Draft:Caustic (DAW)

Caustic
Original author	Rej Poirier
Developer	Single Cell Software
Initial release	May 2011
Final release(s)
3.2 / February 2017
Written in	C++
Operating system	Android, iOS, Blackberry OS, MacOS, Windows
Platform	ARM, IA-32 (i386)
Type	Digital audio workstation
License	Proprietary
Website	www.singlecellsoftware.com (Archived)

Caustic is a proprietary digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and programmed by Single Cell Software. It uses a graphical user interface (GUI) that is modeled on a rack-mount cabinet. The layout of the rack is freely configurable for synthesizers and effects. The rack sections for mixing, mastering, and song sequencer are fixed. Caustic includes a suite of synthesizers (a.k.a. “machines”), a  drum machine, a modular synth, a vocoder, effects, includes recordable and editable mix automation, supports MIDI (including mapping), FTP server, and, since release 3.1, AudioBus & virtual MIDI (for iOS).

History

The developer, Rej Poirier, has cited his interests in DSP (Digital Signal Processor) programming, music, and experience with Buzz Tracker inspired programming synthesizers and a sequencer with programming starting in December 2009 as a private project. The first publicly available version of Caustic was released in May 2011 on the Android Market (now Google Play) as a free demo, and a freemium release followed shortly. The performance of Caustic is heavily optimized for mobile device performance limitations (processing, memory, screen size and resolution) to ensure the usability and real-time performance required for music creation and playback with minimal hardware requirements (see below). The developer has said the name "Caustic" was named as the synonym for “acid”, the colloquial term for Acid House and Acid Techno genres that were readily composed using the initial Caustic app release.

Caustic is now abandonware. The last release of Caustic, version 3.2 in February 2017, was the end of development and support for the program. The developer has said that piracy (file sharing of the free key apps), the move by major mobile OSes to drop 32-bit app support, the complexity in porting Caustic to 64-bit, and the current demands on developers for mobile OSes, as the reasons to cease development. Mobile devices and desktops with appropriate hardware, OS versions, emulation, as well as older models and modern entry level tablets that support 32-bit, remain options to use Caustic.

Reception

As an early DAW for the Android platform, Caustic gained a large user base. The Caustic 3 app is listed as having 1M+ downloads from Play Store, and 100K+ purchases of the unlock key app. Caustic was regularly included in "Top" lists for mobile DAWs for Android. It has remained a popular mobile DAW for Android in the years since since the final release.

User Community

With the release of Caustic 2, the Single Cell Software official website was established. The official website was also where the developer blogged, announced new releases and updates, new software, and interacted with users for suggestions, request, feedback. The developer produced documentation and feature update announcements in the form of in-depth video tutorials in addition to user manual and release notes. An official YouTube channel also carried the tutorial and release videos. The developer is also active on other online community forums. The website users' forum enabled users to share songs, sounds, presets, settings, patches, tutorials, and workshops uploaded/hosted on SoundCloud and YouTube. Outside of the official forum, users created their own instructional content. The official Single Cell Software website was taken down February 2024 and it can now be accessed in the archives of the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. With the take-down of the Single Cell Software website, the Caustic online community is remains active in forums dedicated to Caustic.

3rd Party Plug-Ins

Software plug-ins (a.k.a. "Add-on" or "Add-in") available for Caustic contained audio samples, settings (for synthesizers), and UI skins. Plug-ins were shared freely, as APK files, and made available to purchase on device stores by 3rd parties - notably, Audiovapor kits of presets, Les Productions Zvon expansion packs, and EIP Studios Ohio.

Release History

The Caustic release for the Android platform was reported to work under the free open source alternative to Google Android called CyanogenMod. Later mobile releases added support for Apple iOS mobile devices and the Blackberry OS (on Blackberry PlayBook, BlackBerry 10).

Initially used for only development testing and debugging, the Windows based (Win32) version was released, as Caustic release 2.0.2, for download from the Single Cell Software website, which was fully featured, at no cost, but without support. Later desktop releases and updates were released in step with mobile app releases. While no specific Linux version was released, Windows emulators provides users a solution for Linux OSes.

Version	Release Dates	Platform(s)
		Android ARM & Intel	Blackberry OS PlayBook & BB10	iOS iOS 7	MacOS OS/X 10.4 Intel	Windows XP, Vista	Windows 7, 8, 10	Linux
		Freemium			Freeware
Caustic	May 2011	Y	N	N	N	N	N	N
Caustic 2	May 2012	Y	Y	N	N	Y	N	N
Caustic 2.1	December 11th, 2012	Y	Y	N	N	Y	N	N
Caustic 2.1.2	January 7th, 2013	Y	Y	N	N	Y	N	N
Caustic 3	December 14th, 2013	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N
Caustic 3.1	May 17th, 2014	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N
Caustic 3.2	February 1st, 2017	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N

Notes: For Linux users, in the event of errors at launch under emulation, it is recommended to install "winetricks vcrun2012" Visual Studio 2012 runtime libraries. When BlackBerry (RIM) devices supported Android, later releases were available from the Google Play Store to use.

Minimum device requirements

A list of the minimum requirement(s) for mobile releases:

• Caustic 1.x.x - CPU: 800MHz ARM v7. Screen resolution: 800x480.
• Caustic 2.x.x - CPU: 800MHz ARM v7. Screen resolution: 800x480.
• Caustic 3.x.x - CPU: 1GHz ARM v7. Screen resolution: 800x480.

A list of the minimum requirement(s) for desktop releases:

• Caustic 2 & 3 - OpenGL support. (Tested on 600MHz CPU & Windows XP.)

Functionality

Caustic interface is based on the concept of a configurable rack-mount studio. The layout of the rack is freely configurable for synthesizers and effects. The rack sections for mixing, mastering, and song sequencer are fixed.

Fixed Rack Sections

• Effects: Caustic included 16 effects modules, 21 functions. Any any two 2 effect modules, in any combination, could be added per machine.
• Mixer: Modeled to resemble a real mixer desk, this section includes 3-band equalization, pan, and global delay and reverb effects.
• Master: The master section included with parametric EQ, limiter, and control of the global delay and reverb in the mixer section.
• Song Sequencer: This section is where the patterns from synthesizer modules are sequenced to build the song.

Dynamic Rack Sections

Rack Synthesizer Modules

Name	Description
BassLine	A bassline synthesizer, a 303-type monosynth.
BeatBox	8-channel sample based drum machine. Users can supply their own WAV files.*
FMSynth	DX-style 3-operator FM synthesizer.
KSSynth	Karplus-Strong string modeling synth.
Modular	Freely configurable and modular synthesizer.
Organ	Hammond-like tonewheel organ with rotary speaker.
PadSynth	Harmonic table pad synthesizer.
PCMSynth	Multi-sample wave synthesizer. Users can supply their own WAV* files, SoundFont files (.sf2) and FL Studio mobile instruments (.instr, .ZIP)
SawSynth	Supersaw-type polysynth.
Subsynth	Virtual analog subtractive synthesizer.
Vocoder	8-band harmonic vocoder. Users can supply their own WAV* files.
8BitSynth	8-bit equation solver synthesizer.

Note: Caustic modules that include WAV file support can use 8, 16, 24, & 32 bit sample files.

Effects

A selection of effects are available to use in the effects bay. Any two effects can be used for each synthesizer module. These filters operate post-synthesizer output and pre-mixing and mastering sections.

• Auto-Wah
• BitCrusher
• Cabinet Simulator
• Chorus
• Comb Filter
• Compressor
• Delay
• Distortion
• Flanger
• Limiter
• Multi Filter (Low-Pass, High-Pass, Band-Pass, Band Isolate Filter, Low-Shelf and High Shelf)
• Parametric EQ
• Phaser
• Reverb
• Static Flanger
• Vinyl Simulator

Tips and Tricks

Undocumented features, often development aids or usability assists, were included in releases. Not all documented features are applicable or functional in all releases.

Pop-out spectrum analyzer

In the desktop version, toggle this pop-out using specific key combination. Care must be taken to only toggle the analyzer window using the key combination as directly exiting/closing the pop-out window will also shut down Caustic program and the current project will not be saved. For the US keyboard layout the combination  Ctrl+~ will bring up the pop-out window. (Note that other keyboard language layouts use other key combinations.)

Navigating

On desktop versions the keyboard can be used for scrolling the rack, trigger the module navigator, and change octaves of the keyboard currently on-screen.

• Using the  ↑ & ↓ allows scrolling the rack.
• Pressing  F2 brings up options menu.
• Pressing  F3 brings up modules (machines) navigator window.
• Pressing Esc is to go back.
• Pressing Page Up or Page Down will change the octaves of the machine on the screen.

Developer Codes

On desktop version, pressing ~ (tilde) on the keyboard brings up a command line. This command line allows use of developer codes.

Command	Description
create [machine_current_name]	Add machine type name to the rack in the next available bay on the rack.
remove [remove_current_name]	Remove a machine by name from the rack.
machine_name [machine_current_name] [machine_new_name]	Rename a machine on the rack from it's current name to a new name.
blankrack	Clear all machine from the rack.
save_song [filename]	Save the current rack, patterns, sequences, automation, and settings to a song file.
load_song [filename]	Load a song current rack, patterns, sequences, automation, and settings to a song file.
query machine_name	Undocumented.

Note: Default machines names are synthesizer module names: subynth, fmsynth, modular, etc.

Number Pad (a.k.a. “Secret Codes”)

In caustic, bring up the main menu screen. Navigate to the "Help" tab, and click on "About Caustic" button. In the "About Caustic" page, click on "Caustic" 6 times. This brings up a number pad to input the code sequence. Not all codes work in all releases.

Codes and Functions

Code	Feature
76683477	This gives the Caustic full browsing capabilities in the mobile device, past the SDCard root directory in Android. Using the sequence again will disable the capability.
2679	This will restore the demo songs included with Caustic installation.
7393	This sequence enables the C-SFXR in the tool for editing wav samples in some versions before 3.2. This feature is was made available in Caustic 3.2 under Settings, Tools, Stand-alone WAV editor, Tools.
78367	This enabled the experimental STEM export feature in some versions before 3.2. This feature was made available in Caustic 3.2 under Settings, Song, Export.
5623xx	This sets the CPU pipeline stall value. The value is set where xx is the value in milliseconds. Changing this value is not recommended. The default value is 17ms. To restore the default value use the sequence 562317.

See also

• Comparison of digital audio editors