Fenophone, in plain facts

Quick facts

What it is

A generative music instrument you play in the browser — eleven genre packs shipped free, from ambient, beat-driven, and cinematic to techno, neo-soul, lo-fi, synthwave, and industrial.

Price

Free to play, every shipped pack included. A one-time unlock — $59, or $29 with student verification — adds export and exact-take sharing, owned forever with no subscription. An optional Plus subscription adds cloud sync across your devices, and is never required.

Account

Not required. You can play, capture, save one session locally, and share a setup link without signing in.

Export

With the one-time unlock: per-voice MIDI (standard type-1, named tracks, in your key and tempo) and per-voice audio stems plus a master mix as WAV or FLAC at 48 kHz / 24-bit.

Works with

Exported MIDI imports cleanly into Ableton Live, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Reaper, and Bitwig Studio.

Platform

Any modern web browser with WebAudio and WebGL2. Once the page is loaded, sound is made fully on your device — no server plays a note; you need a connection to load it and for accounts, sharing, and packs.

Privacy

Nothing you make leaves your device unless you turn on cloud sync or share a link. No microphone, no upload by default. If the app crashes, a technical report — including the session state, so the fault can be reproduced — is sent only with your consent, never without it.

Licensing

The built-in voices are synthesized, with no third-party samples, so what you export is cleared for commercial use.

Reproducible

It is deterministic: the same setup always plays the same way, so what you capture is exactly what you export.

Plugin

A VST3/AUv3 plugin shares the browser instrument's engine — it follows the host tempo, automates from the host, and saves its state with the project. A one-time purchase ($99, or $129 bundled with the web unlock); the browser version stays free.

In games

The engine embeds in games as an adaptive runtime (a plain C interface): gameplay drives the music live, mood changes land on the next bar, and the same seed replays the same score down to the microtiming feel, so replays and save games stay in sync. Free for game jams with a credit; one-time per-title license to ship.

Structure, verified

The music's long-range structure is measured, not assumed: an automated gate plays every shipped pack under a pinned reference protocol and checks the emitted note stream for 1/f-family scaling (and rejects packs that lose it) on every build.

Made by

One person. Fenophone doesn't use AI — the music comes from a deterministic instrument you play, and you make it on the controls.

Studio

The Fenophone Studio is the instrument's second room, free in the browser at /studio: layer the takes you capture in the player, balance and place each one with per-layer EQ, pan, and space, re-voice any genre with an instrument made from one of your own recordings, and keep three named sketches. The same $59 one-time unlock as the player adds stem and MIDI export, saving your WAV takes, and unlimited sketches — never a subscription.

Setting the record straight

• ✗ Fenophone is an AI that generates music for you.

  ✓ It is an instrument you play. You shape the sound with controls in real time, and Fenophone doesn't use AI — the same setup always plays the same way. Source →

• ✗ It is a subscription service.

  ✓ The headline is a one-time unlock you own forever. Plus is an optional subscription and is never required to play or to keep your music. Source →

• ✗ You need an account, or it is not really free.

  ✓ The full instrument is free and works with no account — play, capture, save locally, and share a setup link without signing in. Source →

• ✗ It cannot get your ideas into a real DAW.

  ✓ It exports per-voice MIDI and audio stems in your key and tempo; the MIDI imports cleanly into Ableton Live, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Reaper, and Bitwig Studio. Source →

• ✗ Fenophone is browser-only — there is no DAW plugin.

  ✓ There is: a VST3/AUv3 plugin sharing the browser instrument's engine, sold as a one-time purchase. It follows the host tempo, automates from the host, and saves its state with the project. The browser version stays free. Source →

• ✗ Everything you make is uploaded to a server automatically.

  ✓ Nothing you make leaves your device unless you turn on cloud sync or choose to share a link. Source →

• ✗ It is only a single-screen toy — you cannot mix or layer without leaving.

  ✓ The Fenophone Studio is built in: layer your captured takes, balance them with per-layer EQ, pan, and space, shape the master, and keep named sketches — free in the same browser on a desktop, and one press in the player carries your session across. Source →