The Particle Star. Break sound apart. Discover entire worlds.
Inside every sound lies another universe.
The Particle Star is Xionia Audio’s sampling and granular synthesizer, designed to turn recorded sound into expressive, playable instruments and transform its smallest fragments into vast, evolving textures, intricate rhythms and breathtaking new sonic forms.
Take sound beyond its original shape. Beyond its original scale. Beyond time as you know it.
Coming soon to
- macOS
- Windows
The Particle Star
The smallest details. The widest worlds.
Every sound begins somewhere. A struck object. A human voice. A fleeting moment in the world around you.
The Particle Star makes that moment playable. Begin with a recording, explore its character, reshape its behaviour and turn it into an instrument that responds to the way you play.
Then look closer, and granular synthesis reveals something extraordinary. A single sound holds a world of microscopic possibilities.
Break a source into tiny grains. Rearrange its fragments. Stretch a fleeting moment into an evolving atmosphere, or draw restless rhythmic detail from something that once seemed static.
The Particle Star makes this microscopic world feel expansive and musical. From delicate clouds and suspended harmonics to dense, turbulent textures, discover sounds that move between the familiar and the entirely unknown.
With precise control over the behaviour and movement of grains, complex granular transformations feel fluid, expressive and intuitive. Sampling and granular synthesis share one engine and the same recordings, so a sound can be played as it was captured, or broken apart to discover what lies inside.
Nothing is ever just a recording.
Capture
Bring the sounds of the world into your music, from familiar instruments to rare recordings and unexpected textures, and turn them into responsive instruments of your own.
Particles
Explore the finest details hidden inside a sound. Reveal new timbres, textures and rhythmic structures from its smallest fragments.
Clouds
Build immense evolving atmospheres, from delicate shimmering fields to dense, powerful sonic formations.
Time
Stretch, scatter and reshape how a sound unfolds. Suspend a moment, fracture a rhythm or let an entire texture develop at its own pace.
Infinite possibility in the smallest fragment.
Motion Waves
Every parameter. A world of movement.
- Position
- Pitch
- Grain density
- Grain size
- Scatter
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 Particle Star, a recording’s position and pitch and the density, size and scatter of its grains can each have a Motion Wave of its own, from slow drifts to restless rhythmic detail, so a captured moment keeps moving long after it was recorded.
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 Particle Star is Xionia Audio’s dedicated sampling and granular synthesizer, created around one deep engine for capturing, exploring and transforming sound.
Its identity is inspired by the immense clouds of particles found throughout the cosmos, where countless tiny elements combine into immense structures, constantly changing yet held together by invisible forces.
Every particle carries the memory of a moment, like light that has crossed the universe, ready to be discovered and transformed.
Precision controls the particles. Imagination gives them form.
Built on Xionia Core
Today’s fragment. Tomorrow’s universe.
The Particle Star shares its synthesis foundation with StarShaper, where sampling and granular processing become part of a much larger creative environment.
A sound captured and shaped in The Particle Star keeps its identity when it’s brought into StarShaper, where it can interact with analog synthesis, wavetables, harmonic spectra and other instruments through their Motion Waves and musical behaviour. Let a sampled strike excite a physical model, turn a wavetable into granular material or create instruments whose behaviour extends far beyond the original source.
Start with a grain. Shape something limitless.
Existing Xionia customers will be offered a crossgrade into StarShaper, with the details announced alongside its pricing.
Made by Xionia Audio
Engineered with decades of experience.
The Particle Star is designed and built by 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.
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
- Sampling and granular
- 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 worlds inside a sound.
Join First Light for sound previews, first looks at the instruments in action and release news from Xionia Audio, including The Particle 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.
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Frequently asked questions
About The Particle Star, how it fits with StarShaper, and what comes with it.
What is The Particle Star?
A sampling and granular synthesizer from Xionia Audio, in development and coming soon. It’s designed to turn recorded sound into expressive, playable instruments, and its smallest fragments into evolving textures, intricate rhythms and new sonic forms. 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.
Is it a sampler or a granular synthesizer?
Both, in one engine. Sampling and granular synthesis share the same recordings, so a sound can be played as it was captured, or broken into grains that can be stretched, scattered and transformed into something new.
Can I bring in my own recordings?
That’s what it’s designed for. Begin with a recording, from a familiar instrument to an unexpected texture, explore its character, reshape its behaviour and turn it into an instrument that responds to the way you play, or break it into grains and discover what lies inside.
What is granular synthesis?
A way of making sound from sound. A source is broken into tiny grains, which can be rearranged, stretched, scattered and layered, so a fleeting moment can become an evolving atmosphere and a static texture can gain restless rhythmic detail.
Do I need StarShaper for Motion Waves?
No. Motion Waves are part of Xionia Core, so every star comes complete with them. In The Particle 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 Particle 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 Particle 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 Particle Star launches with will be confirmed before release.
When will it be available?
The Particle 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 Particle Star among them. The Particle Star shapes everything within itself; StarShaper shapes the relationships between complete instruments, so they can move, trigger and transform one another. The Particle 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 Particle 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 Particle 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 Particle 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 Particle 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 Particle 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.