I'm building LYNX, an open-source DAW inspired by FL Studio, free,cross-platform

A lightweight DAW with the FL Studio workflow. Channel Rack, Piano Roll, Playlist and Mixer in C++20 + JUCE 8, built to run well on any PC. Windows, macOS and Linux. Formerly “LYNX”: renamed LYNX SHARE in v0.1.20 (it was easy to confuse with the Lynx text web browser). Old links to github.com/Ka1-S/LYNX redirect here; your settings and projects stay where they are. Website · Download · Features · FL projects · Built-in plugins · Building · Status · Roadmap LYNX SHARE's own demo project (LYNX.exe --showcase ) in the 0.1.19 workspace: browser, Piano Roll, Channel Rack and Mixer. LYNX SHARE ships native plugins inspired by the third-party plugins producers use most, next to its clean-room FL Studio natives. 24 dedicated LYNX SHARE engines are in, more are being built, and a project that uses one of the 56 originals below opens with the LYNX SHARE equivalent when the original is not installed (its settings are kept and come back once it is; see PLUGIN_FALLBACK.md). | Vendor | Inspired by → LYNX SHARE plugin | |---|---| | FabFilter | Pro-L 2 → Apex Limiter · Pro-C 2 / 3 → Crest Compressor · Pro-MB → Prism Multiband · Pro-G → Sentry Gate · Pro-Q 2 / 3 / 4 → Facet EQ · Pro-DS → Hush De-esser · Saturn → Ember Saturator · Pro-R 2 → LuxeVerb (stand-in) · Timeless 3 → Fruity Delay 3 (stand-in) | | Valhalla DSP | VintageVerb → Epoch Verb · Room → Atrium · Plate → Foil Plate · Supermassive → Nebula · Shimmer → Halo · FutureVerb → Horizon · Delay → Echoform · FreqEcho → Spiral Echo · SpaceModulator → Orbit · UberMod → Lattice Mod | | Antares | Auto-Tune → LYNX Tune | | Waves | H-Delay → Echoform · CLA-2A → Glow Leveler · CLA-76 → Crest Compressor · SSL E-Channel → Ridge Strip · S1 Imager → Stereo Shaper · DeEsser → Hush De-esser · NS1 → Quell Denoiser · Doubler → Gemini Doubler · Tune Real-Time → LYNX Tune · RVerb, H-Reverb, TrueVerb → Reeverb 2 (stand-in) · SuperTap → Fruity Delay 3 (stand-in) · L1, L2, L3, L4 → Limiter (stand-in) · Renaissance Compressor → Compressor (stand-in) · CLA-76, CLA-3A, C1, SSLComp, API-2500 → Compressor (stand-in) · Q10, Renaissance EQ, SSL EQ → Parametric EQ (stand-in) | | Solid State Logic | Native Channel Strip, 4K E → Ridge Strip | | Soundtoys | Little Plate → Foil Plate · EchoBoy → Echoform · PrimalTap → Echoform · Decapitator → Ember Saturator · Little AlterBoy → LYNX Tune · PanMan → Auto-pan (stand-in) | | Slate Digital | Fresh Air → Aether | | Harrison | De-Esser → Hush De-esser | | Complete Access (role) | channel strips (SSL 4K G, Harrison 32C / MPC, Slate VCC / Virtual Mix Rack) → Ridge Strip · bus / smart compressors (SSL Bus Compressor 2, G3, VBC, sonible smart:comp, pure:comp) → Crest Compressor · optical levelers (Slate FG-2A, SD-3A, Custom Opto) → Glow Leveler · limiters (Slate FG-X 2, SSL X-Limit, sonible smart:limit, pure:limit) → Apex Limiter · EQs (Slate Infinity EQ, FG-73 / FG-N / FG-S / SD-PE1 / CS-EQ, Eiosis AirEQ, SSL X-EQ 2, sonible smart:EQ) → Facet EQ · de-essers (SSL DeEss, Slate FG-DS 902, Eiosis E2Deesser, sonible smart:deess) → Hush De-esser · gates (SSL X-Gate, Slate Gate Classic / Drums, Harrison Spectral Gate) → Sentry Gate · reverbs (LiquidSonics Lustrous Plates / Seventh Heaven / Cinematic Rooms, Slate VerbSuite Classics, SSL FlexVerb / PlateVerb / SpringVerb, sonible smart:reverb) → Foil Plate · delays (SSL X-Echo / X-Delay, Slate Stellar Echo SD-201, Harrison 3D Delay) → Echoform · saturators (Slate Heatwave / Revival, SSL Fusion Vintage Drive / X-Saturator, Harrison Tape Saturator) → Ember Saturator · pitch correction (Slate MetaTune) → LYNX Tune · vintage compressor models (Slate FG-116 / FG-76 / FG-401 / FG-A / FG-Dynamics, SSL X-ValveComp) → Compressor (stand-in) | | Image-Line FL Studio | 69 natives at Exact / Near-exact quality: 3x Osc, FL Keys, Gross Beat, Fruity Limiter, Parametric EQ, Soundgoodizer, Maximus, Fruity Delay 3, Reeverb 2, Fruity Compressor, Epoch Verb, Nebula, Atrium, Foil Plate, Echoform, Crest Compressor, Prism Multiband, Sentry Gate … (all of them) | Product and company names are trademarks of their respective owners. They are used only to describe compatibility and the role each LYNX SHARE engine plays. LYNX SHARE is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by any of them and contains none of their code, presets, graphics or audio. | Lock-free engine, channels and mixer spread across threads, idle channels skipped and long audio streamed from disk. A 125-track project renders at more than 10× real time. Measured against FL Studio 2026 on the same PC: 2.5–7× less RAM, demo songs open faster and render 2–3× faster (benchmark). | Step-sequencer Channel Rack, patterns, Piano Roll, Playlist with arrangements, Mixer with inserts, sends and sidechain. Same shortcuts. | Imports FL Studio projects: channels, samples, patterns, arrangement, automation, mixer and 60+ native plugins converted, most of them bit-exact. | FL Studio's behaviour was studied through behavioural reverse engineering and documented; not a single line of Image-Line code was copied. | Playlist: pattern, automation and audio clips with a clip menu on right-click (split, chop, merge, reverse, normalize, fit to tempo and more). | | | LYNX SHARE's native engines are clean-room re-implementations of FL Studio's native plugins, each checked against the original running unmodified. The full list — every engine, what it is compatible with, its status and what is still missing — is in docs/PLUGINS.md . Featured — the plugins FL Studio users reach for most, all at Exact or Near-exact quality in LYNX SHARE: | LYNX SHARE engine | Inspired by / compatible with | Status | |---|---|---| | 3x Osc engine | 3x Osc (FL Studio) | Exact | | FL Keys engine | FL Keys (FL Studio) | Exact | | Gross Beat | Gross Beat (FL Studio) | Exact | | Fruity Limiter | Fruity Limiter (FL Studio) | Near-exact | | Parametric EQ | Fruity Parametric EQ 2 (FL Studio) | Near-exact | | Soundgoodizer | Soundgoodizer (FL Studio) | Near-exact | | Maximus | Maximus (FL Studio) | Near-exact | | Fruity Delay 3 | Fruity Delay 3 (FL Studio) | Exact | | Reeverb 2 | Fruity Reeverb 2 (FL Studio) | Exact | | Fruity Compressor | Fruity Compressor (FL Studio) | Exact | What each one does, how you get it (any insert or from an .flp ) and the whole list are in docs/PLUGINS.md . All built-in plugins: | Exact | Near-exact | Close | Approximate | Placeholder | | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Generators (3x Osc, DX10, Sytrus, Harmor, FL Keys, DirectWave, …) | 12 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | | Effects (Parametric EQ 2, Limiter, Reeverb 2, Delay 3, Gross Beat, Love Philter, …) | 34 | 10 | 1 | 8 | 1 | Exact = bit-identical to the original on every installation state tested; near-exact = the rest below about −100 dB; close = same algorithm, within −60 dB. Plugin names are Image-Line's trademarks, used only to describe compatibility; LYNX SHARE is not affiliated with Image-Line. LYNX SHARE reads the .flp format directly and converts everything that has an equivalent: - Structure: channels, real samples (including the Ogg Vorbis WAVs and WavPack files shipped with FL), patterns, slide/porta notes, every arrangement, markers, time-signature changes, automation and controller links. - Mixer: routing, levels, sidechains, track EQ and native effects with their saved settings (Parametric EQ 2, Limiter, Compressor, Reeverb 2, Delay 3, Maximus, Gross Beat, Effector, Love Philter, Frequency Splitter, Patcher, Pitcher, Vocoder, Newtone/Newtime and more). - Generators on FL's own engines (checked against FL's DLLs, most of them bit for bit): 3x Osc, SimSynth, MiniSynth, DX10, Kepler, PoiZone, Toxic Biohazard, Transistor Bass, Autogun, Plucked!, BeepMap, Sawer, Granulizer, Drumaxx, FL Slayer, FL Keys, Fruit Kick, Kick, BassDrum, Sakura, Drumpad, BooBass, Fruity DrumSynth Live, GMS, Morphine; Sytrus, Harmless, Harmor (including image synthesis) and Ogun on engines rebuilt from the plugin state. Built-in sounds and tables are read from your FL installation, never shipped with LYNX SHARE. DirectWave runs on its own exact engine (filters, modulation matrix and effects); FPC, Slicex, Fruity Slicer and Wave Traveller play as samplers through FL's own interpolators. - Exact native effects: Parametric EQ 2, EQUO, Limiter, Compressor, Multiband Compressor, Maximus, Soundgoodizer, Reeverb 2, LuxeVerb, Convolver, Delay 3, Delay Bank, the chorus family, Flangus, Flanger, Fast Dist, WaveShaper, Soft Clipper, Stereo Shaper/Enhancer, Transient Processor, Frequency Splitter, Fast LP, Free Filter, Fruity Filter, Pitch Shifter, Love Philter, Fruity Vocoder, Vocodex, Hardcore, Distructor, Multiband Delay, Gross Beat, Effector, Vintage Phaser, Pitcher and more reproduce FL's algorithms; how each one was decoded is documented in docs/analise/ . - Third-party plugins: VST3/CLAP plugins inside the Fruity Wrapper are swapped for the same installed plugin, preset included. A report lists what was converted, what is approximated and what was left out. FLEX packs are encrypted and are never opened (the channel gets a synth patch chosen by preset name). Note Every conversion rule comes from behavioural reverse engineering (decompilation studied, official manual and project data), recorded in docs/analise/ . Anything not confirmed is flagged as an approximation in docs/STATUS.md . Every release on the latest release page has builds for all three platforms ( is the version, e.g. 0.1.10-alpha ): | OS | Download | Notes | |---|---|---| | Windows 10 / 11, 64-bit | LYNX--setup-x64.exe (installer) or LYNX--windows-x64.zip (portable) | per-user installer, no admin rights | | macOS 11 Big Sur or newer | LYNX--macos-universal.dmg | universal: Apple Silicon and Intel | | Linux x86_64, glibc 2.35+ | LYNX--x86_64.AppImage or LYNX--linux-x86_64.tar.gz | Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 36+, current Arch / Manjaro | Release files are built from the tagged source by GitHub Actions (release.yml ) and listed with their SHA-256 in SHA256SUMS.txt . Releases up to 0.1.7 are Windows-only; up to 0.1.12 the AppImage was named LYNX--linux-x86_64.AppImage and needed glibc 2.39. Windows. Run the installer: it needs no admin rights, adds Start-menu/desktop shortcuts, opens .lynx projects and offers LYNX SHARE in Open with for .flp without changing FL Studio's default. Prefer no installer? Extract the portable .zip and run LYNX.exe . Both include a demo project (Demo.lynx ). The executable is not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen may warn on first launch (More info → Run anyway); see Code signing policy. macOS. Open the .dmg and drag LYNX SHARE to Applications. The app is not notarized by Apple and has no Developer ID signature (ad-hoc only), so the first launch needs one extra step: right-click (Control-click) LYNX SHARE in Applications → Open → Open. On macOS 15 Sequoia or newer, try to open it once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Or, in Terminal: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/LYNX.app macOS asks for microphone access the first time you record. Linux. Needs X11 or XWayland; audio goes through PipeWire directly (or JACK, or ALSA), see docs/LINUX.md. For the AppImage: chmod +x LYNX-*.AppImage ./LYNX-*.AppImage Some distributions need libfuse2 to run AppImages (libfuse2 on Ubuntu 22.04, libfuse2t64 on 24.04, fuse2 on Arch, fuse-libs on Fedora); otherwise use the .tar.gz : extract it and run ./install.sh , which installs LYNX SHARE for your user under ~/.local with a menu entry, an icon and the .lynx file type (./install.sh --uninstall removes it again). | Windows | macOS | Linux | | |---|---|---|---| | Plugin formats | VST3, CLAP, VST2 | VST3, CLAP, Audio Units | VST3, CLAP, LV2, VST2 | | Audio drivers | Windows Audio (WASAPI), DirectSound, ASIO, built-in LYNX ASIO driver | Core Audio | PipeWire (native), JACK, ALSA | | Out-of-process plugin sandbox | optional | – | optional | | FL Studio integration (factory samples, plugin database) | FL Studio installation | FL Studio app bundle is looked for (untested) | Windows FL Studio under Wine (~/.wine or $WINEPREFIX ) | | Settings folder | %APPDATA%\LYNX | ~/Library/Application Support/LYNX | ~/.config/LYNX ($XDG_CONFIG_HOME ) | Opening FL Studio projects (.flp ) works on every OS; the FL Studio integration only adds FL's own samples and plugin paths when an installation is found. On first start a short setup wizard (skippable; Options > Setup wizard reopens it) picks the language, tests the audio device and lists the plugin folders — the standard VST3/CLAP folders plus the ones FL Studio uses on the same PC — and scans them in the background. If FL Studio is installed, .flp projects use the very plugin files FL uses (read from its plugin database) and find samples in FL's folders; a plugin LYNX SHARE doesn't know yet gets a quick scan of just its file (details). LYNX.exe also runs headless, which is how everything is verified without opening windows. On macOS and Linux the binary is LYNX (/Applications/LYNX.app/Contents/MacOS/LYNX on macOS); the options are the same: LYNX.exe project.lynx open a project (.lynx, .flp or .mid) LYNX.exe --export project.flp out.flac render the song (wav/flac/ogg) LYNX.exe --render project.flp out.wav 20 render 20 s of the current pattern (24-bit WAV) LYNX.exe --selftest report.txt [demo.lynx] self-test without an audio device LYNX.exe --snapshot prefix project.flp draw the UI (and its windows) to PNG LYNX.exe --showcase out.lynx [pattern] generate the demo project used in these screenshots LYNX.exe --plugintest plugin.vst3 rep.txt test a VST3 or CLAP plugin LYNX.exe --sandboxtest plugin.vst3 rep.txt test a plugin in a separate process (including a hung one) LYNX.exe --scantest folder rep.txt scan a folder for plugins (separate processes) LYNX.exe --fldb rep.txt [project.flp] [--scan] FL Studio found here, its plugin database, a project's plugin matches LYNX.exe --devices rep.txt list audio drivers and outputs LYNX.exe --devicetest "ASIO" "driver" rep.txt open a driver for 1 s of silence and report it LYNX --uiperf project.flp rep.txt time the UI drawing: Mixer, Playlist, Channel Rack, playing and scrolling LYNX.AppImage --menu-entry on|off Linux AppImage: add to / remove from the applications menu | Key | Action | |---|---| | Space | Play / Pause | | F5 / F6 / F7 / F8 / F9 | Playlist / Channel Rack / Piano Roll / Browser / Mixer | | L | Toggle Pattern / Song | | Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y | Undo / redo | | Ctrl+N / Ctrl+O / Ctrl+S | New / Open / Save (Ctrl+Shift+S: save as) | | Ctrl+R | Export audio | Z ..M , Q ..P | Play the selected channel | | Piano Roll / Playlist | Ctrl+A/C/X/V, Ctrl+B duplicate, Delete; in the Piano Roll also Ctrl+Q and the arrow keys | ./scripts/build-windows-zig.sh # produces build-win/LYNX.exe Needs Zig 0.14.1 in ~/opt/zig-x86_64-linux-0.14.1 and JUCE 8.0.4 in ~/opt/juce-8.0.4 (or set ZIG and JUCE_DIR ). JUCE 8 does not officially support MinGW; the script works around the differences (see cmake/mingw/ and src/platform/MingwFixes.cpp ). Requires Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools ("Desktop development with C++"), CMake ≥ 3.22 and Git. cmake -B build -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 cmake --build build --config Release Ubuntu 24.04 dependencies: sudo apt install build-essential cmake ninja-build pkg-config libasound2-dev libjack-jackd2-dev libx11-dev \ libxrandr-dev libxinerama-dev libxcursor-dev libxext-dev libxcomposite-dev libfreetype-dev libfontconfig1-dev libgl-dev cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release cmake --build build Needs the Xcode command line tools (xcode-select --install ), CMake and Ninja (e.g. brew install cmake ninja ). cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES="arm64;x86_64" cmake --build build CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES="arm64;x86_64" produces a universal app; leave it out to build for the current Mac only. ./scripts/build-local.sh ["folder with .flp files"] More than a million checks, including parsing the 165 .flp projects that ship with FL Studio 2026 when that folder is given. It also builds build-local/flpdump (dumps a .flp ) and build-local/renderwav . src/core/ model, sequencer, instruments, effects and .flp import (plain C++, testable without JUCE) src/flp/ .flp format reader src/engine/ audio engine (JUCE): device, graph, samples, plugins, project files src/ui/ UI: Channel Rack, Piano Roll, Playlist, Mixer, windows third_party/ CLAP (MIT) and the WavPack decoder (BSD) tests/ core tests tools/ flpdump, renderwav, comparewav, make_logo docs/ architecture, status, roadmap and the behavioural analysis of FL Studio - Lock-free audio: the UI edits a copy of the song and publishes an immutable snapshot to the audio thread. - Chunked rendering: every note lands on its exact sample; mixer tracks are processed in parallel layers. - Isolated plugins: plugin scanning always runs in separate processes; optionally the plugins themselves do too (a plugin that hangs goes silent and LYNX SHARE keeps playing). Important LYNX SHARE is in alpha. It already opens, plays and exports whole projects, but it is not yet a replacement for a daily-driver DAW. What works and what is missing is in docs/STATUS.md ; the plan in docs/ROADMAP.md ; and a manual test script in docs/MANUAL_TESTING.md . | Document | Contents | |---|---| docs/STATUS.md | what works, what is approximated and what is missing | docs/PLUGINS.md | the built-in plugins, what each one is compatible with, and its status | docs/ROADMAP.md | project phases | docs/ARCHITECTURE.md | how the engine and the UI are organised | docs/CODE_SIGNING.md | how releases are built and code-signed (SignPath) | PRIVACY.md | privacy policy: no network connections of its own except an opt-in, anonymised crash report | docs/MANUAL_TESTING.md | a script for listening to and poking at what the automated tests don't cover | docs/analise/ | FL Studio's behaviour, documented round by round (clean-room) | Note The documentation is being translated from Portuguese to English; some files are still in Portuguese. LYNX SHARE is an independent implementation. FL Studio was studied only to understand its behaviour and file format; no Image-Line code was copied, and no protected content (such as FLEX packs) is ever opened. FL Studio is a registered trademark of Image-Line Software. LYNX SHARE is not affiliated with Image-Line. VST is a registered trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. Built with JUCE, CLAP, the WavPack decoder and the Steinberg ASIO SDK — their licences are listed in THIRD_PARTY.md . Free code signing provided by SignPath.io, certificate by SignPath Foundation. (Pending approval: until the application is accepted, release binaries are not signed.) This covers the Windows binaries. The macOS app has an ad-hoc signature only (no Apple Developer ID, not notarized); Linux packages are not signed. - Release binaries are built only from this repository by GitHub Actions ( .github/workflows/release.yml ); nothing built on a personal machine is signed. - Every signing request is approved manually for each release. - Team roles: Privacy: This program will not transfer any information to other networked systems unless specifically requested by the user or the person installing or operating it. See PRIVACY.md . Crash reports (opt-in): after a crash or freeze LYNX SHARE asks before sending a report to lynx-share.com (Send / Show what will be sent / Don't send, or Report on GitHub instead); Settings › General › Crash reports sets Ask (default), Always send or Never send, and Help › Report a problem… sends one by hand. A report has the LYNX SHARE version, OS, CPU, graphics card and driver, audio device, the crash or freeze file, the last steps and the loaded third-party plugins — no audio, projects, file names, user or machine name, and the server stores no IP address. Details and how to have a report deleted: PRIVACY.md . LYNX SHARE is free software under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0: you may use, study, modify and redistribute it; anyone who distributes a modified version (including as a network service) must publish its source code under the same license.