Low Level Emulation of classic VA synths & effects of the late 90s/2000s by emulating the used ICs
1,291
stars
2,975
commits
C++
primary language
Sep 11, 2026
updated
README
Gearmulator
Low Level Emulation of classic VA synths & effects of the late 90s/2000s
This project emulates the used ICs of various musical devices to run the original firmware - aka ROM - as audio plugins.
The supported plugin formats are FST, VST3, AU, CLAP and LV2.
Supported architectures: 64 bit x86 aka x64 and ARM aarch64 (Raspberry Pi, Apple Silicon). Note that 32 bit architectures are not supported!
Platforms: Windows 7+, macOS 10.13+, Linux
At the moment, the following synthesizers are supported:
- Osirus: Access Virus A,B,C
- OsTIrus: Access Virus TI/TI2/Snow
- Vavra: Waldorf microQ
- Xenia: Waldorf Microwave II/XT
- Nodal Red 2x: Clavia Nord Lead/Rack 2x
- JE-8086: Roland JP-8000
Compiling
The emulator compiles on any platform that supports C++17.
The build system used is cmake.
cmake options
| Variable | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| gearmulator_BUILD_JUCEPLUGIN | Build Juce based audio plugins | on |
| gearmulator_BUILD_JUCEPLUGIN_CLAP | Build CLAP plugins | on |
| gearmulator_BUILD_JUCEPLUGIN_LV2 | Build LV2 plugins | on |
| gearmulator_BUILD_FX_PLUGIN | Additionally build FX versions of all plugins | off |
Additional options to select which devices to build:
| Variable | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| gearmulator_SYNTH_OSIRUS | Build Osirus | on |
| gearmulator_SYNTH_OSTIRUS | Build OsTIrus | on |
| gearmulator_SYNTH_VAVRA | Build Vavra | on |
| gearmulator_SYNTH_XENIA | Build Xenia | on |
| gearmulator_SYNTH_NODALRED2X | Build Nodal Red 2x | on |
| gearmulator_SYNTH_JE8086 | Build JE-8086 | on |
Join us on Discord
If you want to help or just want to follow the state of the project, feel free to join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/WJ9cxySnsM
Visit our Homepage
🎵 Visit our homepage for Audio and Video examples 🎧: The Usual Suspects Website
See what people are saying
Hacker News (1)
Similar repos
Languages
C++
82.6%
C
11.1%
Objective-C++
2.7%
CMake
2.7%
Low Level Emulation of classic VA synths & effects of the late 90s/2000s by emulating the used ICs
1,291
stars
2,975
commits
C++
primary language
Sep 11, 2026
updated
README
Gearmulator
Low Level Emulation of classic VA synths & effects of the late 90s/2000s
This project emulates the used ICs of various musical devices to run the original firmware - aka ROM - as audio plugins.
The supported plugin formats are FST, VST3, AU, CLAP and LV2.
Supported architectures: 64 bit x86 aka x64 and ARM aarch64 (Raspberry Pi, Apple Silicon). Note that 32 bit architectures are not supported!
Platforms: Windows 7+, macOS 10.13+, Linux
At the moment, the following synthesizers are supported:
- Osirus: Access Virus A,B,C
- OsTIrus: Access Virus TI/TI2/Snow
- Vavra: Waldorf microQ
- Xenia: Waldorf Microwave II/XT
- Nodal Red 2x: Clavia Nord Lead/Rack 2x
- JE-8086: Roland JP-8000
Compiling
The emulator compiles on any platform that supports C++17.
The build system used is cmake.
cmake options
| Variable | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| gearmulator_BUILD_JUCEPLUGIN | Build Juce based audio plugins | on |
| gearmulator_BUILD_JUCEPLUGIN_CLAP | Build CLAP plugins | on |
| gearmulator_BUILD_JUCEPLUGIN_LV2 | Build LV2 plugins | on |
| gearmulator_BUILD_FX_PLUGIN | Additionally build FX versions of all plugins | off |
Additional options to select which devices to build:
| Variable | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| gearmulator_SYNTH_OSIRUS | Build Osirus | on |
| gearmulator_SYNTH_OSTIRUS | Build OsTIrus | on |
| gearmulator_SYNTH_VAVRA | Build Vavra | on |
| gearmulator_SYNTH_XENIA | Build Xenia | on |
| gearmulator_SYNTH_NODALRED2X | Build Nodal Red 2x | on |
| gearmulator_SYNTH_JE8086 | Build JE-8086 | on |
Join us on Discord
If you want to help or just want to follow the state of the project, feel free to join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/WJ9cxySnsM
Visit our Homepage
🎵 Visit our homepage for Audio and Video examples 🎧: The Usual Suspects Website
See what people are saying
Hacker News (1)
Similar repos
Languages
C++
82.6%
C
11.1%
Objective-C++
2.7%
CMake
2.7%