. Seven stars. One universe.

Xionia Audio’s flagship synthesizer, in development and coming soon. It’s an instrument creator that brings all seven Xionia stars together, with every one of their effects and Motion Waves, and lets their sounds, movements, rhythms and musical behaviours shape one another, with harmony and composition that reach across them all. Everything you build becomes a complete, playable instrument with its own controls and visualisation, ready to become part of the next one you make.

Seven complete synthesizers from Xionia Audio, each built around one synthesis engine, with its own name, sound, Motion Waves, visual personality and interface. They are The Plasma Star (virtual analog), The Spectral Star (wavetable), The Harmonic Pulsar (FM and additive), The Particle Star (sampling and granular), The Resonant Star (physical modelling), The Kinetic Star (percussion) and The Origin Star (mathematical). All seven are in development and coming soon, each as a synthesizer of its own and all together in StarShaper.

Yes. All seven stars’ engines run natively inside StarShaper, not as plug-ins inside a plug-in, with their effects and Motion Waves, so you can play any one of them on its own, layer them or connect them. Pricing, and what comes with each licence, will be announced before release.

Each star shapes everything within itself, from its synthesis and effects and the Motion Waves on its parameters to arpeggiation, harmony, expression and intelligence of its own. StarShaper shapes the relationships between complete instruments, with connections across all seven engines and their effects, harmony and composition shared across a whole creation, intelligence that reaches across instruments, instruments within instruments, and performance controls for everything you bring together.

Xionia’s approach to bringing sound to life, in every Xionia instrument. Each supported parameter can have a Motion Wave of its own, with its own speed, rhythm and phase or in step with others, and waves can influence one another; a wave can also drive notes, triggers and rhythms. In a star they work within the instrument. In StarShaper they reach across instruments, so a filter’s movement in one can change the rhythm of another, and that rhythm can change which notes an arpeggio plays.

No. Motion Waves are part of Xionia Core, so every star comes complete with them, along with its sound generation and sound processing. StarShaper adds the ability to interconnect whole instruments, with all their Motion Waves, so they can shape one another.

No. They’re the same effects, because every star includes Xionia’s shared effects library. StarShaper gives them a much larger creative environment. Place them between engines, in parallel paths or inside nested instruments, share one between several instruments, or let an effect feed another synthesis engine, as when a reverb’s tail becomes granular material.

Yes. The stars and StarShaper are built on Xionia Core and share one versioned instrument format, so a sound made in a star opens in StarShaper with its synthesis, effects and Motion Waves still editable. Existing Xionia customers will be offered a crossgrade into StarShaper, with the details announced alongside its pricing.

StarShaper reads every note in its musical context, including the key, scale, chords and progression. A single note can become a chord voiced for the current harmony, an arpeggio can follow the chords in a rhythm of its own, and one chord change can move a bassline, an arpeggio and a pad together, across every instrument in a creation. Conditions decide when an instrument enters, evolves, answers another or falls silent, such as after a set time, on a gesture or as you press harder, and each change lands in time, on the beat, bar or phrase. Suggestions from musical rules, mathematical models or optional AI assistance stay open to inspection, and you can override them. It all belongs to the playable instrument rather than a timeline, so it keeps responding as you play.

A complete instrument, with its sound, Motion Waves, connections, musical behaviour and expression, can become an editable part of another. By default it follows the tempo and harmony of the instrument around it, while keeping rhythms and movements of its own. Open it, change the sound inside and keep building on what you make.

No. StarShaper lets you begin creating without first understanding a complex modular architecture or managing a giant modulation matrix. Sophisticated synthesis, modulation and interconnections stay within reach, with complexity revealed when you need it rather than imposed from the beginning.

No. StarShaper is an instrument creator, built for making and playing instruments, not for generating finished tracks from a prompt. Its AI assistance is optional. It can help you start, refine, connect and map an instrument, and every suggestion stays open to inspection and change. The intelligence changes the parameters. The instrument’s own engine still makes every sound. The musical decisions stay with you.

Yes, where it helps. Intelligence is part of Xionia Core, like Motion Waves and effects, so every star can draw on it within its own instrument. StarShaper brings that intelligence to the relationships between instruments. It can suggest how one sound can shape another, and every connection it proposes stays open to inspection and change. It’s optional, and designed to run on your own computer with no cloud connection required. Which tools each product launches with will be confirmed before release.

StarShaper 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.

StarShaper 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.

No. StarShaper plays from standard MIDI, and aftertouch and MPE controllers bring additional detail to the instrument. Supported devices and mappings will be documented before release.

StarShaper is in development and coming soon to macOS and Windows. Release timing, pricing and the launch feature set will be announced before availability. Join First Light for sound previews, first looks at StarShaper in action and release news.

One-off payment, no subscription and no dongle. StarShaper’s licence is designed to be simple to set up and to stay out of your way once it is. Pricing and the full licence terms will be published before release.

Support comes from the team that builds StarShaper. 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.

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 StarShaper 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.

No. The music at the top of the page is made with prototypes of the stars’ engines, not with StarShaper itself, and it’s the only sound on the page. StarShaper’s demonstrations of Motion Waves, Stellar Awakening and instruments within instruments make no sound. Recordings of StarShaper itself will come to First Light first, labelled as such.