The Kinetic Star. Give energy a rhythm.
Every impact starts something.
The Kinetic Star is Xionia Audio’s percussion synthesizer, bringing together powerful drum synthesis, expressive sampling and intelligent rhythmic creation in one remarkable instrument.
From thunderous electronic beats and intricate acoustic-inspired percussion to cinematic impacts and entirely unfamiliar sonic textures, The Kinetic Star gives every strike its own character, movement and energy.
Coming soon to
- macOS
- Windows
The kinetic force
Every impact. Infinite potential.
A drum is more than a sound. It’s an event.
The energy of the strike. The character of the material. The movement of the resonance. The silence before the next impact.
The Kinetic Star explores every part of that experience. At its heart is a hybrid percussion engine combining synthesised oscillations, noise, transients, physical resonance and sample-based sound design. Build sounds from their fundamental components, layer them with recorded material and shape how they respond to every performance.
Create enormous kicks with weight and definition. Snares that crack, shimmer or explode. Percussion with the complexity of physical objects and the power of electronic synthesis.
Then give those sounds movement.
Xionia’s Motion Waves let individual parameters evolve through rhythmic patterns, independent cycles and expressive gestures. Let pitch sweep through an impact. Make resonance pulse independently of the beat. Shape the relationship between a transient, its body and its decay.
Move beyond conventional drum programming with rhythmic patterns, intelligent variation, conditional triggering and evolving sequences that respond to the music and the way you play.
It makes sophisticated percussion synthesis and rhythmic creation feel immediate, expressive and alive. Not merely a collection of drum sounds.
An instrument that creates rhythm from energy.
Impact
Shape every element of a percussive sound, from its initial transient to its deepest resonance.
Combine powerful synthesis with layered samples to create everything from precise electronic drums to immense cinematic impacts.
Rhythm
Turn individual sounds into expressive musical patterns.
Explore sequencing, rhythmic variation, timing, accents and intelligent pattern creation, with Motion Waves bringing independent movement to the sounds and the rhythms they create.
Evolution
Make beats that don’t simply repeat.
Let rhythmic structures interact with modulation, expression and musical context. Create subtle variation, evolving percussion and complex patterns that remain under your control.
Every impact starts something.
Motion Waves
Every parameter. A world of movement.
- Pitch
- Transient
- Body
- Decay
- Resonance
At the heart of every Xionia instrument are Motion Waves, our way of giving parameters their own movement, rhythm and expression. Let movements influence one another, evolve independently or synchronise into something greater.
In The Kinetic Star, a strike’s pitch, transient, body, decay and resonance can each have a Motion Wave of its own, moving with the rhythm or independently of the beat.
Effects work the same way. Every star is designed around a complete effects system of its own, with dedicated controls, routing and Motion Waves on its parameters, so a delay’s feedback can evolve in its own time and a reverb’s size can follow the phrase.
Motion Waves are part of Xionia Core, so every star comes complete, engineered for exceptional sound generation, sound processing and Motion Wave modulation. StarShaper adds the ability to interconnect everything, so whole instruments, Motion Waves and all, can shape one another.
Extraordinary sound doesn’t have to stand still.
One of seven
A complete instrument in its own right.
The Kinetic Star is Xionia Audio’s dedicated percussion and rhythmic synthesis instrument, built around a deep hybrid engine and a focused, intuitive creative workflow.
It combines original percussion synthesis with sample playback and layering, using the same precision-engineered Xionia technologies that underpin the wider instrument family.
It comes with factory percussion content, and you can bring your own recordings into the instrument. There’s no need to own The Particle Star to work with samples in The Kinetic Star.
Its identity is inspired by the immense forces that shape the universe, from collisions and vibrations to shockwaves and energy moving through matter. The visual language is one of concentrated force, with glowing energy, expanding shockwaves, dynamic movement and precise geometric structures.
Xionia’s cold engineering provides the control. The sound delivers the impact.
Built on Xionia Core
Today’s beat. Tomorrow’s universe.
The Kinetic Star is built on Xionia Core, the shared synthesis and musical-behaviour architecture behind the entire Xionia instrument family. Its percussion engine, effects, rhythmic patterns, Motion Waves and expression run natively in StarShaper, Xionia Audio’s complete instrument-creation environment.
Let a percussion sequence drive the movement of an analog bass, a rhythmic accent trigger a granular texture, or an evolving beat influence harmonic changes.
In StarShaper, The Kinetic Star becomes more than a drum instrument. It becomes a source of rhythm, energy and musical behaviour that can influence everything around it.
The beats you create stay editable, ready to be combined with other instruments, transformed into new creations or used as part of a larger expressive musical system.
Create the rhythm. Shape what happens next.
Existing Xionia customers will be offered a crossgrade into StarShaper, with the details announced alongside its pricing.
Made by Xionia Audio
Engineered for impact. Built for expression.
The Kinetic Star comes from Xionia Audio, the pro audio division of Xionia Ltd, whose small team has more than 30 years of experience in deep software and technical development and an uncompromising approach to sound quality, creative control and interface design.
A complete percussion instrument. A powerful rhythmic environment. One extraordinary creative experience.
Friendly licensing
One-off payment, no subscription and no dongle, so licensing stays out of your way and your time goes into music rather than admin.
Fast, expert support
Help from a small team that knows every instrument inside out, because we built them. Urgent issues are answered within one working day, and everything else within 2 to 3 working days.
Frequent updates
We keep improving our instruments after release, with frequent updates that refine them and keep them working with new operating systems and hosts.
Built for the long run
Xionia is here for the long term. We make instruments to learn deeply and rely on for years, and design them so the sounds you make today keep opening in future versions and across the Xionia family.
Development status
In development. Coming soon.
- Engine
- Percussion
- Platforms and formats
- Coming to macOS and Windows, as VST3, AU, AAX and CLAP plug-ins and a standalone app
- DAWs
- Designed for all the major DAWs, including Ableton Live, Bitwig Studio, Cubase, Fender Studio Pro, FL Studio, Logic Pro, Pro Tools and REAPER
- Release date, price and launch features
- Announced before release
First Light
Be first to hear the impact.
Join First Light for sound previews, first looks at the instruments in action and release news from Xionia Audio, including The Kinetic Star.
First Light members will get an introductory offer on each instrument at its release, with the details announced alongside its pricing.
Once you’re in, tell us what you make and what you’re reaching for. We read every reply, and what you tell us helps shape our instruments.
Check your inbox.
We’ve sent a link to . Open it to confirm, and you’re in.
Nothing there in a few minutes? Check your spam folder, or send us a message.
Frequently asked questions
About The Kinetic Star, how it fits with StarShaper, and what comes with it.
What is The Kinetic Star?
A percussion synthesizer from Xionia Audio, in development and coming soon. It brings drum synthesis, sampling and rhythmic creation together in one instrument. It’s one of the seven Xionia stars, standalone synthesizers each built around one synthesis engine, with its own name, sound, visual personality and interface.
Do I need The Particle Star to use samples?
No. The Kinetic Star combines its own percussion synthesis with sample playback and layering, including factory percussion content and your own recordings.
Do I need StarShaper for Motion Waves?
No. Motion Waves are part of Xionia Core, so every star comes complete with them. In The Kinetic Star, each supported parameter can have a Motion Wave of its own, with its own speed, rhythm and phase, and the waves can influence one another within the instrument. StarShaper adds the ability to interconnect whole instruments, Motion Waves and all.
Will it have effects?
Yes. Effects are part of Xionia Core, so The Kinetic Star includes Xionia’s shared effects library, from EQ, dynamics and saturation to modulation, delay, reverb and formant shaping, with dedicated controls, routing and Motion Waves on their parameters. Every star has the same library, so you won’t need one star to use another’s effects. The full library will be confirmed before release.
Does it use AI?
Only where it helps. Intelligence is part of Xionia Core, so The Kinetic Star can draw on it within its own instrument, with tools that analyse a sound and suggest changes you can see, adjust or reject. They’re optional, and designed to run on your own computer with no cloud connection required. The intelligence changes the parameters. The instrument’s own engine still makes every sound. StarShaper brings the same intelligence to the relationships between instruments. Which tools The Kinetic Star launches with will be confirmed before release.
When will it be available?
The Kinetic Star is coming soon. Release timing, pricing and the launch feature set will be announced before availability. Join First Light to hear first.
How does it relate to StarShaper?
StarShaper is Xionia Audio’s instrument creator, and it brings all seven stars together, The Kinetic Star among them. The Kinetic Star shapes everything within itself; StarShaper shapes the relationships between complete instruments, so they can move, trigger and transform one another. The Kinetic Star is built on the same technology, Xionia Core, so the sounds you make with it open in StarShaper with their synthesis, effects, Motion Waves and expression still editable. Existing Xionia customers will be offered a crossgrade into StarShaper, with the details announced alongside its pricing.
Which platforms and plug-in formats will it support?
The Kinetic Star is coming to macOS (Apple silicon and Intel) and Windows (64-bit). It will run as a plug-in on macOS (VST3, AU, AAX or CLAP) and Windows (VST3, AAX or CLAP), and as a standalone app on both. Minimum system requirements will be published before release.
Will it work in my DAW?
The Kinetic Star is designed to work in all the major DAWs, including Ableton Live, Bitwig Studio, Cubase, Fender Studio Pro, FL Studio, Logic Pro, Pro Tools and REAPER, and in other hosts that load VST3, AU, AAX or CLAP plug-ins.
Who is making The Kinetic Star?
Xionia Audio, the pro audio division of Xionia Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. Xionia’s founder, Stephen Ankelen, is a hands-on technical director and senior developer with more than 30 years’ experience building production software, and he designs and codes The Kinetic Star himself, as part of a team of experienced senior developers. His background includes enterprise software engineering for aerospace, extensive work integrating AI into real-world systems, and a long history in music technology and audio engineering.
How will licensing work?
One-off payment, no subscription and no dongle. Pricing and the full licence terms will be published before release.
What support and updates will there be?
Support comes from the team that builds The Kinetic Star. We answer urgent issues, such as a problem that stops you working, within one working day, and everything else within 2 to 3 working days. After release, frequent updates will refine the instrument and keep it working with new operating systems and hosts.
Can I hear it yet?
Not yet. Sound previews come to First Light first, and every recording we publish will say what it was made with.