272 node types — more than double the previous release.
A place to write shaders. A place to write plugins. Nodes that treat time itself as material. A 3D engine of our own. SynapseRack is still meant to stay simple to play, but what you can reach from inside it has been rebuilt.
Before you update
- Projects from 1.0.2 open as-is. Some nodes are now marked legacy and hidden by default, but they keep working inside existing projects (and can still be created in legacy mode)
- Coming from 0.9.x? Use the SynapseRack Legacy Converter
- Pro sign-in is changing. FANBOX supporters need to migrate to Discord authentication by September 30, 2026
A custom 3D engine — play cameras and lights as nodes
A self-built renderer, with no Unity cameras or layers involved. HDR, up to 8 custom lights.
- Point-cloud vocabulary (POPs): PointGrid / PointShape / PointScatter / NoiseDisplace / Jitter / AttributeMap / TransformPoints / OrientPoints / SpringPoints / TextureToPoints (video → points) / BlendPoints
- Motion graphics: FieldEffector / WaveMap / ColorPalette / ConnectSequential (draw-on) / TravelOnPath
- Materials: Lit / Glow / Shape (SDF 2D mograph)
- Camera work: Orbit / Lerp / Shake / Ortho (2D mode)
- Scene ops: SceneTransform / SceneRepeat (3D kaleidoscope)
- Post: Bloom / Tonemap / Grade / DOF
- Video as light: Cookie input on Light (Ambilight + spot projector)
Time becomes a node — the Record family
- Frame Buffer / Buffer Player: hold recent frames for reverse, loop, scratch and beat-repeat
- Buffer Shuffle / Granular / Frame Echo / Time Displacement: beat-synced chops, video granular, echo trails, slit-scan
- File Recorder: capture your output to mp4 — save “that was good” after the fact
- Datamosh / Mosh Live: play compression artifacts live; Mosh Live breaks real codecs on a live input
Flow fields
A new port type built from optical flow, noise, or moving shapes (Field Shapes).
- Flow Smear paints with motion, Displace warps, Datamosh transplants motion from another video
- Motion Amount / Brightest Point: drive knobs with what’s happening on screen — video controlling video
Feedback unlocked — Send / Receive
- Wireless loops with Send / Receive nodes (video and signals): infinite tunnels and self-oscillation, right in the graph
- Fx Apply: insert layer shader effects inside the node graph
Fx Editor — write shaders in the browser
- Load what you wrote straight into SynapseRack as an Fx
- ISF support, samples, share URLs, node UI preview, local save
Apps SDK
Drive SynapseRack from JavaScript — create nodes, connect them and set parameters from a script.
MediaBrowser, rebuilt
- Natural-language clip search (EN/JA — find “red explosion” or “watery loop”), auto-tags and recommendations
- Sorting: per-folder manual order (drag) or file-name order; dragging switches to manual instantly
- Reference copy: dropping onto a folder copies a reference — the same clip can live in multiple sets (one file on disk; Alt+drop to move)
- Codec visibility: ⚠/✕ badges only on clips that need attention; hover for resolution / fps / duration / reason
- Async imports with progress; directory imports land in one folder named after the directory
- Drag & drop rebuilt across the board (external windows, layers, hierarchy, folders)
Widget Panel
Build your own control surface for finer live operation: faders, knobs, crossfaders, color pickers, buttons, toggles, dropdowns, XY pads, text inputs and previews.
Node editor
- Live preview on every node. Mini previews everywhere, click to zoom 2.5x; waveform scopes on LFOs, value bars on signals
- Group nodes: collapse a section, Ctrl+Shift+G to ungroup
- Right-click scrubbing (inline UI too), keyboard nav in the node list, smarter auto-layout (fewer edge crossings)
- Edge mute, bulk edge moves, width-insensitive search
Control nodes
- Curve: remap values through a curve you draw
- ADSR: turn a trigger into an envelope
- LFO: now with a waveform scope
I/O
- MIDI: Windows reconnection fixed, outputs remembered by device name, per-device input toggles
- OSC: learn mode makes assignment a click; keyboard learn is back
- External windows: pull control UI out into its own window
- Published codec support list, measured per platform
4 starter templates
Start from something that already moves.
| Template | For |
|---|---|
| 4-Layer | A simple four-layer setup |
| 2-Layer | Straightforward club VJ / DJ-style operation |
| Generator Starter | Generative-leaning VJ work |
| Audio Reactive | An introduction to driving things with audio input |
Effects, curated
- 24 new Fa-series effects
- Legacy effects tucked away by default (existing projects still work; re-enable in settings)
- Shape Overlay / Shape Warp retired → succeeded by Field Shapes
- Edge behavior (Repeat / Clamp / Mirror) across effects
Stability — projects that don’t break
- Missing-node quarantine: projects open even when a node can’t load (lossless, undo-aware)
- Project restore redesigned: positions, edges and resources restore reliably; failures isolate instead of aborting
- VLC playback overhaul (45-item audit): crash families eliminated, state machine cleaned up, 30-fixture codec test suite on both OSes
- Autosave, plus safe-mode startup after a crash
- Undo/Redo improvements; clip audio defaults to muted, with independent mute/volume
- Plus 28 further fixes and improvements (project loading, MatryoshkaFeedback parameters, PNG memory, MediaBrowser caching, node data persistence, Ctrl+D duplication, layer nodes, NDI/Spout/webcam, MIDI drivers, assorted UI)
Changed defaults
- Dropping thumbnails onto a folder now copies a reference (Alt+drop to move)
- Deleting a folder removes its contents from the library (with confirmation; original files untouched)
- Clip audio starts muted
- Legacy effects hidden by default
Languages
Japanese and English.