I dont have linux myself, so I’m not sure if I’ve bundled it correctly.
Both works in WSLg on Windows (linux sub system). I’ve used Docker + Ubuntu to create the release packages.
https://kiwisonic.com/download.html ← click on the linux link.
Kiwisynth: A wavetable synthesizer that breathes ← For VST/CLAP if you want to try it in another DAW
It have taken way more time than I thought, so fingers crossed 
Hah, I must have gotten to this just at the right time. I’ve been checking it out for the past few minutes; UI boots and everything looks good, but it doesn’t seem to output audio. It can’t find my soundcard, so that seems to be the issue so far. I can’t tell whether it can find its internal instruments correctly until that’s fixed, but I directed it back toward its own folder just in case. All of the visual modes seem to be operational, though, and it certainly looks pretty slick so far.
Is there a ‘MIDI output’ option planned? That would be one way to see if at least something’s happening underneath, as I could route it through my loopback just as a test.
I’m also going to check out the synth itself in VST format and see what’s going on there, too. I just noticed that there were two separate components to this, so that’ll be the next stop 
Ive implemented midi output just for you. You can either let the generated notes get added to the same track or route them to a second track.
Which linux dist and version? Do you know what sound driver you are using?
Exporting MIDI seems to work, so I think the missing link is in fact just the audio output. That’s a good sign.
Anything compatible with ALSA, Pipewire, PulseAudio, Jack, etc should usually work fine. Many different systems use whatever they want under the hood and it seems to work great, but since I don’t have any hardcore development experience, that’s about where my knowledge ends. I’ve definitely built environments from source using different audio drivers and protocols and thus far, pretty much everything seems to work across the board when the implementation is right.
I’m on Zorin 18.1, but I can also sandbox under another distro if you have a hunch it might work better under Ubuntu or something like that. I’ve had a lot of luck doing that lately, as well.
No. Since i’ve just tested in WSL it can be something simple. I use ALSA currently.
I’ve added logging and will push a new release.
0.8.7 logs to ~/.local/share/Kiwisonic/
I’ve installed linux on a laptop. So i’ll debug this tonight.
v0.8.8 plays audio on linux. But the synth settings (the cog wheel right of instrument selector) crashes the app. Checking that now.
I also added a free form arrangement grid since section based arrangements isnt a good fit for IDM. Free form is more like traditional pattern based arrangements.
There is a toggle button on top of the grid for it.
A question: in which paths should Kiwisonic try to find VST/CLAP on linux?
They’re usually not standard like they can be elsewhere (and often default to totally random places upon installation), so a lot of music programs use either one or multiple custom directories to sort of wrangle them all.
ahh ok. The settings dialog contains a tab for VST paths.
I think I’ve found the synth crash. Will try it soon.
I also added three patches that I hope you’ll like.
Glass Carillon: FM algorithm “Dual Pair” (Osc2 to Osc1, Op4 to Osc3), Op4 ratio 7.02 with a 1.002 global offset for inharmonic beating; fast-decay modulator envelopes over long-release carrier envelopes; velocity and keytrack to FM depth.
Driftfield: Osc1 granular over the bowed-metal sample, Osc3 granular over a wavetable scan; 0.05 Hz LFO to grain position, second LFO to grain size, S&H to pitch jitter, macro to density/spray/size; comb filter, foldback distortion, long-mode reverb with octave-up shimmer.
Mangler: Two wavetables through osc wavefold then sample-rate decimate into a MGLow24 ladder at 0.8 resonance; StepSeq1 to filter cutoff, StepSeq2 to Osc1 WT position, S&H to decimate depth, velocity to fold amount, random to Osc2 detune; tempo-synced stutter delay.
Ok. v0.8.14 should load OK. The synth is slow first time you open it from Kiwisonic, but once loaded it should be fast. Going to fix the initial load later.
| Gesture | Action |
|—|—|
| Left-click (empty) | Add a note at the clicked position |
| Left-click (note) | Select note |
| Left-drag (note body) | Move note |
| Left-drag (right edge) | Resize note duration |
| Ctrl + Left-drag (empty) | Rectangle selection |
| Scroll wheel (over note) | Adjust note velocity |
| Right-click (note) | Delete note |
| Shift + Right-click (note) | Open note effect menu (apply/remove per-note audio effects) |
That version is available for download on the homepage. If it works, I’ll improve the initial synth load.
What is the next thing I should do?
Keep sharing your knowledge obi wan
There’s a vst synth that got discontinued..
Scan synth gl…
Where you can modify the waveform of an oscillator in real time…
I’ve always had the idea to build up on that by allowing more fm modulation wave table capabilities
Basically scan synth gl + fls sytrus is what I’m thinking of with some midi capabilities lol
Apologies I have weird music ideas
Last idea…
A spectral morphing + granular synth.
Ok sorry…I’m done…
cool. I’ll look into it.
Scanned synthesis. How interesting.
Regarding spectral morphing and granular. I think about half of them are already implemented due to all the other features.
edit: Ohh. I’ve implemented granular already. OscMode::Granular, the 7 granular params (GranDensity/Size/Position/Spray/PitchJitter/ReverseProb/Source
Spectral morphing is a bit more complicated.
Here is another crazy idea. What do you think about recording your voice, pitch track it, normalize and build a single cycle wavetable from it? A hum oscillator.
For that industry sound, just scream 
Actually, this could be pretty cool for humming a melody and getting it into the project as fast as possible. Would fit right in with the ethos of not needing to know a lot of music theory to make music. Like, even if you just get the pitchtracking right and can add notes to the piano roll from voice controlling a synth, that would be sick. I think that kind of thing has been done, but not integrated at the paino roll/daw level.
I think the scanned synthesis thing sounds similar to what Waldorf are doing with the Seeds mode in Iridium MK2. If you’re looking for inspiration.
That’s what a lot of wavetable synths already sort of do as an ‘extra’ feature where you import audio into the bank directly (Vital, Serum, etc) but implementing your own is a great idea, too. You can’t really have too many awesome sound processors, IMO, and if you end up mixing it with granular synthesis, you might end up with something really unique in the process.
Hopefully within the next few days I can give the new Linux build a spin. I’m genuinely excited about this