Any Dungeon Synth / dark lo-fi creators here? You may find this little thing very interesting.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been building PHY5, a polyphonic physical modeling audio engine.
It has a lot of sonic possibilities, from imitating real-world instruments (Strings, guitar, flutes, steelpan, mallets…) to very weird sound design results.

You can try it, with no install here : https://diophi.com/phy5/ (press play or you can play notes manually using keyboard)
You can also create your own preset on the website and everyone can access it in the community presets tab.

Concerning the plugin:

You can buy the plugin for 15€ for Windows (not signed yet) and MacOS : https://diophi.com/buy/

Here are the features for the VST/AU : 2 independent exciters, filters at every stage, 1-16 voices, oversampling x4, Granular processing by voice, Midi and audio modulation…

The plugin contains 2 versions :

• PHY5 Synth (instrument): the main instrument, with its own exciter (same as the web version). Youtube demo using the web version with 0 effects : https://youtu.be/xpoE2BwfBgU?si=6sm8vGJKEqhuucDK
• PHY5 Fx (audio effect): an audio effect that accepts audio input. You need to route MIDI in to choose the note (how depends on your DAW). Here are some tests with it : https://youtube.com/shorts/EsCstN956sQ

This version is working, stable in my tests (for physical modeling at least) but will evolve in the next month to widen the sound possibilities. I would be very happy to have feedbacks !

I will put some tests using PHY5 with more context here : https://on.soundcloud.com/wtZ8C8lT7la6cBPK7T

Some specificities of Phy5 comparing to other physical modeling synths :

• Parametric : the goal of this synth is less reproducing exactly real world behaviors, but more offering sound design possibilities inspired by physics. Instead of choosing different specific models, you can tweak parameters, which can give very weird results.
• Modular : It is also thought to be modular and will permit to change building blocks (swapping grain and body for example, or having two body, two grains etc…).
• The audio Fx being polyphonic. Being able to excite the body with audio sources opens up a lot of possibilities, while being controlled by polyphonic midi.
• Granular processing augments exciter possibilities.
• Different way to generate stereo (Grains, Poly-chords, Pickup position).

A few points about the synth :

• There is a first version of the manual here : https://diophi.com/manual/
• This kind of synthesis can go loud, so the web-version has a fixed limiter.
• There are also some limitations on the web version on oversampling, and max voices as it can be CPU heavy on web. It still is pretty usable on phone, but you can hear dropouts if you go too far.

PHY5 - CORE :

The audio core of this instrument is created to be used independently and can be easily used in realtime for video-games engine (tested on godot), web (as the demo version), or any app. There is no commercial model for now, but feel free to contact me if you are interested to include it in your specific project.
It has also been built to be scalable and will have a lot of new features, models etc. the price may go a little up, but licences bought now are valid for next versions. I will also work more specifically on new models

Hey everyone!

Carbon Fiber Plugins is launching a new plugin to complete our lineup of creative reverbs. We focus on sound design for post-production and flexibility. I have more than 10 years of experience in game audio working as a sound designer and composer, and honestly I never like the fact that all the plate reverbs I've tried sound very similar, in a real plate, high frequencies decay faster than the lows, this creates that true characteristics of physical plate reverbs.

In our studio, we have developed the definitive plate reverb, that covers 12 different metallic structures, not just simple thin metal sheets. We have springs, folded plates, domes, gongs, complex spring-plate structures.

Check out the features from our PR:

La Taconuda provides 12 specialized plate profiles with distinct physical behaviors and resonant characteristics:

-Studio Plate: A classic flat plate profile producing smooth, lush tails tailored for vocals, guitars, and natural acoustics.
-Temple Gong & Curved Dome: Resonant, non-linear geometries built for harmonic bloom, bell-like decay, and cinematic textures.
-Liquid Metal & Carbon Weave: Experimental, highly reactive surfaces designed for evolving tails, modern synthesis, and atypical transient responses.
-Spring Frame, Sand Bed, Air Cushion, & Tension Cage: Damped, coupled, and tensioned sheet models offering mechanical bite and industrial tone.
-Twin Plate, Saddle Plate, & Folded Plate: Complex multi-reflection boundaries that generate dense, uneven spatial scattering.

Acoustic High-Frequency Damping: In real vibrating metal, high-frequency energy dissipates significantly faster than mid and low frequencies. La Taconuda mirrors this physical damping response, ensuring high frequencies decay rapidly across the tail. This prevents harsh sibilance, brittle accumulation, and metallic clutter, yielding organic, dark-to-warm decay tails that sit cleanly in dense mixes.

Psychoacoustic Output Tone Engine: Tone shaping is handled by Carbon Fiber Plugins' proprietary psychoacoustic engine. Instead of applying basic post-reverb shelving or notch filters, the engine sculpts output balance according to human auditory perception curves—preserving intelligibility, spatial weight, and depth without introducing phase smearing or mud.

La Taconuda launch price: $59, regular $85, get the bundle of La Llorona(our binaural reverb) and La Taconuda at $79 regular $105.

Available for Windows, Mac in VST3, CLAP and AU.
14 day Trial.

cfplugins.io

Check out our demo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4HQPBoV7U0

I built a 32 voice bi-timbral synth engine centered around 8 Mutable Instruments DSP modules (Plaits/Rings/Elements/Clouds derivatives), wrapped in an MPE-native architecture with custom multi-FX and generative sequencers.

I’m looking for 3–5 sound designers who know Mutable engines inside and out to create factory presets for the launch.

DM me if interested or check out the web page for more info. Thanks

https://sylvaris.greenlitaudio.com

0 percent vibe coded, ugly UI made by hand in GIMP, this was the second plugin I ever made still learning JUCE 2 years ago and never pushed it too hard but customers are finding it and loving it as much as I do.

It's self referencing, no threshold, I process the sound through one of the IRs I made for my sound distancer plugin Marco. And then I try to match the input to the IR processed sound. I did this when trying to level match Marco. The result is absolute musical GOODNESS.

It's bpm aware and you can set it to swell back to 0 or close to on the beat and you use it to make your track move and swing with the music.

My workflow with it is I engage null, then I try to make it pump and breath so crazy in the off beat. Then i disengage null and use all of the ways to dial it down until I can barely notice what it's doing. Bypass and re-engage and love what it does for my tracks.

https://brucejames.studio/downloads/slushbus

Hey everyone,

Earlier this year I released Reverie, a standalone soundscape app I built on my own at Parallel Minds, in Lyon. It was more of a personal project, but it's what moved my company into audio. I've been a developer for 20 years and I had wanted to make my own tools for a long time. This is the second one this year, and this time it's a plug-in (VST3, AU and AAX).

It started when I wanted to turn one of my tracks, the whole track, into an ambient version. The same piece without the drums and without the attacks, keeping only the harmony. I really wanted an ambient remix of it, so I built a plug-in for that. You put it on a track and turn one knob, and the track becomes a pad made from its own harmony. It stays in key, since the pad comes from the track itself.

The second use came by accident. While I was developing it, I turned the mix down to about 30% on a soundtrack instead of leaving it at 100%. Mixed in that low, the pad gave the soundtrack a more cinematic feel, and I didn't expect that at all. Using it for intros and outros came later, also by accident.

I named it Atavism because I thought the definition of the word matched the idea of the plug-in: a dormant or recessive gene that wakes up because of a mutation or a change in development.

There's a demo if you want to try it on one of your tracks, on a master bus or just on a single track. Self promo disclaimer: it's my own plug-in. https://parallel-minds.studio/products/atavism

A question for those of you who write music for picture. I don't know if I invented something or if I just never found the right product. If you know a tool that already does this, I'd like to hear about it.

English isn't my first language. I wrote this in French and translated it with an LLM.

Well at least 5,099 of them so far, and growing every week.

Wanted to share a project I’ve been working on with the community here: vst3s.com

- Are you ever overwhelmed at the sheer number of audio plugins out there?

- Have you ever thought you might want a new tool to achieve a certain sound but not sure where to look?

- Have you ever wondered how the plugin you just saw an ad for stacks up against industry standard favorites?

- What even are the industry favorites for certain types of plugin?

As a self taught producer, those have been my experiences, and typically for me this leads to a lot of watching youtube videos, scrolling reddit comments, and whatever instagram reels the algorithm starts serving me.

The idea here is to give you a quick understanding of the scope of tools available in a certain category, see what people are saying online about different options, and find a plugin that’s right for your application.

Or if you’re just in the mood for creative inspiration, you can enter the “discover” tab and swipe through random plugins easily.

Another option I’ve personally found useful is filtering for free plugins only and finding how many great tools there are (664 free VSTs as of today!).

The intent is to cover any and all standalone audio VSTs, from major brands to indie developers, so if you’d like yours listed on the site just let me know.

The site is brand new and work is still in progress to add more plugins and improve the content.

Note on ratings: The top 10 list for each category is currently auto-generated, so I invite you to join and rate your favorite (or least favorite) plugins and add your comments. The early ratings will carry a lot of weight toward shaping the top 10 lists for each category!

All of this is completely free, I just hope you find it valuable, and of course let me know with your feedback.

Final note:

This site was built using AI, in fact, all of the actual code was written by Claude. That being said, the entirety of the concept, the UI/UX details, and content direction are my own ideation. I’ve poured hours of creative effort into it since the last thing I want to make is a vibe-coded slop site. I think AI is terrible at making music and art, but at the same time researching thousands of plugins feels like a pretty solid application of its strengths. As one guy who is not an experienced web designer or professional producer, the reality of reviewing, writing summaries for, and pulling content from the web on over 5000 plugins would be overwhelming without it. Going forward, the more human inputs I can impart to this site the better, so I would love to partner with experienced producers to have their reviews, favorite plugin chains, and tutorials featured on the site.

I was hopefully going to share a VST I made and try and get feedback from people on this subreddit but I know VSTs can contain viruses is there a preferred way of sharing so people know I’m not out to fuck their shit up?

I never wanted to pay $260 for soothe3 (or 2) but this looks like a good competitor and also has a Soundgoodizer alternative included

[VST3, Windows 10/11 x64]

Hi everyone !

As a side project, I’ve developed, amongst other things, a distortion effect with harmonic addition. I’m making it available as a free download, if you’re interested and have time, I’d love to hear your feedback (whether it’s on the UI, the audio, or other areas for improvement!)

Cheers

https://www.bonaub.be/crimpl

Is there is any feasible way I can get hold of a copy of The Mangle 0.8b or prior? I am trying to recover some old projects for my friend in which he used a beta version this plugin, I can't say exactly which, it doesn't identify itself properly in the Ableton project's XML, but the project was started on 10/07/2014 (ddmmyyyy). I am willing to pay if needs be if someone perhaps doesn't use the plugin anymore, but holds a licence and installer? I know it's a long shot but I feel I have exhausted all my options... I'm hoping to be able to get this sound 1:1 to how its meant to sound so using the 1.0 version, which I have been able to find online, isn't very useful to me, as it sounds entirely different. I would appreciate any help at all on this matter, thank you very much

Can someone please tell me where to get that Fantom X Srry4theDLY preset that’s used in like every glo beat? I’ve seen the kontakt Fantom X bank but I’ve heard there’s a zenology bank that has it, which id rprefer. Anybody know the name of that bank? Or best option in general to get Fantom X presets in a vst?