u/roccolucia

Hello r/synthesizers lovers

I’m the developer of SpiceCore. I’ve never posted about it here before, but the project has reached the point where I’d rather show it to synth people directly.

The idea behind SpiceCore is simple, but it has taken me a while to make it feel right: can a synth phrase move, remember, change colour, and still feel like something you are playing?

SpiceCore is a touch-first iPad synth that runs standalone and as an AUv3 instrument. It has a polyphonic analogue-style voice (yeah, quite abused definition, I know), dual morphing oscillators, Shape and Contour controls, sub, noise, high-pass and low-pass filtering, drive, envelopes, LFOs, MIDI learn, MIDI input, preset recall, and a modulation matrix assigned by long-pressing controls. Til here it may well be defined a by-the-book subtractive synth.

The generative side is where I’ve spent most of the design/think/overthink effort. For starters I didn’t want “random notes over a synth”. I wanted controlled motion in pitch, rhythm, articulation, and timbre.

It has a Sequencer mode where you start with a 16-step pattern and then let it evolve. Each step can carry pitch, gate, velocity, probability, and ratchet, so the system is not only choosing “which note next?” but also “how should this event behave?” The macro controls, Mutation, Density, Chaos, and Memory, decide how far the phrase drifts, how sparse it becomes, how bold the changes are, and how much it carries its recent past. Over this base principle, I worked on pitch mutation based also on scales/modes and progressions.

There is also Motion Arp, which starts from performance rather than a drawn pattern. Hold notes and they become the source material, as an usual arp w/ basic features and some advanced (useful) performance mods; most importantly also here the Mutation, Density, Chaos and Memory affect the behaviour. When something interesting happens, you can capture the last 16 arp events back into the sequencer and edit them.

My journey led me to the I’m most curious to hear feedback on is Timbre.

I used the same generative logic (motion, density, chaos and memory) to drive oscillator colour, not just pitch. So when Timbre is active, the macro controls move Shape and Contour as part of the musical behaviour. in short the second oscillator does most of the exploration, while first one stays more stable, so the patch can evolve without completely losing its identity.

Yeah, you can, in SpiceCore do something similar with just the modulation matrix and LFO, but this is something more subtle: the goal is sound that develops with memory, constraint, and direction.

The current update adds the Berlin 2026 Pack and a new Demo Jam Mode, which is what I used in the short video attached to this post. It is basically a quick way to audition the new presets and hear SpiceCore moving without having to build a patch or sequence from scratch. The update also includes new audio demos on the website, improvements to Motion Arp and some UI polish.

For Berlin Synth Week indeed, SpiceCore is temporarily 14.99 EUR worldwide from 6 to 10 May. I’m mentioning it here because it is probably the easiest window to try it if the idea sounds interesting.

Website, Manual and Demos:
https://www.iscanet.com/spicecore/

App Store:
https://apps.apple.com/app/id6760504511

Longer write-up on the Markov/timbre idea on Medium:
SpiceCore: why I used Markov chains for timbre, not just pitch

I’m especially interested in feedback from people who use iPad instruments, AUv3 synths, generative sequencers, or performance-oriented synths.

The short video attached to this post shows the new Demo Jam Mode, which is meant to make the instrument easier to audition without having to build a patch or sequence first.

Curious to hear what you think, especially about using generative behaviour for timbre and oscillator colour, not only for notes.

You can play a PO-14 in your browser