LYNX-SHARE README

The project's README from github.com/Ka1-S/LYNX-SHARE. As one markdown file: README.md.

LYNX SHARE logo

LYNX SHARE

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.

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Website · Download · Features · FL projects · User guide · Built-in plugins · Building · Status · Roadmap

Tests C++20 JUCE 8 Windows 10 and 11 macOS 11 or newer, Apple Silicon and Intel Linux x86_64 VST3 and CLAP Alpha AGPL-3.0 license

The LYNX SHARE workspace: browser, playlist, piano roll, channel rack and mixer
LYNX SHARE's own demo project (LYNX.exe --showcase) in the 0.1.19 workspace: browser, Piano Roll, Channel Rack and Mixer.


Inspired by the classics

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 75 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.

Highlights

⚡ Lightweight

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).

🍒 FL workflow

Step-sequencer Channel Rack, patterns, Piano Roll, Playlist with arrangements, Mixer with inserts, sends and sidechain. Same shortcuts.

📂 Opens .flp

Imports FL Studio projects: channels, samples, patterns, arrangement, automation, mixer and 60+ native plugins converted, most of them bit-exact.

🔬 Clean-room

FL Studio's behaviour was studied through behavioural reverse engineering and documented; not a single line of Image-Line code was copied.

Features

The LYNX SHARE Playlist with pattern, automation and audio clips
Playlist: pattern, automation and audio clips with a clip menu on right-click (split, chop, merge, reverse, normalize, fit to tempo and more).

Channel Rack

Channel Rack

Step sequencer with per-channel volume, pan, mute and solo, swing, multiple patterns (name, colour, length, clone), cut groups, arpeggiator and the PC keyboard as a piano.

Piano Roll

Piano Roll

Configurable snap, chords and scales, 16 note colors, note groups, a chord readout, select tools (invert, odd/even, random, overlapping), quantize, slide and porta notes, velocity/pan/pitch lane, .mid import and export.

Mixer

Mixer

Up to 127 inserts, sends with levels, 10 effect slots with dry/wet per track, built-in EQ (or a clean mixer with none), PDC, smart disable and sidechain (here the bass compressor listening to the kick). Choose how many inserts new projects start with and show only the used ones.

Built-in synth

Built-in synth

3 oscillators (including a band-limited harmonics oscillator), LP/BP/HP/BS filter with keytracking, FM and ring modulation, envelopes, 4 LFOs, kick sweep, mono and portamento.

Parametric EQ

7-band parametric EQ

Draggable handles, shelves, 12–48 dB/oct cuts, band-pass and notch, with the response drawn in real time.

Automation

Automation

Any knob or fader (channel, mixer, effect, plugin parameter) becomes a clip with points and curves; MIDI controllers can be linked to any parameter.

Everything in the box

Instruments

  • 3-oscillator synth with an evolving harmonics oscillator, SVF or 4-pole ladder filter and a vintage chorus
  • Sampler with zones, slices, time-stretch (Signalsmith Stretch) and disk streaming
  • LYNX Soundfont: SF2/SF3 player with a preset search across all your SoundFonts
  • Built-in drums (kick, snare, hat, clap)
  • Layer channels, FL-style VFX note effects (Sequencer/arpeggiator, Key Mapper, Keyboard Splitter…) and controllers (X-Y, X-Y-Z, Dashboard, Envelope, Voltage)
  • VST3 and CLAP plugins on every OS, plus Audio Units on macOS and LV2 on Linux; on Windows and Linux optionally sandboxed in a separate process; a searchable plugin picker with favorites

Effects

  • EQ, 7-band parametric EQ, compressor with sidechain, limiter
  • Delay, reverb, chorus, filter, distortion, lo-fi
  • Effector (12 algorithms), vocoder with side inputs, pitch correction
  • Volume gate, rhythmic envelope, auto-pan, Linkwitz-Riley crossover
  • Wave Candy analyzer and an audio-reactive Visualizer with video export
  • Hardware Insert for outboard gear, with round-trip ping and delay compensation
  • Pitch shift, frequency shifter, utility, Patcher (a node graph of effects, instruments and plugins with audio, MIDI and control cables)

Projects and files

  • Native .lynx format (JSON) with autosave
  • Imports .flp and .mid; FL .fst presets
  • Exports WAV 16/24/32f, FLAC and OGG, song or pattern, with dither
  • Note recording (PC keyboard and MIDI) and audio recording, sample-accurate with a round-trip ping, punch in/out with pre/post-roll, loop takes and comping, crash-safe takes
  • Themes (accent color, background, workspace image) and plugin presets
  • Undo/redo on every edit
  • Opt-in crash and freeze reports (anonymous), or a prefilled GitHub bug report
  • Audio drivers: Windows Audio (WASAPI), DirectSound and ASIO on Windows; Core Audio on macOS; PipeWire (native), JACK and ALSA on Linux
  • Any insert to any hardware output, including single mono channels

Built-in plugins

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.

Opens FL Studio projects

LYNX SHARE reads the .flp format directly and converts everything that has an equivalent:

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.

Download

Every release on the latest release page has builds for all three platforms (<v> is the version, e.g. 0.1.10-alpha):

OS Download Notes
Windows 10 / 11, 64-bit LYNX-<v>-setup-x64.exe (installer) or LYNX-<v>-windows-x64.zip (portable) per-user installer, no admin rights
macOS 11 Big Sur or newer LYNX-<v>-macos-universal.dmg universal: Apple Silicon and Intel
Linux x86_64, glibc 2.35+ LYNX-<v>-x86_64.AppImage or LYNX-<v>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 36+, current Arch / Manjaro

Windows, Microsoft Store: LYNX SHARE is also on the Microsoft Store (Windows 10 / 11), which installs it and keeps it updated automatically.

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-<v>-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).

The AppImage carries its update information (the newest release, pre-releases included) and every release ships its .zsync, so Gear Lever and AppImageUpdate update it in place, downloading only what changed.

Platform notes

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).

Command line

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

Shortcuts

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

Building

Windows from WSL/Linux, without Visual Studio (Zig)

./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).

Windows with Visual Studio

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

Linux

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

macOS

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.

Core tests (any C++20 compiler, no JUCE)

./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.

Under the hood

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

[!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.

Documentation

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: network connections: update check, opt-in anonymised crash report, stem model download on request
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.

Credits and notice

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.

Code signing policy

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.

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.

License

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.

Star history

LYNX-SHARE (Ka1-S/LYNX-SHARE)

Searching Database…

What is this?LYNX SHARE is a lightweight open-source DAW (digital audio workstation) written in C++20 with JUCE 8, built around the FL Studio workflow: Channel Rack, Piano Roll, Playlist and Mixer.
Is it a plugin or a standalone program?It is a standalone desktop program that also hosts third-party VST3 and CLAP plugins on every OS.
How do I get it running?The README has a Building section for compiling from source (C++20, JUCE 8). The excerpt does not show prebuilt installers, so check the repo's releases before building.
Do I need FL Studio installed?No, the app runs on its own. Built-in FL sounds and tables are read from your FL installation if you have one; they are not shipped with LYNX SHARE.
Does it fully replace FL Studio yet?Not yet: 24 dedicated engines are in and more are being built. A project that uses a missing original opens with the LYNX SHARE equivalent instead.
Which systems does it run on?Windows, macOS and Linux, with WASAPI, DirectSound or ASIO on Windows, Core Audio on macOS, and PipeWire, JACK or ALSA on Linux.
Does it send any data anywhere?Crash and freeze reports are opt-in and anonymous. Otherwise you can send a prefilled GitHub bug report yourself.
Can it open my FL Studio projects?Yes. It reads .flp files directly and converts channels, samples, patterns, arrangement, automation and mixer settings, plus most native plugins, many of them bit-for-bit.
What instruments and effects come built in?A 3-oscillator synth with a harmonics oscillator, a sampler with time-stretch, a SoundFont player, built-in drums, a 7-band parametric EQ, compressor, limiter, reverbs, delays and a Patcher node graph.
Is it a clone of FL Studio's code?No. It is a clean-room project studied through behavioural reverse engineering, and the README says not a single line of Image-Line code was copied.
Creator
Ka1-S
Size
255.8 MB
Stars
670
Updated
CommitNov 05
Age
24d
Commits · 90 Days