First, long-time Windows developer Cakewalk went cross-platform with their soft synth line. Now, FL Studio (Fruity Loops) creators Image Line are developing a Mac plug-in: KVR reports they’ve acquired hybrid FM/subtractive synth Toxic III and are planning a Mac port. As our resident Windows expert Adrian Anders puts it, “I guess hell is starting to get a little bit colder, if you get my drift.”
Toxic III [Image Line]
Before you get your hopes up, though, I don’t think this necessarily means you’ll see a port of Image Line’s flagship FL Studio, nice as that might be. Plug-ins are far easier to port from platform to platform than larger applications; note that cross-platform tools like Reason, Live, Cubase SX, and even Logic (back in the day) all began their life as cross-platform software. If the code is heavily tied to tools on that platform, porting can be near-impossible. (I have one word for why you shouldn’t expect FL Studio for Mac any time soon: Delphi.)
In the meantime, Windows users, Toxic III is US$59 through the end of the month; US$99 after that — but maybe we’ll get lucky and this will find its way into an FL Studio bundle. CDM Interface Verdict: Sick.