WHAT’S NEW · RELEASE NOTES & UPDATE STATUS

Fresh from the studio.
Soundbox 1.0 arrives on January 12, 2027.

Soundbox 1.0 (build 3.0.0 at launch) is the first release for everyone. The free demo arrives on January 12, 2027.

Every version below it is a preview: the 1.x builds and the 2.x tester previews were shared with testers while Soundbox took shape, and license purchases have never been open. The release notes of build 3.0.0 appear here on release day. Soundbox offers newer versions itself and installs one only after checking its signature.

For existing users

Keep backups of your projects and presets. At launch, testers on a 2.x build are offered build 3.0.0 under License → Updates; projects and presets stay where they are. For app or activation questions, contact support.

Feature notes below describe the full studio unless marked as demo features. Some early patch notes were not retained; those gaps are explicitly identified. Historical licensing behavior is not the current license policy.

Preview releases

Tester previews on the way to Soundbox 1.0. Their notes describe each build as it was.

2.3.5 — Hardened and protected build · Tester preview · October 14, 2026

Hardened app on Electron 45: a strict content security policy, a sandboxed interface, validated internal messages, strict file rules, and no developer tools or debugging switches in the packaged build.
Protected build: minified and obfuscated code, a compiled core, Electron fuses set, and a startup check of the signed bundle manifest, fuses and code signature that refuses a changed copy.
Safer updates and activation: digitally signed release information bound to the build, certificate issuer and root pinning, a re-check right before launch, one update origin, and per-network rate limits on activation.
Everything from 2.3.4 and before below.

2.3.4 — Play, Compose and Design on one shell · Tester preview · October 14, 2026

Three modes, one stage: Play, Compose (the Song studio with the playground in a live strip) and Design (Customize in the side panels with the stage in view), switched from the header or Ctrl+1, 2, 3.
One interface shell: every panel rendered from the same components, one stage overlay layer with one fade policy, readable text on all fourteen themes by day and night, theme-coloured focus rings.
Everything from 2.3.3 and before below.

2.3.3 — Song studio, dialogs and demo on one system · Tester preview · October 14, 2026

Song studio rebuilt like the main view: a slim header, an Instruments rail with the sound browser, the step grid as the hero with a ruler, zoom, density and keyboard navigation, and a Track & song rail of folding sections.
Dialogs on one frame: Customize as a visual theme browser with Undo look, Graphics and Settings merged into Preferences, one Library with ordered favourites, tags and previews, and the guide, shortcuts, license and recovery dialogs sharing the same frame, readable on every theme.
The position envelope moved into the World tab; the free demo uses the same transport and toolbar as the studio.
Everything from 2.3.2 and 2.3.1 below.

2.3.2 — Depth for the playground · Tester preview · October 14, 2026

Depth: Graphics → Display → Depth (Automatic, Off, Subtle, Full) draws the playground as a space: a tilt toward a horizon, parallax backdrops, lit side faces, floor reflections and contact shadows on colliders, far particles smaller and softer in the haze, lights in front of, on or behind the plane, a depth of field on the GPU stage, and an Alt-drag camera nudge. Off is exactly the flat picture; the physics never changes. Seven scenes come with their own camera.
Interface polish: readable stage overlays on every theme, panel values on the rail icons, Shift+[ and Shift+] to fold the panels, ◀ ▶ stepping within a scene collection, On/Off on Snap and Magnet, units in value boxes, ⤢ or Escape to leave Focus, and recent projects in File.
Everything from 2.3.1 below.

2.3.1 — Sounds, colliders, motion and the GPU stage · Tester preview · October 14, 2026

Louder: the master level now goes to 200%. Up to 100% nothing changes; above it the level rises evenly to +15 dB. The limiter keeps the output clean, and Stop all, voice stealing and swarm voices no longer click or cut notes short.
378 sounds: three new banks of original synthesized sounds. Aero (86: water, glass, bubbles, gel, chrome, light, birds, soft keys and bells, aero interface blips and a drum kit), Early retro (93: chiptune leads and basses, 4-op FM, noise drums, coin, jump and zap blips, modems, floppies, tape and PC speaker) and Y2K and retro desktop (89: startup and shutdown swells, dings, pops, window whooshes, mail, dial-up, organizers, polyphonic ringtones and trance stabs).
Sound browser: the layer header shows the sound’s name and bank, and Browse opens a grouped, searchable list with favorites, recently used, keyboard navigation and audition (▶, Shift+Enter, Alt+hover). Song studio uses the same list.
62 collider types: 35 new ones in three families, each with its own behavior, controls and animated art. Aero: Gel trampoline, Dew magnet, Water jet, Soap film, Lily pad, Chrome prism, Bubble ring, Glass turnstile, Aero lens, Kelp bed, Sunbeam, Tide gate, Nacre tumbler, Aero orb, Fountain, Rain cloud, Koi pond and Ripple pool. Early retro: Pixel staircase, CRT bumper, Arcade flipper, 8-bit block, Cassette reels and Scanline sweeper. Retro desktop and Y2K: Floppy slot, Progress bar, Window frame, Recycle bin, Hourglass funnel, Cursor trail gate, Tray balloon, Defragmenter, Modem gate, Dial pad and Dial-up spiral. Add collider lists every family with search.
Collider motion: the Collider tab’s Motion block makes any collider slide, orbit, spin, bob, swing or patrol, at a speed or per beat of the song. Particles ride moving colliders and get flung by them; the stage shows the path of the selected collider.
Dragging: moving, rotating and resizing a collider while the scene runs pushes particles aside instead of popping them through; snap guides and a placement preview show where it goes.
18 scene effects: eight new ones, each drawn on its own and able to move particles with Effects move particles on: Aero jet streams, Lens bokeh, Pixel snow, CRT scan field, Warp grid, Desktop icons, Tide surge and Cursor trails. The FX tab groups the cards by theme with a filter.
60 factory scenes: 22 new presets in Aero (Fountain plaza, Gel trampoline park, Kelp forest, Sunbeam conservatory, Tide harbor, Sky dock, Meadow breeze), Early retro (Pixel castle, CRT arcade, Cassette dub, Chip snowfield, Warp zone, Radio dial) and Y2K and retro desktop (Classic desktop shuffle, Dial-up handshake, Millennium trance, Pocket organizer, Defrag disco, Boot sequence, Screensaver starfield, Inbox overflow, Ringtone mall). The preset menu is grouped and searchable.
GPU stage: the playground is drawn by the graphics card (WebGL2) when the computer can. Graphics → Display → GPU visuals adds refracting glass colliders, soft-shadow lighting, bloom and color grades, GPU scene effects and shader backgrounds; Off keeps the classic look, and Compatibility keeps the Canvas 2D stage.
Hits at scale: the particle limit goes up to 20,000; swarm voices keep the sound and the frame rate up when thousands of particles hit at once.
A calmer main view: side panels fold to slim rails, the header keeps Song studio, Undo/Redo and File, View and Help menus, one toolbar above the stage and one transport bar below it, and each tab shows its main dials first with the rest in sections that show their values when closed.
Project files: .soundbox files get their own icon and open in Soundbox with a double-click (the full edition registers this for your Windows account at launch; the ⚙ Settings dialog turns it off).
Interface: a Settings dialog (⚙ or Ctrl+,), grouped Add collider and object pickers with icons, sortable My sounds and My presets with Undo removal, remembered scroll positions and open groups, an UNSAVED badge, tooltips on every icon button, and a master meter that reads up to 200%.

2.2.0 — Themes and living scenes · Tester preview

Interface themes: Customize opens on a new Themes tab with 14 whole-interface themes after turn-of-the-millennium desktops, each with a glossy Aero twist: Aero Gel (the new default), Glass Console (the 2.1 look), Classic Glass, Meadow Blue, Pinstripe Gel, Brushed Steel, Aurora Glass, Media Lounge, Platinum Bubble, Candy Plastic, Liquid Chrome, Deep Aquarium, Eco Garden and Pocket LCD. A theme restyles the whole window and brings its own playground background, particle symbol and collider finish; palettes recolor any theme.
Dark mode for every theme and palette: Off, On or Match my computer, or the ☾ Dark / ☀ Light button in the status bar. Text stays readable everywhere, and the playground switches to its night version.
27 playground backgrounds (13 new, one per theme, each with a night version), 19 particle styles including 13 theme symbols, and 14 collider finishes.
Scene effects: the FX tab adds Liquid pool, Hit ripples, Bubble swarm, Aero critters, Plasma links, Gel blobs, Meadow, Mist, Glass shine and Screensaver ribbons. With Effects move particles on, they push, float and carry particles; with it off, particles move and sound exactly as before. The four showcase scenes ship with two effects each.
Scene lights: up to eight glow orbs, stage spots, sunbeams and disco prisms with soft shadows, rim light, sparkles, lens flares and motion. Lights can flare on hits, pulse with the beat or take the color of the last particle.
Physics: collider Bounce and Friction now apply, bounces match their setting, nothing passes through thin colliders, particles roll and spin, spinning particles curve through the air and wind blows in gusts. Gates and portals keep a particle’s full speed. Hit counts in the factory scenes change by a median of 9%.
Link playground 1:1: every note of the song sends a particle that lands on its collider as the note sounds, within about 2 ms.
Sound: reverb spaces (Glass hall, the new default, Studio room, Bright plate, Cathedral and Classic 2.1), hit dynamics, a look-ahead limiter at −1 dBFS, procedural sounds at up to 48 kHz, and collision sounds timed to the physics.
Song studio: track solo, Euclid rhythms, humanize, tap tempo, metronome, count-in, Loop section, Undo and Redo buttons, and Export MIDI.
Playground tools and comforts: Snap, Magnet, Lock, Snapshot and Time scale; the particle designer; Ctrl+S saves to the file you opened; crash recovery; drag and drop; keyboard editing with a ? shortcut list; favorite sounds; grouped scenes; and a What’s new note after each update.
Graphics: a Lite tier, adaptive quality, Test this computer, separate effect settings and a frame-rate counter.
Free demo: ten sounds, five shapes, six placed colliders, notes C1–C7, 80 particles, a studio light, three particle styles, Hit ripples and Bubble swarm, with short previews of the other styles and effects.

2.1.1 — Smoother updates · Tester preview

Update downloads resume where they stopped when the connection drops, so slower connections finish over several connections instead of failing with “terminated”.
License → Updates explains each step, names the folder the new version goes to, shows progress, speed and time left, lists what Restart and update will do, and the new version confirms the update.
Every update problem shows an error code with what to try, plus Copy error details and Show update log. The update log records every step without your tester code.
A new version that Windows or security software blocks from starting is reported instead of closing Soundbox. Joining the test channel right after startup no longer skips the update check.

2.1.0 — Make music · Tester preview

Song studio instruments: add tracks from the whole sound library without a collider. Instruments keep their sound, note, level, pan, length and mute in one place on the new Instruments page; a track can still play a collider’s sound, and “Make it an instrument” turns it into an independent one.
Melodies and chords: switch the pattern to Pitch to give each step its own note, kept in the song’s key (Shift moves an octave). Tracks can play single notes, octaves, fifths, triads or seventh chords. Apply a rhythm, generate a new rhythm or melody, shift, duplicate or copy a track to every section.
Stacked arrangements: up to eight arrangements play at the same time, each with its own sections, name, mute and repeat. The song lasts as long as its longest arrangement. Every section card has its own delete button.
Exact notes: the sound inspector shows each layer’s note as a name and octave with the note you will hear. A layer can pick from a set of notes between two pitches, at random or as a rising, falling or bouncing arpeggio.
Aero 2000s collection: 30 new original sounds bring the library to 110, including trance plucks, Euro pads, sunset keys, glow vibes, basses, a drum kit, dolphins, koi, songbirds and interface sounds. Four new scenes, Dolphin lagoon, Euro sunrise, Glass garden and Startup daydream, bring the factory collection to 38 playable scenes, each with an arranged song.
Fixes: messages raised inside Song studio now appear above it, and Delete section is visible on every section card.

2.0.0 — Automatic updates · Tester preview

License → Updates checks the Soundbox website, downloads a newer portable build and installs it only after its size, checksum and publisher signature match. Before restarting, Soundbox releases this computer’s license; the new version re-activates it automatically.
Testers can join a private test channel with a code under License → Updates → Tester access.

1.9.0 — Aero / Y2K expansion · Preview

20 new original procedural sounds in the searchable Aero / Y2K collection, bringing the full library to 80: Crystal login, Pearl keys, Aqua marimba, Gel pop, Chrome ping, Cloud harp, Pixel rain, Bubble arpeggio, Lagoon pad, Silica bell, Horizon bass, Jelly kick, Glass clap, Foam hi-hat, Disc spin, Aero notification, Water sprite, Iridescent sweep, Bloom choir, Starlight cursor.
Five new colliders bring the catalog to 27 placeable types: Pearl shell (solid twelve-sided reflector), Glass sail (solid trapezoid), Rainbow gate (cycles four particle color channels), Tide pool (oscillating directional force field), and Echo gate (reverses incoming velocity while preserving speed).
Unique animations for every existing and new collider: breathing circles, traveling rail droplets, climbing triangle chevrons, ramp beads, diamond facets, pentagon stars, hexagon spokes, octagon segments, bridge strings, orbital portals, spiral vortices, expanding bumpers, flowing accelerators, converging wells, absorbing irises, bomb sparks, compressed brake waves, color pearls, pitch steps, turning arcs, rising bubbles and alternating fans. New types feature nacre petals, glass ribbons, rainbow bands, tidal waves and mirrored echo arrows. A moving pearl border animates the boundary.
Decorative motion is clipped to the collider outline and does not move its physical body or editor hit target. Existing Customize motion intensity and reduced-motion settings apply. Economy mode simplifies detail while preserving each motif.
Four new scenes showcase all 20 sounds: Crystal desktop, Tidal screensaver, Prism promenade and Y2K night drive. The library now has 34 playable factory scenes plus Blank. New sounds and colliders support existing editing, mixing and project save/reload workflows.
This was a development preview; website downloads and license purchases were not open. The video documents the earlier 1.8.0 studio; the main studio screenshot shows this 1.9.0 preview. The free demo remains six sounds and three basic shapes.

1.9.0 preview refinements — September 30, 2026

All 34 playable factory scenes now have distinct arranged rhythms, matched tempos, stable note choices, coordinated Aero palettes and an editable variation. First song retains its five-part arrangement; Blank remains empty. Use Play beat beside the preset selector to start or stop the arrangement directly. Song studio remains available for editing. Pending audio startup is canceled by Stop or a project change. Performance-pad headings now follow the chosen button text color for readability across all palettes. Existing saved projects are not rewritten.
Expanded customization: 14 UI colors, exact hex entry, automatic readable ink, four additional palettes, three surface finishes, glass reflections, blur, rounding and up to 12 saved personal looks.
Five animated backgrounds and five static choices, with independent drift and detail controls. New console reflections, logo motion and button ripples respect reduced motion and Economy quality.
The new feature page includes current software images and a preset directory. Website Customize offers local palette, color, glass and atmosphere previews.
The Windows 1.9.0 build is now digitally signed. Both the application and portable launcher passed signature, timestamp and icon verification; demo and full-studio startup checks passed. Downloads and license purchases were not open then.

Release history

1.8.0-signed — Historical · Pearl playgrounds & guided tours

First-launch tours for the demo and full studio highlight the main controls. Skip or replay at any time: Take a tour in the demo header, Replay studio tour inside Quick guide. Each edition remembers its own tour independently.
Larger control labels and help text, clearer knob readouts, and wrapping toolbar and preview buttons. Studio layouts checked down to 1080 × 740; the simplified demo also supports narrow windows.
Aero Gel pearl particles, curved water trails, glossy collider faces, floating bubbles, orbital emitters and liquid impact rings. Reduced motion freezes decorative animation.
A dedicated Graphics page in both editions offers Auto, Economy, Full and Ultra quality; 30–240 fps or display refresh; and 75–200% render resolution. Graphics settings persist independently of presets. Higher settings require suitable hardware.
Cached particle artwork and backgrounds, fewer meter and envelope redraws, and reduced audio-worklet allocation. Economy lowers visual cost while preserving sound and physics behavior.
Confirmed resets for the playground, selected Sound engine and Physics engine, plus Graphics defaults. Warnings explain their scope before applying; studio area resets support Undo and do not delete saved preset libraries.
Six original procedural sounds: Thumb piano, Bottle flute, Sand brush, Frame drum, Aqua welcome and Rubber pop. These are acoustic-inspired synths and Aero soundscapes, not additional recordings. Full library: 60 sounds.
Three new collider types: Diamond reflectors, Bubble lift fields and alternating Fan gates. Four new scenes: Aqua desktop, Bubble elevator, Pearl pinball and Seaside rhythm.
Fourteen scenes received distinct layouts, instrumentation or pacing. Orbit is a slow metallic soundscape, Rain is dry fast percussion, Aqua desktop is a spacious chord shower, and Submarine drift is a low, sustained current. The library now includes 30 playable factory presets plus Blank.
Signed Windows application and portable launcher with the matching Soundbox icon. The free demo remains six sounds, three basic shapes, one emitter and up to 60 particles; license purchases were not open yet.

1.7.3-signed — Windows icon fix

Fixed a blank Windows icon caused by capturing an empty offscreen frame. The icon generator now waits for SVG decoding and validates visible colored artwork before packaging.
New signed application and portable launcher with the Soundbox icon. Studio features are unchanged from signed 1.7.2.
If Windows says the app cannot run, verify the download completed. A zero-byte EXE or a remaining .part file is not a usable application; the complete Windows download is approximately 99 MB.

1.7.2-signed — Signed studio update

Digitally signed Windows application and portable launcher, published by Anthony Norcera with verified timestamps. This is a separate build from the earlier unsigned 1.7.2 preview.
Glass intensity, animation intensity, accent-tinted panels, higher contrast, reduced motion and a customization lock. Pointer reflections, responsive pads and refined dialog transitions.
Knob or slider controls with typed values, up to six decimal places on continuous controls, Shift fine adjustment and Alt ultra-fine adjustment. Discrete controls keep whole-number steps.
Dedicated per-collider mixer: level, pan, mute, solo, meters and reverb/delay sends. Master bass and treble EQ, effect returns, echo time and feedback. Mixer settings save with projects and support undo.
New sample-pool and granular layers begin with pitch variation, reverse chance and timbre/position jitter disabled. Saved layers preserve intentional settings; configured global modulation still applies.
Smoother voice stealing, bounded voice starts and master soft saturation reduce overload crackling. Extreme load can skip triggers; source discontinuities and device overload can still be audible.
Six additional synth sounds: Submarine bass, Lagoon keys, Wind glass, Foam snare, Cloud organ and Neon pulse. Full library: 54 sounds.
Pentagon, Octagon and Turn gate colliders. Four scenes: Lagoon keys, Submarine drift, Glass rain and Neon breakwater.
The free demo remains six sounds, three basic shapes, one emitter and up to 60 particles. Full-studio features require a license; purchases were not open.

1.7.2 — Earlier unsigned preview

An unsigned 1.7.2 preview preceded the signed studio update. The same version number was reused; the signed filename and published checksum identify the latest build. A complete patch-specific change record for the earlier preview was not retained.

1.7.1 — Device-bound activation

One registered Windows device per key, device deactivation and transfer support, encrypted local activation credentials and signed activation responses.
Full-studio activation requires an internet connection at launch. A verified open session can continue through an outage for up to 24 hours; transfers may wait for the previous authorization to expire. Legacy offline license files are not accepted by device-mode builds.

1.7.0 — Demo and licensing

Introduced the separate demo/full-studio licensing workflow. Historical offline and legacy LicenseGate activation were superseded by the device-bound system in 1.7.1.

1.6.1 — Archived patch build

A 1.6.1 build exists in the release archive, but a separate patch-specific change record was not retained. The documented 1.6 feature set is listed below.

1.6.0 — Documented feature update

My sounds · save / load, in the selected collider’s Sound tab, keeps reusable layer presets across sessions. Give the active sound a name and save it, then load it onto any layer in another project. Presets include sample files and slice bounds as well as pitch, filters, and variations. Loading supports Undo. Preview, rename, remove, and export/import .soundbox-sound files are available. Collider behavior and global effects remain project settings.
Desktop presets live in the app’s Windows user-data directory under sound-presets and survive version updates. The browser preview uses IndexedDB for its own origin. Browser and desktop libraries are separate; exported files transfer between them. Back up exported files before clearing browser/app data. Imported audio remains subject to its original permissions when sharing presets.
Six new sampled sounds: Wooden footstep, Plank clack, Slime squelch, Reactor cycle, Shield surge, and Thruster flare. Slime has two takes; the others have three. The library now has 48 sounds (24 recorded, 24 synthesized). These additions use the existing credited Kenney CC0 source packs; see public/SOUND-CREDITS.md.
Three new colliders: Brake field slows particles; Color gate assigns one of four routing channels; Pitch gate assigns a -24 to +24 semitone offset for subsequent particle-triggered sounds. Recorded sounds with Original sample pitch enabled keep their original pitch. A later pitch gate replaces the earlier offset.
Four scene presets: Chromatic falls, Slow motion bells, Workshop shuffle, and Reactor garden.

1.5.1 — Documented feature update

Song studio now separates Pattern, Arrange, and Samples into focused pages. Add sound offers ready-made starting rhythms and excludes sounds already in the section. Steps toggle on/off with a click; Shift-click adds an accent. Beat labels, preview buttons, and hidden advanced controls make the grid easier to read. Capture settings persist while working. The Quick guide now covers the complete song, sampling, playground, continuous-sound, and saving workflows. The Song studio Record WAV button is also correctly connected to the recording action.

1.5.0 — Documented feature update

Fixed the off-screen window jump when toggling One voice per particle and similar switches. Hidden checkboxes now stay inside their labels, and the desktop shell stays anchored to the viewport.
Playback offers collision, continuous, both, or sequencer-only modes. Continuous synth oscillators sustain; built-in recordings and imported samples loop. Pause the playground and stop the song, or use Stop all, to release them. Continuous mode supports synth and sample-pool layers.
Song studio provides a 30–240 BPM, 4/4 arrangement with 16-step collider tracks, normal/accent steps, track root notes, mute, section lengths and transposition, looping, and optional quantized particle impacts. Move sections using drag-and-drop or the arrow buttons; duplicate a verse to build a chorus or bridge. Track pitch variation is disabled for repeatable notes. Recorded sources retain their original pitch when that option is enabled.
Try First song, then open Song studio and press Play song for a ready-made Intro / Verse / Chorus / Bridge / Outro arrangement. The playground and song transports can run independently and share the master mix.
Live sampler & chopper captures the last 2, 4 or 8 seconds from master output or an enabled microphone without interrupting WAV recording. Import or capture audio, choose 4/8/16 equal slices, audition pads, assign a slice to the selected layer, or create slice instruments and tracks. Captured audio and arrangement settings are embedded in saved projects. Microphone input is unmonitored; hardware capture depends on the selected system input and permission.
Bridge in Add collider is a solid, resizable and rotatable deck for directing particles.
New sound layers accept small bomb fragments. Collision feedback explains threshold, probability, routing, mute, and source-related silence. Collision routing & voices → Trigger this layer on every impact clears that layer's probability, speed and particle filters. Existing project filters remain unchanged; mute, solo and voice limits still apply.
The arranger repeats one 16-step pattern per section bar; the chopper currently uses equal divisions rather than transient detection or freehand slice markers. Sample loops use their selected slice boundaries; recordings without matching endpoints can have audible loop seams.

1.4.0 — Documented feature update

The sound library now contains 42 characters: 18 sample-based sounds and 24 synth sounds. All realistic entries now use bundled audio files, replacing the earlier physical-style synthesis. Each sampled sound has three distinct takes. These older builds worked offline; current full-studio activation has different connection requirements.
Recorded impacts: ping-pong ball, wood knock, plate clatter, glass strike, heavy thud, metal clang, tin can and stone strike.
Recorded percussion: hand clap, finger snap, maraca shake and deep bell.
Recorded textures/footsteps: paper crumple, water drop, snow crunch and grass footstep.
Prerecorded designed effects: explosion and mechanical door.
The browser separates these from synth categories and searches names/descriptions. Original sample pitch is on by default and ignores musical pitch controls until disabled. Recorded attacks and full tails are preserved instead of being shortened by the synth decay envelope. Take variation selects among the three recordings. Dry preview bypasses reverb, delay, filters, reverse, random pitch and position-envelope modulation so differences are easier to compare. Normal Audition keeps the configured processing. Newly placed bombs use Explosion.
All downloaded audio is explicitly CC0; no noncommercial-only or attribution-only audio has been included. Commercial use and redistribution are permitted by the stated source licenses. Audio credits list the exact creators, sources, licenses and edits. The same credits are available from Audio credits beneath each sampled sound and are bundled in the application. Sample manifest records source URLs and SHA-256 hashes. Kenney effects are not represented as documentary field recordings.

1.3.0 — Documented feature update

Nine curated scenes bring the library to 18 presets (including Blank). Start with Pinball nebula, Vortex choir or Warp drive. Each new scene combines its own geometry, sound assignments, physics, effects and theme.
Supernova garden — Large seeds explode into colorful fragments across crystalline satellites and chain-reaction bombs.
Pinball nebula — Charged bumpers scatter particles into mallets and metallic islands.
Gravity loom — Attractive and repulsive fields weave a stream through glass chimes.
Clockwork cascade — A launch gate feeds a descending hexagonal staircase of ticks and mallets.
Prism orchard — A moving emitter rains across a canopy of crystal notes.
Vortex choir — A slow spiral gathers particles into long, shimmering voices.
Warp drive — A launch gate and portal pair lead into digital bumpers and bass.
Midnight percussion — Staggered drums, wood, metal and noise play beneath a wide moving shower.
Particle garden — Bubbling bumpers, a repulsive field and a vortex make an evolving rhythm.
Seven new collider types are available in Add collider:
Bomb: replaces an incoming particle with smaller fragments flying outward. Adjust Fragment count (2–24), Blast speed and Chain depth (1–3). Fragments shrink at each generation; tiny fragments pass through. Actual fragment count is reduced when necessary to preserve minimum size or respect the particle cap. The bomb remains reusable. Try Supernova garden.
Bumper: kicks particles radially outward. Set Kick speed in the inspector.
Accelerator: a pass-through gate that sets particle velocity to Kick speed in its rotated arrow direction.
Gravity well: applies force within its circular area, strongest near the center. Positive Field force attracts; negative values repel.
Vortex: adds tangential force and a gentle radial component. Negative force reverses the spin and radial direction. Resize to change its reach.
Absorber: plays its sound on entry, then removes the particle.
Hexagon: a solid, six-sided reflector.
Fields and gates trigger sound on entry, not continuously. Mute only controls sound; it does not disable their physical effect. Bumpers and accelerators replace incoming speed, rather than multiplying it. Force fields cap resulting velocity to keep the simulation bounded. Every type supports layer editing, duplicate/delete, and portable projects. Existing projects receive compatible defaults.

1.2.0 — Documented feature update

Customize: five theme presets (Forest, Ocean, Violet, Ember and Graphite), custom accent/background/panel/canvas colors, and four editable particle colors. Adjust glow and trails, or hide the grid, collider labels and portal links. Appearance is saved in each project and supports undo. Color routing now uses channel numbers 1–4 so changing a color does not change its routing.
Portal colliders: add a portal and click Add linked partner, or add a second portal to pair automatically with an unlinked one. Choose any other portal as a destination for one-way routes or chains. Particles preserve their speed; the angle difference rotates their velocity. An exit arrow shows the placement direction and a short cooldown prevents immediate loops. Unlinked portals pass particles through. Deleting a portal clears references to it. Try Portal playground.
24 sound characters: eight additional original procedural sounds — Aurora ribbons, Wormhole, Moon marimba, Bubble swarm, Robot vowels, Pocket thunder, Clockwork beetle and Comet tail. All support evolving timbre and variation.
Editor improvements: searchable sound characters, a collider selection menu, larger control text, persistent disclosure states, and Focus mode for a larger playground.

1.1.0 — Documented feature update

12 new sound characters: Prism shards, Liquid mercury, Alien birds, Broken satellite, Orbital gong, Cosmic dust, Rusty spring, Ghost radio, Crystal choir, Sub implosion, Laser insects and Circuit bloom. These original procedural sounds need no downloads or imported files.
Evolving performances: Evolve timbre changes the sound between impacts. Hit probability, stereo scatter, filter wander, length variation and reverse chance add controlled unpredictability. Pitch variation now stays within the selected scale before transposition.
Audition and Surprise me: preview the selected layer without running the simulation, or generate a new sound setup. Surprise me is undoable. Audition bypasses collision routing, probability and mute so you can hear the selected layer directly.
Space & Echo: stereo reverb and feedback delay, included in WAV recordings. Stop all clears effect tails as well as voices.
Better sample pools: random, no-repeat, shuffle-bag and round-robin selection. Waveform previews show the first selected sample; in granular mode, click the waveform to set the grain position.
More editing options: copy/paste layers, wind, and Ctrl+S to save. Existing 1.0 projects load with the new controls at neutral defaults.
Four new scenes: Alien garden, Broken satellites, Crystal caverns and Deep space. Try Alien garden first, then select a collider and use Surprise me to explore.

1.0.0 — First preview

Initial Soundbox physics-and-sound playground. Later notes confirm existing 1.0 projects load in 1.1 with neutral defaults for the new controls. A separate complete launch changelog was not retained.

Fresh from the studio.Soundbox 1.0 arrives on January 12, 2027.

For existing users

Preview releases

Release history

Fresh from the studio.
Soundbox 1.0 arrives on January 12, 2027.