OA Labs
OA-Phosphor-1
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VST3 · AU · macOS · Windows · Linux

OA-Phosphor-1

A synth built around controllable instability

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Yours to keep

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The OA-Phosphor-1 synthesizer interface

The idea

Every synth is built to hold perfectly still. OA‑Phosphor‑1 is built to drift, sag, wobble and age, and you hold the leash.

Audition

Presets

  • Aged Pad

    0:22

  • Long Horizon

    1:19

  • Chord Cascade

    0:08

  • Sync Tine

    0:09

  • Pluck Motion

    0:09

  • Reese Bass

    0:09

  • Robot Funk

    0:18

  • Razor Lead

    0:09

  • Notch Phaser

    0:09

  • Laser Arp

    0:15

  • Converge

    0:09

  • Fault Line

    0:09

  • Motor Line

    0:09

  • Scramble Cell

    0:09

  • Phosphor Drift

    0:09

Features & tracks

  • Full Demo 2

    Everything working together in one track

    1:11

  • Aging

    Progressively adding age to hear the instability

    1:26

  • Chaos

    Pushing the chaos engine until it breaks

    1:05

  • Arp Groove

    Slowly increasing groove

    2:11

  • Full Demo 1

    Everything working together in one track

    1:18

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.

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

Always the same. Or never

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

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

Stutters, repeats and skips, placed on the steps you choose, so the pattern breaks exactly where you want it to.

Give every step a chance to play. From certain to rare, so the same pattern never quite repeats.

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

Tomislav Zlatic, Bedroom Producers Blog

Featured in

Version 1.2.0

Specs

1

Knob, from clinical to falling apart

7×

Unison per voice

10

Grooves, straight to Dilla

111

Factory presets

Formats
VST3, AU and standalone
macOS
10.13+, Apple Silicon and Intel
Windows
10+, 64-bit
Linux
VST3, community tested
Sources
2 oscillators, 5 waves, plus a sub
Filter
Morphing LP to HP, 12 or 24 dB/oct
Modulation
3 envelopes, 2 LFOs, 15 destinations
Instability
Age, drift, jitter, wander, sag, chaos
Arpeggiator
16 steps, per-step probability and glitch, 10 grooves
Polyphony
16 voices, each up to 7 deep in unison

OA-Phosphor-1 · Version 1.2.0

Full specs

Format & system

Formats
VST3 and AU (macOS), VST3 (Windows, Linux), plus a standalone app
macOS
10.13 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel (universal). Signed and notarized
Windows
Windows 10 or later, 64-bit. Signed installer
Linux
VST3, community tested
Polyphony
16 voices, each up to 7 deep in unison
Audio / MIDI
Stereo out, MIDI in
Latency
None (0 samples)

Sound sources

Oscillators
Two, each Pulse, Saw, Triangle, Sine or NES-style noise
Width
Pulse width on the pulse; a shape and self-sync control on every other wave
Tuning
±2 octaves, ±100 cents each
Sub
Sine, square or triangle, down to −3 octaves. Before or after the filter, with optional drift
Blend
Crossfade, ring mod or hard sync, plus a separate sync switch
Detune / feedback
0–50 cents spread; self-FM feedback

Voicing

Unison
1–7 copies with spread and phase reset
Modes
Poly, mono and legato
Glide
Spring glide with adjustable damping, from bouncy to smooth
Pitch bend
Up and down set separately: 1, 2, 5, 7, 12 or 24 semitones

Shaper

Controls
Warp (phase distortion), curve, fold (wavefolder) and bias
Routing
Oscillator 1, 2, both, or off
Oversampling
1× (raw), 2×, 3× or 4×

Filter

Type
Morphing state-variable filter: lowpass to notch to bandpass to highpass, continuously
Slope
12 or 24 dB/oct
Cutoff
20 Hz – 20 kHz, with resonance, drive and colour
Modulation
Envelope ±4 octaves, key tracking, and Motion from the instability engine

Envelopes & LFOs

Amp and filter
ADSR with curve. Attack to 10 s, decay to 5 s, release to 15 s
Pitch envelope
±48 semitones
LFOs
Two, 0.01–30 Hz or tempo-synced from 1/32 to 8 bars, including dotted and triplet
LFO shapes
Sine, triangle, saw up and down, square, exponential up and down, sample & hold, smooth random
Destinations
15, shared by both LFOs and three mod-wheel slots

Instability

Age
One macro that scales everything here, from clinical to falling apart
Analogue
Drift, jitter, wander and sag, per voice, with the sag shared like a real power supply
Chaos
A Lorenz attractor, from slow crawl to audio-rate scream

Arpeggiator

Steps
16-step grid, 1–16 steps long (polymeter), 1–4 octaves
Patterns
Up, down, up-down, down-up, random, random walk, converge, diverge, pedal, as played, custom
Per step
Degree, octave, probability (including ratios like 2:3), glitch (jump, stutter, scramble), timing, tie
Modes
Chord or phrase, in chromatic, major, minor, Dorian or Phrygian
Groove
Straight, swing, shuffle, hard, loose, half swing, hard swing, Dilla, gallop or custom, with amount and feel

Output

Drive
Soft-clip saturation
Stereo
Drift-based width that stays mono-compatible; the sub stays in the centre
Gain
−60 to +6 dB

Presets & automation

Factory presets
111: arp 21, bass 19, lead 17, pad 17, keys 15, texture 12, FX 10
User presets
Saved as files you can share
Automation
102 parameters, fixed so saved automation never moves between updates

Performance

Typical
A four-note pad, unison 3: about 11% of one Apple M1 Max core at 48 kHz
Worst case
Eight notes × unison 7, everything on: about 75% of one core

CPU measured on an Apple M1 Max, one core, release build. Full changelog

OA-Phosphor-1

What’s new

Version 1.2.0 · 9 September 2026

  • 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 changelog

Download

Get OA-Phosphor-1

  • VST3 and AU on macOS
  • VST3 on Windows
  • VST3 on Linux, community tested
  • Version 1.2.0
  • AAX for Pro Tools is coming: join the waitlist

Free to keep: no trial, no expiry, just your email. I’ll only write when there’s an update; never sold or shared, unsubscribe in one click.

Get it free

Privacy

Questions and support

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: 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 run on?

VST3 and AU on macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), VST3 on Windows, and a community-tested VST3 build for Linux. There is a standalone app too.

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.

How is the Linux build tested?

It’s a community build: tested by Linux users rather than by me. So far it’s been verified on 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 support@oa-labs.com with your distro and host.

Who is OA Labs?

OA Labs is a label of Form and Function Studio, a product company founded by Matthew James. Today it’s one designer, with 30 years of experience launching products: I design and build every instrument, and each one is organised around an idea, a specific sound or feeling, before anything else.

Form and Function’s line is ideas and execution: ideas first, then making them real. OA Labs is growing into a product company on that footing, with more instruments on the way. More about OA Labs