April 20, 2026
Discvovery Pro 8.18 released
We're pleased to announce Discovery Pro 8.18, introducing dual-core voice processing for roughly 2X polyphony on heavy patches, a completely reworked MIDI Learn experience, the Zero Delay Nordic filter model (Beta), a Uniform VA RMS option for matched VA oscillator loudness, enhanced radial LED halos, and DiscoLink MIDI Out for routing Discovery Pro's MIDI stream to external AU MIDI FX plugins and standalone apps.
Discovery Pro is the ultimate virtual analog synthesizer and sampler with 4 layers, 12 oscillators, 20 filter types including Nord Lead 2, Moog, Oberheim SEM, and Phaser models, SFZ/WAV/SoundFont support, PADSynth re-synthesis, and Nord Lead 2 SysEx import/export.
What's New in 8.18
- Dual-Core Voice Processing: Voices are split across two CPU cores in parallel, roughly doubling the polyphony your machine can sustain on heavy patches before voices start dropping.
- Reworked MIDI Learn: Move a knob, then move a controller, and the assignment is made — no modal dialogs. LCD guides you through every step with messages like "Midi Learn - Move Control", "Waiting For CC", and "CC Set". Layer ABCD LEDs blink during MIDI Learn and flash green to confirm the assignment. Click any ABCD button to cancel MIDI Learn at any time. Existing MIDI assignments stay active while you're assigning a new one. Preset loads and DAW automation no longer accidentally trigger MIDI Learn.
- MIDI Board Management: Save As, Rename, Delete, Import, and Export your controller mappings. MIDI boards are now auto-grouped by manufacturer for easier selection.
- 25 New Hardware MIDI Boards: Arturia MatrixBrute, Arturia PolyBrute, Behringer Deepmind 12, Behringer JT-4000M MICRO, Behringer Pro 800, Black Corporation Deckard's Dream MK2, Dreadbox Artemis, Dreadbox Nymphes, KORG prologue, Moog Muse, Moog Subsequent 25, Moog Subsequent 37, Novation Bass Station II, Novation Summit and Peak, Oberheim OB-X8, Oberheim TEO-5, Roland JU-06A, Roland JX-08, Roland System-8, Sequential Fourm, Sequential Prophet Rev2, Sequential Prophet-5/10, Sequential TAKE 5, Studio Electronics SE-1X, Waldorf Pulse 2.
- Zero Delay Nordic Filter (Beta): A high precision, empirically measured, NL2-flavored zero-delay-feedback filter joining the Classic and Zero Delay models.
- Uniform VA RMS: Optional per-waveform gain compensation so all VA oscillators have matched loudness. Per-bank setting exposed in the VA Oscillators preset popup alongside Deep FM.
- Bank-wide Filter Model Swap: Shift+click the filter model selector to swap models across every program in the bank via MENU > Swap.
- Enhanced LED Skinning: Radial glow halo overlay on all LED buttons with skin-driven glow tint for deeper visual feedback. Smoother layer LED glow on ABCD indicators.
- DiscoLink MIDI Out: Dedicated shared-memory MIDI bridge under Edit > discoLink that auto-discovers and connects to any DiscoLink MIDI receiver on the system. Three output modes — Passthrough forwards using your active MIDI board's CC numbers, while Nord Lead 2 Translate and Nord Lead 2X Translate rewrite to NL2 factory CCs and send full SysEx patch dumps on program, bank, and state changes. Forwards notes, pitch bend, aftertouch, mod wheel, CCs, program changes, octave shift, and 24 PPQ MIDI clock synced to DAW transport. Per-layer channel routing (layers A–D on channels 1–4) with channel-5 broadcast; pitch bend, aftertouch, and mod wheel broadcast to all four slots to match NL2X hardware behavior. Live connection status and auto-reconnect; linked device persists with the project for session recall.
- Improvements: Some text input dialogs now validate in-place instead of reopening on invalid input.
This update is free for all 8.x customers. Discovery Pro is available for Windows, macOS (including Apple Silicon), and Linux in VST, VST3, AU, AAX, and standalone formats.
April 12, 2026
Corona 6.8 released
Corona is a synth and sampler with pattern arpeggiator, performance controls, and sample library support including WAV, SF2 and DWB formats.
Version 6.8 introduces a comprehensive MIDI Learn system with CC overlay badges on all assignable controls, 55 auto-grouped MIDI boards by manufacturer, 30 mod matrix destination presets, and workflow improvements.
What's New
- MIDI Learn System: Full MIDI Learn with state machine, LCD status display, and slow flash feedback. CC number badge overlay on all assignable knobs and controls, extended to cover attribute-based controls. Applies CC value immediately on learn, background click exits learn mode.
- MIDI Board Improvements: Auto-group MIDI board list by manufacturer with separator after Custom board for faster navigation.
- Mod Matrix Presets: Added 30 mod matrix presets submenu to Destination dropdowns for faster modulation routing setup.
- Arpeggiator: Added Show Arpeggiator toggle to Edit > GUI menu. Added ArpSteps scroll wheel support including macOS Natural Scrolling support.
This update is free for all Corona 6.x customers.
April 2, 2026
Bliss 3.8.4, Retromulator 1.3, discoLink released
We're pleased to announce updates to Bliss and Retromulator, plus the release of discoLink, an open-source cross-plugin data transport framework.
Bliss is a professional sampler with VST/AU and hardware instrument recording capabilities, Visual Key Mapper, built-in wave editor, and comprehensive format support including AKAI S1000/S3000/S5000/S6000, AKAI XPM (Keygroup), NKI, EXS, SFZ, SoundFont2, and CD-ROM disk images.
Version 3.8.4 adds Akai MPC Keygroup export, new scaling options, sample editor enhancements, and bank saving improvements.
New Features
- Akai MPC Keygroup (XPM) export with Export submenu.
- Added 125% and 175% interface scaling options.
- Active cue zone waveform highlight with hue-shifted colour during playback.
- MIDI note labels displayed at top of cue zone markers.
- Recall menu in Sample Editor for quick access to recent actions.
- Cue button with smart playback-aware cue insertion.
Improvements
- Improved LCD font with corrected character alignment.
- Incremental bank saving — reuses unchanged FLAC data for faster saves.
- Optimized popup menu performance by eliminating redundant filesystem scans.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed AKP importer failing to parse keygroups.
- Fixed bank issues when overwriting an existing bank file.
- Fixed lazy load flag incorrectly set on active program during bank load.
- Fixed clear bank undo losing the bank file reference.
- Fixed macro dialog transparency.
This update is free for all Bliss 2.x and 3.x customers.
Retromulator is a multi-core retro hardware emulation plugin featuring ten classic synthesizer, sampler, and keyboard cores: Access Virus A/B/C, Access Virus TI, Waldorf microQ, Waldorf Microwave XT, Clavia Nord Lead 2X, Roland JP-8000, Yamaha DX7, Akai S1000, Wurlitzer 200A, and Yamaha OPL3.
Version 1.3 features OpenWurli 0.3, a significant upgrade to the Wurlitzer 200A physical modelling engine. The analytical preamp model has been replaced with a melange-generated 12-node DK circuit solver for a closer match to real hardware nonlinearity. The sine LFO tremolo oscillator has been replaced with a Twin-T circuit tremolo oscillator running at a fixed ~5.6 Hz rate matching the original hardware. Post-speaker gain has been recalibrated from +13 dB to +10.5 dB to match Brad Avenson's 2–7 mV measurement.
Additionally, the libresample library has been replaced with the Speex resampler (quality 5), improving SNR from 75 dB to 107 dB at the same CPU cost.
Improvements
- OpenWurli 0.3: melange-generated 12-node DK preamp circuit solver replaces analytical DkPreamp.
- OpenWurli 0.3: Twin-T circuit tremolo oscillator replaces sine LFO — fixed ~5.6 Hz rate matching real hardware.
- OpenWurli 0.3: recalibrated post-speaker gain from +13 dB to +10.5 dB.
- OpenWurli 0.3: speaker tanh saturation bypassed at character=0 to prevent nonlinear coloration on polyphonic ff chords.
- Replaced libresample with Speex resampler (quality 5) — SNR improved from 75 dB to 107 dB.
- Added Disk Operations backup/restore app data (all ROM files and presets) on None machine core.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed OPL3 preset navigation switching bank instead of stepping through patches.
- Fixed Standalone preset not sounding on project reopen.
- Fixed AU setCurrentProgramStateInformation overwriting DX7 voice bank RAM on state restore.
Retromulator is free with optional $29 USD support license.
discoLink Cross-Plugin Data Transport Framework
discoLink is an open-source cross-plugin data transport framework enabling real-time audio streaming and bidirectional MIDI/parameter control between independent processes via lock-free shared memory IPC. Pure C++17 with zero dependencies, released under the MIT License.
discoLink uses plugin instances (can be on the same DAW channel): a Host Plugin (e.g. Discovery Pro) that reads audio from shared memory and sends MIDI commands, and a discoLink Effect that writes audio to shared memory and receives commands. Audio flows through lock-free ring buffers with near-zero latency. The same architecture works across separate OS processes — a standalone synth, effect, etc. can register as a device, and a DAW plugin can discover and connect to it automatically.
Key Features
- Lock-free SPSC ring buffer architecture with 16,384 samples per channel.
- Cache-line aligned atomics — no mutexes, no blocking, no allocations in the audio path.
- MIDI 1.0, MIDI 2.0 UMP (32-bit velocity/CC), and MPE support.
- Parameter control, preset management, file exchange, and dynamic routing.
- Device registry with 16-slot bulletin board and auto-discovery.
- Dead process cleanup via PID validation.
- Session recall via linkTag — save, reload, and discoLink reconnects automatically.
- Three transport modes: Audio+MIDI, Audio-only, MIDI-only.
- Up to 12 channels with link routing and multiple audio taps.
- Cross-platform: macOS, Linux, Windows.
- JUCE module available for drop-in integration.
- Reference CLI tools included for testing without a DAW.
discoLink is free and open source under the MIT License.
Source code: github.com/reales/discolink
