SunVox
is a virtual modular synthesizer, with a tracker-style pattern grid for input sequencing, and a 2D grid for pattern arrangement. (So, patterns of different lengths with different numbers of tracks can play concurrently while having started at different times.)
Connect modules within the pane on the right, adjust a selected module's parameters on the left, create/arrange patterns and edit their properties on the timeline below (or maybe hidden behind a t→ button in the right pane), edit a selected pattern's data in the grid up top.
It's a lightweight program, originally (and still primarily) designed for mobile devices, for which it is inexpensive; for Windows/Mac/Linux, it's free!
Under standard zip compression, even projects with hundreds of patterns and base modules can shrink to a matter of some dozens of kilobytes. (It helps that .ogg samples are supported with the Vorbis Player module. And that megabytes are still "some dozens of kilobytes".)
Feature parity is maintained between platforms, and external plugins aren't supported — thus, provided you're using a current version, you should always be able to load a project file on any device without compatibility issues.
In place of plugins, SunVox features MetaModules, which are nested projects loaded as modules, usually with some internal parameters brought to the surface. Community members have created A Great Many useful synth and effect MetaModules (a lesser many of which are included with the program, with more to be found on the official forums), enabling granular synthesis, physical modeling, advanced stereo imaging, multiband compression, and so forth.
It's a thingy.
OBTAIN SAID THINGY AND INITIATE DITTY CONJURATION
VIA YOUTUBE, WATCH IT PLAY BACK A ME-TUNE THAT COMPRESSES TO 52 KILOBYTES
(Also, hello! A friend has been exploring Geminispace and mentioned that Lagrange could be installed on Android, and this seems like it will make for a fine point from which the direct consequences of that will begin to unfold.)
OBTAIN SAID COMPRESSED-TO-52-KB PROJECT FILE
May 02 · 5 months ago · 👍 me, Sophira
5 Comments ↓
Oh hey, a fellow SunVox lover! Congrats on being the one to drag me out of my shell and get me to make my first post here. ^^
I'm listening to this right now. I like it! Some really interesting instruments in here, and I love the vibe, especially with that flute on module 5 - I'm super impressed by how real that sounds. My own tunes* have always been much more synthy.
And yes, it's true - SunVox is a superb tracker/modular synth, and I've actually been working on making some Ruby bindings for a game engine called DragonRuby. Nothing released yet, but I'm hoping to do so soon-ish. Whenever that is.
— (*) An example of one of my own tunes (4.5KB zipped).
🎵 Saltbearer [OP] · May 03 at 05:35:
ᶠᵃⁿᶜʸ ˢᵉᵉⁱⁿᵍ ʸᵒᵘ ⁱⁿ ᵗʷᵒ ᵖˡᵃᶜᵉˢ
Well-emerged with the mutual emergence, and glad y'like the me-tune! Your you-tune, too, is a competent, compact composition, polite to the listening listener's listeners!
Also very cool when SunVox is fed to a game, lots of potential with that that ought to be thoroughly explored!
🐝 undefined · May 03 at 13:47:
Yeah sunvox seems crazy. The ability to put your entire project into a synthesizer seems like it would hit the same spots as all the crazy modular synth stuff. It's always the recursive stuff, isn't it, that takes a piece of technology to a completely new level.
🎵 Saltbearer [OP] · May 03 at 15:47:
Indeed! For that matter, it's got a number of pattern commands for live modification of patterns during playback, alongside other features to facilitate generative/indeterminate music production! (e.g. the output destination randomization options offered by the MultiSynth) Haven't messed with such things very deeply personally, but have often wondered what might be accomplished if the correct brain caught a whiff of SunVox and took to SunVoxin' real hard down them avenues, hence fume-fanning in niche spaces.
wow this YOU-TUNE is great! i'm just learning about sunvox thru this thread. so sick.
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