I’m Max, the developer of Ratio9. I previously shared a development demo here; Ratio9 1.2.1 is now available for Apple silicon Macs running macOS 12 or later. I wanted to show what the sound-design workflow does and what is in the release.

This earlier demo shows an AI assistant building and auditioning a growl-bass preset, including its modulation and effects:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfC5ZhBpHxo

I don’t press notes until the handoff near 2:35, when I play and adjust the macros. The assistant triggers the earlier notes. Waiting is edited out, so this is a workflow demonstration, not an uncut speed test. The video was recorded before release; its “coming soon” description is now out of date.

The assistant works on the same synth controls you can use yourself. It can select wavetables, shape modulation and effects, assign macros and save a customizable preset. The 1.2.1 release includes a spectrum and spectrogram that a connected AI can request fresh measurements from while the synth plays. The idea is to give it feedback about harmonics, balance and movement as it revises a patch, while leaving the final listening decisions to the musician.

On the synthesis side:

• Three wavetable oscillators, each with two warp stages and unison, plus a wavetable editor.

• Mod Flow for FM, phase distortion, ring modulation and amplitude modulation between oscillators, with a curve/envelope per connection.

• Six shared LFOs with drawn/rhythmic shapes and loop/one-shot playback, plus eight macros.

• A sub oscillator and sample/multisample/granular/spectral playback.

• Two filters in series or parallel; multiband FX with separate band chains and shared PRE/POST racks.

• Analysis Labs, 42 factory presets and 220 wavetables.

AI is optional and off until enabled. You choose an installed AI client that supports local stdio MCP and use your own AI account; the synth includes the helper runtime and setup/parameter guides.

The complete Standalone is free; optional VST3 + AU versions are $79.99 USD once for two Macs, including future Ratio9 software updates. It’s alpha software: complex presets can cause CPU spikes/dropouts, and compatibility testing continues.

For sound designers, which part of an AI-made patch would you most want to inspect before keeping it: the modulation routes, the LFO shapes, or how it responds across notes and macro positions?

I'm the developer of Ratio9. Here's a short demo of ClaudiaZ building and auditioning a growl-bass preset inside the synth:

https://youtu.be/sfC5ZhBpHxo

The output is an editable preset, including the modulation and effects settings. The point of this experiment is to make AI-assisted sound design something you can inspect and continue shaping with the synth's own controls.

I don't press any notes until I take over to play and adjust macros near 2:35. ClaudiaZ triggers the earlier notes. Waiting has been edited out, so this isn't an uncut timing benchmark.

We're preparing a free Standalone alpha with MCP support for compatible AI assistants. This post is a development preview, not an available download. I'd welcome thoughts on the sound and how useful the editable-preset workflow looks.

Just a link to our latest preset demo. Cenere as a modern generative synth with some massive capabilities. We just launched, check it out when you get the chance :)

As the title says, I have a decent understanding of synthesis but I lack the ability to create the sounds in my head. I endlessly scroll through presets looking for something close enough and try to tweak it to get it where I want it. This process is counter productive and I want to fix this weakness in my production game.

I see ads on instagram and YouTube but I’m not sure about ads. Any suggestions or advice of some classes or anything like this to learn audio synthesis on a professional level?

Thank you kindly for your time!

Hi,

For the last years I have been developing a novel, unique new software synthesizer (standalone and plugin based), and while I am a coder, my design skills are lacking.

Is there anyone out there that I can pay to make me a design of a 70's vintage analog synthesizer user interface ?

Something with the same quality as u-he Diva, or it's skins provided by third party designers/companies like Plugmon for example... (google "Diva skins plugmon"

Please contact me or reply to my post here if you think you have what it takes or know anyone who could do this for me...
I am willing to pay what it takes to get a real professional design...

Yours,
Terrence

I've been making a small sound playground called Resona. Instead of keys, you play objects: tap a bar or bowl, loop the hits, then add another layer. The clip is the actual app and its audio.

The acoustic instrument voices use a simplified modal model driven by material and dimensions. There are also designed nature voices and a few field recordings. Built with AI coding tools, Three.js and Web Audio.

It's still a toy for little percussive sketches: four-beat loops and recording are there, MIDI and a plugin version aren't. Free to try in the browser, no account: https://resona-pearl.vercel.app

Would you reach for something like this for unusual percussion, or would tuning controls be essential?

Hey all -

We've been working hard on this one for that last 6 months, so I thought it was time to share. We officially launch in early September. Here is a quick breakdown of the major features and ideas behind this synth, and why I think it's a good step forward for this type of generative synth. I appreciate any sort of feedback.

Here is the quick list of features:

- Vintage style oscillators with true real time hard sync

- Large selection of analog modeled filters, including continuous morph filters

- Audio rate mod capable parameters

- Arbitrary mod (click to link style)

- Unison engine (9 layers) with spread, gravity, drift control for incredible depth

- Velocity / Aftertouch / MPE / note(pitch) modding

- Polyphonic portamento

- 20+ quality effects

So there are a few other synths that do hard syncing and audio rate modding, but it's a small club. We also have continuous morphing filters (SVF) that go LP-Notch-HP (the SEM way), but also LP-BP-HP and LowShelf-Peak-HighShelf. We also have some comb and mirror filters that are pretty unique.

I'd also say the UI/UX is a good bit simpler than the 3 or 4 other virtual analog synths that do what this can do. So, worth a look, hope you like it! I am finalizing the presets and maybe adding a few more minor features in the near future, so reach out with suggestions!

It is in early access now, so you can get it at quite a discount (85% off on the website until Sept 1). It will be on pluginboutique / KVR / ADSR and all the other normal resellers after that.

NOTE: THE SEARCH HAS ENDED, I have found 12 great people with a mix of different hardware and approx 50% Windows and %50 Mac OS X. Thanks to everyone that sent me and email, and to those who came too late, just keep an eye out for a soft synth called "Shunt" in a couple of months...
I will post here once it's released.

Hi everyone,

I am writing this post to see if there are any synth enthusiasts here that would like to be guinea-pigs for my new soft synth plugin.

I would like to have a group of say 10 people who I can invite to join a forum to help me test and provide feedback/ideas for my soft synth, which I will provide to the group continously, modified by the group's comments/requests.

The synth itself is a world-first, one of a kind and a completely new technology. Perfect for people who want an authentic retro analog synth experience... That's all I can say at this time in public, the early bird gets the worm and I want to be the first.

As a reward for helping me test the synth, which is going into beta-phase in a few weeks, everyone of the group will get a free life-time license when it goes commercial, in a few months...

Due to the unusual nature of the synth plugin, a fast multi-core CPU is required to run it.

This software is the product of years of very hard work, reverse-engineering and high performance C++ coding.

To be part of the testers, you will need AT LEAST the following hardware:

MS Windows 10/11: Modern Intel or AMD CPU, max 3-4 years old and at least 4 or 6 P-Cores (Performance Cores @ Turbo Boost of ~4.0GHz or more). A modern 8, 12 or 16-Core Intel i5/i7/i9 or the AMD equivalent is recommended.

Apple Mac OS X: Modern Mac with at Apple Silicon, and at least an M3 CPU.

Please note that the first 10 people to apply will get the account.

I will make the following plugins/apps available for testing (Starting with MS Windows first and a port for Mac OS X 2 weeks later):

- VST2 and VST3

- AU and AUv3 (Audio Units)

- Standalone (eg just the synth running in it's own process on the OS)

There will be windows 10/11 and Mac OS X (Apple Silicon only) versions available.

You will offcourse need a MIDI input for your computer and a MIDI keyboard/controller. Having a couple of CC knobs that can be assigned via midi-learn in my synth is also helpful.

If you are interested in joining,

please send me an email and introduce yourself and your hardware to terrence dot vergauwen at gmail dot com

Thank you for your time,

Yours,

Terrence

Also if you want. There are other creations just replace the 22 in the url with a number from 1-21

Im not trying to promote anything, just having fun making weird shit.

Thanks

Junkwave

Hi! My name is Dr Jess Blaise Ward (@blaisejess Insta/bluesky) and I am a composer, producer, synth artist and author. I recently published my book on synthwave: ‘Making Synthwave: how an online music community invented a genre’

I am currently doing some research on the legacy and use cases of Roland Juno synths. If you are a producer, synth user, composer, etc - please consider taking my survey and contributing your thoughts and opinions of Juno synths:

Link to Juno Survey

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/u27zxfqx4u

Link to my book ‘Making Synthwave’

https://www.routledge.com/Making-Synthwave-How-an-Online-Music-Community-Invented-a-Genre/BlaiseWard/p/book/9781032732039

All data will be anonymised and used only for the purposes of academic research (at synthesizer conferences and in academic journals).

Thanks so much! Mods let me know if this goes against guidelines, happy to edit or delete.

I’ve been working on a tool that analyzes Commodore 64 SID music and reconstructs it as an editable project in Pertylizer (https://github.com/pertyjons/pertylizer), an AI-first DAW.

Here’s Comic Bakery by Martin Galway, played through Pertylizer with its built-in visualizer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX_UsCS9iLQ

This isn’t a recording of SID-chip emulation—the original register activity was analyzed and converted into notes, arpeggios, pitch movement, envelopes, waveforms, pulse-width modulation, and automation for Pertylizer’s synth engine.

It’s still a work in progress, but I thought some might enjoy hearing how a classic SID composition translates into a modern, AI-first music-production environment.

I got these 2 controllers a while back but they have to unique id or serial so would map as the same device

Steve from Bome helped me out and now they work as 54 knobs, so I made an overlay.

I've been using Synth1 for years, and honestly - I love it, but the UI is really starting to show its age. Development stopped in 2014, and it doesn't work on Apple Silicon anymore.

I'm working on a refreshed version in my spare time. Not a copy - more like a modern take that keeps the sound and character but fixes the messy layout (uneven knobs, inconsistent labels, mismatched buttons).

For those who use Synth1 regularly:

1. What's your favourite thing about it?
2. What annoys you the most?
3. What would you change or add?

I'll share design mockups soon - just want to gather feedback first.

so basically i've heard this beautiful track in youtube called "Tulasi by Sumedh k"(https://youtu.be/Y8ZApXcnhy4), 1:07 its basically an Indian indie carnatic fusion. and im obsessed with the drop part. i just want that vst and its preset ( or multiple if he layered them). ive been trying to find it and make it on my own but i ve been failing multiple times finding or making my own. can anyone help me ?? by d way i use ableton 12.

I'm returning to recording synths after years away. I used to use MANY Spectrasonics libraries for Akai in the days of hardware. I'm told most of those libraries now live in Omnisphere, yet there is no demo.
I'm seeking feedback on whether it's worth the cost or not, and if it's true the "majority of the Spectrasonics libraries" are in Omnisphere as they claim.
Most of my work is large cinematic pads/underlayments for documentary work. My other main axe was a Triton, and the softsynth version is pretty close, so feeling hopeful about Omnisphere. But at $600.00 (plus libraries), it's a harder decision than a Triton on CyberMonday at $88.00
TIA for any input.

Hi, I'm new here, hopefully I'm not posting anything wrong.

I've started a spreadsheet that shows which companies offer student discounts on software synths and effects for DAWs.

I haven't found a spreadsheet that shows which soft synths that companies have sampled or modeled after a hardware synth and I'm thinking of creating one. It will be mostly for myself but I think in the future that it can be shared with others.

It will then be mostly to prevent you from buying twice the same "synth" from different companies which you may not want. Or maybe just because it's interesting to see which
synths have been used.

Question:

I wonder if you know if there is already a spreadsheet that shows which soft synths that companies have sampled or modeled a hardware synth and if so, can you point me to it? 😄

Hobby project that grew way past what I planned: a modular software synth in Rust, developed almost entirely with AI agents (Claude Code).

https://github.com/pertyjons/pertylizer

What's in it: 67 module types (25 effects), a real-time egui GUI, MIDI, a physics-based room simulation, a pattern sequencer with WAV export, and a separate 3D visualizer. Plus 180+ MCP tools so agents can build patches, compose, and analyze the mix and harmony alongside you in real time.

No manual yet and you'll hit rough edges, but the core is solid and there are example projects to pull apart. Rust, MIT licensed — would love for people to try it.

Disclaimer: I'm neither a musician nor a synth expert — I've just been fascinated by synth sounds ever since the C64 and Commodore Amiga days.