v0.1.0

The first public release of Synthax1: a free, open-source virtual analog synthesizer for Windows, macOS and Linux, with a preset browser built for very large libraries.

Highlights

• Two stereo parts: four oscillators with up to eight unison voices each, a filter per part plus a shared filter control, two amp envelopes, two modulation envelopes, two LFOs, a 16-step arpeggiator and seven effects.
• Modulation you can see: envelopes and LFOs draw their curves live, and dragging a source's handle onto a knob routes it there.
• Step LFOs: draw up to sixteen steps right on the LFO display, and watch a cursor follow the LFO as it plays.
• A preset browser for big libraries: point it at one folder and it finds every bank and preset below it, lists hundreds of thousands of programs in seconds, and plays any of them with a single click.
• Sylenth1® presets and banks: opens .fxp programs and .fxb banks saved by Sylenth1, and lets you drag a program from the browser straight into Sylenth1, or its whole bank with Ctrl.

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Sound

• Eight oscillator waveforms, unison detune and stereo spread, phase and retrigger per oscillator.
• Lowpass, bandpass and highpass filters at 12 or 24 dB, with drive, input routing and a shared Filter Control.
• Distortion, phaser, chorus, EQ, delay, reverb and compressor, each on its own page of the central display.

Modulation

• Two route rows per source, each an amount knob plus a destination box.
• Four Misc slots for Velocity, Mod Wheel, Key Track, Aftertouch, Step Velocity and more.
• LFO rates from 0.042 to 192 Hz, or tempo sync from 8/1D down to 1/256T, with a FREE switch that keeps an LFO running across notes.
• On-screen pitch bend (-10 to +10, springs back to 0) and mod wheel (0 to 10).

Arpeggiator

• Ten modes, five velocity modes, one to four octaves, and per-step hold, transpose and velocity.
• Wrap (off or 1 to 16) restarts the whole pattern after that many steps.

Preset browser

• Browse by category, bank, vendor or tag; search with cat:, pack:, tag: and fav:; favorites, notes, duplicate hiding and Shuffle.
• A single click previews a preset (with an optional middle C); a double click keeps it.
• The BANK tab shows each bank whole, in bank order with program numbers, and opens it by category.
• Drag a program from a .fxp file or .fxb bank out of the browser and drop it on another instrument, for example Sylenth1, on your DAW or on a folder; hold Ctrl before the cursor leaves the window to drop its whole bank instead.
• COPY PATH (or Ctrl+C) copies a preset's file or bank path; a right click saves a program as its own .fxp.

Workflow

• Unlimited undo and redo (Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y); Ctrl+click resets a knob.
• Every control is a host parameter, the wheels included, and a right click opens the host's automation menu.
• Arrow keys step through programs and banks; a click on the program name lists the whole bank.

Sylenth1® compatibility

• Synthax1 reads Sylenth1 .fxp programs and .fxb banks of every container version, compressed or not, and the browser lists them alongside Synthax1's own presets.
• Programs are mapped onto Synthax1's engine; a few settings are approximated, and the browser preview lets you hear the result before keeping it.
• Programs that came from Sylenth1 files and were not edited can be written back byte for byte, and dragged into Sylenth1 as .fxp files or whole .fxb banks.

Install

Download the zip for your platform below. Each holds VST3/, Standalone/ and, on macOS, AU/.

• Windows: copy Synthax1.vst3 (the whole folder) to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3.
• macOS: copy Synthax1.vst3 to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3 and Synthax1.component to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components.
• Linux: copy Synthax1.vst3 to ~/.vst3.

The binaries are not code-signed yet. On macOS, open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway after the first attempt, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine on the bundles.

Presets saved with this version may change in a later release, while the preset format settles.

License

The source code is MIT licensed. These binaries include JUCE under its AGPLv3 option, so they are distributed under the GNU AGPLv3; the license texts are in each zip, and the complete source is in this repository.

Sylenth1 is a registered trademark of LennarDigital. Synthax1 is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by LennarDigital; the name is used only to describe file compatibility.