[HN Gopher] Show HN: I built a synthesizer based on 3D physics
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Show HN: I built a synthesizer based on 3D physics
I've been working on the Anukari 3D Physics Synthesizer for a
little over two years now. It's one of the earliest virtual
instruments to rely on the GPU for audio processing, which has been
incredibly challenging and fun. In the end, predictably, the GUI
for manipulating the 3D system actually ended up being a lot more
work than the physics simulation. So far I am only selling it
direct on my website, which seems to be working well. I hope to
turn it into a sustainable business, and ideally I'd have enough
revenue to hire folks to help with it. So far it's been 99% a solo
project, with (awesome) contractors brought in for some of the
stuff that I'm bad at, like the 3D models and making instrument
presets/videos. The official launch announcement video is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYX_eeNVIEU But if you REALLY want
to see what it can do, check out what Mick Cormick did with in on
the first day: https://x.com/Mick_Gordon/status/1918146487948919222
I've kept a fairly detailed developer log about my progress on the
project since October 2023, which might be of interest to the
hardcore technical folks here: https://anukari.com/blog/devlog I
also gave a talk at Audio Developer Conference 2023 (ADC23) that
goes deep into a couple of the problems I solved for Anukari:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb8b1SYy73Q
Author : humbledrone
Score : 237 points
Date : 2025-05-02 18:12 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (anukari.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (anukari.com)
| corytheboyd wrote:
| Whoa this looks really cool! I love how you made something
| physically 3D to stand out in a world full of 2D knobs and
| sliders... but it still has 2D sliders because those work the
| best for dialing things in with precision.
| badmonster wrote:
| looks really cool! congrats!
| throwpoaster wrote:
| Very neat!
|
| Is the simulation deterministic?
| humbledrone wrote:
| Yep! I have a lot of unit/integration tests that were a lot
| easier to write and more reliable by making the simulation
| fully-deterministic. It does produce slightly different results
| on different GPUs due to small differences in the FP
| operations. (For this application it's really beneficial to let
| the compiler go crazy with FP re-ordering to get speed.)
| fsckboy wrote:
| does it benefit from or even require top end GPUs to get the
| best results?
| mutagen wrote:
| I've been able to run it on an Intel laptop with integrated
| video. I haven't been able to test the most complex models
| / presets, I might give that a shot this weekend and see
| where it falls apart.
| humbledrone wrote:
| mutagen sums up my experience pretty well -- I have tested
| it on a laptop with a pretty wimpy Intel Iris chipset and
| it definitely works, but you might be limited in terms of
| how complex of a preset you can run. But there is a LOT of
| fun to be had with small presets so it may still be
| worthwhile. Be sure to install the absolute most up-to-date
| drivers from Intel directly, and use a larger buffer size.
| yapyap wrote:
| It definitely looks really cool! As an outsider to the audio
| stuff with an okay amount of knowledge I'm curious as to the
| workflow for sure
| humbledrone wrote:
| You can get a sense for the workflow in the quick-start
| tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gva-BVuWbUA. It
| doesn't cover the advanced features but it should give you and
| idea what it's like!
| pjbk wrote:
| Cool idea. Sounds like AAS Chromaphone on steroids.
| gregschlom wrote:
| Absolutely awesome! I know nothing about music production but I
| want to play with it just for fun. Maybe a very simplified, web-
| based version for people who just to play a bit? Would be
| awesome.
|
| Congrats on the hard work and the launch, in any case!
|
| Edit: I see you have a demo mode, that's great! Exactly what I
| was looking for
| newobj wrote:
| Whoa this is sick
| vid43 wrote:
| This is so cool.
| sunray2 wrote:
| Thank you for this, it looks very cool!
|
| Remind me of Korg's Berlin branch with their Phase8 instrument:
| https://korg.berlin/ . Life imitates art imitates life :)
|
| I highly support and encourage this. Is there a way I could
| contribute to Anukari at all (I'm a physicist by day)? These
| kinds of advancements are the stuff I would live for! However I
| should stay rooted in what's possible or helpful: I'm not sure if
| this is open-source for example. As long as I could help, I'm
| game.
| humbledrone wrote:
| For the foreseeable future I'm just going to be working on
| stability/performance, but eventually I will get back to adding
| more cool physics stuff. It's not open-source, but certainly
| I'd enjoy talking to a real physicist (I'm something a couple
| notches below armchair-level). Hit me up at evan@anukari.com
| sometime if you like!
| sunray2 wrote:
| Thanks, will hit you up later!
|
| I was using the demo just now: the sounds you get out of this
| are actually better than I expected! And I see what you meant
| in the videos about intuitive editing, rather than abstract.
|
| Although, I was often hitting 100% CPU with some presets,
| with the sound glitching accordingly. So I could experiment
| only in part. I'm on an M1 Pro; initially I set 128 buffer
| sample size in Ableton but most presets were glitching, I
| then set to 2048 just to check for improvement, which it did,
| nevertheless it does seem a bit high. Maybe my audio settings
| are incorrect? I can give more info later if it helps you.
| humbledrone wrote:
| Yeah performance at low buffer sizes is a big challenge,
| generally I recommend 512 or higher, which I know is not
| great but right now it's the most practical thing. The
| issue is that the computation is all done on the GPU, and
| there's a round-trip latency that has to be amortized. One
| day I'd like to convince Apple to work on the kernel
| scheduling latency...
| carterschonwald wrote:
| This is super super duper cool. Thx for sharing
| tarentel wrote:
| Not sure I'll ever use this as it seems like a lot of work but
| wanted to say thank you for allowing me to download a demo
| without giving an email.
|
| Also, even though I said I wouldn't use it, something that would
| be nice is a master volume, maybe I missed it. I often use VSTs
| standalone and being able to change the volume without messing
| with the preset would make it a bit easier to use.
|
| Definitely the most interesting synth I've ever seen.
| humbledrone wrote:
| Thanks, yeah, it really should have master volume -- you didn't
| miss it, it's just not there yet!
| dfedbeef wrote:
| Any chance we'll get a Linux VST or CLAP?
| humbledrone wrote:
| Linux: I very much want to do this, but unfortunately it's
| lower priority than getting things rock-solid on windows/mac.
| It's not a gigantic amount of work, but it's not trivial.
| Hopefully I can do it once things calm down with the Beta.
|
| CLAP: I'm using the JUCE framework for plugin integrations,
| which doesn't currently support CLAP. But their roadmap says
| that the next major version will support CLAP, and I will
| definitely implement that in Anukari. Not sure when JUCE 9
| comes out though, it could be a while.
| thrtythreeforty wrote:
| There's an external plugin to emit a CLAP plugin for JUCE 8:
| https://github.com/free-audio/clap-juce-extensions
|
| It works quite well, but it's also reasonable to wait for
| official framework support.
| humbledrone wrote:
| Thanks, that could be good if the JUCE support is going to
| be way off.
| drcongo wrote:
| I like the look of this, do you have any plans to release it for
| iPad?
| humbledrone wrote:
| The thought has definitely occurred to me. It's always been in
| the back of my mind on the "if it shows some success..." list.
| Glad to hear there's interest, I think it would be really fun
| if I implemented proper multi-touch. There are some other
| details I'd need to think through, though, since right now it
| mostly assumes you have a MIDI keyboard, but on an iPad it's
| just begging for touch controls for a lot of that stuff.
| endofreach wrote:
| I'd focus on ipad & an awesome multitouch experience. App
| store sales are easier & i'd bet apple would spotlight it.
| rvba wrote:
| The website should have a better youtube video and at the
| beginning
| humbledrone wrote:
| You are 100% correct. It turns out that I am an OK engineer,
| and a terrible marketer. There is a LOT that I need to improve
| on the site and the videos.
| shannifin wrote:
| Some little audio examples would also be nice so visitors
| don't have to scroll through the video to hear them.
|
| Still, awesome work!
| imhoguy wrote:
| Yeah, all the cool 3D pictures should play demo videos on
| click!
| mkl wrote:
| Every one of those pretty-looking screenshots should have a
| play button with a few seconds of audio. It's really strange
| to market a synthesiser with visuals instead of sound.
| tbalsam wrote:
| Yes, it's a synthesizer -- you may know it inside and out,
| but having demo videos showing what it can do will help
| people with no context get that quick "ahhh, that makes
| sense" moment from things. :)
| sitkack wrote:
| I would love to watch (and listen) to a discussion between you
| and Noah from Audiocube,
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42877399
| https://main.audiocube.app/ a 3d spatial DAW.
| humbledrone wrote:
| I have been peripherally aware of Audiocube for a while, and it
| seems ridiculous that he and I have not interacted in any way.
| Maybe I'll bug him sometime. :)
| ww520 wrote:
| Wow. This is so cool. It opens up a different approach to the
| problem.
| ghawkescs wrote:
| Incredible work and a very creative product. I can't wait to see
| what is created using Anukari.
| junon wrote:
| Ha! I've had this idea for ages but never had the urge to make
| it. I'll have to play with it, thanks for sharing!
| fractallyte wrote:
| I second the recommendation: even if you don't have a Twitter/X
| account, find some way to watch Mick Gordon's session!
|
| I find it hysterically funny, but at the same time, it really
| shows what this synth is capable of.
|
| Excellent!
| bufferoverflow wrote:
| Dang it. I am working on the same thing, but in 2D.
| sunray2 wrote:
| Don't be discouraged! It might even be that 2D is better than
| 3D in this case: it's all about how it sounds, right? And if a
| 2D simulation can be less expensive than a 3D while sounding
| just as good or better, it works in your favour!
|
| I think that's the real key to this stuff: what makes these
| things actually sound good?
| IshKebab wrote:
| I think 2D is probably the better move for this thing. 3D
| doesn't really open many possibilities that you can't do in 2D,
| and it adds loads of UI awkwardness.
| humbledrone wrote:
| There are a lot of advantages to 2D -- you could simulate more
| objects and more complex interactions with the lesser
| computational demands, and as other comments say, it will
| likely be way easier to build a better GUI. Think about how
| many compressor VSTs there are out there, and still people keep
| making them! And a 2D Anukari could be much more different from
| 3D Anukari than most compressors are from one another.
| nayuki wrote:
| This reminds me of the reverse, where music drives 3D animations.
| I remember Animusic from the early decade of 2000.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animusic ,
| https://www.animusic.com/ ,
| https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=animusic ,
| https://www.youtube.com/@julianlachniet9036/videos
| mjcohen wrote:
| I have the first two Animusic reels (vhs and dvd) and thought
| they were great. Unfortunately, the creator scammed people by
| taking money for Animusic 3 and then not making anything.
|
| Most of them are on youtube.
| humbledrone wrote:
| I'm a huge fan of Animusic. I remember seeing it for the first
| time in some big fancy mall in LA and they had it projected on
| a wall, and I was blown away. It was absolutely an inspiration!
| Animusic -type ideas are a big part of why I made the 3D
| graphics fully user-customizable, for anyone who wants to go
| deep down that rabbit hole.
| an_aparallel wrote:
| Hey evan Just wondering, can you import 3d models into this
| envireonment? Im still pining for a less "code" driven
| environment for this than max/msp modalsys.
| humbledrone wrote:
| You can replace all the 3D models and skyboxes. Everything is
| in open formats, wrapped up in zip files. See:
|
| https://anukari.com/support/faq#custom-skyboxes
| https://anukari.com/support/faq#custom-skins
|
| AFAIK nobody has attempted this yet, so the write-up might not
| be perfect. If you try it, let me know how it goes!
| imhoguy wrote:
| This is so cool and has unlimited potential, like you could model
| real instruments, e.g. guitar to experiment with resonant chamber
| shapes, materials etc. Can't upvote enough on good old perpetual
| licensing model!
| anigbrowl wrote:
| _Not supported: Intel-based Macs_
|
| Boo
| TheOtherHobbes wrote:
| I don't think Intel Macs have the grunt for this. Physical
| modelling of complex networks is pretty intensive.
|
| You can take it a stage further and model networks of complex
| shapes like metal plates. That gets even more interesting
| because you get multiple resonant modes.
|
| In the limit you could use finite element modelling to create
| _precise_ simulations of acoustic instruments - like all of the
| strings in a piano, all of the dampers, the resonator, and the
| wooden enclosure.
|
| But that's a brute force way to do it, and there isn't nearly
| enough compute available to make it happen in real time. (You
| might be able to do it on a supercomputer. I'm not aware of
| anyone's who's tried.)
| TheOtherHobbes wrote:
| Fun :)
| michaelhoney wrote:
| So many of us have ideas for something cool and never build them.
| You did it. I salute you, you madman
| hamoid wrote:
| Looks very fun :-) Does anyone notice issues with the sound
| quality? In many of the examples I hear clicking: sometimes as if
| the attack is too high, or as if there is some kind of aliasing
| or sample rate issue, or just clipping. Probably noticeable with
| headphones. For instance in the announcement video at 3:11 or in
| the "J.S. Bach, Prelude in C Major (BWV 846)" video between 4.4s
| and 7.2s. It's somewhat visible if I load that audio in Audacity
| and turn on the spectrogram view with these settings:
| Logarithmic, 200 to 6000 Hz. Algorithm: Reassignment, 1024,
| Blackman-Harris, 1. Colors: 50, 40, 50.
|
| What's odd is that I hear the glitches in in Firefox and in the
| file downloaded with yt-dlp, but not in Chromium. Is Google
| serving me bad audio on purpose?
|
| Correction: some videos also do have glitchs on Chromium.
| titaphraz wrote:
| Seriously cool! A Linux build on the horizon?
| siavosh wrote:
| So beautiful - I wonder what kind of an instrument an AI can
| build, creating sounds never before heard...
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