For anyone who hasn't run into it yet: Anukari is a 3D physics synthesizer. Instead of manipulating voltage, you build instruments out of masses, springs, and exciters in a 3D space, and a real-time physics simulation turns that into sound. You pluck it, strike it, and let the parts resonate into each other. It's less a precision tool for nailing the exact sound in your head, and more an exploration tool for finding sounds you'd never have thought to go looking for. It runs as a VST3/AU/AAX/standalone application on Windows and macOS. If you’re curious, this video gives a great crash course on how Anukari works.
I started working on Anukari full-time in February 2023… over three years of work to get it from a blank code editor to something I am excited to call 1.0. I’ve always said that I would release 1.0 "when it's ready" instead of rushing something out the door to meet an arbitrary deadline. I am proud to say that I now feel as though Anukari is ready.
I want to give a HUGE shout-out to everyone who has helped make this possible. Early pre-alpha testers who put up with all kinds of bugs, and provided massively valuable feedback. Beta testers, who both financially supported the project as well as helped test many new features over the years. People who sent me encouraging messages, giving me motivation to keep going. Those who contributed to the project directly, creating presets, 3D models, and helping me get the word out about it. And of course my wife Meg, who helped in an infinite variety of ways, and also put up with a LOT of really weird sounds coming from my office.
How it all started
I worked in engineering at Google for 11 years, and had a ton of fun there. But that's a long time to spend at one company, and by the end of 2022 my heart wasn't fully in the work.
I was looking at various exciting roles inside Google to make a change, but on the weekends and evenings I was writing up ideas for possible businesses that I could start. When I was sketching out the basic ideas for Anukari, I realized that I was having fun writing a document, and it had been a long time since I felt that way. It became pretty clear that I needed to take some risk, leave Google's warm corporate embrace, and try to start my own business.
If you're interested in the full backstory, I wrote up a very long and detailed devlog entry that tells the whole story from the beginning: the busted shoulder that got me coding, the GPU performance saga with Apple, the MIck Gordon post that saved the beta, and more.
Full 1.0 devlog →Where my head is at now
Releasing Anukari 1.0 definitely feels like a huge milestone. I have worked more than full time for the last three years, and while the work itself has been fun and rewarding, it is nice to be at the point where I can say that Anukari is "ready."
On the other hand, it is also simply a Tuesday. In some ways, not a lot has changed. I worked on Anukari yesterday, and I will work on it tomorrow. I have a LOT of ideas for new features and improvements. I don't feel like Anukari is finished. It's more that I feel like Anukari has finally officially started.
Perhaps the most rewarding thing about building Anukari has been the people it has connected me with. This includes users, collaborators, and people who simply think it's cool. There are few things I enjoy more than seeing the weird contraptions that people build, or hearing their stories about the discoveries they make while using Anukari. I look forward to these connections growing.
What's next
There's a surprising amount of interest in Linux support for Anukari, and I have promised that it would be a priority after the 1.0 release. I will make good on this promise. In fact, I already have a testing build of Anukari running on Linux. Soon I will release it to a handful of early testers, and hopefully it won't be long until I can release a Linux preview to the public.
After that, I have a bunch of ideas for physics features that I'd like to add. I'm thinking about new kinds of spring modes, more parameters for Body objects, new types of exciters, stuff like that.
One other big idea I want to pursue soon is something I'm tentatively calling the "Modulosphere". I will leave it to the reader's imagination what such an object could possibly be. Maybe I'll write more on that soon!
If any of this sounds interesting to you, the best thing I can suggest is to go play with it. Sign up for the free trial, build something weird, and if you feel up for it, share with me what you created!
Try Anukari Free →
Buy Anukari 1.0 →
-Evan
