started the update. Last edited: Jan 22, 2026 at 11:49 AM
Why not use Reaper's batch converter? It's available from the command line as well as the GUI. Supports any plugin, any format, and most importantly: trivial to adjust plugin settings too, because that's a real PITA w/ something like MrsWatson.
im using goldwave, it loads VSTs aswell and you can use inbuild FX or convert files to different formats and channels.
Update: well I got it working processing some files with an HPL Processor Ultimate vst3. Verdict: I won't spend more effort on it But will be keeping the code at hand in case some use cases the existing solutions above can't solve. Last edited: Jan 22, 2026 at 3:26 PM
The reason it's desirable is just if you had a chain of effects and settings you used regularly. Maybe if you had a simple text file you used to save things and you could point Mrs. Watson at. It seems strange at first, but command lines, once you get used to them, are really, really, desirable for bulk stuff. A lot of people don't realize it, but it's one of those things, you wouldn't even be opening the VST GUI or anything, so it would be really quick. You WOULD probably be coming up with the signal chain in a GUI environment, but then you'd basically be implementing it quickly in a command line thereafter. There are command lines audio things, but I don't think any load VSTs.
Yeah, it's probably not actually worth it. I was never clear what the point was, like if it was really functional, or more just a proof of concept.
Does it load VST 2 and 3? And does that let you load a chain of VSTs, or just one? I just started using that like a month ago because Wavosaur just wouldn't convert some other files I had, and it's pretty good, so far, but I couldn't find info about what VSTs it supports.
