Following the release of TOMiC 0.6 with external CLAP and OMNiPlugin instrument hosting, this major update takes the 0.6 branch to an entirely new creative level.
From cutting-edge 2D physical modeling of vibrating acoustic plates to intelligent generative beat design, modular arrangement sequencing with probabilistic follow actions, boutique alternating dual-filtered delays, and a completely overhauled archetype-driven randomizer, this update continues to push the boundaries of modern drum synthesis.
Here is everything new in this TOMiC 0.6 update:
🥏 1. Mesh 2D Physical Modeling — FDTD Resonant Plate on Both Oscillators
TOMiC now features a complete, real-time 2D Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) plate physical modeling engine on both OSC 1 and OSC 2, available across both Layer A and Layer B:
- True 2D Acoustic Plate Simulation: Rather than using static modal resonators or wavetables, Mesh 2D simulates the actual wave propagation, dispersion, boundary reflection, and natural acoustic damping of a physical struck plate in real time.
- 8-Wide SIMD Biharmonic Solver: Powered by a two-pass biharmonic numerical solver running 8-wide SIMD (
wide) through a scratch buffer. The solver coefficients are mathematically bound inside the discrete dispersion relation and guaranteed stable under the von Neumann energy criterion ($2S + 16K + 4D_1 \le 1$), completely eliminating numerical explosion risks without dynamic runtime memory allocations. - Five Boundary Geometry Masks: The vibration domain can be shaped into Circle, Square, Ellipse, Hexagon, or a complex Chladni interference pattern, each exhibiting its own distinct physical eigenmode frequencies and acoustic timbre.
- Dynamic Re-Strike Interference (Zero Machine-Gun Effect): Because the simulation state persists across voice triggers, subsequent hits land on a plate that is already ringing. Wavefronts physically collide and interfere in real time. Two successive hits never sound identical, producing organic, breathing acoustic dynamics without requiring multi-gigabyte round-robin sample libraries.
- Physical Choke & Dampening: Choke groups and Hi-Hat choke do not simply clamp an amplitude envelope — they dynamically inject heavy numerical damping directly into the active grid cells, exactly like a drummer resting a hand on a ringing cymbal or gong. Subsequent strikes lift the damping automatically.
- Live 16×16 Vibration Heatmap: A real-time normalized modal visualizer rendered directly above the preset bar displays nodal lines and active surface deformations while the plate rings (published only while the plate vibrates, keeping idle overhead down to ~7ns per block).
- 12 Dedicated Parameters & 14 LFO Targets: Offers detailed control over Tune, Decay, Mallet / Strike Radius, Material / Nonlinearity, Damping, and Microphone Pickups (1–4 virtual pickups with radius and spread for authentic physical stereo width). Modulatable in real time with 14 dedicated
LfoTargetdestinations. Includes 7 factory voices and full.tomicsession serialization.
🎲 2. Kit-Level Groove Generator — Instant Coherent Beats from a Single Seed
The SEQUENCER tile now features a built-in, kit-wide generative composition engine:
- One-Click Instant Kit Creation: Clicking the new dice icon in the SEQUENCER header generates a complete, coherent drum groove across up to 8 channels simultaneously from a single random seed — complete with step patterns, sound designs, mix staging, and harmonious tuning.
- 7 Curated Musical Styles: Choose between dedicated genre templates: Techno, House, Hip-Hop, Drum & Bass, IDM, Trap, and Free / Experimental.
- Metric Hierarchy & Targeted Syncopation: Leverages Longuet-Higgins & Lee metric hierarchy weights with rejection sampling on kick/snare pairs to guarantee precise, musically valid syncopation targets rather than chaotic step rolls.
- Interlocking Roles & Frequency Harmony: Channels are mapped to functional roles (Kick, Snare, Clap, Hats, Tom, Percussion, Cymbal, Tonal/Bass) in hierarchical priority. Open hats automatically choke closed hats, snares yield to kicks outside of designated fill bars, and tonal basslines lock to a shared root note and musical scale.
- Poly Option (Polymeter & True Polyrhythm): The new "Poly" slider introduces 12- and 24-step drifting lane lengths on secondary percussion, tom, and cymbal lanes, scaling up to genuine 3:4, 5:4, and 7:4 polyrhythmic micro-offsets.
- Automatic Mix Staging: Generated kits arrive pre-balanced with production-ready loudness and stereo placement (Kick at 0 dB, cymbals at -10 dB, open hats elevated above closed hats, and percussion panned across the stereo field with seeded width).
- Comprehensive Options Popup: Right-click the dice to configure Style, Complexity, Density, Poly factor, Channel Budget (1–8), Sound Source (Synth, Preset Bank, or Keep Existing Sounds), per-channel locks, and seed locking.
🧱 3. Modular Pattern Chain Editor — Blocks, Random Pools & Follow Actions
Arranging patterns into evolving live performances and full tracks has been completely overhauled with the new Chain Editor:
- Floating Chain Editor Workspace: Click the pencil (✏) icon next to "Chain:" in the Sequencer header to open a visual, block-based arrangement studio.
- Modular
ChainBlockArchitecture: Replaces the flat pattern list with modular block cards that can be reordered via drag-and-drop with an intuitive drop-ghost insertion indicator. - Random Pattern Pools: A chain block can be set to a static pattern (A–L) or a Random Pool (e.g. randomly picking between patterns
[C, D, E]on every pass), enabling self-evolving, generative song arrangements that never repeat identically. - Repeat Counters & Length Overrides: Set per-block repeat counts (×1, ×2, ×4, ×8, ×N) and custom step length overrides directly in the block inspector, making it effortless to construct complex song sections without duplicating patterns.
- Ableton-Style Follow Actions: Each block can trigger an automated Follow Action upon completion: Next, Previous, First, Last, Jump to Block, Stop (halting triggers until restarted), or probabilistic branching (Follow A with probability $P(A)$ else Follow B).
- Live Playhead Tracking & Song Mode Integration: A real-time playhead highlights the active block, and the engine anchors
chain_loop_stepto a deterministic layout — ensuring that recorded Song Mode automation and offline export match live playback bit-for-bit.
🎛️ 4. Dual Delay Engine — Alternating Resonant Filtering & Stereo Ping-Pong
The MIX/FX section gains a powerful fourth delay engine: Dual Delay, available both per channel and on the Master Bus:
- Alternating Filter Taps: Features two delay lines in series with global feedback wrapped around both. Odd-numbered echoes are routed through resonant Filter A, while even-numbered echoes pass through resonant Filter B.
- Independent Filter Sculpting: Each filter offers selectable LP, BP, or HP filter types with independent Cutoff and Resonance controls. Because each echo passes through a filter tap exactly once, high resonance creates singing, lush acoustic overtones without spiraling into runaway feedback screeching.
- Stereo Width & Ping-Pong: The Width control pans Filter A to the left and Filter B to the right; at 100%, it delivers an ultra-wide alternating stereo ping-pong effect.
- Integrated UI & Amber Visualizer: Fits cleanly into the existing Delay tab row alongside Width, Ducking, and Freeze. Features an amber "DUAL A/B" visualizer displaying alternating even-echo bars, and introduces 4 new real-time
LfoTargetmodulation destinations (DelayDualACut,DelayDualARes,DelayDualBCut,DelayDualBRes).
🧬 5. Smart Random 2.0 & Archetype Synthesis Recipes
The randomizer has been re-architected from the ground up to eliminate arbitrary parameter scrambling in favor of authentic sound design recipes:
- 10 Instrument Archetypes: Covers Kick, Snare, HiHat, Clap, Tom, Percussion, Cymbal, Bass, Drone, and FX. Each archetype is built on proven synthesis recipes (e.g., 808/909 punch, Sub, Membrane, and FM for Kick; dual-mode body with velvet snap for Snare; 6-square metallic clusters for Hi-Hat; multi-burst noise bursts for Clap).
- 5 Sonic Profiles: Choose between Clean, Analog, Digital, Industrial, and Chaos. Profiles steer saturation models, filter types (warm ladder vs. pristine state-variable), transient shaping, EQ curves, and compression settings.
- Morph-Compatible Layer B: Layer B is no longer generated as an unrelated random patch. Instead, it is crafted as a musically aligned sibling of Layer A (sharing topology with intentional parameter offsets), turning the Morph knob into a dynamic, expressive timbre sweep.
- One-Click "🎲 All" Kit Randomization: The Tools panel includes a new "All" button that randomizes every active channel according to its assigned archetype in a single click, complete with mix staging, automatic channel renaming, and full Ctrl+Z Undo snapshot support.
- Updated Factory Presets: Over 100 factory drum presets have been re-synthesized using the new pristine baseline models.
🛡️ 6. Core Engine Polish & Reliability Audit
A focused reliability and platform pass addresses critical edge cases across the audio engine:
- Choke Groups Truly Choke: Resolved an issue where audio-thread envelope recalculations could overwrite a fast 5ms choke release ramp with long patch decay values. Choke state now latches securely, linear damping is enforced, Noise envelopes maintain choke mode without reverting to exponential decay, and ComboBox selections respect parameter gesture framing.
- Multichannel & Surround Audio in Standalone: Standalone mode now gracefully supports 8-channel HDMI, eARC, and Dolby Atmos setups by negotiating wider streams and routing stereo audio to primary channels instead of rejecting the device and going silent.
- First-Run Audio Setup: Standalone automatically opens the Audio Settings window on its very first launch, preventing users from getting stuck on stale or unassigned ASIO drivers.
- Zero-Zombie Standalone Shutdown: Standalone termination now features a 2-second audio thread join timeout and a 5-second watchdog with clean process termination, completely preventing invisible background zombie processes on Windows.
- Linux Omniplugin Error Telemetry: When WebKitGTK is missing or fails to start on Linux, the out-of-process GUI helper emits structured error diagnostics on stdout, surfacing an informative warning tooltip in the UI rather than failing silently.
- Mesh Oscillator Persistence Fix: Fixed serialization logic to ensure that saved Mesh oscillators reliably reload as Mesh rather than reverting to Wave.
🚀 Get the Latest TOMiC 0.6 Update
The latest TOMiC 0.6 update is available now for all users.
To update, simply download the latest installer and install it over your existing version. All your presets, sample libraries, and settings will remain completely intact.
- Standard Windows / Linux Installers: Download the latest 0.6.0 build from your user dashboard.
- Legacy CPU Build: If you are running an older processor without AVX2 instructions, download the dedicated compatibility build (
TomicDrumSynth-Setup-0.6.0-compat.exe).
Explore the updated capabilities on the TOMiC Product Page or get your license at the Purchase Portal!