Push and Groove’s free MICRONIX software synthesizer combines 24 Plaits-based synthesis models with modulation and expressive performance controls.
MICRONIX is a free monophonic software synthesizer, based on the open-source DSP code from Mutable Instruments Plaits.
It brings a range of synthesis techniques into a DAW plugin, with additional modulation and MIDI features for shaping sounds and performing basslines, leads, percussion, and experimental textures.
Features:
MICRONIX includes 24 synthesis models covering virtual analog, FM, wavetable, granular, physical modeling, and percussion synthesis. Each model offers Harmonics, Timbre, and Morph macro controls, with model-specific labels to indicate their functions.
The instrument can blend its OUT and AUX signals to create additional tonal variations and textures.
Five LFO waveforms—sine, triangle, square, saw, and sample-and-hold—support free-running or tempo-synchronized modulation. Phase and retrigger controls provide further adjustment of their behavior.
A four-row modulation matrix routes sources to destinations using Source, Via, Destination, and bipolar Amount controls. Modulation sources include LFO, amplitude envelope, velocity, modulation wheel, aftertouch, and key tracking.
Users can choose between a conventional ADSR envelope and a low-pass gate mode modeled on Plaits, with the latter offering Decay and Color controls.
Monophonic retrigger and legato modes, adjustable glide, octave shifting, and MIDI pitch bend support expressive playing. An on-screen keyboard with a Hold function lets users audition sounds without an external controller.
Randomize selects a different synthesis model and new macro settings, while Restore returns to the previous model and macro settings. A waveform display, envelope visualization, modulation indicators, and output meters provide visual feedback during sound design.
MICRONIX is available now for free for Mac & Windows. The synthesizer incorporates Mutable Instruments Plaits DSP code licensed under the MIT License. MICRONIX is independently developed by Push and Groove and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Mutable Instruments.
Image-Line has released version 5 of FL Studio Mobile, its music production app for iOS and Android.
FL Studio Mobile 5 adding integrated FL Cloud Sounds, portrait orientation, a redesigned interface, and workflow improvements for mobile music production.
The update marks a major revision to the mobile workstation, introducing built-in access to FL Cloud Sounds, interface updates and new editing features designed to streamline production on phones and tablets.
Features:
FL Cloud Sounds is now integrated directly into the app through a dedicated Sounds tab. All users receive access to thousands of free sounds without needing an account, while FL Cloud subscribers can browse a library of more than two million sounds, using genre searches, tags, and curated collections. Sound previews stream before download, helping conserve device storage.
Portrait orientation allows users to work with FL Studio Mobile while holding a phone vertically. Users can configure the interface to rotate with the device or lock it to their preferred orientation.
The Playlist, editors, Channel Rack, and transport bar have been redesigned for improved readability. Additional interface changes include project zoom adjustments, easier access to split-screen editing, UI scaling without restarting the app, and an option to reduce animations.
Drag-and-drop support allows users to import material from the in-app Browser, file manager, and other applications. Android users can also drag files out to other apps. Improved mouse and keyboard support adds shortcuts, tab navigation, hover hints, and spacebar control for stopping previews.
Paste Preview shows where notes and clips will appear before they are inserted into a project. Burn Notes to Track converts the results of the Arpeggiator, Scale, Transpose, Note Echo, and Randomizer tools into editable notes, providing more direct control over generated musical material.
Smart Solo automatically solos a channel together with its sends, while an Unsolo All function resets solo states in one action. Users can also preview drumsets before loading them and add instrument presets directly from the module picker.
FL Studio Mobile 5 is available now for iOS through the Apple App Store and for Android through Google Play. Existing owners receive the update free under Image-Line’s Lifetime Free Updates policy. Thousands of FL Cloud Sounds are available at no additional cost to all users, while access to the full library of more than two million sounds requires an eligible FL Cloud subscription.
Pittsburgh Modular’s Microvolt 3901 is a software synthesizer that emulates the Pittsburgh Modular Microvolt 3900 hardware synth, and expands its architecture with virtual versions of additional modules from the company’s Eurorack line.
Audio and control-voltage signals can be routed between modules using virtual patch cables, allowing musicians to build custom signal paths and explore polyphonic as well as experimental sounds.
Features:
The oscillator collection includes the Microvolt Oscillator, Lifeforms SV-1 Oscillator, Primary Oscillator from the Voltage Lab Mini, Generator, Voltage Controlled Oscillator 2, and two digital lo-fi oscillators. The instrument also incorporates the Double Helix Wavetable Processor and DNA Symbiotic Waves Waveform Processor for additional timbral options.
A range of patchable modulation sources includes the VILFO, Dual LFO, Function Generator, Game System, sample-and-hold, ring modulator, envelope generators, and modulation oscillator. These modules can be connected to other parts of the instrument to create evolving textures, rhythmic modulation, and generative patches.
Nineteen built-in effects include digital, bucket-brigade and 2399 delays, reverb, chorus, flanger, phaser, fuzz, overdrive, resonator, bit crushing, compression, and texture processing. Effects can be placed at the end of the signal chain or patched into the instrument for more complex processing.
Microvolt 3901 supports six-voice polyphony or monophonic operation with up to six unison voices. This allows users to build everything from basses and leads to layered chords, drones, and dense cross-modulated sounds.
A built-in touch-plate keyboard and 16-step sequencer provide ways to play and sequence the instrument without an external controller. MIDI input, Ableton Link, and host synchronization support integration with external keyboards, sequencers, and DAW-based setups.
A built-in oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer help users inspect their sounds, while 200 factory presets offer starting points for sound design. Preset import and export and a 100-step undo history support experimentation and patch development.
Microvolt 3901 is available now for macOS and Windows as a standalone application and plugin. The full version costs $69, with a seven-day free trial. An iPad version with standalone and AUv3 support is listed as coming soon on the official product page.
