FM8.plus v1.0.9

Downloads

	Windows	macOS
Installer	FM8.plus-Windows-Installer.exe	FM8.plus-MacOS-Installer.dmg
VST2	FM8.plus-Windows-VST2-64.zip, FM8.plus-Windows-VST2-32-DXi.zip (also the DXi)	FM8.plus-MacOS-VST2.zip
VST3	FM8.plus-Windows-VST3.zip	FM8.plus-MacOS-VST3.zip
Audio Unit		FM8.plus-MacOS-AU.zip
Standalone	FM8.plus-Windows-Standalone.zip

Windows: run the installer (administrator rights needed, since FM8 lives under Program Files); tick Enable DXi for the 32-bit plug-ins. macOS: open the DMG and run Install FM8.plus.pkg. Plug-ins from a zip go in the same folder as the matching FM8 plug-in. Rescan plug-ins in your DAW afterwards.

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FM8.plus v1.0.9: the Mac stops eating a CPU core, GUI Scale gets in-between sizes, and two host bugs are gone.

This round answers the first reports from the Discord: Stevie on CPU use on an M4 Mac, wafa12 on Reaper's window shrinking back at 2x, jneilnyc on GUI Scale in Logic on a MacBook, and versusliveact on Ableton Live 10. Thank you all.

Fixed

• macOS: 100% CPU. The arpeggiator's MIDI out reaches FM8 through a hardware breakpoint, and that breakpoint sat on a function FM8 calls once for every audio sample, so every sample cost a trip through the kernel. It now fires only when the arpeggiator actually plays a note. One instance went from about 65% of a core to 0.3%, the same as FM8 on its own, with the arp's MIDI out unchanged to the sample.
• Windows VST3: the window snapping back to 1x at 2x GUI Scale after a click in the Navigator (Reaper). FM8 took the size the host reported for its own and "corrected" it back to 1x; it is now told its unscaled size, as the Mac VST3 already was.
• Ableton Live: "This VST2 plug-in is not compatible with Live" until a restart. Live unloads plug-ins it is not using; FM8 stayed loaded, still wired to the unloaded FM8.plus, and the next load crashed. FM8.plus now stays loaded once it has hooked FM8. Reproduced and fixed on the 64-bit and 32-bit VST2 with FM8 1.4.1 and 1.4.6; the VST3 and the DXi get the same fix.

New

• GUI Scale 1.25x, 1.5x and 1.75x, for screens 2x does not fit. The in-between sizes use "sharp bilinear", a scaler made for pixel art: every FM8 pixel becomes exactly 1.25, 1.5 or 1.75 screen pixels and only the screen pixels on a boundary between two blend them, so text keeps an even stroke instead of turning blurry or lumpy. The whole steps (1x to 4x) stay pixel-exact as before. On a Retina Mac 1.5x lands on whole screen pixels and stays perfectly sharp.
• macOS: sizes that do not fit the screen are greyed out in the GUI Scale menu, as on Windows.

Notes

• Patch selection in Logic (a single click selects, a double click loads, Compare lights up): that is FM8's own browser, unchanged by FM8.plus. A single click highlights a sound without loading it, and the loaded one stays orange, which looks like two selected. Double-click to load. Logic's Compare lights up because loading a sound changes the plug-in's state.

Known limits

• macOS: FM8's About panel opens at 1x whatever the GUI Scale. No standalone and no AAX. FM8.plus is not yet signed with an Apple Developer ID: right-click Install FM8.plus.pkg and choose Open, or allow it under System Settings > Privacy & Security. From a zip, clear the download flag, for example xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/FM8.plus.vst3.
• DXi: arp MIDI out cannot reach the host, because a DXi has no MIDI output. In SONAR X1 and later, use the 32-bit VST2 FM8.plus for arp MIDI out.

Checks

Windows: VST2 on FM8 1.4.1 (x64 and x86) and 1.4.6, the VST3, the DXi and the standalone, including three load and unload rounds in one process, every GUI Scale step with Navigator clicks between and the screen compared against a full repaint. macOS (Intel, in a VM): VST2, VST3 and AU, arp MIDI out, morph, auval, CPU against stock FM8, and the GUI Scale test from 1x and from 2x through 1.25x and 1.5x. Apple Silicon: the arp's breakpoint is tested in CI; reports from M-series Macs are very welcome on Discord or in the issues.

FM8.plus v1.0.8

FM8.plus comes to macOS. Every FM8.plus feature now runs in the Mac VST2, VST3 and Audio Unit versions of FM8 1.4.6, on Intel and Apple Silicon. Releases are now built by GitHub Actions and come with installers for both systems plus each plug-in on its own.

New

• macOS: VST2, VST3 and Audio Unit. Morph Rotate Control, Arpeggiator MIDI out (Internal, Clone to MIDI, MIDI only), Tempo Override, Increase Gain, GUI Scale and the FM8+ menu with About FM8, beside NI's own plug-ins and never modifying them. The VST3 and AU are universal; the VST2 is Intel only, like NI's FM8.vst, and runs under Rosetta on Apple Silicon.
• Arp MIDI out on the Mac works in hardened DAWs and on Apple Silicon. macOS will not run modified code there, so FM8.plus changes none: it reaches FM8's arpeggiator with a hardware breakpoint instead. How that works is in docs/mac.md.
• Downloads for everyone. An installer for each system, plus every plug-in as its own zip for anyone who would rather copy files in by hand.

Please test

This is the first Mac release. It is verified against the real FM8 on an Intel Mac, including in a hardened host and Apple's auval, and the arp's breakpoint is tested on Apple Silicon in CI, but FM8.plus has not yet been played in a DAW on an Apple Silicon Mac. Reports from Logic, Ableton Live, Reaper, Bitwig and Studio One on either kind of Mac are very welcome, on Discord or in the issues.

Known limits

• macOS: no standalone (FM8.app does not allow anything to be loaded into it) and no AAX. FM8.plus is not yet signed with an Apple Developer ID, so right-click Install FM8.plus.pkg and choose Open, or allow it under System Settings > Privacy & Security. From a zip, clear the download flag, for example xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/FM8.plus.vst3.
• DXi: arp MIDI out cannot reach the host, because a DXi has no MIDI output at all. In SONAR X1 and later, use the 32-bit VST2 FM8.plus for arp MIDI out.

Downloads

	Windows	macOS
Installer	FM8.plus-Windows-Installer.exe	FM8.plus-MacOS-Installer.dmg
VST2	FM8.plus-Windows-VST2-64.zip, FM8.plus-Windows-VST2-32.zip (also the DXi)	FM8.plus-MacOS-VST2.zip
VST3	FM8.plus-Windows-VST3.zip	FM8.plus-MacOS-VST3.zip
Audio Unit		FM8.plus-MacOS-AU.zip
Standalone	FM8.plus-Windows-Standalone.zip

Windows: run the installer (administrator rights needed, since FM8 lives under Program Files); tick Enable DXi for the 32-bit plug-ins. macOS: open the DMG and run Install FM8.plus.pkg. Plug-ins from a zip go in the same folder as the matching FM8 plug-in. Rescan plug-ins in your DAW afterwards.

SHA-256 checksums for every file are in SHA256SUMS.txt.

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This release was reposted on 2026-09-25 after GUI Scale issues were found on macOS: at 2x and above, clicking in the editor (switching Navigator pages, for example) left most of it blank, in the VST2, VST3 and AU. All downloads above are the fixed build.

FM8.plus v1.0.7

Fixes GUI Scale in the FM8 v1.4.1 standalone, tidies the FM8+ wordmark, and names FM8.plus in the standalone's title bar.

Changes

• GUI Scale on v1.4.1 standalone: opens at the saved scale. It used to start at 1x even when closed at 2x, and clicks on the + then missed the menu.
• GUI Scale on v1.4.1: dialogs fit their contents. Audio and MIDI Settings and Options now open at the full scaled size, centred where they would have opened, and clicks inside them land on the control under the pointer.
• GUI Scale: steps that do not fit the monitor are greyed. Windows used to shrink the window to the screen, FM8 then laid itself out to the shorter height, and the bottom of the keyboard stayed cut off at every scale after. Switching scales repeatedly now keeps exact sizes.
• Wordmark spacing. The FM8 text sits 4px further right and the + 1px further right, for a tighter FM8+.
• Standalone title bar now reads "FM8 - Native Instruments (with FM8.plus - musica.studio)".

v1.4.6 already handled startup scale and dialogs itself; it gets the greyed-step fix, the wordmark and the title.

Install

Download FM8.plus-Setup.exe below and run it (administrator rights needed, since FM8 lives under Program Files). It installs beside your existing FM8 and never modifies a stock file. Tick Enable DXi for the 32-bit plug-ins. Rescan plugins in your DAW afterwards.

SHA-256: 4fd4f89b8f6d0b0164264d57433a03edd0690e14dd9b2c4cd6be16ae905b6b85

FM8.plus v1.0.6

Brings back the DXi: FM8.plus as a DXi soft synth for 32-bit DXi hosts such as SONAR, on FM8 v1.4.1, the last 32-bit FM8. Native Instruments shipped a DXi up to FM8 1.0.3 (2007) and dropped it from 1.0.4 on.

Changes

• Restore DXi. The 32-bit FM8.plus.dll is now also a DXi soft synth, with Morph Rotate Control, Tempo Override, Increase Gain, GUI Scale and the FM8+ menu. It plays from the track and live from MIDI input, follows the host tempo for the arp, honours SONAR's per-track channel, Key+/Vel+ and mute, and saves its state with the project. FM8's own editor opens in SONAR's plug-in window, and the window follows a GUI Scale change.
• The installer has a new Enable DXi (requires 32-bit FM8 1.4.1) box on the locations page. It enables the 32-bit field, now auto-filled from FM8 1.4.1's own install record, and installs everything 32-bit: the 32-bit VST2 and the DXi. The DXi is registered from %ProgramData%\FM8.plus, beside a copy of your own 32-bit FM8.dll, so moving your VST folders cannot break it.
• GUI Scale on v1.4.1: fixed drawing glitches when the host repaints part of the editor, for example while a plug-in window is dragged bigger at 2x.
• Settings now live machine-wide in %ProgramData%\FM8.plus\FM8.plus.ini, shared by every user and every host. Existing settings carry over automatically.

Under the DXi, Arpeggiator MIDI out does not reach the host yet, and FM8's parameters cannot be automated from the host's automation lanes yet; MIDI CC control through FM8's own MIDI learn works. v1.4.6 is unchanged apart from where settings are stored.

Install

Download FM8.plus-Setup.exe below and run it (administrator rights needed, since FM8 lives under Program Files). It installs beside your existing FM8 and never modifies a stock file. Tick Enable DXi for the 32-bit plug-ins. Rescan plugins in your DAW afterwards.

SHA-256: 47fb5d53dcf05e05e91417866774d1e1ab9d308727df8959b2a65de764ad8580

FM8.plus v1.0.5

Adds support for FM8 v1.4.1 (2015-10-20) alongside v1.4.6, including the 32-bit VST2 plug-in, which v1.4.1 was the last release to ship.

Changes

• FM8 v1.4.1 is now enhanced: standalone FM8.exe, VST2 FM8.dll 64-bit, and VST2 FM8.dll 32-bit.
• Morph Rotate Control, Arpeggiator MIDI out, Tempo Override, Increase Gain and the FM8+ menu all work on v1.4.1, in both 64-bit and 32-bit.
• GUI Scale works on v1.4.1. The 2015 build has no HiDPI layer of its own, so FM8.plus scales it directly.
• The installer now offers a 32-bit VST2 location and accepts either build. v1.4.1 has no VST3.
• About FM8 is unavailable on v1.4.1 and is greyed out there.

v1.4.6 is unchanged. Any other FM8 build is still loaded and left as plain FM8.

Install

Download FM8.plus-Setup.exe below and run it (administrator rights needed, since FM8 lives under Program Files). It installs beside your existing FM8 and never modifies a stock file. Rescan plugins in your DAW afterwards.

SHA-256: 2b268243c728b0f364c1de6ad581b07fd546077ab97e031b2c9352387ec48ef0

FM8.plus v1.0.4

FM8.plus v1.0.4 rebuilds the FM8+ button so it is part of FM8's own interface instead of a window floating over it, renames the plug-ins to FM8.plus, and makes GUI Scale sharp. FM8.plus installs as its own plug-in next to your existing FM8 and never renames, copies, or modifies a stock FM8 file, so a Native Access repair or update cannot break it. The features are described in the v1.0.0 and v1.0.2 release notes.

Changes since v1.0.3

• The "+" is now drawn into FM8's own logo. It used to be a small transparent window sitting on top of the editor, which meant it took part in your DAW's window stacking and other plug-ins or applications could cover it. FM8.plus now widens FM8's own wordmark and draws the "+" into it, so the button is painted by FM8 along with the rest of the interface and nothing can get in front of it. It is built in memory from your own installation each time FM8 loads, so nothing is written to your FM8 folder.
• "About FM8" is back, in the menu. Clicking the logo normally opens FM8's About panel, and the logo is now the FM8.plus button, so the menu ends with About FM8, which opens FM8's own panel, and About FM8.plus.
• The menu has a title. It opens with a greyed "FM8.plus" heading so it is clear whose menu it is.
• The plug-ins are now called FM8.plus (and FM8 FX.plus for the VST3 effect), credited to "Native Instruments GmbH / musica.studio". The plug-in IDs are unchanged, so existing projects keep loading; rescan in your DAW to pick up the new names.
• GUI Scale is sharp instead of blurred, and the steps are now 1x, 2x, 3x and 4x. FM8's own enlarging blit was asking for a smoothing filter, which softened all the artwork; it now replicates pixels exactly, so a scaled interface is crisp. A saved fractional scale from an older version snaps to the nearest whole number.

Install

Download FM8.plus-Setup.exe below and run it (needs administrator rights). It installs FM8.plus.dll in your VST2 folder, FM8.plus.vst3 in your VST3 folder, and an FM8.plus.exe launcher beside FM8, plus a desktop and Start Menu shortcut. Rescan plugins in your DAW, and FM8.plus appears alongside FM8; launch the enhanced standalone from the FM8 Plus shortcut. Uninstalling removes the FM8.plus files; stock FM8 is untouched throughout. Only the 2022-12-23 build gains the features; any other build loads as plain FM8.

SHA-256 (FM8.plus-Setup.exe): cbc29ac88b526e3884d1c27dfb491afa877878c890b4e9465abe2b4ff66081df

FM8.plus v1.0.3

FM8.plus v1.0.3 is a fix release for Morph Rotate Control. FM8.plus installs as its own plug-in "FM8+" next to your existing FM8 and never renames, copies, or modifies a stock FM8 file, so a Native Access repair or update cannot break it. The features are described in the v1.0.0 and v1.0.2 release notes.

Changes since v1.0.2

• The CC you map to the morph no longer reaches FM8. It was rotating the morph square and still doing its normal job, so with the default CC 1 the mod wheel moved on screen and kept modulating whatever the preset routes it to. Now the chosen CC drives the morph only: no wheel movement, no modulation, no MIDI learn. Fixed in the standalone, VST2 and VST3.
• The VST3 case was a separate path. A host binds CC 1 to a parameter and delivers it as a parameter change rather than a MIDI event, so the event-level filter never saw it; the wrapper now hides that parameter from FM8 for the block.

Checked by sweeping the CC with the editor open and comparing the pixels: the old build moves the morph handle and the mod wheel, this one moves only the handle.

Install

Download FM8.plus-Setup.exe below and run it (needs administrator rights). It installs FM8.plus.dll in your VST2 folder, FM8.plus.vst3 in your VST3 folder, and an FM8.plus.exe launcher beside FM8, plus a desktop and Start Menu shortcut. Rescan plugins in your DAW, and FM8+ appears alongside FM8; launch the enhanced standalone from the FM8 Plus shortcut. Uninstalling removes the FM8.plus files; stock FM8 is untouched throughout. Only the 2022-12-23 build gains the features; any other build loads as plain FM8.

SHA-256 (FM8.plus-Setup.exe): 49a6e96586e302fdf8ff20bd3fdbec92935a7801048a55744c42b1dafcd41319

FM8.plus v1.0.2

FM8.plus v1.0.2 adds GUI Scale, a new entry on the + menu that makes the whole FM8 interface bigger. FM8.plus installs as its own plug-in "FM8+" next to your existing FM8 and never renames, copies, or modifies a stock FM8 file, so a Native Access repair or update cannot break it. The other features (Morph Rotate Control, Arpeggiator MIDI out, Tempo Override, Increase Gain) are described in the v1.0.0 release.

Changes since v1.0.1

• GUI Scale: 1x (off), 1.5x, 2x, 2.5x, 3x, 3.5x or 4x. Everything scales together, the window, the mouse and the +, in the standalone and in both plug-in formats. Pick it from the + menu; the setting is remembered and applies to every FM8+ window. Changing it while a plug-in editor is open resizes it in place where the host allows that, and reopening the editor always picks the new scale up.
• Plain FM8 instances loaded in the same project stay at their normal size; only FM8+ windows scale.

It needed no drawing code. FM8 already contains a complete high-DPI layer that it never switches on: its window toolkit sizes the windows it creates by a scale factor, maps mouse coordinates back through it, and stretches its rendered image onto the window. FM8 leaves that dormant, so FM8.plus simply switches it on and supplies the number, and FM8 does the scaling itself. The reverse-engineering notes are in docs/hooks.md.

Install

Download FM8.plus-Setup.exe below and run it (needs administrator rights). It installs FM8.plus.dll in your VST2 folder, FM8.plus.vst3 in your VST3 folder, and an FM8.plus.exe launcher beside FM8, plus a desktop and Start Menu shortcut. Rescan plugins in your DAW, and FM8+ appears alongside FM8; launch the enhanced standalone from the FM8 Plus shortcut. Uninstalling removes the FM8.plus files; stock FM8 is untouched throughout. Only the 2022-12-23 build gains the features; any other build loads as plain FM8.

SHA-256 (FM8.plus-Setup.exe): 5298329a6dd1872ef96dc2f0ee5a21729bb2473786224e1b76d40f7d157ae011

FM8.plus v1.0.1

FM8.plus v1.0.1 fixes the "+" menu button in the plug-in editors. FM8.plus installs as its own plug-in "FM8+" next to your existing FM8 and never renames, copies, or modifies a stock FM8 file, so a Native Access repair or update cannot break it. The features (Morph Rotate Control, Arpeggiator MIDI out, Tempo Override, Increase Gain) are described in the v1.0.0 release.

Changes since v1.0.0

• The "+" button now appears in DAWs. It was missing in Reaper for both the VST2 and VST3 wrappers. Three causes are fixed: the overlay was positioned relative to the screen instead of the editor, FM8's own editor window sat above it, and the VST3 wrapper did not hook the editor at all.
• The "+" sits on the same pixels in the plug-ins as in the standalone, vertically centred beside the FM8 wordmark.
• Developer tooling: a GUI probe (tools/vsteditor.py) that opens the editor in a real window and screenshots it, plus documentation and tools for FM8's form resources under docs/gui.md.

Install

Download FM8.plus-Setup.exe below and run it (needs administrator rights). It installs FM8.plus.dll in your VST2 folder, FM8.plus.vst3 in your VST3 folder, and an FM8.plus.exe launcher beside FM8, plus a desktop and Start Menu shortcut. Rescan plugins in your DAW, and FM8+ appears alongside FM8; launch the enhanced standalone from the FM8 Plus shortcut. Uninstalling removes the FM8.plus files; stock FM8 is untouched throughout. Only the 2022-12-23 build gains the features; any other build loads as plain FM8.

SHA-256 (FM8.plus-Setup.exe): 37a1ffd98ff1e5fb429bfb87e868e624cc5cdb6b2a84743d4556ff60b9ac7d13

FM8.plus v1.0.0

First public release of FM8.plus, an enhancement layer for Native Instruments FM8 (2022-12-23 Windows x64 build). FM8.plus installs as its own plug-in "FM8+" next to your existing FM8 and never renames, copies, or modifies a stock FM8 file, so a Native Access repair or update cannot break it.

Features

• Morph Rotate Control — map any MIDI CC (Off, or CC 0..127) to rotate the Morph square through all four timbres; the chosen CC is blocked from its normal FM8 function.
• Arpeggiator MIDI out — Internal (stock), Clone to MIDI (FM8 plays and the arp notes are sent out), or MIDI only (arp notes out, FM8 voices silent).
• Tempo Override — free the arp from the DAW tempo: 0.25x, 0.5x, 2x, 4x of host tempo, or Custom.
• Increase Gain — push the output up to +10 dB, post-fader.

Install

Download FM8.plus-Setup.exe below and run it (needs administrator rights). It installs FM8.plus.dll in your VST2 folder, FM8.plus.vst3 in your VST3 folder, and an FM8.plus.exe launcher beside FM8, plus a desktop and Start Menu shortcut. Rescan plugins in your DAW, and FM8+ appears alongside FM8; launch the enhanced standalone from the FM8 Plus shortcut. Uninstalling removes the FM8.plus files; stock FM8 is untouched throughout. Only the 2022-12-23 build gains the features; any other build loads as plain FM8.

SHA-256 (FM8.plus-Setup.exe): 21d7604e8f78a15f5cd2f792035870b331537d0a22d86ca4aa65433e3f0802af