January 2024 Update
Hello friends,
It’s time for another update on the development progress for Anukari. I’ve been hard at work since the last update, and it’s getting more usable every day.
The biggest feature I’ve been working on over the last couple of months is modulation. Right now, this includes modulation through MIDI control as well as simple LFOs. But eventually it will include envelopes, envelope followers, DAW automation parameters, and more.
The neat thing about modulators in Anukari is that the “modulation matrix” that shows which parameters are targeted for modulation by which sources (LFOs, etc.) is completely in the 3D visuals. Modulators are created by adding objects in the 3D physics world, and then you connect them to their targets by dragging visual connection lines to them (similar to springs, or the way that microphones and exciters connect to other entities). So, instead of a big table of modulation matrix information, you just look at the 3D world and see it.
Modulators are quite flexible. They are recursive, so you can have modulators modulating modulators that modulate modulators (try saying that three times out loud!). And, of course, they support feedback, so you can create loops in the modulation matrix to get complex oscillations.
The LFOs are not actually limited to low frequencies as their name might suggest, but are simulated at sample rate and thus can be set to audio frequencies if desired. This means that you can use LFOs to modulate oscillator frequency, and thus Anukari can be used to do rather powerful Frequency Modulation (FM) synthesis.
Pretty much all of Anukari’s parameters can be modulated, so there are endless possibilities here.
Today I released a super-detailed walk-through and explainer video for Anukari. Over the last few months, I’ve only been posting short demo videos, with little explanation of what’s happening in them. This is mostly because there’s just so much engineering work to do, I don’t have a lot of time to spend producing better videos! But I do want to make sure I provide more detail from time to time, so here you go. I’d love to hear your feedback about what topics you’d like me to cover in future videos, so please get in touch.
In November, I flew to London to give a talk about Anukari at Audio Developer Conference 2023 (ADC23). This was a fantastic experience, both in terms of getting technical feedback on Anukari, and in learning about the audio software industry in general. I met quite a few audio plugin developers, and in particular I got to speak with several solo entrepreneurs, and it was great to hear the lessons they learned from building and selling their own boutique audio software.
My talk was recorded and will eventually be available on YouTube, but it might be a couple of months before it’s released. For those who want a head start, the slides I presented are available here. Warning: they are extremely technical! They probably won’t be interesting to anyone who’s not a software engineer themselves.
As always, I really appreciate all the interest and support from everyone following this project. If you’re not already subscribed to this newsletter, consider subscribing! This will be a great way to follow along with the development, and to find out when Anukari will be going into Beta and eventually on sale.
Here are a few more ways to follow along with Anukari’s development:
Until next time,
-Evan