RED//RELAY: A New Drone Synthesizer

RED//RELAY is a dark, three-voice drone synthesizer that runs directly in the browser. Built as a major evolution of my earlier Abducted Drone project, it combines evolving sound sources, instant chord generation, MIDI control, modulation, spatial effects and a sci-fi horror interface into one playable instrument for desktop, tablet and mobile.

Some time ago, I built Abducted Drone, my first browser-based drone synthesizer. It was one of my earliest experiments with Web Audio and combined three detunable oscillators, waveform selection, pitch modulation and a resonant low-pass filter.

I documented that project in Building “Abducted Drone”: A Web-Based Drone Synthesizer . It was an important first step: a simple instrument that helped me understand how sound generation, modulation and real-time controls could work directly inside a browser.

RED//RELAY takes that original idea much further. It is a serious upgrade built for deep drones, using optional chords, unstable textures and cinematic sound design. The instrument remains immediate and accessible, but offers far more control over harmony, movement, space and distortion.

Three Independent Voices

RED//RELAY is built around three sound sources: ION, ECHO and FLUX. They can be used as separate oscillators or connected through the Harmonic Relay to form a single three-voice instrument.

Every voice has its own collection of controls:

• Tune selects the fundamental note.
• Detune offsets the pitch in cents.
• Level controls the volume of the voice.
• Drift determines how deeply the pitch moves.
• Motion controls the speed of that movement.
• Timbre changes the brightness and character of the sound.
• Orbit positions the voice in the stereo field.
• Waveform switches between sine, triangle, sawtooth and pulse waves.

Each voice also contains a subtle sub oscillator, adding extra weight underneath the main waveform. This is especially effective at lower pitches, where it helps create dense rumbles and heavy harmonic foundations.

The voices can be engaged independently using their central sound plates. Keyboard shortcuts 1, 2 and 3 can also be used to activate or deactivate them.

Drift, Motion and Visual Modulation

Drone sounds become more interesting when they are allowed to move. The Drift and Motion controls introduce continuous pitch modulation into every voice.

Low Drift values create subtle instability, while higher settings produce more obvious pitch fluctuations. Motion controls how quickly those fluctuations occur, ranging from extremely slow changes to more pronounced vibrato.

The dot orbiting each sound source visualizes this movement. An active voice causes the dot to travel around its sound source. Motion changes the speed of the orbit, while Drift makes its path swirl inward and outward.

The Harmonic Relay

One of the biggest additions is the Harmonic Relay. It makes it possible to create three-voice chords without manually tuning every oscillator.

Voice 1 becomes the root note, while Voices 2 and 3 automatically follow it. Changing the root transposes the complete chord, but every voice retains its own waveform, level, timbre, modulation and stereo position.

The Harmonic Relay contains presets for:

• Power chords
• Major chords
• Minor chords
• Suspended second chords
• Suspended fourth chords
• Diminished chords
• Augmented chords

Three Spread settings distribute the notes across different octaves. Compact voicings work well for dense harmonic clusters, while wider settings create open and cinematic drones.

The tuning system can switch between equal temperament and just intonation. Equal temperament produces the familiar tuning used by most modern instruments, while just intonation creates purer harmonic relationships between the connected voices.

RED//RELAY starts with a wide power chord already configured. After initializing the audio engine, all three sound sources immediately form one connected drone.

MIDI Support

The root note of Voice 1 can now be controlled with a MIDI keyboard or another MIDI controller.

After clicking Initialize Audio, the browser requests permission to access connected MIDI devices. RED//RELAY automatically recognizes available MIDI inputs, including devices connected after the instrument has already started.

With the Harmonic Relay enabled, playing a MIDI note transposes the complete three-voice chord. With the relay disabled, MIDI controls only Voice 1.

MIDI note-off messages do not silence the sound. The selected note continues as a sustained drone until another note is played or the voice is manually disengaged. This makes it possible to transpose the instrument from a keyboard without having to hold down a key.

The Harmonic Relay displays the current MIDI connection status and shows the last note it received.

Detuning and Acoustic Beating

Every voice can still be detuned independently. When closely related frequencies are moved slightly apart, their waveforms alternately reinforce and cancel each other. This produces acoustic beating: a natural pulsing or wobbling in the volume and texture.

Subtle detuning can make a drone feel wider and more alive. More extreme settings create unstable and dissonant textures, especially when combined with Drift and Motion.

Spectral Shaping and Drive

The three voices are combined and passed through the Spectral Gate. This section contains controls for Cutoff, Resonance and Drive.

• Cutoff removes high frequencies and darkens the complete drone.
• Resonance emphasizes frequencies around the filter cutoff.
• Drive adds distortion, density and harmonic intensity.

The default patch begins with a 920 Hz cutoff and no Resonance or Drive. This creates a dark but relatively clean starting point that can be pushed into much harsher territory.

Echo and Space

The Temporal Field controls the spatial character of the instrument through delay and reverb.

• Time determines the distance between delay repetitions.
• Feedback controls how long those repetitions continue.
• Echo Mix blends the delayed signal with the original drone.
• Space adds reverb and creates a larger sense of depth.

Short delay settings can thicken the oscillators, while longer settings create repeating patterns behind the drone. Increasing Space can transform the instrument from a close mechanical hum into a vast, distant soundscape.

Controlled Mutation

The Mutate function generates variations of the current sound. It can change voice pitches, detuning, Drift, Motion and Timbre, together with selected filter and delay settings.

Mutation does not simply replace the entire patch with random values. It moves the current sound into a related but unexpected direction, making it useful for discovering new textures or introducing changes during a performance.

The function can be activated from the interface or by pressing M.

Performance Controls and Visualization

RED//RELAY includes several controls intended for live exploration:

• Keys 1, 2 and 3 toggle the individual voices.
• Space activates or deactivates all voices.
• M triggers a mutation.
• Silence All immediately closes every active voice.
• The Master control determines the final output level.

A live spectral scope displays the movement of the combined signal, while the output meter provides visual feedback about its intensity.

Starting the Instrument

When RED//RELAY first opens, the complete interface is darkened and locked. The glowing Initialize Audio button is the only available control.

Clicking it starts the sound engine, requests access to available MIDI devices and unlocks the rest of the instrument. The default power chord is already active, so the drone begins immediately.

Desktop, Tablet and Mobile

RED//RELAY adapts to different screen sizes and can be used on desktop computers, tablets and mobile phones.

The wide desktop interface presents the three voices side by side. On tablets and smaller screens, the panels reorganize into a vertical layout while keeping the sound controls accessible.

MIDI support depends on the capabilities and permissions of the browser and device, but the touchscreen controls remain fully usable without external hardware.

From Experiment to Instrument

Abducted Drone proved to me that a browser could become a musical instrument. It was deliberately simple and represented my first serious exploration of browser-based audio.

RED//RELAY takes everything I learned from that project and develops it into something much more complete. It adds deeper voice shaping, chord generation, multiple tuning systems, MIDI control, stereo positioning, mutation, delay, reverb, distortion, live visualization and a much stronger visual identity.

It is no longer only an experiment in generating sound through a webpage.

Start RED//RELAY here!