Development Update and Some Plans

13-04-2025

Geonkick is moving steadily toward version 3.6. After implementing and improving the sidebar browser for both samples and presets, a new enhancement was introduced to unify the two types of presets Geonkick previously used into a single preset format — of course, with backward compatibility.

Next, development of 3.6 will focus on polishing the features introduced, which include the new browser, the oscillator distortion effect, and Bézier curves.

The samples browser and the unification into a single preset format were done with a purpose. The next major release after 3.6.0 (excluding bugfix releases) will be 4.0 — introducing a proper sampler.

Currently, Geonkick synthesizes the sound into a buffer, and a basic sampler plays that generated sound. The user's access to this internal sampler is very limited — they can only adjust a few parameters like output channel, limiter, MIDI channel, and note-off mode.

For version 4.0, there’s a plan to make the sampler a prominent component of Geonkick. Most likely, the top bar will have tabs like "Synthesizer" and "Sampler". The DSP part of the current sampler will be improved to support true polyphony and additional features.

In principle, the UI for the sampler will resemble a standard sample player. It will display the synthesized sample and also allow users to load external samples directly. It should support region selection, loop points, and more. The goal is to enable workflows like the classic '90s sampling technique for creating ethereal pads.

Anyway, when this new sampler UI and DSP are introduced, users who stay in the "Synthesizer" tab should still experience Geonkick the way it works now — without interference from the sampler, if its settings are left at defaults.

Bold plans — but let’s hope things go well and these plans will be achieved.