Prompt Audio · Virtual analog synth
Sawmill: 16-oscillator synth for Mac
A stack of 16 oscillators, each with its own wave, tuning, pan and LFO
Sawmill is a virtual analog synth for Audio Unit hosts. Its first oscillator can be a stack of 16. One knob detunes them all, and a mixer page sets each one by hand. The oscillator types layer, up to 28 oscillators in one note. Four 32-step sequencers, an arpeggiator with 16 phrases, six effects and 384 presets are in the box.
- Stacked oscillators
- 16
- Osc 1 types
- 8
- Sequencers
- 4 x 32 steps
- Presets
- 384
What it does
16 oscillators you set one by one
Each has one of 12 waves, a harmonic limit from 1 to 256, semitone and fine tuning, phase or pulse width, pan and level. Detune, Stretch, Stereo Spread and Analogue Drift move them together.
An LFO for every oscillator
16 more LFOs, one per stack oscillator, modulate its tuning, pulse width, pan and level, free or at one of 33 beat ratios.
28 oscillators in one note
Waveform picks a type, and ON layers more. On top of the stack go a triple-sync oscillator with sliding slaves, a 16-stage morph oscillator, filtered noise, shaped square, saw and triangle, and a sample oscillator. Osc 2 layers square, saw, triangle, noise and a click, with ring modulation, hard sync and X-Mod.
Four 32-step sequencers
Three modulation lanes and a gate lane run at their own beat ratios, forward or reverse. They reach pitch, cutoff, amp, pan, morph, pulse width, X-Mod, stereo width and LFO rates.
Envelopes with 13 curves
Pitch, filter and amp envelopes each take one of 13 output curves and a time scale from 1/4 to 16 times. Velocity has its own curves for filter and amp.
Chorus, phaser, delay, sweep filter, limiter
The chorus has 4 lines with their own wave, pan, phase, level and pre-delay. The phaser runs 4, 8 or 12 stages, and the limiter has drive. Tone control and a bypass come with them.
SF2 files and 32 built-in waveforms
The sample oscillator plays SoundFont 2 files, with their velocity layers and stereo pairs, or a built-in bank of 32 multi-sampled waveforms.
Patches and MIDI learn
A browser lists the bank by category. Patches and banks save as FXP and FXB files, and every panel control takes a MIDI controller from its right-click menu.
Screenshots
Building an organ from sines: each of the 16 oscillators has its own waveform, harmonics, tuning, phase, pan and level. KY Warm Organ tunes six of them like drawbars. 
Scanning waveforms in time: the morph oscillator crossfades through up to 16 stages, by hand with the Morph knob or at a beat ratio. SY Slow Morph uses eight. 
Gating a held note: the gate lane cuts it at 1/16 while lane 3 moves the cutoff and the stack's stereo width at 1/8. Each of the 4 lanes has its own beat ratio and destinations. 
Setting the chorus line by line: two lines take the left input and two the right, each with its own wave, pan, phase, level and pre-delay.
System requirements
- macOS 11 or later
- Mac with Apple silicon
- Formats: AU
- A host that loads Audio Units, for the plug-in version
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