DAWntless Afterglow

Afterglow is a small polyphonic MetaSound instrument with wavetable and sample-based granular oscillators. It has up to 16 voices, an amplitude envelope, a modulation envelope, two LFOs, four modulation slots, a waveshaper, a selectable resonant filter, chorus and ping-pong delay.

1. Open Tools > DAWntless > Afterglow.
2. Hold an on-screen piano key to audition. Release it to hear the envelope's release.
3. Choose a preset from the asset picker in DAWntless Content > Examples > Afterglow. The collection includes Init, GlassDrift, GrainCloud, FoldBass, and six aggressive bass/lead presets listed below. Enable Show Plugin Content in the Content Browser if needed.
4. Use New / copy to create your own preset under Content > DAWntless > SynthPresets. Save preset saves it.
5. In Sequencer, choose + Track > DAWntless MIDI Track (Afterglow). This creates an empty track with the panel's current sound; when the panel is closed, it uses Init. Add notes with the track's + button, import MIDI, or arm it for recording. The bundled playback supports Afterglow on routes 1, 2 and 3.
6. Save the preset and the sequence. For live MIDI recording, arm that track in the DAWntless transport and choose Overdub / Layer or Replace notes.

The selected preset becomes the track's instrument. Selecting a Thumpr kit switches the track back to Thumpr. Clearing the Afterglow preset returns to the track's previous instrument behavior. Existing Fusion patch references are retained.

The panel's piano is an audition tool; it does not write notes to Sequencer. Use your connected MIDI device and the DAWntless recording controls to record.

Open Tools > DAWntless > STPR-1, choose a pattern and press Play. Its standalone Afterglow preview and this window share one preset. You can open Afterglow before or after starting playback. Tweak controls, import a granular sample, or select another preset while the pattern loops; the running synth updates without restarting the pattern. The panel shows STPR-1 jam linked when connected. Thumpr and SQLCH can join the same Tools clock.

STPR-1 also lets you load pattern banks while playing. Use its Stop/Mute controls for transport. Closing Afterglow leaves the pattern playing; its piano remains a separate manual audition. Factory presets are copied before editing. Save patterns and sounds separately. See the STPR-1 guide for track assignment and runtime controls.

Afterglow is also an instrument of the TheRaK device rack, with or without an STPR-1 (+ Add Device > INSTRUMENTS > Afterglow, or INSTRUMENT + SEQUENCER > Afterglow + STPR-1). Each rack device keeps its own copy of the sound. A saved rack plays in a game through the TheRaK Performer component, where Set Parameter reaches the sound's controls by their automation names, such as Wave_Cutoff (see TheRaK Performer (gameplay)).

These six original presets use Afterglow's built-in waves, texture and modulation matrix; no external samples are required.

Start with STPR-1's bass patterns for the first four, or play held notes to hear the full movement. LFOs retrigger per note and run in Hz; they are not tempo-synced. RiftGrowl and ChromeWobble start at about 2.33 and 4.67 Hz, respectively, useful quarter/eighth-note movement at 140 BPM. Change LFO 1 rate for different tempos or rhythms. These are Afterglow sound designs, not imported Serum presets.

When a factory preset is selected, the asset picker keeps its name and the line underneath says editable copy. The sound stays loaded while you edit, launch STPR-1, or close/reopen the Afterglow panel in the same editor session. Save preset creates a project asset and updates the picker to that asset. Save your work before closing the editor.

Select a preset in Tools > DAWntless > Afterglow, then right-click a DAWntless MIDI track and choose Use Afterglow (current preset). You can also select one track and click Use on selected MIDI track in the synth panel. Existing notes and automation stay in place; one undo restores the previous instrument.

If the panel's sound is still temporary, assigning or adding a track creates a project preset under Content > DAWntless > SynthPresets. Save this preset and the sequence. Further edits to that preset affect tracks that share it.

New Afterglow tracks receive unique names for recording selection. MIDI routes are shared with the other MIDI instruments. A track's route is its position among the sequence's MIDI tracks, so three existing MIDI tracks occupy the bundled graph's three routes, and removing an earlier MIDI track moves the later ones down one route. See Routes. An unsupported route or custom playback sound produces an explanation without creating a partial track. In that case, assign Afterglow to a supported existing track or use a compatible playback graph. Read-only sequences cannot be changed.

Wavetable morphs through four built-in frames: sine, triangle, saw and square. Use the Waveform selector to choose Sine, Triangle, Saw or Square directly. Position still blends between them; intermediate positions display Custom morph. Waveform choices are saved with the preset and support Undo. Detune spreads two oscillator phases in cents; Width controls their stereo spread. Tune shifts both sound sources in semitones. The tables use progressively reduced harmonic content at high pitches.

Granular plays overlapping, windowed fragments of a sample. Raise its Level to hear it; the Init preset starts with this oscillator turned down.

Imported audio is downmixed to mono and embedded in the preset. Grain panning produces a stereo cloud. The original Sound Wave reference is used only in the editor; the baked sample travels with the saved preset into packaged builds. Re-select the Sound Wave after reimporting its audio to update the embedded sample.

The stored sample has fixed limits: mono, no more than 48 kHz, at most 262,144 frames. A source above 48 kHz is resampled to 48 kHz. A longer source keeps its beginning and is cut at the limit with a short (10 ms) fade. Neither is silent: the panel's status line says what happened, for example resampled 96000 -> 48000 Hz, truncated from 9.00 s to 5.46 s. Trim the Sound Wave to the part you want before selecting it, because Position only reaches what was kept.

A preset saved by an earlier build with more than 262,144 frames is cut to the limit, with the same fade, each time it loads, and the Output Log names the preset. Resave it, or select the sample again, to make that permanent. A preset stored above 48 kHz still plays as it is; select its sample again to bake it at 48 kHz.

The wavetable oscillator uses its built-in table bank; this version does not import external wavetable banks.

Use the selector above Cutoff and Resonance to choose Low-pass 12 dB, Low-pass 24 dB, High-pass 12 dB, Band-pass 12 dB, Notch, or Bypass. Low-pass 24 dB gives basses a steeper cutoff; band-pass focuses a moving frequency band; notch cuts a moving band. Changes crossfade over approximately 12 ms and work while jamming. The choice saves in the preset and reaches Sequencer, PIE and packaged playback. Existing presets start with their original 12 dB low-pass response. Bypass leaves cutoff and resonance inactive until another mode is selected.

The automation input is Wave_FilterMode (0–5 in the order above), with the usual route prefix for Sequencer tracks. Use integer values for this selector.

Cutoff and Resonance are rotary knobs. Drag vertically, use arrow keys, or type an exact value underneath. Cutoff uses a logarithmic range from 30 Hz to 18 kHz. Each completed gesture is one Undo, and the knobs update a running STPR-1 jam. Mouse drags keep editor-world playback active; releasing the mouse or losing capture finishes the gesture.

The output stage adds approximately 12 dB of makeup gain before its final soft saturation. Master remains 0–1, and zero silences the output. Existing presets therefore play louder; for an older mix, setting Master to one quarter of its previous value restores the previous gain staging. Dense chords and heavily driven sounds reach saturation sooner, so use Master to set their level.

Drive increases the input gain. Bias makes shaping asymmetric. Mix blends the shaped and original signal. The graph shows the transfer curve as these settings change.

• Soft saturation rounds the signal smoothly.
• Sine fold folds peaks back for brighter, more metallic tones.
• Hard clip cuts peaks for a rougher sound.

The engine removes DC from the shaped signal. High drive can produce bright digital harmonics; this initial version has no selectable oversampling.

Cutoff sets the low-pass frequency. Resonance emphasizes the area around the cutoff. Try routing the modulation envelope to cutoff for plucks, or an LFO for moving pads.

Drag the white handles in either envelope:

• First handle: attack.
• Second handle: decay horizontally, sustain vertically.
• Third handle: sustain.
• Last handle: release.

Time handles use a compressed scale so both short and long times are reachable. The numeric controls show the actual seconds. Curve bends the segments; 1 is linear. Envelope edits support Undo and Redo.

The amplitude envelope controls each voice's loudness. The modulation envelope becomes a source in the modulation matrix. Both restart for each new note and release when that note ends.

Each LFO offers sine, triangle, or sample-and-hold shapes. Rates are in hertz and retrigger per voice.

Each of the four slots has:

1. Source: Off, LFO 1, LFO 2, modulation envelope, velocity, or keytrack.
2. Destination: Off, table position, grain position, filter cutoff, pitch, drive, or pan.
3. Amount: -1 to +1. Negative values reverse the motion.

Multiple slots can feed the same destination. A full pitch amount spans 12 semitones; a full cutoff amount spans five octaves. Table, sample-position and pan modulation use normalized ranges. Modulation affects voices independently.

Chorus adds a short, modulated stereo delay. Rate and Depth set its motion; Mix controls its presence.

Delay is a ping-pong echo with Time in seconds, Mix and Feedback. This version uses free-running effect and LFO rates, with no tempo-sync menu.

Master sets the overall level. Voices sets the polyphony limit from 1 to 16. When the limit is reached, released voices are preferred for stealing; the engine applies a short transition when replacing a voice. Panic stops the panel's audition sound immediately.

The standalone source and Sequencer playback are stereo. The existing recording-monitor graph is mono, so its stereo effects are folded down during monitoring.

The native node is DAWntless Afterglow, under the DAWntless category in MetaSound. It accepts a Harmonix MIDI Stream and produces Out L, Out R, plus a Legacy Enabled gate used by the bundled instrument selector.

Bundled assets:

• MSP_DAWntless_Afterglow: reusable patch with MIDI Stream input.
• MSS_DAWntless_Afterglow: standalone source used by the panel; it exposes 16 note-trigger slots.
• Four DA_Afterglow_... preset assets.

Most controls are exposed as float inputs named Wave_.... Bundled Sequencer routes add a track prefix, for example 2_Wave_Cutoff, 2_Wave_TablePosition, and 2_Wave_GrainPosition. The prefix is the track's current route, which follows the track's position among the MIDI tracks; presets and automation lanes are sent under the current prefix, so nothing needs re-saving when tracks are added or removed. Use DAWntless's Add MetaSound Automation menu to create curves. Preset edits reset the live base values; an active automation curve takes control again when evaluated.

For custom graphs, use the preset's Apply To Audio Component function and supply the same route prefix as the graph inputs. The preset pushes its controls, sample data and enable gate. Custom project playback-source overrides must expose these inputs or include the Afterglow patch.

The native MIDI Stream supports per-channel sustain, all-notes-off, all-sound-off and pitch bend over +/-2 semitones. The existing DAWntless note-trigger bridge carries notes and velocities; it does not forward controller/pitch-bend messages. This is not an MPE implementation.

• Granular sounds unchanged: raise Granular Level, lower Wavetable Level, then move Position.
• No Sequencer sound: confirm the selected track is on bundled route 1, 2 or 3 and references your saved preset; check whether project settings use a custom playback graph.
• A different track changes too: tracks referencing the same preset share its settings. Use New / copy for an independent sound.
• Preset missing after restart: save it and the sequence. A new unsaved panel starts with a temporary Init sound.
• Old audio after sample reimport: re-select the sample to bake the new audio into the preset.
• The end of a long sample is missing: the stored sample stops at 262,144 frames (about 5.4 s at 48 kHz). Trim the Sound Wave to the part you need and select it again.
• A note hangs while auditioning: click Panic. Playback and recording have their own transport stop controls.

Afterglow is the renamed Wave Synth; its synthesis behavior is unchanged. Existing presets, track assignments, and Blueprint getter/setter calls migrate through redirects. The old bundled asset paths redirect to Examples/Afterglow through native and configuration redirects. Keep the compatibility code and configuration when distributing the plugin.

Custom MetaSounds and MIDI mappings keep their existing Wave_ parameter IDs. The native MetaSound node displays DAWntless Afterglow, but retains its old serialized node identity so saved graphs continue working. C++ integrations should update their includes and type names to Afterglow; source-code aliases are not provided.