diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4a4c010..a2faa81 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -24,11 +24,12 @@ zig build install --prefix ~/.local/
 # on your input image file
 convert blah.jpg blah.bmp
 
-scritcher examples/middle_amp.scri blah.bmp
+scritcher examples/middle_echo.scri blah.bmp
 
-// scritcher saves it on an incremental basis, so the first run will save to
-// blah_g1.bmp, the second saves to blah_g2.bmp, etc.
-$your_image_viewer blah_g1.bmp
+# TODO have an out.bmp
+# the path to the file is shown on stdout under "temporary name: blah", go with
+# that
+$your_image_viewer out.bmp
 ```
 
 ## todo
diff --git a/examples/middle_amp.scri b/examples/middle_amp.scri
deleted file mode 100644
index e1eed36..0000000
--- a/examples/middle_amp.scri
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-load :0;
-amp 5 1 8;
-amp 7 4 2;
-amp 80 70 10;
-amp 80 73 20;
-amp 80 75 20;
-amp 80 76 20;
-quicksave;
diff --git a/examples/middle_echo.scri b/examples/middle_echo.scri
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be4e7cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/middle_echo.scri
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+load :0;
+amp 3 1 20;
+# echo 3 0 1 0.2;
+quicksave;
diff --git a/src/image.zig b/src/image.zig
index 221d3cb..179ac45 100644
--- a/src/image.zig
+++ b/src/image.zig
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ pub const ImageError = error{
     UnknownPlugin,
     InvalidSymbol,
     InstantiateFail,
-    WriteFail,
 };
 
 /// Low level integration function with libsndfile.
@@ -42,13 +41,22 @@ fn sopen(
     return file.?;
 }
 
-fn swrite(file: *c.SNDFILE, buf: [*]f32, frames: i64) !void {
-    const count = c.sf_writef_float(file, buf, frames);
+///Read a single frame from a file into an interleaved buffer.
+///If more channels are required than are available in the file, the remaining
+///channels are distributed in a round-robin fashion (LRLRL).
+fn sread(file_opt: ?*c.SNDFILE, file_chans: c_int, buf: []f32) bool {
+    var file = file_opt.?;
 
-    if (count != frames) {
-        std.debug.warn("Wanted to read {}, got {}\n", frames, count);
-        return ImageError.WriteFail;
+    const n_read: c.sf_count_t = c.sf_readf_float(file, buf.ptr, 1);
+    const buf_chans = @intCast(c_int, buf.len);
+
+    var i = file_chans - 1;
+    while (i < buf_chans) : (i += 1) {
+        //buf[@intCast(usize, i)] = buf[i % file_chans];
+        buf[@intCast(usize, i)] = buf[@intCast(usize, @mod(i, file_chans))];
     }
+
+    return n_read == 1;
 }
 
 fn getEndPos(path: []const u8) !usize {
@@ -166,7 +174,8 @@ pub const Image = struct {
         params: plugins.ParamList,
     ) !void {
         var ctx = try plugins.makeContext(self.allocator, plugin_uri);
-        defer ctx.deinit();
+        std.debug.warn("\tworld: {}\n", ctx.world);
+        std.debug.warn("\tplugin: {}\n", ctx.plugin);
 
         var ports = try lv2.setupPorts(&ctx);
 
@@ -175,8 +184,6 @@ pub const Image = struct {
             return ImageError.InvalidPlugin;
         }
 
-        // TODO check n_audio_out
-
         // now, for each param for the plugin, we find its port, and set
         // the value for the port there.
         var it = params.iterator();
@@ -206,14 +213,12 @@ pub const Image = struct {
         // now we need to generate a temporary file and put the output of
         // running the plugin on that file
         var tmpnam = try temporaryName(self.allocator);
-        std.debug.warn("\trunning plugin from '{}' to '{}'\n", self.curpath, tmpnam);
+        std.debug.warn("temporary name: {}\n", tmpnam);
 
         var out_fmt = mkSfInfo();
         var out_file = try sopen(self.allocator, tmpnam, c.SFM_WRITE, &out_fmt);
 
         var rctx = try plugins.RunContext.init(self.allocator, ctx.plugin);
-        defer rctx.deinit();
-
         rctx.connectPorts(ports);
         lv2.lilv_instance_activate(rctx.instance);
 
@@ -221,41 +226,41 @@ pub const Image = struct {
         // just copy the original image and the part where we run the plugin
         // over the image.
 
-        const file_end = try getEndPos(self.curpath);
-        const seek_pos = position.seekPos(file_end);
+        const end_pos = (try getEndPos(self.path)) - BMPHeaderSize;
+        std.debug.warn("file end: {}\n", end_pos);
+        const seek_pos = position.seekPos(end_pos);
         std.debug.warn("start {} end {}\n", seek_pos.start, seek_pos.end);
 
-        var seeked = c.sf_seek(self.sndfile, 0, c.SEEK_SET);
-        std.debug.warn("in: seek {}\n", seeked);
-
         var i: usize = 0;
 
-        while (i < file_end) : (i += 1) {
+        while (i < end_pos) : (i += 1) {
             // if we're still on the bmp header phase, copy bytes
             // if we aren't in the range from seek_pos, copy bytes
             // if we are in the range, run lilv plugin
 
             // TODO speed this up by not reading byte-by-byte.
-            const read_bytes = c.sf_readf_float(self.sndfile, rctx.in_buf.ptr, 1);
-            if (read_bytes == 0) {
-                std.debug.warn("WARN! reached EOF at idx={}\n", i);
-                break;
-            }
+            // TODO check value of this
+            _ = c.sf_readf_float(self.sndfile, rctx.in_buf.ptr, 1);
 
             if (i < BMPHeaderSize or !seek_pos.contains(i)) {
-                try swrite(out_file, rctx.in_buf.ptr, 1);
+                _ = c.sf_writef_float(out_file, rctx.in_buf.ptr, 1);
             } else {
                 lv2.lilv_instance_run(rctx.instance, 1);
-                try swrite(out_file, rctx.out_buf.ptr, 1);
+
+                var count = c.sf_writef_float(out_file, rctx.out_buf.ptr, 1);
+                if (count != 1) {
+                    std.debug.warn(
+                        "Failed to write to output file at idx {}.\n",
+                        i,
+                    );
+
+                    // maybe we return an error?
+                }
             }
         }
 
-        c.sf_write_sync(out_file);
-        _ = c.sf_close(out_file);
         _ = c.sf_close(self.sndfile);
-
-        // reopen the file as SFM_READ so we can run plugin chains etc
-        self.sndfile = try sopen(self.allocator, tmpnam, c.SFM_READ, &out_fmt);
+        self.sndfile = out_file;
         self.curpath = tmpnam;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/plugin.zig b/src/plugin.zig
index 6ee0c94..45ea8d2 100644
--- a/src/plugin.zig
+++ b/src/plugin.zig
@@ -51,10 +51,6 @@ pub const Context = struct {
     // they should both be 1.
     n_audio_in: usize = 0,
     n_audio_out: usize = 0,
-
-    pub fn deinit(self: *Context) void {
-        c.lilv_world_free(self.world);
-    }
 };
 
 /// Represents the specific run context of plugin instantation.
@@ -79,10 +75,6 @@ pub const RunContext = struct {
         };
     }
 
-    pub fn deinit(self: *RunContext) void {
-        c.lilv_instance_free(self.instance);
-    }
-
     pub fn connectPorts(self: *RunContext, ports: []*lv2.Port) void {
         var i: usize = 0;
         var o: usize = 0;
diff --git a/src/runner.zig b/src/runner.zig
index 30fc12a..076bdbd 100644
--- a/src/runner.zig
+++ b/src/runner.zig
@@ -73,9 +73,8 @@ pub const Runner = struct {
             return RunError.NoBMP;
         }
 
-        // we don't copy load_path into a temporary file because we're already
-        // loading it under the SFM_READ mode, which won't cause any destructive
-        // operations on the file.
+        // TODO, copy load_path into a temporary file, then use that
+        // file to work on things.
         self.image = try Image.open(self.allocator, load_path);
     }