Sparkling gems and new releases from the world of Free and Open Source Software
Subtractive synth
ZynAddSubFX 3.0
The crazily named ZynAddSubFX has been around for a long time, but it has stood the test of time for one simple reason – it sounds sublime. This is often a hard trick to pull off with synthesizers, because even when you have all the correct elements in the mix – the analog sounding oscillators, the creamy filters, and the snappy envelopes – the sound can often be stale and cold regardless. ZynAddSubFX never had this problem. It has always sounded warm, rich, and fat, emulating the sound of old synthesizers, as well as generating more experimental output with its additive synth engine or soft chords with the pad synth. But it has also always had a big problem: the user interface. The ZynAddSubFX GUI reminded you of the early 2000s, because that's how old the software is – Motif-driven sliders and large gray buttons, totally unlike modern software synthesizers. And this is where Zyn-Fusion comes in.
Zyn-Fusion is an all new user interface to ZynAddSubFX, designed and implemented by the project's current maintainer, Mark McCurry. It looks amazing and immediately elevates the synth into professional territory. The main difference is that almost everything can be controlled from a single window that still includes the keyboard but adds waveform output, part settings, and a tabbed list of controls for changing the oscillator, filter, and voice settings. It feels like the kind of synth for which you'd pay good money, and the project is in fact asking users to pay for this upgrade. However, the new interface is still open source; you can still build it yourself, although I'd recommend contributing to the project if you can afford to. Either way, the new design means ZynAddSubFX finally gets the look it deserves, while at the same time making its sounds far more intuitive to control and accessible.
Project Website
http://zynaddsubfx.sourceforge.net
Granular synthesizer
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