Free demo Buy · €149
Phaseburn One · v1.0.0 64-bit DSP

PHASEBURN ONE

A groove synth — one plugin, three jobs. Four oscillators led by a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) and opened by four macro dials. A probability sequencer that plays them, and sends every note out as MIDI. A patchable rack — two filters, six effects and a master EQ — on the voice’s 64-bit path, with an audio input, so it works on your tracks too.

Buy now · €149 Try the free demo

€149one-time · perpetual license · free demo

VST3 · CLAP · Standalone · macOS · Windows — AU on macOS

Phaseburn One oscillators page with the PLL section on its MACRO lens: MULTIPLIER, GRIP, FIGHT, COLOR and WIDTH as five large dials with named scale marks
Phaseburn One oscillators page on its ADVANCED lens: the Phase Locked Loop knob field, the sub, the morphing and vector oscillators, and the volume envelope on its own tab
Phaseburn One PLL LAB view: the lock map with its ratio tongues, lock ceiling and a pinned operating point, the scope pane with its ORBIT tab, the loop-response plot, the winding trace and the discriminator plot
Phaseburn One mixer page: per-module channel faders, a goniometer stereo-image scope, and a routing patchbay where the sound sources, Filter 1, the effects and the master are wired by patch cables, with Filter 2 and two high/low-pass filters standing by
Phaseburn One FX page: a two-filter section on its FILTER 1 tab, distortion, chorus, delay, reverb, bitcrusher and freezer, and a Master EQ with TONE, LOW, MID and HIGH tabs
Phaseburn One modulation page: LFO 1 to 3 with their waveform pickers and EDIT chips, filter-envelope, custom-envelope, note-strength, velocity and mod-wheel modulators, the compact LFO 4, and one of the four bipolar step modulators
Phaseburn One LFO Editor: a searchable shape catalog on the left, the LFO rate, phase and destination strip along the top, and a full-width breakpoint editor holding a drawn curve with smooth, stepped and bent segments over a 32-column grid
Phaseburn One Groove page, Notes tab: the GENERATE dials above a live bar preview of the rolled notes, the octave row, the length, position and velocity humanize decks, and the edit-note strip with per-note chance, strength and length
Phaseburn One Groove page, Beats tab: per-slot probability bars with swing, length, velocity and position groove tools
Phaseburn One preset browser: factory and user banks with favorites and SEQ, VCA and FX tags
Macro Five macro dials over the loop, each tuned by ear
Oscillators Phase-Locked Loop, MORPH and VECTOR, side by side
PLL Lab Where the loop locks, slips or runs chaotic — drag to play
Mixer & patchbay Faders and a stereo scope — patch cables below
FX Two filters, six effects and a Master EQ, each a patchable node
Modulation Four LFOs, note modulators, four step modulators
LFO Editor Draw the LFO — breakpoints, bends and held steps
Groove · Notes A scale-aware note pool — and a preview of every bar
Groove · Beats Chances, not steps — every bar is a fresh draw
Presets Factory and user banks, favorites, tags and export
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Sound · The instrument

Four oscillators, one voice

All four run into a single voice path — a focus that buys the loop mathematics, the double-precision path and the oversampling — while PARAPHONY, on the Voicing tab, can still hand each oscillator its own note for a paraphonic chord. And the voice is true stereo: left and right are generated independently — divergent loops, per-side phase shaping, unison spread across the field — so width comes from the source, not from a widener bolted on at the end. Full parameter names below are the actual panel controls.

Phase-Locked Loop

The signature voice

A phase-locked loop is a control circuit from radio engineering: an oscillator listens to a reference, measures how far its phase has drifted, and constantly corrects itself. Phaseburn One turns that whole feedback dance into its main voice.

TRACK sets how fast the oscillator chases, DAMP how hard the correction brakes, INFLUENCE how much the reference pulls: tight, it locks into solid, weighty pitch with analog character; loose, the chase itself becomes audible — gliding approach, ringing overshoot, sirens and growls. Four macro dials — GRIP, FIGHT, COLOR, WIDTH — open the loop by ear with your own patch at twelve o’clock, ADVANCED hands back every knob, PLL REF points the loop at any other output or at your audio, and the PLL LAB charts the whole loop live.

  • TRACK
  • DAMP
  • INFLUENCE
  • CHAOS
  • RANGE
  • MULT ×1–64
  • DIV ÷1–8
  • INPUT REF (INT/EXT)
  • BURST THR · AMT
  • INJECT
  • STEP · GRIT
  • LAG · RELOCK
  • FM · RATIO
  • COLOR HARM/SAT/FOLD
  • FOLD · RATIO
  • FEEDBACK · TUBE
  • DRIFT · RATE

Vector Phase Shaping

The sculptor

The VECTOR oscillator bends the phase of a waveform around a movable inflection point — two coordinates, X and Y, sweep one cycle from smooth and flute-like to bright and biting without ever swapping waveforms. It builds on vector phase shaping, a published synthesis method (Kleimola, Lazzarini, Timoney & Välimäki, 2011), implemented here in double precision.

Its FM tab lets MORPH, the sub and the PLL play into it, each through its own TONE, with FEEDBACK, a WIDTH for stereo FM and FILTER ENV to sweep the depth; a Sync menu locks it to the note or the sub, hard or reversed.

  • X · Y
  • X∆ · Y∆ stereo
  • FORMANT mode
  • FOLD
  • SHAPE
  • SHAPE TYPE soft/hard/fold
  • FM: MORPH · SUB · PLL + TONE
  • FEEDBACK · WIDTH · FILTER ENV
  • SYNC NOTE / SUB · HARD / REVERSE

MORPH (12 modes)

The palette

Twelve waveform families, picked from a mode menu and each swept by a single knob: classic shapes, Swarm’s seven detuned saws spread across the stereo field, hard-sync sweeps, additive build-ups to 64 harmonics, staircase shapes, true vowel synthesis (A · E · I · O · U) from a runtime source-filter engine, and a spectral wavetable — with click-free, equal-power crossfades whenever the mode changes.

  • WAVE
  • FOLD
  • SHAPE
  • STEREO ∆
  • FINE
  • BREATH · SIZE (formant)
  • SYNC OFF / NOTE / SUB

Sub

The foundation

A dedicated sub oscillator for the foundation: from three octaves below the note up to one above it, continuously shaped from sine through triangle, saw and square to a narrowing pulse, with its own saturation. Its NO FX switch routes the raw sub around the tone-shaping chain entirely, so the low end stays untouched no matter how hard the rest of the patch is driven.

  • OCTAVE −3…+1
  • SHAPE sin→pulse
  • SATURATE
  • NO FX
Read the full story →
Groove · The MIDI groove generator

Dice between note lengths

Not a step grid with a random switch — a weighted lottery over one bar, engineered so the result stays musical. Rules you can read, dice you load yourself — and every note it rolls leaves the plug-in as MIDI.

  • 01

    You set chances, not steps

    Every one of 152 slots carries a probability. 100% is a step; 30% is a maybe; the space between is where grooves live.

  • 02

    Three grids share one bar

    Straight, triplet and dotted timing run at the same time in the same bar — polyrhythm without switching patterns.

  • 03

    Beats compete for the bar

    Overlapping slots gamble for each moment: give the quarter note 80% and the half note 10%, and most bars open with the quarter, some ring the half through — and one in ten, the downbeat holds its breath. The winner occupies its length and quiets the rivals.

  • 04

    Strength marks the beats that matter

    A second map ranks every position — downbeat strong, ghosts weak — and the rest of the instrument aims at it: the root prefers the strongest beat, a modulation route pushes a knob harder on accents, length dice shorten the weak hits. Velocity follows only as far as its own slider says.

Read the full story →
Rack · The effects rack

A rack, not an afterthought

Every effect is a node that takes cables — feed it from the mix, from one oscillator, or from another effect — and each one runs real per-sample processing on the same 64-bit path as the voice. Patch AUDIO IN into the rack and it processes your tracks with no note held. The rack is part of the instrument, not a garnish.

Filter

Two complete filters, each with two machines — a saturating four-pole ladder and a state-variable filter — and one MORPH knob sweeping real in-between shapes.

  • FILTER 1 | FILTER 2
  • CUTOFF
  • RESONANCE
  • LADDER · SVF
  • DRIVE
  • KEY TRACK
  • ENVELOPE
  • MORPH
  • CHARACTER
  • STEREO SEP
  • BASS LOCK

Delay

A frequency shifter inside the loop, so every repeat slides in pitch — inharmonic tails, barber-pole echoes.

  • TIME · SYNC
  • FEEDBACK
  • FREQ SHIFT ± · WIDE
  • SIDEBAND
  • SMEAR
  • TUBE
  • FB LPF · HPF
  • DUAL · OFFSET · PONG

Reverb

A feedback-delay-network room with modulated tails, ducking that rides the dry signal, and wet gain that can push the room to the front.

  • DECAY
  • SIZE
  • WIDTH
  • DIFFUSION
  • DECAY HF
  • PRE-DELAY
  • MOD SPEED · DEPTH
  • DUCKING
  • WET GAIN

Chorus

Four circuits — chorus, flanger, ensemble, vibrato — with depth in cents, so the same setting means the same thing at every rate.

  • DELAY
  • RATE
  • DEPTH
  • WIDTH
  • IMAGE
  • SPREAD
  • DETUNE
  • RESO
  • CROSS FB
  • FB FILTER

Distortion

Four archetypes on one cascade — overdrive, distortion, fuzz, high gain — with drive calibrated to change tone, not level.

  • OD / DIST / FUZZ / METAL
  • AUTO
  • DRIVE
  • BITE
  • LOW
  • BIAS
  • TONE
  • MID
  • MIX
  • LEVEL

Bitcrusher

Bit depth and rate reduction with drive — from sampler dust to full collapse.

  • BITS
  • FREQ
  • TRACK
  • DRIVE
  • MIX

Freezer

A granular engine: granulate what you play as it happens, or catch a moment and hold it as a pad — scrub it, reverse it, scatter it into a cloud.

  • GRANULAR | LOOPER
  • LOOP
  • WINDOW
  • GRAIN
  • POSITION
  • MIX
  • SMOOTH · REVERSE · CLOUD

Master

Corrective cuts, a brilliance exciter and three sweepable EQ bands, stereo width with a mono-bass anchor, and a true-peak limiter.

  • HIGH-PASS · BOOST
  • BOX CUT
  • BRILLIANCE
  • LOW · MID · HIGH
  • STEREO WIDTH
  • MONO BASS
  • TRUE-PEAK LIMITER
Read the full story →
Patchbay · The wiring

A patchbay, four rules

Oscillators, audio from your host, both filters and every effect are nodes — plus FILTER 3 and FILTER 4, two plain low-pass, high-pass, band-pass or notch slots that live only here. Draw gain-scaled cables from any output into the inputs it can reach — series, parallel, or effects nested inside feedback loops.

PLL SUB MORPH VECTOR FILTER 1 FILTER 2 CHORUS DIST BITS DELAY REVERB MASTER OUT
  • 01

    Inputs sum

    Cables into one input mix, each with its own gain — except the main source on every effect and filter: a filter’s output or the oscillators direct, and picking one releases the other.

  • 02

    Outputs fan out

    One output can feed a filter, a delay and the master at once.

  • 03

    Feedback runs through taps

    Delay, chorus, reverb and freezer expose feedback jacks — patch other effects inside the loop; dedicated taps mean it can never stall the engine.

  • 04

    Rebuilt every block

    The graph re-schedules itself on the audio thread with no locks and no allocations — repatch while it plays.

Read the chapter →
Modulation · Movement

240+ things to move

Modulation is source-centric: pick a source, aim it at a handful of destinations, layer sources for complexity. More than two hundred and forty targets, plus the gain of every cable you patch; a full amount sweeps a knob to its end and stops there, and right-clicking a knob adds a route on the spot.

4 LFOs

Sample-accurate, free or synced — and they can modulate each other, so two slow LFOs braid into drift no single shape produces. The LFO Editor draws the shape itself: move the breakpoints, bend or step a segment, keep it in your own library.

4 mod sequencers

Step-sequenced modulation lanes that run beside the note sequencer — stepped filter rides, rhythmic pans, evolving morphs.

Modulation wheel, velocity & note strength

First-class sources, not afterthoughts: ride the modulation wheel to open the filter or deepen a vibrato, strike harder to push drive, and let the groove’s own note strength move the sound with its weight.

Envelopes

Volume and filter envelopes with per-stage curve shaping, per-stage sync and loop mode — plus a separate transient engine with its own power switch, one-shot TRIGGER mode and oscillator targets.

Destination groups
  • Oscillators
  • Envelopes
  • All four filters
  • Transient
  • Every FX
  • Master EQ
  • Mixer
  • LFO & mod sequencer rates
  • Patch cables
Read the chapter →
Engineering

Built like a measuring instrument

One voice path is a budget decision: every cycle saved on polyphony is spent on precision — and PARAPHONY, on the OSC page’s Voicing tab, can still split the four oscillators into a paraphonic chord.

PLL · IDLE 48 kHz · 64-bit
Signal path
64-bit floating point through the core DSP — oscillators, envelopes, filters
Stereo
True stereo — left and right generated independently at the oscillators; width from the source, chorus as a choice rather than a crutch
Oversampling
Built-in on the stages that need it
Filters
Zero-delay-feedback, after published topologies — self-oscillate cleanly
Anti-aliasing
Band-limited modes plus antiderivative anti-aliasing on the drive, clipping and exciter stages — strong alias suppression throughout
Output
True-peak limiter — catches inter-sample overs
Audio thread
Lock-free; the patch graph is rebuilt every block with zero allocations
Written in
Native Rust — no garbage collector between you and the sound
Read the chapter →
Hear it

What one instrument can do

One instrument, no external processing, no layering.

Electrical Experiment
0:00 0:32
Moth Museum
0:00 0:32
Tape Loop Mantra
0:00 0:32
The Long Goodbye
0:00 0:32
Run Through The Forest
0:00 0:32
Dirty
0:00 0:32
Box With Worms
0:00 0:32
Drumloop
0:00 0:32
Teebeedom
0:00 0:32
Lost Dance
0:00 0:32
PLL Jukebox
0:00 0:32
Late Bus
0:00 0:32
PLL Oda
0:00 0:32
Destroyed
0:00 0:32
Fireflies
0:00 0:32
Gameboy
0:00 0:32
Short Legs Jump
0:00 0:32
Ambulance
0:00 0:32
Song
0:00 0:32
Heavy Duet
0:00 0:32
Blues Shaffle
0:00 0:32
Apple Jam
0:00 0:32
Cyberpunk Streets
0:00 0:32
Guessing
0:00 0:32
Street Beat
0:00 0:32
K-hole
0:00 0:32
Minimalisto
0:00 0:32
Banjo
0:00 0:32
Demo

Every sound here is Phaseburn One

A full demo track from layered instances alone — instruments, effects and drums. No other synth, no outside processing.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Demo Layered Phaseburn One instances only — instruments, effects and drums.
Specifications

Runs where you work

Phaseburn One system specifications for macOS and Windows
Specification macOS Windows
Formats VST3 · CLAP · AU · Standalone VST3 · CLAP · Standalone
Architecture Apple Silicon & Intel x86-64
Voices Paraphonic — one voice path, up to 4 pitches via PARAPHONY Paraphonic — one voice path, up to 4 pitches via PARAPHONY
MIDI In + out, program change in (plug-in) · hardware in, clock and transport in (standalone) In + out, program change in (plug-in) · hardware in, clock and transport in (standalone)
OS macOS 10.14+ Windows 10 21H2+ / 11
Engine Native Rust DSP Native Rust DSP
Audio I/O Stereo in + sidechain · stereo out Stereo in + sidechain · stereo out
Library 256 high-quality presets · eight user banks 256 high-quality presets · eight user banks

Any host that loads VST3, CLAP or AU should work — the installers offer every format for your platform, pre-selected, and put what you keep in the standard system folders.

Releases

Every build, logged

Phaseburn One moves fast. Each build lands on the changelog, and anyone who opted into build updates gets an email with the download link the day it ships — updates are free across the 1.x series, and your license carries over.

v1.0.0 Release

Phaseburn One 1.0

The first full release. Every factory slot now holds a finished sound, 256 presets across eight banks; a fresh instance starts on a new INIT patch; and a round of engine fixes found while building those presets makes transients, velocity, first notes and FM WIDTH behave the way the panel says. Unregistered, the build is the demo from the first launch, and a license lifts it for good. Update in place: user banks, favorites and your license carry over.

  • Eight factory banks, 256 presets. Every slot from A to H holds a finished sound: playable instruments, sequenced phrases and grooves, one-shots, basses and leads, pads and textures. Installing replaces the factory banks with the new set, so save anything you built on a factory patch into a USER bank first.
  • A new INIT patch. A fresh instance starts on a plain PLL voice that sounds the key you play (a C3 key is C3), with FILTER 1 open and every module parked so that switching it on is musical at once: the filter envelope sweeps the moment you turn its AMOUNT, the delay waits on a dotted eighth, the four LFOs run synced to a quarter note. Presets and projects saved before keep their own sound.
  • Modulation routed to GRIP, FIGHT, COLOR or WIDTH plays the moment the route is made. Before, the route stayed silent until one of the four macro dials had been moved by hand, and a project saved that way reopened silent too; it now drives from the first block. Making the route never moves the sound: only the route's own movement is heard.
  • Transient hits play out. A Sweep, Click or T-Fold that a mod sequencer lane or a bipolar LFO brings in on the hit now runs its whole course instead of retiring with the first sample, and a click routed into a filter instead of DIRECT plays out under a very short VCA instead of being cut after a few milliseconds.
Full changelog · 8 more → Buy now · €149 Try the free demo
Questions

Answered before you ask

The four we hear most. The full list covers licensing and updates in detail.

All questions →
What makes the sequencer different?

It rolls dice between note lengths, not just on and off. The slots that overlap a moment compete for it in one weighted draw — give the sixteenth on beat one 80%, the quarter note 10%, the eighth 5%, and the rest is a rest — and the winner plays its full length and quiets its rivals. A Strength map ranks every position, and the rest of the instrument reads it: each note in the pool can prefer strong or weak beats and long or short notes, the length modifiers humanize only where you aim them, and beat links hang fills off a beat.

Every note it rolls also leaves the plug-in as MIDI, so the same dice can drive any instrument you own.

Can I use it as an effect?

Yes. A stereo input plus a sidechain arrive as AUDIO IN in the patchbay, beside the oscillators. Insert the VST3 on a track (or the CLAP, where your host allows it), or send to it, and cable AUDIO IN into either filter, the freezer, the delay or any other effect — each runs on the voice’s 64-bit path, no note required, and DRY/WET blends your track back in. In Logic the AU takes audio through the channel strip’s Side Chain menu. AUDIO IN can also feed PLL REF, so the loop chases your audio.

Is there a free demo?

Yes — the download page serves the full synth as a demo: every parameter, preset and effect works. What it will not do is produce a finished file: it dips briefly roughly every couple of minutes, and every bounce or export carries a soft noise watermark. Registering a license lifts both at once, in the build you already have — no reinstall.

How much does it cost?

€149, one time — a perpetual, DRM-free license, VAT included for EU customers. Activate once, use it on up to 3 of your machines, verified offline from then on. Secure card checkout; the license key arrives by email instantly. Buy now · €149, or try the free demo first.

One-time · perpetual

Own it forever

One payment, a perpetual, DRM-free license: activate once, verified offline forever, on up to 3 of your machines. The demo is free to try — registering lifts its limits: the periodic dip, and the watermark that keeps you from bouncing with it.

€149 one-time · VAT included

Buy now · €149 → Try the free demo

Secure card checkout by Paddle — the license key arrives by email instantly