An effects rack by Lost Synapse · a one-person studio

Laura FX. The rack that makes Laura sound like Laura, on any track.

The complete effects section of my synth, extracted into a single plugin. Seventeen devices, one drag-to-reorder chain, four macros you wire by dragging them onto knobs. Put it on drums, vocals, guitars, or somebody else's synth.

Format · AU · VST3 · CLAP · Standalone Platforms · macOS · Windows Installer · Signed & notarized License · One-time, lifetime Telemetry · None
Laura FX with the Macro Rack preset loaded: four macro knobs across the top, a chain of Delay, Hetero, Distortion, and Reverb, and a macro modulation ring on the delay feedback knob.

Proven inside Laura first. Every device shipped, bug-fixed, and tuned in a real instrument before it became a plugin of its own.

Seventeen devices

Half studio staples, half things you won't find anywhere else.

The rack holds twelve slots. Drag any device in, drag to reorder, and the chain follows without clicks. These are the seventeen to pick from.

Penrose

Signature

An infinity engine. Three voices ride one slow lap and hand off where your ear cannot hear the seam, so the motion never resets: a barber-pole phaser, a tape Doppler riser, a pulse that keeps accelerating, an inharmonic siren, or a resonant peak that climbs forever. Locks to the bar, runs in reverse.

Timefold

Signature

A glitch resequencer on the grid. It keeps a rolling recording of the last couple of seconds and runs a sixteen step pattern across the bar: leave a step alone and you hear the live signal, program one and it re reads what just went past as a stutter, a reversal, a tape stop, a half or double speed splice, or a downward glide. Nothing is generated, so it always sounds like your own material folded back on itself.

Murmuration

Signature

A flock of starlings as a delay. Every bird is a tap drifting through delay time and stereo pan, transients spook the flock, and the echoes wheel and regroup. The rhythm is emergent, never a grid.

Fluxion

Signature

A spectral fluid. The spectrum of your audio becomes a simulation with drag, turbulence, and buoyancy, and energy flows through the sound like weather.

Freeze

Spectral

Capture and hold. Grab a slice of whatever is playing and sustain it as a drone for as long as you like, then glide back to live audio.

Hetero

Spectral

A Bode-style frequency shifter. Every partial moves by the same amount of Hz, so harmonic relationships melt into inharmonic shimmer and barber-pole motion.

Grain

Texture

Sprays randomized grains from the recent past, each with its own position and pitch. Enough grains and anything becomes a slowly evolving pad.

Resonance

Texture

A network of coupled, tuned resonators. Feed it drums and it rings like a struck body; feed it pads and it blooms.

Compressor

Dynamics

A character compressor with lookahead, program-dependent Pump, a Spectral mode, and Bloom and Drift sections that let it breathe like hardware.

Splitter

Routing

Cut the chain into two bands, three bands, or mid and side. One band rides through the rest of the rack, the others wait and sum back in at the end.

Delay

Classic

Multi-algorithm delay, from clean digital through tape wobble to Smear, the diffuse wash the rack is known for.

Reverb

Classic

Rooms, halls, and shimmering cathedrals, plus convolution with your own impulse responses.

Distortion

Classic

Multiple drive characters with a built-in filter section, from warm tube push to full wavefolding.

EQ

Classic

A parametric EQ with a live analyzer, for carving space before or after the weirder devices.

Chorus

Classic

Wide, dense stereo chorus that stays stable in mono.

Flanger

Classic

From subtle jet swirl to metallic comb screams.

Phaser

Classic

A smooth multi-stage phaser with tempo sync.

Macros

Four knobs. Wire them by dragging.

Grab a macro badge, drop it on any knob in any device, set the depth. Done. One macro can pull reverb size up while it pushes delay feedback down and opens the distortion, so a whole scene lives on one knob. Macros are plain host parameters too, so automation lanes and MIDI mapping in your DAW just work.

Laura FX macro knobs above the rack, with a macro assigned to the delay feedback knob showing its colored modulation ring.

Honest A/B

A bypass that doesn't cheat.

The BYPASS button keeps the dry signal sample-aligned with the processed one, so toggling it compares the sound itself instead of a timing offset. Tails keep ringing underneath and fade back in without a click. It also drives your host's own bypass control, so automation works either way.

Chains switch the same way presets do in Laura: a short crossfade instead of a pop, even mid-note, even with feedback devices running.

23 factory chains

Starting points to tear apart.

Vocal halls, dub throws, shimmer cathedrals, granular hazes, pumping bus glue, telephone lo-fi, a macro rack with all four knobs pre-wired. Load one, hear it on your material, then tear it apart. Your own chains save to a plain folder you can back up or share.

Already own Laura?

Laura FX is included with Laura, permanently. Install it on a machine where Laura is activated and it unlocks itself, no new license, no account, nothing to type. I built the rack inside Laura first, and I'm not going to charge Laura owners twice for the same code.

Ionut, Lost Synapse

Don't own either yet? Laura is $69 and includes the entire synth plus Laura FX. Buying the synth is the better deal if you want both.

Frequently asked

Common questions.

Do I need Laura to use Laura FX?

No. Laura FX is a standalone product. It is the effects section of my synth Laura, extracted into its own audio effect plugin, and it runs on any track in any host that loads AU, VST3, or CLAP plugins.

I already own Laura. Do I pay again?

No. Your Laura license unlocks Laura FX. Install Laura FX on a machine where Laura is activated and it picks the license up automatically, no extra steps. If Laura is not activated there yet, drop the same .lic file onto the Laura FX window.

What if I buy Laura FX now and Laura later?

Buying Laura later gets you a Laura license, which unlocks both products. The Laura FX license on its own unlocks Laura FX only, so if you think you'll want the whole synth, buying Laura directly is the better deal: it includes everything Laura FX does.

What formats does Laura FX support?

AU, VST3, CLAP, and a Standalone app that processes live input, on macOS and Windows, all in one purchase. In Logic it registers as a regular Audio FX insert, so it works on any audio, instrument, or bus channel.

Is this the same code as Laura's FX section?

The same code. Both products compile from one shared effects codebase and release together with the same version number. When I improve a device or add a new one, the update ships to Laura and Laura FX at the same time, free in both.

Does Laura FX have a demo?

Yes, same policy as Laura: everything works for 30 minutes per session, then a quiet noise burst every 30 seconds until you activate. No account needed.

Does it add latency?

A small fixed lookahead for the compressor, reported to your host so everything stays aligned automatically. The built-in bypass is latency-matched too, so A/B comparisons are sample-accurate and honest.

Is Laura FX a subscription?

No. One-time purchase, lifetime license, lifetime updates. The license verifies offline and there is no telemetry.

Can I get a refund?

Yes. There is a 14-day refund policy. Reply to the license email and the refund is processed without a form.

Launch pricing

One rack, one price, and every update after it.

Laura FX shares its code with Laura and releases in lockstep. Every new device, every DSP refinement, every fix lands in both products on the same day, free.

Limited time
$39 $20

USD · one-time · lifetime license

  • Lifetime license to Laura FX. Never expires.
  • Lifetime free updates. New devices and refinements as they ship.
  • All seventeen devices and the full 12-slot rack. Nothing held back for an upsell.
  • All four formats: AU, VST3, CLAP, and Standalone.
  • macOS and Windows in one purchase.
  • Free for Laura owners. Your Laura license already unlocks it.
  • License hits your inbox in minutes.
  • No subscription. You pay once.
  • License verifies offline. Works fine with no internet at all.
  • No telemetry.
  • 14-day refund. Reply to the email, no forms.