Planet-8

A famous Japanese 80's analog poly-synth inspired polyphonic software synthesizer built with the JUCE framework. Available as a VST3 plugin and standalone application for Windows.

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Features

Oscillators

• Dual oscillators (OSC1 & OSC2) with 6 waveforms: Sawtooth, Pulse, Triangle, Sine, Square, Noise
• Per-oscillator octave switching (16', 8', 4', 2') and fine-tune control
• Pulse width modulation via manual control, LFO, or envelope
• Oscillator cross-modulation and OSC2 hard sync

Voice Engine

• 8-voice polyphony with voice stealing
• Three play modes: Poly, Mono, Unison (all 8 voices detuned)
• Portamento with configurable time, works across all play modes
• Legato mode and velocity sensitivity

Filter

• 4-pole ZDF ladder filter
• Switchable 12 dB/oct and 24 dB/oct slopes
• High-pass filter (HPF) for tonal shaping
• Filter key follow and velocity sensitivity
• 4× oversampling and analog drift simulation

Modulation

• LFO: Sine, Triangle, Sawtooth, Square, Sample & Hold — with delay/fade-in ramp and key retrigger
• ENV 1 & ENV 2: Independent ADSR envelopes with exponential decay/release
• OSC MOD: Routes LFO to oscillator pitch, filter cutoff, or VCA
• KEYBRD MOD: Pitch bend and mod wheel routing with independent OSC and filter targets

Arpeggiator

• Modes: Up, Down, Up+Down, Random
• Octave range 1–4
• Internal BPM (40–240) or DAW host sync
• Step divisions: 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32

Patch Memory

• Factory and user patch banks
• Searchable patch browser with context menu
• Save, initialize, and delete user patches
• Compare mode: toggle between saved state and current edits
• Full undo/redo (Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y)
• DAW state recall (plugin state saved with project)

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Building from Source

Prerequisites

• JUCE (place at ../JUCE relative to project root, or update paths in Planet-8.jucer)
• Projucer (included with JUCE)
• Visual Studio 2026 or later with C++ Desktop Development workload

Steps

1. Open Planet-8.jucer in Projucer.
2. Verify JUCE module paths point to your JUCE installation.
3. Click Save Project and Open in IDE.
4. Build in Visual Studio using the Release configuration.
5. Compiled outputs land in Builds/VisualStudio2026/x64/Release/.

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Installation

VST3 Plugin

1. Build the project or download a release.
2. Copy Planet-8.vst3 to your VST3 plugin directory:
   • Windows: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\
3. Rescan plugins in your DAW.

Standalone

Run Planet-8.exe directly — no installation required. User patches are saved to ~/Documents/Planet-8/UserPatches.xml.

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Project Structure

planet-8/
├── Planet-8.jucer          # JUCE project configuration
├── Source/
│   ├── PluginProcessor.h/cpp   # DSP engine, 8-voice management, MIDI, APVTS
│   ├── PluginEditor.h/cpp      # GUI layout and controls
│   ├── PatchManager.h/cpp      # Factory + user patch banks, undo/redo
│   ├── Oscillator.h/cpp        # polyBLEP oscillator with drift
│   ├── Filter.h                # ZDF ladder filter
│   ├── Envelope.h              # ADSR with exponential decay/release
│   └── LFO.h                   # LFO with delay ramp and key trigger