bitcrust

bitcrust is a polyphonic synthesizer built around a SID-style voice architecture: three oscillators per voice, up to twelve voices, with ring mod, hard sync, and the pulse-width behaviour that defined a generation of 8-bit sound. The DSP is an in-house, clean-room implementation written from the public MOS 6581 register map and general DSP literature. It's not an emulator port, so bitcrust sounds SID-adjacent without inheriting the license constraints that keep most SID-inspired tools off the major app stores.

Sonically it sits between a chip synth and a modern subtractive. The voice core still does gritty arp basses, zap leads and 8-bit percussion, but the architecture around it (three LFOs, a per-voice mod envelope, an 8-slot modulation matrix, and a 6-slot post-SID FX rack with drive, bitcrusher, tempo-synced delay, chorus, reverb, compressor and limiter) pushes it into pad, keys and texture territory.

WHAT THIS PURCHASE INCLUDES

Universal Purchase: one price buys the Mac app plus the iPad version (Standalone and AUv3).

On the Mac, the App Store build is the Standalone app only. No AU, no VST3: the Mac App Store doesn't distribute plugin formats. AU and VST3 versions are available separately; details at anode-labs.com/bitcrust.

The iPad build is a co-equal target, not a downscale. The full 179-preset factory library, all 14 themes, and the complete mod matrix and FX rack ship on both platforms.

• Voice core: 12-voice polyphony, 3 oscillators per voice, SID-style triangle / saw / pulse / noise with hard sync and ring mod, per-VCO ADSR
• Filter: global VCF (LP / BP / HP) with live curve, selectable 6581 / 8580 chip model, Vintage vs. Modern oscillator mode
• Modulation: 3 global LFOs (7 shapes, host-sync or Hz), per-voice mod envelope, 8-slot matrix, MIDI sources (velocity, poly AT, channel AT, mod wheel, pitch bend)
• FX rack: 6 slots, drag-to-reorder, per-slot bypass / mix; Drive (5 modes), Bitcrusher, Delay (tempo-sync), Chorus, Reverb, Compressor, Limiter. Every FX parameter is a modulation destination.
• MIDI: 16-step sequencer, arpeggiator (Up / Down / UpDown / Random, 6 rate divisions, octave range), MIDI Learn on every knob, note Hold
• Presets: 179 factory patches across 10 groups, full-metadata save (author, description, tags), Preset Preview audition without committing, A/B snapshot compare, XML import / export
• UI: 6-tab navigation, 14 themes with optional phosphor / CRT overlays, monitor strip (oscilloscope, vectorscope, FFT spectrum, 3D spectrogram, stereo field), QWERTY note typing from any tab

Mac: Standalone app, universal binary (Apple Silicon + Intel), macOS 12 (Monterey) or later.
iPad: AUv3 extension plus a Standalone for headphone jamming. In-DAW use on iPad needs an AUv3 host (GarageBand, Logic Pro for iPad, AUM, Cubasis and so on).

Support: https://anode-labs.com/bitcrust · [email protected]
Privacy policy: https://anode-labs.com/privacy