RipplerX - Free Open Source Modal Synth

Tutorial | Feb 17, 2025

In this video, I introduce and explore RipplerX, a new and completely free open-source physical modeling plug-in that works across Mac, Windows, and Linux. It offers a simple, straightforward interface without effects or excessive modulation features, allowing users to focus on crafting sounds through its resonator configurations. I appreciate its low storage requirement and encourage viewers to try it out, highlighting the link in the description for easy download.

You can watch the Video on Youtube

• support me on Patreon
• RipplerX Github

Summary #

Maybe you don't watch the video, here are some important takeaways:

Hey folks, welcome back to another video. Today, I want to introduce you to a brand new plugin called RipplerX. Before you switch away, let me tell you that this plugin is completely free, open source, and compatible with every platform—Mac, Windows, and Linux. It's incredibly small at just three megabytes.

RipplerX leans towards the modal engine of Pigments or Chromaphone, offering a basic physical modeling setup. It features a noise source and a mallet, which can feed sound into a resonator. The resonator comes with various configurations, including string, beam squared, membrane, plate, drumhead, marimba, open tube, and closed tube. This setup is similar to Chromaphone's. You can adjust the number of partials, up to 64, and you have different settings for the resonator. There's also an option to enable a second resonator with a different configuration, allowing you to mix them or feed one into the other.

This plugin has no built-in effects like reverb or delay. I prefer this because many instruments have subpar effects, and I usually use my own reverb like Valhalla Supermassive. The absence of effects and LFOs keeps it simple and straightforward, as mapping LFOs to parameters can be annoying since it differs across instruments. In Bitwig Studio, you can use external modulators to manipulate parameters.

All the parameters you see on the interface are all you get—no hidden menus or tabs. This straightforward approach is something I appreciate. Although the UI is resizable (100%, 150%, 200%), it is quite bright, which isn't ideal for ambient evening sessions. A darker skin option would be a nice addition.

You can change the number of voices from one to 60. There are presets, more like starting points, for creating sounds typical of physical modeling synthesizers, such as harps and bell sounds. You can use arrow keys to switch through presets and tweak settings like decay and material.

I don't see why you haven't installed this already. It's free, sounds great, and is simple to use. The link to the synthesizer is in the description below. I've included a quick guide on how to download it from the GitHub page. I hope the creator adds a donation button because I'd like to support this project.

The main appeal of RipplerX is its minimalism. Compared to larger plugins like Pigments, which take up a lot of space with additional features like LFOs and ARP sequencers, RipplerX focuses solely on the sound engine. Its tiny size and simplicity make it appealing for those who, like me, enjoy creating their own sounds without extra clutter. You can achieve great results using Bitwig Studio's modulators.

I showcased some examples by manipulating settings and using Valhalla reverb to demonstrate how it can produce a variety of sounds, from pad-like textures to more traditional resonator-based sounds. The velocity mapping is the only modulation source, allowing changes in decay as you press harder on the keys. This straightforward modulation is great for simulating the feel of playing a real instrument.

To wrap up, the link is in the description below. I'd love to hear what you think in the comments, so feel free to leave a like and subscribe if you enjoyed the video. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next one!

Transcription #

This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.

[00:00:00] [MUSIC]
[00:00:09] Hey folks, welcome back to another video.
[00:00:11] Today I want to talk about this plug-in here, which is completely new.
[00:00:14] RipplerX, and before you switch away, this plug-in is completely free.
[00:00:21] It's open source, and it works on every platform, so Mac, Windows, and Linux.
[00:00:28] And it's also very small, it's just three megabytes, so very, very small.
[00:00:34] So this plug-in goes into the direction of, let's say,
[00:00:39] the modal engine of Pigments or chroma phone.
[00:00:43] So we have a basic physical modeling setup, and we can see this here.
[00:00:51] We have a noise source, and we have a mallet.
[00:00:53] And we can then feed the sound into a resonator.
[00:00:58] This is called a resonator.
[00:01:01] We have different configurations for the resonator, string, beam squared, membrane,
[00:01:05] plate, drumhead, marimba, open tube, closed tube.
[00:01:07] I think it's the same setup as in chroma phone.
[00:01:11] We can also change here the partials, the number of partials we want to create for
[00:01:16] up to 64, and we have different settings here for the resonator.
[00:01:21] We can also enable a second resonator here with different configuration.
[00:01:26] And then we can say we want to mix both of these together here, A plus B, or
[00:01:31] just feed one resonator into the other resonator.
[00:01:34] This is also possible.
[00:01:36] So it's a very simple, straightforward setup.
[00:01:38] There are no FX in there, so there's no reverb, no delay or anything like this.
[00:01:43] But I kind of like it this way, because most of these instruments have actually
[00:01:47] bad FX, so I usually don't use reverb of an instrument.
[00:01:52] I just use my own reverb here, I use Valhalla, super massive most of the times.
[00:01:58] So why not just leave it out, right?
[00:02:01] There are also not things like an LFO or yeah, modulations, it's not in there.
[00:02:09] So which is also nice, because most instruments have a lot of LFOs and
[00:02:13] random sources, and then they need to figure out a way of mapping actually the LFO to
[00:02:19] the parameter and in every instrument, it's different.
[00:02:23] So it's kind of annoying.
[00:02:24] So here it's just not in there.
[00:02:27] But inside of Bitwig Studio, we can just touch here something,
[00:02:31] let's say here the material, we can see this popping up here, and
[00:02:34] then we can attach a random modulator to this, then we can modulate it, right?
[00:02:41] And Bitwig, it's not a problem, I think, inside of Able to Live,
[00:02:45] you have probably the same thing up until now and also in Cubase.
[00:02:51] So it's not a big problem.
[00:02:52] So why not just leave it out, right?
[00:02:54] Make the plug-in simpler, more straightforward.
[00:02:58] What I also like about this here is that every parameter you can see on
[00:03:03] the interface is actually every parameter you get.
[00:03:07] So there are no menus, there's no tap, no settings or anything.
[00:03:11] You have straight access to all the knobs just from one view.
[00:03:17] So I like this, okay?
[00:03:19] We can also change the UI size here 100%, 150%, 200%.
[00:03:25] The only downside with the UI, in my opinion, is just that it's too bright.
[00:03:29] It's just too white.
[00:03:30] I kind of like it black and big or dark and you know what I mean.
[00:03:38] It's just too bright, okay?
[00:03:40] So maybe a different skin would be nice to have.
[00:03:44] Just for your ambient evening session where you want to have it more like cozy.
[00:03:49] And so you know what I mean.
[00:03:52] We can also change the voices from one voice up to 60 voices.
[00:03:57] We have here some presets.
[00:04:00] I think you can call it presets.
[00:04:05] For me, it's actually more like starting points.
[00:04:08] Because usually with these physical modeling synthesizers or instruments, you want to create
[00:04:13] your typical sounds, right?
[00:04:16] Harp, bell sounds, can, percussion, maybe let me play this.
[00:04:22] We can also use the arrow keys to actually switch here through the presets.
[00:04:46] Then you can dive in and change some settings.
[00:04:49] So maybe decay, material, where you hit drum head.
[00:05:17] It's your typical physical modeling synthesizer that's based on resonators.
[00:05:23] It sounds really great.
[00:05:25] And it's free.
[00:05:26] I mean, I don't know why you haven't installed this already, okay?
[00:05:29] The link to this synthesizer is in the description below.
[00:05:34] I want to show you this here.
[00:05:35] This is the GitHub page.
[00:05:38] If the creator sees this, please add a donation button.
[00:05:41] I haven't seen a donation button here, so I can send you lots of money, okay?
[00:05:45] Because I like the synthesizer.
[00:05:49] All you have to do is to go here to this releases tab, just click on it.
[00:05:54] You can see here the latest version 1.1.3.
[00:05:58] You can download here for Linux, four megabytes, Mac OS, six megabytes and Windows, three megabytes.
[00:06:06] Very straightforward, RIPLA-X, that's the name.
[00:06:09] And like I said, it's very small, three megabytes.
[00:06:12] If you watch here, Pigments, and I guess most people just use or want to use the modal engine
[00:06:18] of Pigments because you can shape the overtones, right?
[00:06:21] And you get these nice inharmonic sounds.
[00:06:25] You probably use the sample engine to layer something on top and you maybe use the presets
[00:06:30] or something like that.
[00:06:31] I'm kind of a synthesizer guy.
[00:06:34] I like to fiddle around, make my own sounds.
[00:06:37] So you can also see a lot of space is taken by the LFOs and the ARPs and sequencers and
[00:06:48] so on.
[00:06:49] So there are a lot of additional stuff in here that takes up a lot of space in the interface.
[00:06:54] So that's not in here.
[00:06:55] It's just the, you know, the engine, the sound engine.
[00:07:00] And everything you want to use, you can attach here in Bitwig Studio with modulators.
[00:07:05] You can also use this step modulator, right?
[00:07:09] And then change something rhythmically inside here.
[00:07:14] So it's very straightforward for me.
[00:07:17] So that's why I like this.
[00:07:19] Also Pigments here is 99 euros or 199, which is 99 is probably sale at the moment for
[00:07:26] some reason.
[00:07:29] And then you can see here it uses three gigabytes of free hard disk space.
[00:07:34] And I don't know if it's the same for you, but for me, I always run low on a hard drive
[00:07:40] space on C on my main drive.
[00:07:43] And every VST wants to be installed on the main drive for some reason on Windows.
[00:07:48] I have no idea why, but it's like that.
[00:07:52] So yeah.
[00:07:53] And this one here sounds good.
[00:07:56] It's free, right?
[00:07:58] Three megabytes of space.
[00:08:00] So why not just install it and give it a try?
[00:08:02] The link is in the description below.
[00:08:05] And I maybe want to fiddle around here a bit with the settings so you can hear some examples.
[00:08:12] So this one here, Crystal gives you a nice pad sound.
[00:08:19] It maybe starts here with an in-it patch.
[00:08:25] We can use a mallet here, but we can also use just a noise here.
[00:08:31] So we use bandpass filter.
[00:08:33] We change the frequency of the bandpass filter to get noise, but we don't want to have the
[00:08:40] dry noise.
[00:08:41] We want to have the wet noise, bring up the resonator, and then attack.
[00:08:54] We can make more like pad sounds and then go through something like maybe beam.
[00:09:22] Not so many overtones, just eight.
[00:09:27] And then use maybe a second resonator here.
[00:09:32] Go from A to B.
[00:09:35] Here we use maybe also string.
[00:09:40] Oh yeah, that's also your velocity map.
[00:09:50] I haven't explained this, so there is no modulation in this plug-in, but you have the velocity
[00:09:57] mapping.
[00:09:58] So we can say if the velocity changes, please open up the decay when you hit your keyboard
[00:10:04] a bit harder.
[00:10:05] So you can play around with velocity.
[00:10:07] So they made it actually pretty straightforward because you want to modulate with the velocity
[00:10:13] on a lot of things because you want to have the feeling when you play the keyboard to actually
[00:10:17] play a real instrument.
[00:10:19] With the harder you hit your keys, you can change the material or you can't change the
[00:10:25] material.
[00:10:26] You can also only change here the red buttons or the red knobs.
[00:10:30] I have no idea why this is a limitation, but maybe they can change it in the next updates
[00:10:35] to bring in a dark skin and maybe the possibility you actually modulated the material and maybe
[00:10:42] the gain would be nice to have.
[00:10:46] So this is the only limitation, but the velocity map here is the only modulation source you
[00:10:50] have, but I kind of like it.
[00:11:07] Okay, so let's use your reverb on that.
[00:11:26] We can modulate this a little too fast.
[00:11:55] Maybe low pass here for the noise.
[00:12:20] Okay., so let's go back to the previous one.
[00:12:50] Okay., so let's go back to the previous one.
[00:13:20] Anyway, link is in the description below.
[00:13:25] Let me know what you think in the comments, leave a like, leave a subscription and thanks
[00:13:29] for watching.
[00:13:30] See you in the next video.