PartialString – A finite-difference time-domain physical modelling synthesiser
4 days ago
- PartialString uses finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) to simulate a plucked string by solving the 1D wave equation in real time.
- The string is represented as a list of displacements; lower notes require longer strings with more points.
- Controls include excitation position and shape (velocity-sensitive), LFO-swept pickup position, adjustable decay time, and piano-like dampers.
- Reducing simulation accuracy creates unrealistic, soft, and inharmonic sounds; accuracy can be set constant or proportional to string length.
- CPU performance automatically limits polyphony (up to 10 voices) and low notes to prevent overload; low notes can be transposed up an octave.
- On Apple Silicon Macs, running an Intel DAW via Rosetta 2 reduces performance; native Apple Silicon DAW is recommended for best results.
- PartialString v1.0.3 is free (pay what you want), available as VST and Audio Units plugin.
- The project revives the developer's MSc research on finite-difference models for music, created by Christian Baker (July 2026).