THE TALKING
BASS SYNTHESIZER
The classic dubstep growl — reverse-engineered, rebuilt from scratch, and playable in your browser right now. Sine-stack engine, formant step sequencer, mod matrix. No sample packs. You design the voice.
PLAY IT. RIGHT HERE.
This is not a video — it's the full instrument running in your browser.
Hit "Audio starten", play the keys (A W S E D F …), drag the XY pad, flip through the presets.
Anything you build exports as a .growl file that loads straight into the plugin.
You're playing Simple Mode — the recipe in four knobs. The full instrument adds the step sequencer with pitch lanes, mod matrix, scene morph, attack layers and the complete FX chain.
Open the full instrument ↗Best on desktop with headphones.
WHAT'S INSIDE
Built on the actual recipe behind the classic growls — then pushed further.
SINE-STACK ENGINE — NO FM
A sub plus two independently distorted sine operators with free ratios, per-op drive, level and true feedback. The volume crossfade between the operators is what makes it talk.
FORMANT STEP SEQUENCER
Up to 8 steps with four lanes each: vowel, pitch offset (±12 st — the growl sings), operator mix and accent. Loop, one-shot or retrigger, synced to your host tempo.
THREE SOUND BODIES
Vocal formants, a pitch-tracking modal resonator (string / membrane / tube) or sample-&-hold glitch — through bandpass, peak or notch filter banks.
MOD MATRIX
Three slots: modwheel, velocity, LFO or the amp envelope routed to twelve targets — including the distortion stages. Velocity into multiband dist alone changes how you play.
THE FULL CHAIN, BUILT IN
Drive → talk-wah → 3-band OTT-style compression → saturation → multiband distortion → tuned resonator → filter sweep → sustain OTT → EQ, each stage bypassable. 2× oversampled — the formants get distorted, not politely filtered. That's the growl.
SCENE MORPH & ATTACK LAYERS
Freeze two complete patches and morph between them. Give every note a chirp, knack, scrape or thump onset. Randomize within musical limits when you need ideas.
WEB ↔ PLUGIN PRESETS
One open JSON format everywhere: build a patch in the browser demo, save the
.growl file, load it in the VST. Share your phrases with anyone.
COMMUNITY PRESET LIBRARY
Upload your patch with one click, browse what other producers built, load their growls straight into the browser or the plugin. No account needed — just a name.
SEE THE TALKING
Real-time spectrogram and oscilloscope built into the LCD — watch the formants move, the pitch drops hook, the operators pump against each other.
THE STORY
For over a decade, producers tried to recreate the iconic early-2010s dubstep growls with heavy FM patches — and got close, never quite there. The actual recipe turned out to be almost absurdly simple: three sine waves. A clean sub, and two harmonics distorted separately, their volumes moving against each other. The "talking" is a volume automation, not a modulation trick.
Growl Machine is that recipe, built as an instrument: the engine, the whole effect chain it depends on, and the automation moves that used to take hours of DAW lane-drawing — turned into a sequencer, an envelope set and a mod matrix you can just play.
Based on the research and tutorial by Stefan / System 53 and the growl community — watch the original breakdown. Inspired by the classic dubstep growl technique. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any artist or plugin manufacturer mentioned in that video.
COMMUNITY PRESET LIBRARY
Growls are meant to be shared. Every patch is a small, open
.growl JSON file — and the library is where they live.
BROWSE & LISTEN WITH YOUR EYES
Every shared preset gets a spectrogram poster — captured from the actual sound when it was shared, or rendered from its parameters. Ratios, vowel phrases and pitch melodies are visible before you even load it.
ONE CLICK IN, ONE CLICK OUT
Open any preset straight in the browser instrument via deep link, download it as a
.growl file for the VST/AU, or copy the raw JSON. Like your favourites —
the library sorts itself.
SHARE FROM THE INSTRUMENT
Build a patch, play it, hit "Share Preset" — done. No account, no sign-up: your browser gets an anonymous creator ID automatically, and submissions are briefly reviewed before they go live. That's what keeps the library clean.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
How can presets be shared?
Build your patch in the browser instrument (or import one from the plugin), play it, then hit "Share Preset ↑" in the Presets panel — no account or sign-up needed. Pick a display name, and your browser keeps an anonymous creator ID so your uploads belong together. Submissions are reviewed briefly before they appear, and the spectrogram of what you played becomes the preset's poster.
How do I load a community preset?
Two ways: in the preset library,
hit "▶ Open" to load it straight into the browser instrument — or download it as a
.growl file and load it in the VST/AU via Open…. All community presets
also appear directly in the instrument's preset dropdown. No account needed for any of it.
Are browser and plugin presets compatible?
Fully. Both use the same open .growl JSON format — a patch built in the
browser loads in the VST with every lane, mod routing and attack layer intact, and vice
versa. You can move patches via file, clipboard or the text dialog.
Which formats and DAWs are supported?
VST3 for Windows and macOS, AU for macOS (required for Logic and GarageBand), plus a standalone app on both platforms. The macOS build is a universal binary for Intel and Apple Silicon. Tested in Ableton Live and FL Studio; any VST3/AU host should work.
macOS says the plugin is "damaged" — what now?
The beta build isn't notarized by Apple yet, so Gatekeeper blocks it once. Open
Terminal and run xattr -cr ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/"Growl Machine.vst3"
(same idea for the AU in ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/), then rescan
plugins in your DAW. Details are in the included README.
Is it really free? Can I use the sounds commercially?
Free while in beta — downloads, presets and updates included. And yes: everything you make with Growl Machine is 100% yours, commercial releases included. If a track comes out of it, send it over — best ones get featured.
Do I need an account for anything?
No. Playing, loading community presets, sharing your own and liking — all of it works without registration. Your browser holds an anonymous creator ID (no e-mail, no personal data) so your uploads and likes stay yours. The browser version plays via mouse, touch and computer keyboard; full MIDI with velocity and modwheel lives in the VST/AU.
Is this FM synthesis?
No — and that's the whole point. The classic growl is three sine waves: a clean sub and two separately distorted harmonics whose volumes move against each other. Read the story for the full breakdown and the original video credit.
GET GROWL MACHINE
VST3 & Standalone for Windows · VST3, AU & Standalone for macOS.
Free while in beta — presets and updates included.
macOS: universal binary (Intel + Apple Silicon) · Preset format:
open .growl JSON, compatible with the browser version above.
Get updates: new versions, preset packs and the launch of the
signed builds — a couple of mails a year, nothing more.
Double opt-in: we send one confirmation mail first. Unsubscribe anytime, address is used for Growl Machine updates only.
macOS note: the beta build is not yet notarized by Apple. If macOS reports the
plugin as "damaged", open Terminal and run:
xattr -cr ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/"Growl Machine.vst3" — then rescan
in your DAW. Details in the included README.
MADE SOMETHING WITH IT?
Growl Machine is built by a one-person shop in Graz, Austria — and honestly, the whole reason it exists is to hear what people do with it. If you finish a track, a drop, a weird experiment: send it over. I listen to everything, and with your permission I'll feature the best ones here.
Bug reports, preset ideas and feature wishes welcome at the same address.