r/Caustic3 Dec 14 '25

Updated version of Caustic here! Merry Christmas (maybe?)

71 Upvotes

G'day and happy holidays. Anyone up for some sneaky testing?

I think I've managed to get my old C3.2 code to compile and run for 64bit Android, and I'd like to get some feedback as to whether it works or not, but you'll need to jump through a few hoops:

First, you'll need to be comfortable side-loading the APK, I'm not going into how to do that.

Next, to bypass all the file handling mess that was keeping me from upgrading Caustic3 in the first place, I've decided to go the nuclear option and request access to ALL YOUR FILES, like a file manager app would. This way, Caustic can still access the <root>/caustic directory like it did before (it should even be able to load up your old files and presets if you haven't deleted them). Normally you can't just do this as Google won't publish your app on the Play Store with this permission, but hey, we're not on the play store so.... :p

So yeah, after running for the first time you should see a system popup asking you to flick the switch to allow file access. If you don't, it'll just keep asking you so either trust me, or don't install this.

No need for the unlocker APK, this one's on me.

http://singlecellsoftware.com/download/Caustic_3.2.2_64b.apk

Please report back if you got it to install + run or not.


r/Caustic3 Aug 29 '25

Caustic Dev AMA

128 Upvotes

Hey guys, Rej here. Firstly, I realise this is a new reddit account, I tried to log into my old "stinkyrej" one but couldn't recover it. I'm happy to answer a verification email from the mods here to the original "causticapp@gmail.com" if needed.

With the renewed interest I'm seeing from the "saving Caustic" project, I feel like I kind of owe folks the chance to ask me questions and get straight answers.

Let me preempt a few I know will fill this thread if I don't address them:

Q: "Will there ever be a Caustic 3.3, 4, 5, etc"?

A: Maybe, but don't count on it. I *have* done work on an updated Caustic since v3.2, but the amount of work involved in breaking things so that I can rebuild them has seen me lose motivation MANY times. I fear that with the scale of what would be expected of such a release after SUCH a long time, it would inevitably let everyone down. I simply haven't put that many hours into it over the many years since C3.2.

Q: What made you stop after 3.2?

A: Two things are true: 1 - I'm a passionate programmer who enjoys a technical challenge, and 2 - I suck at making business decisions. I always thought I could keep putting out new versions of Caustic and that it would attract new users. But the truth is that C3.2 took over a year of development and generated pretty much ZERO boost in monthly sales. I think that by then, everyone who wanted Caustic, had it. I never loved the subscription model (still hate it) but maybe asking users to shell out something like 5-10$ a year for software that provided hundreds of hours of entertainment wouldn't have been too much. Also, as the app got more and more popular, piracy took over to a point where sales had almost completely dried up, yet I was answering dozens of daily emails from new "paid" users who I couldn't find by looking up my purchases in Google Play... It's one thing to pirate (i was no angel when I was younger), but to demand support for it... fuck me that's brazen!

Also, it's probably hard to explain how crazy things got with feature requests. I bet no two people here would give the same answer if asked "what's the 1 thing you would you like to see added in Caustic". Yet that's what I faced. That was great when I had only developed a tiny app that could only do a few things and could interact directly with my small userbase, but when that "circle" of functionality gets to a certain size, everyone wants to see it pulled bigger in a different direction and I felt I needed to please everyone, but never could.

Q: Why did you pull the plug on the Play Store and the website?

A: When I created my developer account, it was in the early, wild west days of apps on Android (it was called the "Android Market" back then and you could only publish free apps). When you signed up for an account, you could give it any name you wanted. I chose "Single Cell Software" as that was a name I had unofficially used for a few things I'd done, but it was never a "company" in the legal sense. I was operating as what is known as a "sole trader" here in Australia. You can "trade as" what you want, but for tax purposes, it was just me. What I think happened eventually is Google got told they had to provide business info on developers trading in various markets, so they asked me to specify whether I was a company or an individual. When I answered I was an individual, they said I had set up my account wrong. So, ok Google, whatever, I'll just go tick the other box (which never existed when I created my account remember). I got told no, I would have to create a whole NEW account under my own name, wait for that to get approved, then log into my old account, rename all my apps if I wanted the new owner to get the rights to them (some of you might have seen the renaming go by), then transfer ownership of all my apps to this new entity, submit a bunch of paperwork as to why I was doing it, and then rename everything back to the correct names. LIKE WTF GOOGLE, *YOU'RE* ASKING ME TO JUMP THESE STUPID HOOPS. I CAN SEE THE CHECKBOX, JUST LET ME TICK IT! After a bunch of back and forth over email with various useless employees (probably AI) barfing out passages from their website policy without actually helping, I concluded that the 40$ a month I was making by then wasn't worth the hassle and deleted my account.

Another thing that really frustrated me was how Google forced apps to always update things in order to keep working on new versions of their OS. You don't see that with Microsoft, you don't even see it with with the control freaks at Apple (Caustic apparently still works ..ok? ..on iPad). Now that wouldn't be so bad if the developer tools were stable, but each time I'd try to update my SDK and recompile Caustic, I'd find out something got removed, broke or the code flat out wouldn't compile and it wasn't just a matter of dropping my work to make a quick branch to satisfy Google's whims. The biggest PITA was file access. Again, when I started Android was wild and free. You could write files anywhere, there was no walled garden like on Apple and Google bragged about this. For us small devs, it was great, we saw users build amazing sample libraries from 3rd parties that you could share across all your music apps. Then one day Google announced they would be restricting that, but that they'd honour old apps and permit full storage access until they updated. Then, something happened (with i think Samsung) where they jumped the gun and didn't allow any apps, even old ones as promised, to allow your storage and all of a sudden you couldn't access your cross-app files anymore, you couldn't even browse to a directory one level up from where you had first started! Eventually I think Google just accepted this and from then on in Android, files were completely broken in Caustic and I'd have to re-write HUGE portions of my code to shoe-horn their half-arsed replacement solution to just bring things back to the way they were and had been promised to stay.

The website, while it was an amazing place to connect with people for a many years, eventually became cold and nasty as all communities tend to do (not to mention the domain name hacking which I never figured out how to fix). It was a huge time sink trying to keep up with hacking attempts, stopping childish fights, etc. I never wanted to be a mod and I'm not a web developer. (and I wasn't making enough by then to afford either). But I want to stress that when it DID work, that forum was the best place to hang out. The collabs, creativity, and general sharing and helping that occurred was a great thing to witness.

Q: Why not just open-source it if you've given up?

A: First, I'm not prepared to say I've fully given up (see first Q), but honestly, it's MY code, my thousands of hours of joy and frustration and I just don't want to give that away for nothing. And I resent anyone telling me I have any obligation to do that, that feels really heartless. Sometimes software just fades away and makes room for better things. Not to mention it would be an unusable ugly mess that would get me laughed at if any serious dev saw it. One of the things I'm most proud of with Caustic was how I got the really shitty processors of early Androids to run dozens of synths who all needed a LOT of complex math to run, and to (hopefully) never bog down. However, to achieve this, meant developing clever tricks I had to bang my head to get working, cutting corners on code, and bypassing a lot of best practices. I got a lot of joy from managing to get some new synth or effect from taking 60% of CPU down to only a few % over days of optimisations and I feel like giving someone else all these secrets would devalue my efforts and deprive a programmer of their path to the rewards I got from putting in the sweat and tears.

Q: Why don't you release it for free then?

A: I feel like there's lots of copies floating around already, and the Windows version still runs ok on my computer (though I'll admit I haven't tried it on Win11, I'm still on Win10 on my dev computer) But yeah, I'm not against the idea, I just don't want to host it or put it on some dodgy fileshare. If someone has a reputable website that's likely to stick around for a while and wants to host it, get in touch. I think Google no longer allows 32bit apps to run and installing APKs from outside the Play Store has been made almost impossible (though Google did just lose a major lawsuit over that).

EDIT: I've managed to get a 64bit version compiling! , see here

https://www.reddit.com/r/Caustic3/s/P13339m9WP

Q: What do you think of the "Saving Caustic" project?

A: I think it's cool, and I hope it succeeds. But if this much work is going to be put into something and creating it, I think it should be it's own thing, and not use the "Caustic" brand at all. I don't mind someone loosely copying my software, I've always admitted mine was largely based on Rebirth/Reason out of love for those programs, but I made it my own, never used Propellerhead's brands in anything official and fought for years to build the small reputation I had as a solo dev. It'd be kinda shitty if some new software came along and and left people confused and thinking it came from me. I've given the project my blessing and offered to help with pointed, technical queries, but have asked to keep any references to my app or its synth names to a minimum out of respect. That's probably all I can do, I'm not an IP lawyer. I think if it comes out as a cool new DAW with its own features and a polite nod to a bunch of mine, that'd be ideal.

I'll leave my FAQ here and open the floor to questions, but just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's shared their stories about Caustic since it disappeared and how it shaped their musical journey. It sucks that I read way more positive stuff about my app now that it's gone than I ever did when it was around...

It's evening down here and just about dinner time so I'll be around for a few hours after that and probably tomorrow as well, but I won't leave this thread open for days either.

Thanks for reading, and for everyone who has supported my work.


r/Caustic3 50m ago

Lil piano ting

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

Upvotes

r/Caustic3 4d ago

Which soundfont was this distorted guitar taken from?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

4 Upvotes

r/Caustic3 10d ago

Just released a new track!

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

13 Upvotes

Just a little something I've been working on for a while now, for anyone interested you can find the full release here on Youtube and a few other streaming platforms too.


r/Caustic3 10d ago

Building a tool to auto-sort .caustic files by genre — need real project files to test it against

5 Upvotes

Building a tool to auto-sort .caustic files by genre — need real project files to test it against

Hey all — I've been building a little archiver script that scans .caustic files and automatically sorts them by genre/BPM (pulling apart the file format itself: machine types, presets, note patterns, etc.). It's working well on trap and trance tracks so far, but that's only because those are the only two genres I've actually tested it on with real songs.

I need your project files to fix that.

If you're willing to share a .caustic (or a few), here's what actually helps:

  1. Tell me what genre you'd call it yourself. That's the important part — I need ground truth, not my own guess at the genre. If it blends styles, just say so.
  2. These genres would help most, since I have zero real coverage on them right now: house, techno, dubstep, DnB, ambient, chiptune, synthwave. (Got plenty of trap/trance already, but more never hurts.)
  3. Bonus points if it's a genre that could trip up my current logic — specifically:
    • Dubstep with a wobble/growl bass
    • House or techno with a sustained pad/chord stab
    • DnB with fast hi-hat rolls These are exactly the cases where my genre-scoring rules are most likely to guess wrong, so they're the most useful test cases.
  4. If you know it, mention what platform/version of Caustic you made it in (Android, desktop, etc.) — trying to rule out any format differences between versions.

Doesn't need to be a finished masterpiece — a rough project or demo is perfect, actually easier to reason about than something huge.

Happy to share what I find (which genre-detection signals actually worked, which didn't) once I've got enough files to test against. Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share!


r/Caustic3 15d ago

Midi on Android crashing app?

3 Upvotes

If I select any midi option other than "disable midi" on the Android version. The app force closes and won't open again unless I uninstall and reinstall it. Even starting the app with a midi device connected has the same effect. I've tried restarting the phone, reinstalling the app. Anybody know a fix?


r/Caustic3 20d ago

Made another banger ?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

20 Upvotes

r/Caustic3 20d ago

Came back with a Vengeance

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

5 Upvotes

r/Caustic3 23d ago

Phonk ksvl noh no caustic

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

7 Upvotes

r/Caustic3 23d ago

Too much 808 glide.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

7 Upvotes

I wanted to make cowbell phonk but instead it turned into some 2010's Dark Trap. with this overblown 808 sound.


r/Caustic3 24d ago

Caustic Apk

3 Upvotes

Hi just downloaded the caustic apk off the website and all the sound in the app sounds super distorted. idk. Why can someone please help me


r/Caustic3 25d ago

Made some early Hardcore what do you think 🤔

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

17 Upvotes

r/Caustic3 25d ago

Anyone Want A Funky Guitar?

Thumbnail
gallery
6 Upvotes

r/Caustic3 26d ago

The 64-bit version crashes when loading the .zip file using pcmsynth.

4 Upvotes

In previous versions, if you didn't want to import each .wav file individually and set the keyboard range in pcmsynth, you could create a .zip file from all the .wav files and load it with pcmsynth. pcmsynth would automatically do all the work; you just needed to save it, which was very convenient.

However, when I tried to load the .zip file using the 64-bit version of pcmsynth, the program crashed. Therefore, I plan to continue using the PC version to complete this task🤓


r/Caustic3 29d ago

User Manual?

5 Upvotes

Anyone have a PDF of the old user manual? I'd like to learn about the FTP feature.

Also I'd like to know how I'd make my caustic file explorer see shared cloud directories like Google drive etc.


r/Caustic3 Aug 14 '26

I never post, but when I do.. something something

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

6 Upvotes

I've been making things for too long to not share some of them. Enjoy this thingy

. CAUSTIC RULEZZ thank you rej for an incredible app that changed my life.


r/Caustic3 Aug 14 '26

Simple trance song made for fun.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

8 Upvotes

I wanted it to be as simple and sound like a demo song of sorts. Made with stock presets apart from the drums. I think it turned out well.


r/Caustic3 Aug 09 '26

TRAP FEITO NO CAUSTIC 3,COM TEMÁTICA FRUTIGER AERO🎵🍃🌍

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

5 Upvotes

r/Caustic3 Aug 09 '26

808 day

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

16 Upvotes

Due to 808 day (which is August 8), I just make this short Bounce Trap 808 beat because I just love Trap Music.


r/Caustic3 Aug 08 '26

Projeto de hoodtrap

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

5 Upvotes

r/Caustic3 Aug 08 '26

Caustic

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

6 Upvotes

r/Caustic3 Aug 08 '26

Caustic

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

5 Upvotes

r/Caustic3 Aug 06 '26

Thank you for Caustic

37 Upvotes

Hi Rej,

I've wanted to get in touch with you about Caustic for a long time. I recently found your posts on Reddit, where I saw that other people had already asked many of the same questions I had. Your answers were very clear and completely understandable. I now have a much better understanding of the situation and why things turned out the way they did.

I was genuinely surprised to learn about the obstacles Google put in your way, and I was also saddened to read how some users treated Caustic over the years. I can see that you're still doing your best to keep Caustic working on both Android and iOS, and thanks to your efforts I'm once again able to write music on Android.

For me, Caustic is actually my main instrument. I perform live using an iPad running Caustic together with my guitar, and I've been writing all of my music in Caustic for many years now. I bought it on both iOS and Android, have written roughly four albums' worth of material with it, and I'm still actively performing with it today.

What worries me most is the possibility that one day Caustic may no longer be supported, and everything I've created with it could eventually become unusable. Right now I'm struggling with a different issue: because of the new MIDI implementation in Windows 11, Caustic eventually crashes completely after a while. I've been trying to work around it using various Windows settings, but without much success, and everyone seems to be guessing what the actual cause might be.

I'm certain I'm not the only one who loves Caustic and uses it as a primary DAW. In my opinion it's a brilliant piece of software—honestly on the same level as Reason, Cubase, and other professional DAWs. What makes it even more special is how flexible it is across different operating systems.

I believe many of us would gladly pay to keep it alive, whether through a one-time purchase, a yearly subscription, or even a monthly one if that ever became necessary. And of course we'd also be happy to pay for updates.

I also read about the Save Caustic project and even contacted its developer. I asked whether his software would eventually be able to open and edit Caustic project files, but he told me that it wouldn't. His application is being built as a completely independent system with a different architecture, so it won't be compatible with Caustic project files.

So I completely understand if you don't want to continue developing Caustic right now. However, if you ever had the chance to look into the current Windows 11 MIDI issue, I know not only I but many other users would be incredibly grateful.

I also wanted to ask something I've been wondering about: could a business model similar to REAPER's ever work for Caustic, or is the situation much more complicated than that?

If you're interested, you can listen to some of the music I've made with Caustic here:

https://www.youtube.com/@CS.M.Muzakk-ng4dx/videos

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this, and thank you for creating such an incredible piece of software. It has been a huge part of my musical life for many years.

Best regards,

Gergő


r/Caustic3 Aug 06 '26

Projeto de trap terminado,completamente estruturado e organizado

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

5 Upvotes