Developer Dawesome has launched Abyss II, a visual synthesizer for macOS and Windows, with an introductory price of €89 (regularly €149).
The developer describes Abyss II as a synth for musicians rather than engineers. Instead of building sounds around pages of technical parameters, you place visual Tone Colors on a Gradient and move between them to create evolving timbres.
That idea carries over from the original Abyss, but this version adds a substantial new method for creating material. You can drop an audio file directly onto the Gradient, and Abyss II converts it into a sequence of spectral Tone Colors.
What’s cool is that this is not conventional sample playback. The source is analyzed and reinterpreted as playable and tuned synth material.
You can also drop individual files or entire folders onto the Palette view. Abyss II uses machine learning to extract Tone Colors and group similar results together, creating a custom palette from your recordings or sample library.
Wavetables are detected automatically, while other sources can be pushed anywhere between organic and static wavetable-like tones.
Once the colors are on the Gradient, the Position control moves through the resulting timbres and can be animated with the synth’s modulation system. Additional shaping, if you need it, comes from FM, a virtual analog filter, and new tools such as Syntify, Brute, and Velvet, which sharpen, distort, or smooth the sound.
Abyss II also introduces a modular effects engine with four reorderable slots and 20 modules. The new poly-rhythmic sequencer supports independent step lengths, while full MPE support, three LFOs, two ADSR envelopes, mono mode, undo and redo, and more than 400 presets round out the instrument.
The preset collection includes over 200 new sounds and more than 200 upgraded from the original Abyss. You can hear a selection in Dawesome’s official preset demo.
The free trial is easy to access. You can download it without supplying an email address or creating an account, and the same installer runs in demo mode. The only restriction is occasional vinyl-like crackle that begins after two or three days.
Existing Abyss 1 owners can upgrade for €45 during the introductory promotion instead of the regular €75 upgrade price. Anyone who purchased Abyss 1 during 2026 receives the upgrade for free.
Abyss II runs on 64-bit Windows 10 and 11 in VST3 and AAX formats. It supports Intel and Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 13 or later in AU, VST3, and AAX formats.
Download: Dawesome Abyss II (€89 intro price)
Last Updated on August 24, 2026 by Tomislav Zlatic.
