Elements — Spectral Wavetable Synthesizer

A VST3/AU/Standalone synthesizer where light generates sound. Materials with real optical properties (Fresnel equations, wavelength-dependent transmission) shape harmonic spectra through physics simulation.

How It Works

Choose a material (Diamond, Ruby, Gold, Emerald...) and a geometry (Cube, Sphere, Torus, Dodecahedron). Three colored lights illuminate the object. The physics of how light passes through the material produces a visible light spectrum that maps directly to audio harmonics:

• Red wavelengths (600-780nm) → low harmonics (warmth)
• Green wavelengths (500-600nm) → mid harmonics (body)
• Blue wavelengths (380-500nm) → high harmonics (brightness)

Rotating the object changes the angle between each face and the lights, producing real-time timbral movement driven by optics — not conventional oscillators.

Current State

v0.9 pre-beta — Core functionality working:

• 8 materials with distinct spectral signatures
• 4 geometries (Cube, Sphere, Torus, Dodecahedron)
• 3-point lighting system (Sunset, Daylight, LED Cool)
• Rotation X/Y/Z exposed as DAW-automatable parameters
• PBR shader rendering (Cook-Torrance BRDF) with environment mapping
• Polyphonic wavetable synthesis (8 voices, band-limited)
• Biquad filter (LP/HP/BP), ADSR envelope, ADSR graph display
• Anti-click system (crossfades, voice stealing, retrigger fades)

Requirements

• macOS 11.0+ (arm64 + x86_64)
• Xcode 15+
• JUCE 7+ (modules expected at ~/JUCE/modules)
• Projucer (to regenerate Xcode project from Elements.jucer if needed)

Build

# Build VST3 (installs to ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/)
xcodebuild -project Builds/MacOSX/Elements.xcodeproj \
  -scheme "Elements - VST3" -configuration Debug build

# Build Standalone
xcodebuild -project Builds/MacOSX/Elements.xcodeproj \
  -scheme "Elements - Standalone Plugin" -configuration Debug build

# Run standalone
open Builds/MacOSX/build/Debug/Elements.app

Project Structure

File	Purpose
Source/PluginProcessor.h/.cpp	Audio processor, APVTS parameters, MIDI
Source/PluginEditor.h/.cpp	GUI: 3D viewport, spectrum, oscilloscope, piano, controls
Source/SynthEngine.h/.cpp	Polyphonic synth, additive synthesis, ADSR, filters
Source/Physics.h/.cpp	Fresnel equations, spectral calculations, materials
Source/Shaders.h	PBR GLSL shaders (Cook-Torrance)
Elements.jucer	Projucer project file

License

All rights reserved. This is a private project in active development.