A DAW that fits
in L1 cache.
Sub-millisecond Forth audio engine. Native SwiftUI + Metal. The entire instrument stack measured in kilobytes.
0.1.0 · build 288 · 4dcaf91 · macOS 13+ · Apple Silicon
How it compares
| Install | Engine | JIT | Instruments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ableton Live 12 | 2.2 GB | ~800 MB | — | ~70 |
| Logic Pro 11 | 1.2 GB | ~500 MB | — | ~40 |
| FL Studio 24 | 900 MB | ~300 MB | — | ~30 |
| Wavesmith | 11 MB | 450 KB | 0.02s | ∞ |
Unlimited instruments in 12 KB of flat ARM64. Every sample: one fused-multiply-accumulate. Entire audio path fits in L1 cache.
The engine
The audio path is Forth, compiled by Sixth — a custom JIT that emits NEON-vectorized ARM64 in 0.02 seconds. No LLVM, no linker. The compiler is 261 KB. Compile-and-replace happens live while audio runs.
The entire audio engine is 450 KB. The factory instruments sum to 12 kilobytes of native ARM64. No allocation on the audio thread, no function calls, no branching beyond what the DSP requires. It fits in L1 cache.
The front end is native SwiftUI + Metal. No Electron, no web view, no JavaScript.
P-functions
34 pre-compiled NEON ARM64 building blocks — oscillators, biquad filters, ADSR envelopes, mixers, wavetable scanners, ring modulators, wavefolders, samplers. Factory binary: 7,840 bytes. New instruments = composing blocks, no compilation, just a JIT graph install.
Register convention
f32, 48 kHz, 1024-frame buffers. Q0–Q9 parameters, Q10 signal bus, Q16–Q31 persistent state. Zero memory traffic between DSP stages.
Instruments
PolySynth
4-voice NEON subtractive. Dual osc, ADSR×2, biquad, glide, mod matrix. ~7 KB.
Choir
4-voice formant synthesis. LF glottal + 5-band biquad cascade. Sings vowels.
Sculptor
Wavetable with live shape morphing. 8-frame scanning, additive partials, XY pad.
WaveBend
Draw waveforms with 128 points. 5 materials, wavefolder, ring mod, motion recording.
UB-Xa
Vintage analog emulation. 8-stage NEON pipeline, sync osc, 8 drift profiles.
FM Synth
DX7-style 2-operator FM synthesis (Chowning 1973). Bells, metallic, e-piano.
Fiber
8-string Karplus-Strong. Plucked strings, mallets, bowed textures.
Nexus Wavetable
Advanced wavetable with spectral morphing, unison, modulation matrix.
Additive Synth
Independent control of 8 harmonic partials with amplitude rolloff.
Vocal Lab
Six vocal engines: formant synth, chain builder, vowel morpher, gesture engine.
Drums
Compiled drum machine. Kick/snare/hat/clap/tom. 16-step sequencer.
Arcade
Professional sample workstation with granular synthesis and 4 play modes.
Sampler
Multi-sample with velocity layers, round-robin, key zones.
Arpeggiator
16-step host arp. 6 BPM divisions, gate seq, 8 drift profiles, swing.
Temporal Arp
Polyrhythmic sequencing, time-signature morphing, pattern evolution.
Synth Maker
Visual chain editor. Build from P-functions, reorder, save as preset.
Node Graph
Visual node patching. Connect osc, filters, envelopes, effects as a graph.
Live Coding
Forth REPL. Patch running audio graph mid-buffer. Recompile 20 ms.
Looper
Live audio looper with overdub. Record, layer, manipulate in real time.
Plugins
Every plugin compiles to flat ARM64 in 0.02s. Zero allocation on the audio thread.
Reverb
4-line Feedback Delay Network with Hadamard matrix (Jot, 1992). Mutually prime delay lines, maximal echo density, orthogonal energy distribution.
Convolution Reverb
Impulse response loading for realistic acoustic spaces. Concert halls, plates, springs — drop any IR file.
Waveguide Reverb
Interconnected allpass delay sections simulating room acoustics through wave propagation in a digital waveguide mesh.
Stereo Delay
Clean stereo delay with independent L/R time, feedback, and dry/wet mix.
Ping-Pong Delay
Alternates between left and right channels on each repeat with stereo spread.
Tape Delay
Tape echo emulation with wow, flutter, and saturation. Warm degradation on each repeat.
Multi-Tap Delay
Four independent delay taps with individual time, level, and pan controls.
Compressor
Downward compressor with threshold, ratio, attack, release, and makeup gain.
Multiband Compressor
4-band with independent threshold, ratio, and gain per band. Crossover-based splitting.
Brick-Wall Limiter
True-peak brick-wall limiter with transparent lookahead. Nothing gets through.
Noise Gate
Attenuates signal below threshold. Adjustable attack, hold, and release.
De-Esser
Frequency-selective compressor targeting sibilance. Split-band or wideband mode.
Transient Shaper
Independent attack and sustain shaping. Punch up drums or soften transients.
Parametric EQ
4-band parametric with adjustable frequency, gain, and Q per band.
Graphic EQ
10-band graphic equalizer at ISO standard center frequencies.
Linear-Phase EQ
4-band parametric with parallel BPF. Zero phase distortion — preserves transient shape.
Moog Ladder
4-pole resonant lowpass after the Moog transistor ladder. Nonlinear tanh saturation, resonance feedback, drive, envelope follower, thermal drift.
Modal Resonator
Excites tuned resonances for metallic and string-like tones. 5 parallel biquads (Julius O. Smith III decomposition).
Chorus
Modulated delay lines for thicker, shimmering sound. Classic ensemble effect.
Flanger
Short modulated delay with feedback for comb-filter sweeping. Jet engine to subtle shimmer.
Phaser
Cascaded allpass filters with LFO-modulated center frequencies.
Tremolo
Amplitude modulation with selectable LFO waveform: sine, triangle, square.
Vibrato
Pitch modulation via modulated delay line. Natural, expressive vibrato.
Rotary Speaker
Leslie emulation with independent horn and drum rotors. Slow/fast switching with spin-up inertia.
Distortion
Drive, tone, selectable clipping mode. Warm saturation to hard clip.
Tube Saturator
12AX7 preamp modeling. Asymmetric soft clipping, bias control for even/odd harmonic balance, one-pole tone stack.
Tape Saturation
Analog tape warmth with harmonic generation and gentle compression.
Bitcrusher
Bit depth and sample rate reduction. 1-bit to 32-bit lo-fi digital distortion.
Lo-Fi Degrade
Vintage degradation: sample rate reduction, wow/flutter, tape hiss, bandwidth limitation.
Waveshaper
Arbitrary transfer function with selectable curve types. Draw your own distortion.
Pitch Shifter
Real-time pitch shifting without tempo change. Grain-based with crossfade.
Auto-Tune
Automatic pitch correction to nearest note in key and scale. Natural to robotic.
Harmonizer
Adds harmony voice at a musical interval. Thirds, fifths, octaves.
Vocoder
Channel vocoder imposing spectral envelope of modulator onto carrier. Adjustable band count.
Ring Modulator
Internal sine oscillator for metallic, bell-like, inharmonic tones.
Frequency Shifter
Fixed-Hz shift via Hilbert transform. Inharmonic, Bode-style effects.
Stereo Widener
Width via mid-side processing. Mono collapse to ultra-wide.
Mid/Side Processor
Independent gain control of mid and side signals for stereo field shaping.
Auto Panner
LFO-driven stereo panning. Sine, triangle, or random modulation.
Binaural Spatializer
3D positioning using HRTF for headphones. Place sounds anywhere in space.
Granular Processor
Adjustable grain size, density, and pitch. Any audio into evolving cloud textures.
Spectral Freeze
4 overlapping Hann-windowed grains freeze a moment with evolving phase (Paul Stretch technique).
Spectral Morph
Resonant filter bank with amplitude freeze, spectral tilt, inter-band blur, and feedback.
Generative Ambient
Input into evolving textures via layered pitch-shifted delays, diffusion networks, slow drift.
Strange Attractor
Lorenz chaotic system modulating amplitude. Never-repeating patterns between order and chaos.
Cellular Automata
1D Wolfram rules generating audio. Rule 30 (chaotic), 90 (Sierpinski), 110 (Turing-complete).
Stochastic Resonator
Noise paradoxically improves signal detection through a bistable double-well potential.
Karplus-Strong
Tuned waveguide with lowpass-filtered feedback. Plucked/struck string tones with body resonance.
L-System Rhythm
Lindenmayer systems for algorithmic rhythm. Fibonacci, Cantor, Thue-Morse fractal patterns.
Gravity Arp
Bouncing ball physics for rhythmic gating. Accelerating patterns with natural diminuendo.
Markov Arp
4-state Markov chain sequencer. Evolving gate patterns from transition probabilities.
Pendulum Arp
Double pendulum physics. Chaotic, non-repeating but structured rhythmic gating.
Wander Arp
Brownian random walk gate probability. Organically evolving rhythmic density.
Oscilloscope
Waveform display with trigger, time division, and freeze controls.
Spectrum Analyzer
Real-time FFT display with configurable resolution, smoothing, and peak hold.
LUFS Loudness Meter
ITU-R BS.1770 measurement. Integrated, short-term, and momentary LUFS.
Correlation Meter
Stereo phase correlation for mono compatibility. −1 to +1 with history.
Known issues
Early build. Crash logs: ~/Library/Logs/Wavesmith/