Ruinae

Features

• 10 oscillator types — PolyBLEP (classic anti-aliased waveforms), Wavetable, Phase Distortion, Hard Sync, Additive, Chaos (Lorenz/Rössler/Chua attractors), Particle (granular cloud), Formant, Spectral Freeze, and Noise
• Dual oscillator architecture — crossfade or spectral morph blending between oscillators with tilt and shift controls for complex, evolving timbres
• 13 filter types — SVF (lowpass, highpass, bandpass, notch, allpass, peak, shelf), Ladder, Formant, Comb, Envelope Filter, and Self-Oscillating
• 7 distortion algorithms — Chaos Waveshaper, Spectral, Granular, Wavefolder, Tape Saturator, Ring Modulator (with waveform select, fixed/ratio modes, and stereo spread), and Clean bypass
• Trance gate — rhythmic amplitude gate with 2–32 steps, Euclidean pattern generation, and tempo sync
• 4 send effects — phaser (2–12 stages, stereo spread, multiple LFO shapes), flanger (modulated comb filter with feedback and tempo sync), chorus (1–4 voices with stereo spread), and Dattorro plate reverb (freeze, pre-delay, diffusion, modulation)
• 5 delay types — Digital (with era/age character and wavefolder), Tape, Ping Pong, Granular, and Spectral
• Harmonizer — up to 4 pitch-shifted voices with scale-aware diatonic harmony across 16 scale modes, formant preservation, and feedback
• 8-slot modulation matrix — 14 sources routed to 15 destinations with per-route curve shaping, smoothing, scaling, and bypass
• Dual LFOs — 6 waveforms (sine, triangle, saw, square, sample & hold, random), symmetry, quantize, fade-in, tempo sync with note value selection, and retrigger
• 3 ADSR envelopes — Amp, Filter, and Mod envelopes with adjustable power curves and Bezier control point editing via expanded overlay
• Exotic mod sources — envelope follower, pitch follower, transient detector (with sidechain input), chaos generator, rungler, sample & hold, and 4 user macro knobs
• Sidechain input — auxiliary stereo bus for audio-dependent mod sources; falls back to analyzing the synth's own output when no sidechain is connected
• Advanced arpeggiator — 10 modes (Up, Down, Up-Down, Random, Chord, and more) with 1–4 octave range, swing, latch, and Euclidean timing
• 8 polymetric arp lanes — up to 32 steps each: Velocity, Gate, Pitch, Chord (None/Dyad/Triad/7th/9th via diatonic scale-degree stacking), Inversion (Root/1st/2nd/3rd), Ratchet, Modifier, and Condition
• Arp harmonic features — 16 scale modes for pitch quantization and chord quality, global voicing modes (Close, Drop-2, Spread, Random), and arp pitch available as a global modulation source
• Up to 16-voice polyphony — mono mode with legato and portamento, configurable voice-steal priority, per-voice pan, stereo width, and global output filter (LP/HP/BP/Notch)
• MPE support — per-note expression via MIDI Polyphonic Expression: independent tuning (±120 semitones), volume (0–4× gain), and brightness (±48 semitone filter cutoff offset) per voice, plus global pitch bend
• 65+ factory presets across synth and arp categories with built-in preset browser, save dialog, and search
• Full parameter automation and MIDI CC learn support
• In-plugin update checker — automatic version check with non-intrusive update banner
• Cross-platform: VST3 (Windows, macOS, Linux) + Audio Unit (macOS)

Oscillators

Ruinae's 10 oscillator types cover ground from fundamental waveforms to experimental synthesis techniques.

• PolyBLEP — Band-limited saw, square, triangle, and pulse waveforms with anti-aliased discontinuities for clean, classic analog tones
• Wavetable — Wavetable scanning with interpolated position control for smooth morphing through spectral snapshots
• Phase Distortion — Casio CZ-style phase distortion synthesis with variable waveshaping for metallic, bell-like, and organ timbres
• Hard Sync — Oscillator sync with independent slave frequency for aggressive, formant-rich sweeps
• Additive — Per-harmonic amplitude control for precise spectral sculpting and organ-like tones
• Chaos — Audio-rate chaotic attractors (Lorenz, Rössler, Chua) producing complex, non-repeating waveforms with controllable instability
• Particle — Granular cloud oscillator with configurable grain density, scatter, and envelope for textural, evolving timbres
• Formant — Vowel-modeled oscillator with controllable formant positions for speech-like and vocal synthesis
• Spectral Freeze — Captures and holds a spectral snapshot, producing sustained, frozen-in-time textures from any input state
• Noise — Filtered noise generator for percussive transients, wind textures, and broadband fills

Effects Chain

A full post-voice effects chain with modulation, delay, pitch shifting, and reverb.

• Phaser — 2–12 allpass stages with LFO modulation (6 waveforms), tempo sync, stereo spread, and feedback for classic jet and sweep effects
• Flanger — Short modulated delay line with LFO-driven comb filter sweep, bipolar feedback (±1.0) for metallic resonance, and stereo spread (0–360°)
• Chorus — 1–4 voice stereo chorus with configurable depth, rate, and spread for width and detuned richness
• Delay — 5 types: Digital (with era/age character modeling and wavefolder in feedback), Tape (with wow and flutter), Ping Pong, Granular (with grain density and scatter), and Spectral (FFT-domain delay with bin-selective feedback)
• Harmonizer — Up to 4 pitch-shifted voices with scale-aware diatonic intervals across 16 scale types, formant preservation, detuning, and feedback
• Plate Reverb — Dattorro plate algorithm with input diffusion, tank modulation, damping filter, pre-delay, and infinite freeze mode

Arpeggiator

A polymetric step sequencer that transforms single notes into complex harmonic patterns.

• 10 arp modes — Up, Down, Up-Down, Down-Up, Random, Chord, Converge, Diverge, and more with 1–4 octave range and adjustable swing
• 8 independent lanes — each with up to 32 steps and independent length for polymetric rhythms: Velocity, Gate, Pitch, Chord, Inversion, Ratchet, Modifier, and Condition
• Per-step chord generation — chord lane selects None, Dyad, Triad, 7th, or 9th chords built by stacking diatonic scale degrees; inversion lane controls voicing (Root, 1st, 2nd, 3rd inversion)
• Global voicing modes — Close, Drop-2, Spread, and Random voicing distribute chord notes across registers for natural voice leading
• 16 scale modes — Major, Minor (Natural/Harmonic/Melodic), Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Locrian, Pentatonic (Major/Minor), Blues, Whole Tone, and Diminished (W-H, H-W); pitch lane values become scale-degree offsets in non-Chromatic modes
• Euclidean timing — algorithmic rhythm generation from pulse and step count parameters
• Latch modes — Hold and Add modes for hands-free performance; multiple retrigger options for phase control
• Arp pitch as mod source — the last played arp note is available in the global modulation matrix for pitch-following effects