News

What's new in SANDYNE

Release notes, announcements, and what we're working on. Newest first.

Release

SANDYNE 2.0#

2.0 is here. It opens SANDYNE up to more of your plugin collection with CLAP and LV2, brings a new analog techno synth, a much deeper Syna, automation curves, a command palette, and translations that now cover most of the interface.

See a demo at https://youtu.be/N9cU2bS-c3g

Plugins & audio engine

  • Added CLAP plugin support.
  • Added LV2 plugin support (Linux).
  • JACK is now enabled on Linux.
  • Added support for plugins with multiple audio outputs.
  • Lame 4 support for better MP3 quality.
  • More optimised plugin scanner.
  • Mac / Linux: plugin windows are kept inside the app.

New instrument: Hooverdrive

  • Hooverdrive — a six-voice recreation of a classic mid-'80s Japanese analog polysynth, measured from the hardware.
  • DCO with saw, pulse, sub and noise, plus PWM.
  • Resonant filter with a seven-stage envelope, and chorus.
  • SysEx bank import for loading hardware patches.

Syna

  • Added a mod matrix.
  • Added vintage, stereo width and filter drive controls.
  • Added oscillator morphing.
  • New Bell FM oscillator (the Juno oscillator is retired).
  • SAW PWM is now integrated into the SAW oscillator.
  • The Pluck oscillator has been revoiced.
  • Oscillator range extended from −2…+2 to −3…+3.
  • Robot redesigned, with a "play whole sentence" mode and new controls.
  • Key track now only opens the filter, plus zipper-noise fixes.
  • Presets updated throughout.

Other instruments

  • Synth, Terrain, Sub and Water now support a filter env amount range of −100%…100%.
  • Ambient: added an "always play" option.

Effects

  • New Vinyl effect — rotation-locked scratch pops, dust crackle, surface noise, wow and record ageing.
  • New Velocity MIDI effect — reshape note velocity through a curve you draw.
  • EQ: dynamic EQ, mid/side and left/right processing, and a Window mode.
  • Tape: improved emulation, with preset support.
  • Arpeggiator MIDI effect now supports patterns.
  • Effects default to sync modes.

Automation & modulation

  • Automation now supports curves, in a range of curve types.
  • New MIDI controller modulator — mod wheel, pitch wheel, aftertouch and more.

Timeline & MIDI

  • Added Chords and Time Signatures lanes.
  • Improved MIDI import.
  • SysEx sending.

Piano roll

  • Added the Knife tool.
  • New visualisation options.
  • More arpeggio patterns.

Audio conversion & editing

  • Stem separation: added quality modes.
  • Audio to MIDI: drum audio conversion, plus additional settings.
  • Sample editor: waveforms now also show RMS, with new menus.
  • Beats editor renamed to Drums, with improved controls.

Routing & inputs

  • The Inputs tab has been rewritten, with gain and monitoring.
  • Sidechain-only tracks, via a "None" output.
  • The record audio input menu now shows Has signal when an input is live.
  • The master bus is shown by default.
  • "Sample track" is now called Audio track.

Controls & workflow

  • New command palette.
  • Ctrl + Shift + drag a clip to create an alias clip.
  • View menu: zoom options, and "set all tracks to use theme".
  • Improved controls when saving presets.
  • Double-click to open .sand project files.
  • Mac: undo / redo buttons are now shown.
  • More tooltips throughout, and updated tutorials.

Translations

  • Translations now cover most of the interface.
  • Added Korean and Portuguese.

Performance & polish

  • Compile-time and memory optimisations.
  • fl_compat improvements.
  • Linux: added a crash dialog.
  • Improved visuals across the app.

All platforms — Windows, Mac and Linux — are now on 2.0.0. Grab it on the download page.

Release

Linux is out of early access#

The Linux build is no longer a private preview — it's a normal, public download alongside Windows and Mac. No request form, no waiting list: grab it straight from the download page.

The current Linux release is 1.5.0.3, shipped as a .tar.gz installation package.

Download for Linux

Release

SANDYNE 1.5.0#

The biggest release yet. 1.5.0 brings deep audio-editing tools, full automation recording, tempo/time-signature/marker lanes, broad project interoperability, and a long list of piano-roll and workflow refinements.

See a demo at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjY0x5xZfG8

Audio editing & conversion

  • Added a Pitch Editor to the Sample Editor.
  • Added polyphonic audio-to-MIDI conversion.
  • Added audio export dithering.
  • Added plugin delay compensation.
  • Added VST sidechain audio support.
  • Added a Brickwall mode to the limiter.

Recording & automation

  • Added an Inputs tab for input monitoring.
  • Added Touch, Latch, and Write automation recording modes.
  • Added support for note-based automation curves.

Timeline & arrangement

  • Added tempo lanes.
  • Added time signature lanes.
  • Added marker lanes.
  • Improved Freeze, Refreeze, and Unfreeze performance.

Plugin & MIDI support

  • Added support for VST MIDI effects.
  • Added a keyboard shortcut editor.

Project & file compatibility

  • Added import support for Reaper .rpp projects.
  • Added DAWproject export support.
  • Added stem WAV import and export.

Piano roll

  • Added multi-note stretching.
  • Improved the velocity editor grid.
  • Improved the default multi-tool cursor.
  • Added zooming with the mouse wheel over the virtual piano.

Visual & workflow improvements

  • Added an optional track lane tint theme setting.
  • Improved the appearance of the web version.
  • Added visual key, scale, and rhythm information to the musical settings window.
  • Improved monitoring graphs in the EQ, EQ3, and Audio Visualizer.
  • Added marquee selection to the Visual Mixer.
  • The Sample Editor sidebar is now shown by default.

Audio & interface improvements

  • Reduced clicks when playback is stopped.
  • Improved playback of very short looped sample previews.
  • The bottom panel now retains its size when the window is resized.
  • Improved handling of VST plugins that do not support window resizing.

Grab the latest build on the download page.

Release

SANDYNE 0.9.9.8#

A big all-round update: a friendlier startup, smarter editing in the piano roll, real metering and automation recording in the mixer, better-sounding effects, and a wide sweep of performance and stability fixes.

General

  • Quick setup on startup surfaces the main configuration options the first time you launch.
  • GPU acceleration is now available — off by default for the most stable out-of-the-box experience. Turn it on any time in Settings (or with --gpu) if your machine benefits from it.
  • Metronome options panel added.

Piano Roll & editing

  • Smarter multitool is now the default, with more reliable modifier-key behaviour and a handy hold-B shortcut.
  • Copy clips with Ctrl/Cmd + drag.
  • Redesigned Quantise button and cleaner clip-resize behaviour.
  • Ghost note view and a Middle C naming option.
  • Musician-standard snap values (1/4, 1/2, 1/1…) in the tracks panel and snap menu.

Mixer & automation

  • Record automation for track Volume/Pan knobs and effects.
  • VU / LUFS / RMS metering in the mixer.
  • Collapse-all support and refined fader / volume-slider mapping.

Instruments & effects

  • Better-sounding effects across the board: improved Bitcrusher low-bit modes, retuned Overdrive and Tube modes, and a more reliable reverb Freeze.
  • Optimised default settings and knob ranges so effects sound good immediately.
  • The Ambient instrument now responds to notes, and the Synth layout was tidied up.

Export

  • Choose exactly which tracks to export in the audio export dialog.
  • Export a single track directly from its right-click menu.

Themes & visuals

  • New "Dark" clip colour default with improved light/dark clip theming.
  • Numerous visual-polish improvements throughout the app.

Performance & platform

  • Smoother playback and editing with fewer CPU spikes and audio glitches, and lighter overall CPU use.
  • Command-line GPU controls (--gpu / --no-gpu).

Stability

  • A wide range of reliability fixes — smoother undo/redo, more dependable playback and export, safer project loading, and steadier text-field editing.

Grab the latest build on the download page.

New

Introducing Learn — making music, explained#

The site now has a Learn section: tutorials for SANDYNE, and the ideas behind every DAW — music theory, synthesis, mixing, and the concepts you'll meet in any studio.

Lessons are interactive, so you can hear and tweak what you're reading about instead of just taking our word for it. More topics are on the way.

Release

Preview build now public for Windows & Mac#

The SANDYNE preview is now open to everyone on Windows and Mac — no early-access request needed. Head to the download page and grab the installer for your platform.

It's still a preview while we polish the last rough edges, so expect the occasional sharp corner. Bug reports and feedback are very welcome and genuinely shape what we fix next.

Update, 25 July: the Linux build is now a public download too — see Linux is out of early access.

← Back to SANDYNE