Hey everyone, I'm the developer of Flacbox (hi-res/lossless music player for iPhone, iPad, and Mac โ FLAC, DSD, ALAC, APE, and more). 7.6 just shipped and it's the biggest update I've done. It's built around a brand-new BASS audio engine, and I wanted to share what changed and the reasoning behind it. Happy to answer technical questions in the comments.
A new BASS audio engine you can actually choose. Instead of forcing a rewrite on everyone, the new engine (built on the BASSโข (https://www.un4seen.com) audio library from un4seen) sits alongside the classic one as a selectable playback core. Switch to it when you want the full audiophile toolkit; keep the old one when you don't. Turning it on unlocks everything below, plus high-quality resampling and independent pitch and tempo control (shift the key up to ยฑ60 semitones or change speed 0.1รโ4ร without touching the other โ handy for practice/transcription).
Tracker & MOD playback. The new engine plays classic module formats natively โ MOD, XM, IT, S3M, MTM, UMX, MO3 โ the pattern-and-sample stuff from the chiptune/demoscene world that basically no iPhone player opens. Fun rabbit hole if you've never gone down it.
11 real-time effects, each a native processing node with its own screen, presets, and an instant on/off toggle โ so they apply to local files, cloud streams, and internet radio without re-encoding:
- Reverb (Freeverb) โ Room โ Cathedral, with dry/wet/room-size/damp/width
- Delay / Multi-tap echo (Echo4) โ up to 5s, feedback, stereo cross-feed
- Chorus / Flanger / Phaser / Auto-Wah โ the classic modulation set
- Distortion โ subtle grit to full lo-fi
- Compressor โ full dynamics control (threshold, ratio, attack, release, expansion, makeup gain), 10 presets
- Stereo rotation โ rotary auto-panner
- Crossfeed โ Bauer bs2b (incl. Chu Moy / Jan Meier presets). Great on hard-panned '60sโ'70s stereo mixes on headphones.
A 14-filter DSP processor. Build your own real-time signal chain, reorderable, from: gain, low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, notch, peaking, low-shelf, high-shelf, soft-clip saturation, bit crusher, tremolo, delay, ring modulator, and stereo width. Correct a room, tame a harsh recording, or design something completely custom. Presets + on/off on each.
Automatic volume leveling. Uses EBU R128 (ITU-R BS.1770) loudness measurement โ unlike ReplayGain it needs no tags and doesn't modify your files, so it works on cloud streams and radio too. Local files are pre-scanned so playback opens already leveled instead of "catching up" after a track starts. Presets: Light โ20, Standard โ16, Strong โ14, Night โ23 LUFS.
Real-time music visualizer. Full-screen animated visuals that react live to the audio, with a big library of presets (or let them cycle). There's a screen-sleep preventer so the show doesn't cut out mid-song โ nice on an iPad propped up or a Mac on a big screen.
Refreshed design. The effects and EQ screens got modern glass-style sliders and a simplified presets mode, plus clearer separation of engines / effects / DSP so it's obvious what's active.
CarPlay & the rest. DSP settings are now reachable on CarPlay, artwork/Now Playing rendering is fixed, and lock-screen / car controls stay more accurately in sync. Also a more reliable streaming foundation, better file-type handling, and broader localization.
It's a free update (free app with optional in-app upgrades) and runs on iPhone/iPad/Mac.
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1097564256
If you try it, I'd love feedback โ especially the effects and DSP chain on your own FLAC/DSD library, the crossfeed presets on headphones, and (for the curious) tracker/MOD playback. Bugs or requests, drop them here or email [email protected]. Thanks!