Phosphor Turns Images Into Sound

Phosphor is a free spectral synthesis tool for MacOS that lets you paint directly onto a spectrogram and hear the result. Here's more details direct from the developer...

Phosphor is a free spectral synthesiser that turns images into audio. Draw on a spectrogram canvas, load any image, and hear the result instantly. What you see is what you hear.

Design sounds that traditional synthesisers can't make.
Phosphor gives you direct control over the frequency spectrum. Paint pads, textures, drones, risers, and evolving soundscapes by drawing them. Choose from four synthesis engines, shape dynamics with a built-in ADSR envelope, and export in multiple formats. Ready to drop straight into your DAW.

What is spectral synthesis?
Every sound can be represented as a spectrogram, a picture where time runs left to right, frequency runs bottom to top, and brightness represents loudness. A bass note is a bright horizontal line near the bottom. A siren is a diagonal streak. A snare is a vertical column.

Phosphor inverts this: instead of turning sound into a picture, it turns a picture into sound. You paint directly onto the spectrogram, and Phosphor synthesises audio from what you've drawn.

How Phosphor works

• Paint or load an image onto the spectrogram canvas. Draw freehand, use the harmonic brush, or import any image file.
• Hear it instantly. Phosphor synthesises a real-time preview as you work so you can iterate quickly.
• Adjust and refine, choose your synthesis engine, shape the ADSR envelope, change frequency scale, duration, dynamic range, and toggle musical overlays like piano roll and beat grid.
• Export in your choice of format and bit depth, with full iterative phase reconstruction for the final render.

Pricing and Availability:
Free

More information:

• Phosphor