I run a small plugin label called Reactive Audio, and I just released Growth, an effect built around a living reaction-diffusion field that generates its own modulation.
Instead of LFOs and envelopes, Growth runs a reaction-diffusion simulation, the same math behind coral, animal markings, and Turing patterns. The field grows, drifts, and reorganizes continuously, and it never loops. You don't drive it like an X-Y pad; you drop readers onto it and let the moving pattern flow through them:
- Probes read the field at a point and route that motion to any effect parameter.
- Edges link two probes and derive a new signal from the relationship between them, the contrast or flow along a bendable path.
- Scans are paths you draw on the field; a scanner travels your drawing and turns the values it passes into a modulation waveform. Free-running or tempo-synced.
- Proximity measures how close two scans get, giving rhythmic pulses at the beat frequency between them.
- Envelope follower routes the level of your audio, so the effects follow your playing.
Features
- Reaction-diffusion field with pattern presets (spots, coral, stripes, cells, pulse, drift)
- 4 probes, 4 relational edges, 3 drawable scans, proximity, and an envelope follower
- Five-stage chain: multimode filter, granular, frequency shifter, reverb + synced delay, stereo
- Tempo sync, global dry/wet, auto-gain for fair A/B, transparent safety limiter
- 8 factory presets, resizable UI, render-accurate (an offline bounce matches playback)
OS: macOS (universal) + Windows 10/11
Price: $20 intro for the launch window, then $30. One-time purchase.
Free demo: fully functional, mutes 0.5 s every 30 seconds.
Buy: reactiveaudio.lemonsqueezy.com
Product page and free demo: https://reactive-audio.netlify.app
Happy to answer any questions here.