GPU Audio – a startup that’s working to let you used your computer’s graphic card as a powerful audio DSP processor – has announced a free beta version of its Modulation Bundle – featuring a Chorus, a Flanger and a Phaser – powered by your computer’s graphics card.
Graphic Processor Units, or GPUs, are specialized processors, originally intended to free your computer’s main process from doing the massive number-crunching required for high-resolution graphics processing. Powerful GPUs are popular for applications like image processing, 3D graphics and gaming – but are also now being leveraged for other applications, because they offer cheap, powerful computing power.
The Modulation Bundle is the first installment of a planned suite of plugins, designed to harness the parallel processing power of GPUs to delive ultra low latencies, vast scalability, and the promise of continuous machine learning.
The company also says that they’ve partnered with AMD and NVIDIA for Windows systems implementations and that they’re now working closely with Apple, with plans to deliver support for macOS in November. The Modulation bundle is initially compatible with NVIDIA GPUs, with AMD support and AAX formats coming soon.
The free beta release is available now.
too bad I couldn’t do that with a Reality Engine back in the day.
dave?
By far the most exciting thing about this release is they say there are a number f 3rd party developers taking the API to possibly make 3rd party instruments and fx (and who knows DAWS?) us this tech. May be the biggest thing since VST was introduced…
Excited to hear that they’re working on a version compatible with Apple Silicon. Ultimately, everything hinges on a major plug-in manufacturer coming on board.
And the newer Mac’s have all these video cores, which for us audio nerds doesn’t get used as much. So it will be cool too see some of those extra brains come online. But as you say, frodo, it comes down to DAW/Host developers embracing this.
“MAJOR is currently in development and GPU Audio plan on having a beta version to try before the end of the year.“
Looks like they will have their own synth.
The plugs sound good, but with the M1 chip being such a powerhouse, I’ll need added incentive to go beyond Logic’s excellent native effects and my few outside pieces. I’m not saying a hard NO either, as the common sense is hard to refute, although I collect synths more than effects, gulp. I think I’ll apply some of that outlook to this.
I’d go for a rationally-priced, extra-creamy reverb or delay. Everything else is so easily had, a flanger simply isn’t an eyebrow-raiser. I’ll still watch with interest.