Fanan team has released Colosseum, a portable standalone modular audio plugin host for Windows and macOS that provides a node-based graph for routing VST3, AU, and VST2 plugins.
Each plugin gets per-plugin MIDI channel filtering, bypass, freeze, and crash isolation. The graph supports fan-out splits, sidechain auto-detection, and multi-channel I/O routing up to 64 channels. 16 switchable workspaces let you store independent rigs and jump between them mid-performance.
Built-in graph nodes include audio recorders with sync between them, a manual sampler that captures audio on MIDI note-on and records instrument stems on the fly, an auto sampler that walks through user-defined note/velocity/duration lists and exports samples unattended and can create a full sfz instrument from a sampled VSTi automatically with a single button press, a MIDI file player with per-channel mute and clean seeking, a 16-slot CC step sequencer with swing and multiple playback orders, and a transient splitter with four independent outputs for parallel processing for the transient and the sustain.
A hardware MIDI channel duplication engine lets a single keyboard drive multiple instruments on different channels simultaneously. Full session save/recall stores every plugin, connection, workspace, and setting in a single patch file.
ASIO-first on Windows, CoreAudio on macOS, no timeline, no arrangement view — just signal flow. This is live sessions oriented workflow synced with MIDI controls and enhanced with wide MIDI routing options.
Main Features:
- Node-based routing graph — drag-and-drop canvas where plugins, I/O, and tools connect visually through audio and MIDI pins.
- VST3, AU, and VST2 hosting — VST3 and Audio Unit via built-in scanner, VST2 via direct file loading.
- Per-plugin MIDI channel filtering — route specific MIDI channels to specific plugins from a shared input.
- Per-plugin bypass, freeze, and pass-through — silence, suspend processing, or skip a plugin without removing it.
- Crash isolation — a misbehaving plugin doesn’t take down the session.
- Fan-out splits and sidechain routing — one output feeds multiple destinations; sidechain inputs auto-detected and exposed as pins.
- Multi-channel I/O — supports up to 64 input and output channels from your audio interface.
- 16 workspaces — independent graphs with their own plugins, connections, and settings, switchable mid-performance.
- Instrument selector — MIDI key-triggered switching and layering of VSTi instruments for live use.
- MIDI channel duplication — one keyboard drives multiple instruments on different channels simultaneously with automatic note-off on channel switch.
- Audio recorder nodes — drop anywhere in the chain, multiple instances, syncable start/stop, threaded disk writing.
- Manual sampler — arms on MIDI note-on, records until silence, auto-names files by note, octave, and velocity.
- Auto sampling — user-defined note/velocity/duration lists, plays through every combination of VSTiVST and exports samples unattended on the fly as sfz instrument.
- MIDI file player — Type 0 and Type 1 support, play/pause/stop/loop/seek, per-channel mute, controller state snapshots for clean seeking.
- CC step sequencer — 16 slots, 2–128 steps, rate divisions from 1/1 to 1/128, triplet/dotted modes, five playback orders, swing, smoothing.
- Transient splitter — zero-latency detection, splits stereo input into transient and sustain pairs on four independent outputs.
- Stereo meter — visual level monitoring at any point in the signal chain.
- MIDI monitor — real-time display of note, CC, velocity, and channel data.
- Simple connector — transparent pass-through node for organizing complex layouts.
- Mixer view — channel-strip faders for up to 64 inputs and outputs with interface channel names.
- Transport section — master BPM (20–300), tap tempo, time signature up to 16/16, built-in metronome.
- Virtual keyboard — on-screen MIDI keyboard for testing without hardware.
- MIDI panic — one-click All-Notes-Off and All-Sound-Off across all channels.
- Audio and MIDI kill switches — instant mute of audio input, audio output, or MIDI input from the header bar.
- Full session save/recall — all plugins, connections, workspaces, MIDI masks, and settings in a single XML patch file.
- Background plugin scanner — metadata collection with timeout protection for misbehaving plugins.
- Built-in manual — full documentation accessible as a tab inside the application.
- ASIO and CoreAudio — driver-native operation, sample rate and buffer size follow your interface.
- Real-time CPU and RAM monitoring — always visible in the header bar.
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Dark theme — designed for low-light and stage environments.
Pricing & Availability
Colosseum is available for macOS and Windows for $20.
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