Hello sigilists!
We have been heads-down building one of the largest feature updates in Sigilgraph short history. Today, we are thrilled to give you a detailed preview of what is arriving in v0.9.2 by the end of this month!
This upcoming release transforms the timeline workflow with a completely redesigned Dual-Pane Composer, brings 4 brand-new devices (including physical gamepad support and crossfading), expands CV modulation to pill selectors (device dropdowns), and introduces deep DSP and UI performance optimizations across the audio engine.
Quick TLDR Highlights
Redesigned Composer: High-performance Dual-Pane layout (Arrangement Overview + Focused Detail Editor) with 95%+ less UI overhead, interactive clip edge resizing, and live automation recording.
4 New Devices: Joystick Device (gamepad control), Stretch Device (time-stretching & smear), Crossfader Device (two-channel DJ mixer), and Comment Device (canvas sticky notes).
Modulatable Pill Selectors: Drop modulation cables onto dropdown selectors to dynamically switch waveforms, arp directions, steps, scales, and distortion modes, to produce even crazier and unique patches and more unexpected automation.
Button & Note Upgrades: Button Control now supports Toggle mode and CV triggering; Note Map to Gate adds a "Hold Latest" latching mode. Useful to create latching behaviors in the patches with the gamepad inputs
Audio Engine Power: 64-sample zero-allocation block processing, lock-free FFT visualizers, anti-aliased square waves, and calibrated 0 dB unity-gain knobs.
The Redesigned Composer: Dual-Pane Overview & Detail Editor
Arranging and composing multi-track music in Audio Workbench is getting a massive upgrade. We’ve rebuilt the timeline interface from the ground up:
Dual-Pane Split Architecture: The top pane gives you a bird's-eye view of your entire song arrangement with compact track strips. Clicking any track instantly brings up its full, dedicated editor in the bottom pane (Piano Roll grid, Automation curves, or Sample waveform) without stutter or layout lag.
Blazing-Fast Direct Drawing (95%+ Less UI Overhead): We eliminated hundreds of individual Godot UI nodes. The overview canvas now draws clips, pitch density heatmaps, RMS peaks, and automation paths directly via custom GPU-accelerated batch operations. Even large arrangements with dozens of tracks scroll, zoom, and scrub with fluid 60+ FPS responsiveness.
Smart Background Culling: When the Composer overlay is open, the background modular canvas automatically suspends its rendering and layout calculations, freeing up 100% of your GPU and CPU headroom for audio DSP and timeline editing.
4 Brand-New Devices
1. Joystick Device (Hardware Gamepad & Flightstick Control)
Bring physical game controllers into your modular rig! Plug in any standard Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, or flight stick controller to sculpt sound by hand.
Dual Thumbstick CV: Sweep synth cutoffs, stereo pan positions, or effect amounts simultaneously with Left and Right analog thumbsticks.
Analog Trigger Sweeps: Pull analog triggers for continuous modulation sweeps or hard threshold note/gate triggering.
Button & D-Pad Note Mapping: Trigger drums, samplers, and synths with ultra-responsive face buttons and bumpers, fully mapped to custom pitch pickers.
Live Visual Calibration: Fine-tune deadzones, axis inversions, and response smoothing in an interactive calibration modal with live visual feedback.
2. Stretch Device (Extreme Time-Stretching & Spectral Smear) Transform audio samples and live instruments into infinite ambient washes, shimmering textural clouds, and spectral smears.
Infinite Sustain: Stretch sounds by extreme factors without changing their pitch.
Spectral Smear Core: Dissolve sharp transients into lush, diffuse reverb-like tails.
4. Crossfader Device (Dedicated Stereo Audio Crossfader)
A specialized, ultra-low-latency utility device built for blending two stereo audio streams.
Four Mathematical Curves: Choose between Linear, Equal Power (constant volume throughout the center with +3 dB compensation), S-Curve / Smoothstep, or Sharp DJ Cut (for instant scratching and quick cuts). Combine two graphs of nodes into it and swap easily between them.
CV-Modulatable Position: Wire an envelope follower, sequencer, or gamepad trigger straight into crossfader position.
5. Comment Device (Canvas Sticky Notes) Keep your complex patches organized and self-documenting. Place resizable text notes anywhere on your workbench canvas to explain routing, note chord progressions, or leave performance instructions. Customize font sizes, apply background color presets, and edit freely with full Undo/Redo history support.
Modulate Everything: Discrete Pill Selectors
Modulation in Audio Workbench is no longer limited to continuous knobs and sliders! You can now drop control cables directly onto discrete dropdown/pill selectors:
Algorithmic Rhythm & Melody: Automatically switch arpeggiator playback directions, step counts, root keys, and musical scales on the fly.
Distortion Device: Modulate Drive, Tone, and Distortion Mode via CV.
Fresh Upgrades & Workflow Polish
Button Control Device (Switch Mode & CV Input): Buttons now feature a Switch (Toggle) mode in addition to momentary Press, and can now be triggered or toggled remotely via incoming Control Voltage through the new Switch In port!
Note Map to Gate (Hold Latest Mode): Added a new latching mode that keeps the most recently triggered gate high until a new mapped note is struck.
Note Modifier & Glider Precision: Polished note glide calculations across edge cases and enabled direct CV pitch modulation.
Sequencer & Drum Machine Timing: Hardened timing rate migrations and bank-switching conventions across the Matrix Arpeggiator, Drum Machine, and Control Step Sequencer.
No Spacebar Button Misfires: Buttons no longer hold focus styling after being clicked, ensuring that pressing Spacebar to toggle playback never accidentally triggers your last-clicked button.
Calibrated parameters: Some devices like the Subsynth had some calibration issues on the cutoff giving too low resolution on the low end. This was reducing the usefulness of the slider. Now it follow a logarithmic resolution to give more resolution on the low-end and less on the high-end (which follow the audio convention)
When Is It Landing?
The update is currently undergoing final stability testing and polish. We are on track to push v0.9.2 live on Steam before the end of September!
Stay tuned, join the conversation in the Steam Community Hub, and get your gamepads ready!