Fragment 2.0.0

After more than three years a major update to Fragment has been released.

Fragment 2.0.0 feature some major architectural work for the audio server which make it more stable, better accessibility, fixes and lots of new features for both client and audio server. Some features were also removed such as Web audio support on the client which has been dropped to solely focus on the audio server.

While additive synthesis was mature enough in previous versions all other types of synthesis were experimental at best (and the audio server as well), Fragment has now matured and now support many other types of sound synthesis which were all carefully tested, the audio server now also support custom instruments through Faust language, it also has support for effects and custom effects through Faust language.

Accessibility was also a major focus, it was hard to run the audio server on different Linux distributions so the audio server is now bundled as an installation free AppImage which should allow to use the audio server on any Linux distributions quickly. There is also better support for Windows along many client related accessibility features such as lots of examples, guides, improved documentation and tools available as binary packages for Linux and Windows.

A complete changelog is out of scope as there is huge amount of changes but here is a quick list of the major changes :

ASIO / JACK support
New instruments : spectral, physical modelling, wavetable, bandpass, modal, formant, string synthesis, modulation...
Improved instruments : subtractive, granular, phase modulation
Per partial effect slot for additive synthesis (bitcrush, noise)
Per voice filtering for subtractive synthesis with one multi mode filter
Virtual channels with over 30 stereo effects included
Faust support to create custom instruments and effects by writing .dsp files
Desktop capture support
Processing.js sketchs support
Microphone capture
Audio Server : huge stability improvement along with many fixes and parameters boundary checks (improvement in overall audio quality)
Fragment File Server allow to completely manage the audio server files through the client (upload, deletion, download...)
Audio Server : Samples frequency from the grains directory can be assigned in batch by a pattern in files path
Audio Server : Improved pitch detection algorithm
Audio Server : Improved audio quality, most parameters are now linearly interpolated
Client : All slices are now considered as a single instrument
Client : MIDI out support
Client : Most imported audio is converted as a sonogram using a gabor wavelet transform (much better frequency / time resolution than before)
Client : Workspace pane with many examples and local user library (file which is shared between sessions)
Client : Audio server latency is displayed
Client : Many customization options (data rate, font size etc.)
Client : Many fixes on the MIDI learn aspect (and input widget which is now easier to use)
Client : Recording panel allow to select output (OSC, MIDI, audio or all)
Client : Instruments list panel (double click on the canvas)
Client : Web audio support is removed, Fragment now require the audio server to be launched to produce sounds
Client : WebGL 1 support is removed, Fragment now require a WebGL 2 capable browser
The audio server is now distributed as an AppImage for Linux
Some tools are now distributed on the homepage (Fragment File Server, OSC relay and FAS relay)
Homepage update and documentation update
Many other fixes and various minor features
Most tools were also updated.

All planned features are now implemented and i consider Fragment quite mature and stable for any production work.

Feel free to report any bugs or ask for features on GitHub or on the discord channel.