Self-Playing Drone Synth

Following on from our coverage of SILT, Tunary Instruments has been in touch to tell us about ARGISH which they describe as a synth that scores itself. It's available for Mac & Windows in AU/VST3/Standalone formats and you can try it out for free in your browser 

Developer, James told us, "The part I care about most: no AI in the sound engine - no trained models, no AI-generated audio, no "generate a track" button. The music comes from real synthesis and real music theory - you pick a few chords and draw the shape of the piece, and ARGISH does the craft: voicing the pads, weaving the arpeggios, laying bass and a real sampled guitar, building and resolving like an actual score. You stay the author - it just takes the grind off your hands. In a world flooding with AI-generated music, this one stays organic: human-directed, made by ear."

Click a few chords on the wheel. Press play. ARGISH scores - voice-leading its pads, weaving an arpeggio, laying bass and pulse underneath, all re-shaping to your mood. Leave it running and it writes epic, cinematic soundscapes that never repeat: a film score composing itself, in real time, while you just listen.

THE WHEEL: A circle-of-fifths chord wheel
Three rings - major, minor, diminished. Click chords to build a progression; the in-key ones light up. Click out-of-key to modulate to a new key on purpose.

SELF-PLAY _ WANDER: It performs your progression
Hit play and the machine voice-leads your chords smoothly. Turn on Wander and it improvises endlessly - always in key, never quite repeating.

THE MOOD PAD: One gesture shapes everything
Dark <> bright, calm <> energised. Drag the pad and ARGISH opens the filter, leans major or minor, and re-writes the music to match the feeling.

GRANULAR ENGINE: 11 effects, endless texture
Mosaic, Haze, Tunnel, Warp and more - each with four variations, freeze, four reverbs and ten knobs. Turn any moment into a shifting cloud.

LOW END _ PULSE: Acid bass, kick & drone
A resonant bass synth on its own step sequencer, an ambient kick, and a tonic drone pedal underneath it all - a full ambient rig, not just pads.

PLAY IT YOUR WAY: Keyboard, wheel, or hands-off
Drive it from a MIDI keyboard, click the wheel, or let it self-play. Tempo-syncs to your DAW, and can send its chords out as MIDI on Mac.

Pricing and Availability:
On offer at $49

More information:

• ARGISH

• Tunary Cinematic Soundscape Collection 07-Sep-26
• Generative Tape Loop Instrument 28-Jul-26