OA-Labs

OA-Phosphor-1 Controllable instability

A free synthesizer for Mac and Windows, in VST3, plus AU on Mac. Unpredictable by design, built to be played, not fought.

Get it free

VST3 · AU · macOS · Windows

The OA-Phosphor-1 synthesizer interface

Presets

  • Aged Pad 0:00/0:00
  • Ethereal Winds 0:00/0:00
  • Long Horizon 0:00/0:00
  • Chord Cascade 0:00/0:00
  • Sync Tine 0:00/0:00
  • Pluck Motion 0:00/0:00
  • Reese Bass 0:00/0:00
  • Robot Funk 0:00/0:00
  • Razor Lead 0:00/0:00
  • Notch Phaser 0:00/0:00
  • Laser Arp 0:00/0:00
  • Converge 0:00/0:00
  • Fault Line 0:00/0:00
  • Motor Line 0:00/0:00
  • Scramble Cell 0:00/0:00
  • Phosphor Drift 0:00/0:00

Feature showcases

  • Full Demo 2 Showing all elements working together in one track
    0:00/0:00
  • Aging Progressively adding age to hear the instability
    0:00/0:00
  • Chaos Pushing the chaos engine until it breaks
    0:00/0:00
  • Arp Groove Adding more groove to the arp over time
    0:00/0:00
  • Full Demo 1 Showing all elements working together in one track
    0:00/0:00

Instability you can steer.
Every source of chaos has a leash.

Aging engine

Wear and drift on the signal. Push it and the instrument ages in real time, under your hand.

Lorenz chaos

A strange attractor as a modulation source. Deterministic motion that never quite repeats.

OA-Phosphor-1 instability module: AGE, character and chaos controls

Morphing filter

Not a static filter. Morph continuously across filter types as you play, at 12 or 24 dB/oct.

OA-Phosphor-1 multimode morphing filter

Generative arp

Groove, glitch and per-step probability. Built for expression, not up-down patterns.

OA-Phosphor-1 generative arpeggiator and step sequencer

Groove box

Timing you can feel, not a single swing knob. Grooves from dead straight to Dilla, every step visible against the grid.

OA-Phosphor-1 groove controls: pattern, resolution, amount and feel

Fold your source

Reshape the raw signal: warp, curve, fold and bias, on either oscillator or both. Add vibe, or rip it apart.

OA-Phosphor-1 waveshaper module

Everything else

Sources

  • Two oscillators + dedicated sub
  • Cross, ring & hard-sync blend

Modulation

  • Dual LFOs: random, tempo-synced
  • Amp, filter & pitch envelopes

Filter & shaping

  • Multimode: LP / HP / BP / notch
  • Waveshaper: warp, curve, fold, bias
  • Up to 4× oversampling

Instability

  • Drift, jitter, wander & sag
  • Chaos rate & amount

Voicing

  • Poly, mono & legato
  • Unison with spread & phase
  • Glide / portamento

Format

  • Preset browser
  • AU & VST3 on Mac, VST3 on Windows

What’s new

  • Real stereo width (STEREO) — channels genuinely differ, not fixed detune
  • Chords and unison now have genuine per-voice depth
  • New displays: draggable envelopes, live waveforms and groove
  • Filter slope — 12 or 24 dB/oct, one resonant peak either way
  • Longer envelopes, arp hold, five full octaves
  • Full interface and dropdown redesign

Full 1.2 changelog →

“…the fun, for me at least, starts when you make it drift, sag, wobble, and fall apart.”

Tomislav Zlatic, Bedroom Producers Blog

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Download

Get OA-Phosphor-1

Free, yours to keep. Your download starts right away — no spam, just occasional updates and I’ll tell you when there’s a new version.

Linux build, community tested. Tested setups

Questions

Is it really free?

Yes. OA-Phosphor-1 is free and yours to keep — not a trial, not a demo, no expiry, no nag screens, and nothing switches off later.

Will it be supported?

Yes — OA-Phosphor-1 is actively developed: new versions, features, and bug fixes on an ongoing basis. See the changelog.

Why do you need my email?

So I can tell you when there’s a new version. OA Labs is a one-person operation and the mailing list is how updates reach people. I don’t sell it, share it, or send anything else.

What formats and platforms does it support?

VST3 and AU on macOS, VST3 on Windows, and a community-tested Linux build (VST3).

Does it work in Pro Tools?

Not yet — AAX isn’t currently supported. There’s a waitlist if you’d like to be told when that changes.

What does “community tested” mean for Linux?

The Linux build has been verified by Linux users rather than by me. So far that’s Arch and Linux Mint 22.3, running X11 and PipeWire, in Ardour, Renoise and Carla.

It will stay community tested. I don’t test on Linux myself, so I’ll look into anything you report and ship fixes in updates, but I can’t always verify those fixes on Linux before they go out. Found a problem, or got it running on another setup? Email hello@oa-labs.com with your distro and host.

To install: it’s a VST3 for 64-bit Intel and AMD machines (x86_64). Extract the archive and run ./install.sh. It installs for your user, no root needed.