# dsp56300/gearmulator

Low Level Emulation of classic VA synths & effects of the late 90s/2000s by emulating the used ICs

Repository: https://github.com/dsp56300/gearmulator
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/gearmulator
Homepage: https://theusualsuspects.io
Language: C++
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: access, dsp56300, emulation, synthesizers, virus, waldorf
Last push: 2026-08-20T20:02:01+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 97/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 95, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1877, "days_push": 13, "days_rel": 35, "gap_med": 5.5, "n_releases_24m": 17}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1256, forks 109 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:09.312106+00:00)

## What it is
Gearmulator is a low-level emulator of classic late-90s/2000s virtual analog synthesizers (Access Virus, Waldorf, Clavia Nord Lead, Roland JP-8000) that runs the original hardware firmware ROMs by emulating their Motorola DSP56300 ICs. It ships as free audio plugins in VST3, AU, CLAP, LV2 and FST formats for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

## Use cases
- emulate access virus ti synth in my daw
- free nord lead 2x vst plugin
- run original virus rom as a plugin
- emulate waldorf microq on linux
- roland jp-8000 supersaw emulator
- use old hardware synth without owning it
- host synth emulation on a second machine via dsp bridge

## When to choose
- you own (or legally obtained) ROMs of the supported synths and want authentic sound in your DAW
- you need Virus TI, Nord Lead 2x, Waldorf microQ/Microwave II, or JP-8000 sounds without the hardware
- you need cross-platform plugins (Windows/macOS/Linux, x64/ARM) in VST3/AU/CLAP/LV2 formats
- you want to offload DSP emulation to a separate machine over the network

## When to avoid
- you don't have access to the original firmware ROM files, which are required and not distributed
- you need a modern synth with a native GUI rather than faithful emulation of vintage hardware
- you need 32-bit plugin support
- you want a simple sample-based virtual instrument rather than a cycle-accurate DSP emulation

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: audio-processing, simulation, plugin-system, gui
- domain: gaming-tools, media
- platform: windows, cross-platform, cpp
- tags: synthesizer-emulation, dsp56300, vst-plugins, audio-plugins, virus-ti, hardware-emulation, juce, midi, audio, music-production, macos, linux

## Member repositories
- dsp56300/gearmulator (main) score 97

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:09.312106+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T05:07:16.176718+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/dsp56300/gearmulator (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:09.312106+00:00, sha d1d0d8189aeb)
  - homepage: https://theusualsuspects.io (fetched 2026-08-29T12:17:40.574803+00:00, sha 47123b2ae505)
  - site_page: https://theusualsuspects.io/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T12:17:40.577608+00:00, sha 40811e155fda)
  - site_page: https://theusualsuspects.io/docs/installation-guide (fetched 2026-08-29T12:17:40.579636+00:00, sha f053f9fb754e)
  - site_page: https://theusualsuspects.io/docs/patch-manager (fetched 2026-08-29T12:17:40.581896+00:00, sha 2c16ad512a09)
  - site_page: https://theusualsuspects.io/docs/midi-learn (fetched 2026-08-29T12:17:40.584798+00:00, sha f03799ae5a9c)
  - site_page: https://theusualsuspects.io/docs/faqs (fetched 2026-08-29T12:17:40.587664+00:00, sha fd4004006b79)
  - site_page: https://theusualsuspects.io/docs/demos (fetched 2026-08-29T12:17:40.590853+00:00, sha 7b103a3fb015)
  - site_page: https://theusualsuspects.io/docs/vsthost-configuration (fetched 2026-08-29T12:17:40.592941+00:00, sha 354807e54935)
  - site_page: https://theusualsuspects.io/docs/dsp-bridge (fetched 2026-08-29T12:17:40.594800+00:00, sha 75c0e66f7598)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.