Technical Specifications
Audio Processing
Section titled “Audio Processing”| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| Internal Bit Depth | 32-bit floating point |
| Output Bit Depth | 16-bit or 32-bit |
| Sample Rate | Supports any sample rate; all signals processed at the same rate |
| Block Size | ~96 samples per processing block |
Audio signals, control voltages, and envelopes are all carried on Audio pins, and all process at the full sample rate — this eliminates “zipper noise” artifacts that can occur in systems that process control signals at a lower rate. There’s no separate, slower “control rate” in the engine.
What keeps full-rate control voltages affordable is a cooperative optimization rather than a lower rate: a module can flag its output as static (steady rather than actively changing), and a module downstream can then assume every sample in the block equals that value instead of doing real per-sample work. See Optimizing CPU Usage for how this scales up to full Sleep Mode.
Separately, rarely-touched configuration values (a MIDI channel selector, a checkbox) use lighter-weight Float pins, which send a new value only when it changes rather than living in the audio-rate signal path — see the FAQ on Audio pins vs. Float pins.
SynthEdit generates waveforms at runtime (not from pre-recorded samples), so oscillators work correctly at any sample rate without aliasing issues.
Latency
Section titled “Latency”Audio latency depends on your driver and buffer settings:
| Driver | Typical Latency |
|---|---|
| ASIO | Very low (depends on hardware) |
| DirectSound | Adjustable via Play Ahead buffer setting |
Configure audio drivers and buffer sizes in Edit > Preferences > Audio & MIDI.
Polyphony
Section titled “Polyphony”| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Default Voices | 6 |
| Maximum Voices | 128 |
| Voice Management | Automatic sleep mode for inactive voices |
Feedback Loops
Section titled “Feedback Loops”Feedback loops are not directly supported due to the block-based processing architecture. Use the Feedback - Volts module to create feedback paths, which introduces a minimum delay of approximately one processing block. See Feedback Paths for details.
System Requirements
Section titled “System Requirements”| Platform | Minimum |
|---|---|
| Windows | Windows 10 version 1809 (build 17763) or later, 64-bit |
| macOS | Apple Silicon (M1 or later), macOS Tahoe or later |
| Linux (experimental) | 64-bit x86, glibc 2.39+, a Wayland desktop session |
| Processor | Any modern 64-bit CPU |
| RAM | Depends on patch complexity |
See the Installation page for the full per-platform requirements and download links.
File Formats
Section titled “File Formats”| Format | Extension | Use |
|---|---|---|
| SynthEdit Project | .synthedit | Native project files |
| VST Plugin | .vst3 | Exported plugins |
| Wave Audio | .wav | Audio rendering output |
| MIDI | .mid | Sequence input |
| SoundFont | .sf2 | Sample-based oscillator source |