Anukari is a software instrument and effects processor built entirely around real-time physics simulation. Designed as an interactive 3D environment, it enables users to construct virtual structures that generate sound through physical modelling principles.
At its core, Anukari allows users to build instruments from masses, springs, anchors, and other physical components within a three-dimensional editor. These elements can be connected to form structures that vibrate, resonate, and interact dynamically. The system responds in real time, with the visual behaviour of the structure directly linked to the resulting audio output.
Anukari can operate as a MIDI instrument, an audio effects processor, or both simultaneously. In instrument mode, users can trigger and control structures via MIDI controllers. In effects mode, external audio can be routed into the system to excite the physical models. Both approaches can be combined within a single patch.
The workflow is structured around four primary stages:
- Build: Create a structure by placing masses, anchors, and springs into the 3D space and connecting them.
- Excite: Apply energy to the structure using various excitation sources.
- Modulate: Connect modulation sources to parameters across the system.
- Play: Perform, record, and observe both the audio and visual output directly within the interface.
Sound in Anukari is generated by exciting physical structures through several available methods:
- Mallets: Strike masses with directional impact.
- Oscillators: Apply continuous vibrating force using classic waveforms with ADSR control.
- Plectrums: Pull and release masses to create plucked sounds.
- Bows: Use negative-feedback modelling to produce sustained harmonic tones.
- Audio Input: Drive masses using internal or external audio signals, optionally gated by MIDI.
The output stage is handled through virtual microphones positioned within the 3D environment. These microphones are directional and respond more strongly to vibration aligned with their orientation. Users can rotate microphones manually or via modulation sources, enabling movement-based effects. Each microphone includes a built-in compressor designed to manage dynamic range. Microphone signals can also be routed back into the physics system using delay lines, allowing the creation of feedback loops. Delay time is modulatable.
Modulation plays a central role in Anukari’s design. LFOs operate at sample accuracy and cover a frequency range from 0.01 Hz up to 20 kHz. The LFOs can be routed into one another, supporting recursive modulation structures. Additional modulation sources include MIDI-triggered envelopes, envelope followers that convert microphone amplitude into control signals, and a full range of MIDI performance data such as velocity, pitch bend, CC messages, pressure, and aftertouch. Parameters can also be mapped to DAW automation.
The modulation system is visualised directly within the 3D environment. Instead of a traditional matrix view, connections are represented as visible lines between modulators and targets. Users create routings by dragging between elements, allowing connections to be viewed within the spatial layout of the instrument.
Anukari also allows users to record both audio and visual output from within the plugin. The visual component reflects the real-time motion of the simulated structures, including vibration, rotation, and deformation as they respond to excitation and modulation.
The overall design positions Anukari as a physics-based sound design environment in which the instrument’s behaviour emerges from the interaction of physical components. Users can add or remove elements from a structure at any time and immediately hear the resulting changes in resonance, movement, and feedback.
Anukari is available for $149, with a limited-time introductory price of $99.
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