Orbinator

Orbinator is a wavetable synth where the wavetables are not fixed — they evolve.

Place one or more orbs and give them a speed, direction and rotation radius. The line that connects the orbs describes a single cycle of the waveform that gets played. Because the orbs move, the wave is always changing shape.

This plug-in was inspired by an obscure method known as scanned synthesis where the wavetable is dynamically generated from a physical model of masses and springs. In Orbinator, the "physical model" consists of dots spinning around circles with an imaginary string between them.

How to use

Double-click anywhere in the window to add a new orb. You can add up to 8 orbs.

Hover near the center of a circle to reveal additional controls that do the following:

• SPEED Click on the icon and drag up or down to change the rotation speed and direction. Double-click to stop the orb from moving.
• MOVE Drag to reposition the circle. Double-click to delete this orb.
• SIZE Drag up or down to change the circle radius. Double-click to restore default size.

Main controls:

• SYNC If enabled, the rotation speed of the orbs is relative to the BPM. Speeds range from one 1/16th note per revolution (fast!) to 16 bars (slow).
• UNISON Adds extra detuned voices.
• SMOOTH If enabled, uses smooth interpolation between the orb positions, otherwise uses linear interpolation. (The UI always shows straight lines even if smooth is enabled.).
• TUNING Pitch adjustment in octaves, semitones, and cents.
• ADSR Your typical envelope controls.
• BEND Amount of pitch bend in semitones, for the pitch wheel.
• VEL Velocity sensitivity. If off, velocity is ignored.
• SPD Sets the simulation speed, from 0.1 – 10×. This affects the speed of the orbs. You can also use the mod wheel for this. (Note: The animation speed in the UI doesn't change.).
• OUT Output level in dB.

Supported platforms

Free download for Mac (AU, VST3), Windows (VST3), and Linux (VST3, LV2).

Made by a human for the KVR Developer Challenge 2026.