Manifest Audio Release Sonification Tools V3 As VST3, AU, And CLAP Plugins
The data-driven suite arrives as a cross-platform plug-in bundle with AU/CLAP/VST3 formats, plus an Ableton Live Extension.
Manifest Audio has released Sonification Tools v3 for $199, on sale for $169 until 1 November, 2026. A ground-up rebuild of their data-driven Max for Live suite as VST3, AU and CLAP plug-ins for macOS, Windows, and Linux, the bundle contains a dedicated sequencing MIDI effect in Data Path, a four-oscillator sonification synthesizer in Data Synth, and a parallel-processing multi-effect in Data FX - alongside Data Map, a new Ableton Live Extension, and Data Tap Pro: a free upgrade to the full version of their new OSC-generating iOS companion app.
The core premise is consistent: pick a data set - whether a city’s rainfall, a currency's price, or even the magnitude of recent asteroid visits - and each tool puts the numbers to a different musical use. Data is chosen through a shared selector that cascades from Type to Source to Series, drawing on providers including NASA, NOAA, Our World in Data, Wikipedia, and more.
Offline sources use spreadsheets, images, text, video files, audio files, or hand-drawn shapes as data, while a Math category offers 47 algorithms, from chaotic maps to strange attractors, with every control available for automation.
Data Synth ($99/$79 on launch sale) is a 16-voice, MPE-enabled instrument whose oscillators read data as a single subtractive waveform cycle, or additively, as a harmonic spectrum. Four independent data slots feed four oscillators, each with their own cross-modulation option. These same four data slots can also be used to drive four LFOs, which combine with four envelopes, per-note randomization, and extensive modulation routing - along with a built-in sequencer that turns those same data sets into patterns or arpeggios in any scale or tuning.
Data FX ($69/$49 on launch sale) applies the idea to real-time audio processing. Seven data-driven effect types, including convolution, granulation, a multi-tap delay, spectral filtration, wavefolding distortion, a resonator bank, and spectral morphing, take their shape from the data, backed by eight customizable modulators - including LFOs also shaped by the same data. They also include four slots for conventional global effects, controlled by those same data-driven LFOs.
Data Path ($49/39 on launch sale) is a MIDI effect that reads data as a sequence, mapping pitch, velocity, note length, probability and rhythm, with Euclidean patterning, multiple chord voices, and MPE. Its Process mode flips the concept: rather than generating notes, data reshapes what you play. It can also send the data out as OSC and MIDI CC. Data Synth contains a very similar sequencer - but if you want to sequence other instruments with data, that's what Data Path is for.
Finally, Data Map ($39/$29 on launch sale) brings sonification directly into Live: right-click a track or clip and it writes the same sets of summoned data into a new MIDI clip or audio clip directly. It can also be used to transform existing audio or MIDI via multiple algorithms. Being an Extension, it doesn't operate in real-time, and currently requires the latest version of Ableton Live 12 Suite which remains in public beta at time of writing - but nevertheless offers its own twist with direct-to-audio output.
Their Data Tap iOS app adds another dimension. The free tier sends motion, touch and proximity data over OSC, while the Pro unlock adds the microphone, camera, GPS, and other gestural inputs. Data Tap Pro is included with the full bundle and uses that real-time sensor data from your phone as a modulation source in the plug-ins, driving the note sequencers in Data Path or Data Synth, and can even be used as a rolling wave buffer for Data Synth's oscillators.
Generative tools are not uncommon, but most run on routine randomness. These latest Sonification Tools offer a different approach: using actual data instead. A weather cycle, a market boom, or a river’s seasonal flow carries a shape from the real world into your DAW. These plug-ins offer producers an unconventional path out of your habits - not via randomization or prompting, but through new ways of engaging with the world. With data mapping musically adjustable, these plug-ins offer a playable, engaging way to open creativity in the studio to the world at large.
SONIFICATION TOOLS v3: Key Features- Data Path: data-driven MIDI effect (VST3, AU, CLAP)
- Data Synth: 16-voice, MPE-capable data synthesizer (VST3, AU, CLAP)
- Data FX: data-driven audio effect (VST3, AU, CLAP)
- Data Map: Ableton Live Extension for writing data into MIDI and audio clips
- Data Tap Pro: unlock code for the Data Tap iPhone app when it goes live
- Max for Live wrappers for Data Path, Data Synth and Data FX
- Example presets for each plug-in
- Combined user manual. Turns real-world data into MIDI, waveforms, effects and modulation
- Shared data selector drawing from NASA, NOAA, Our World in Data, GBIF, Wikipedia, and more
- Offline sources: spreadsheets, images, text, audio, video, numbers and drawn shapes
- 47 generative Math algorithms with automatable controls
- Live OSC input, so phones, sensors, controllers and other software can drive the plug-ins in real time
- Data Path: Generate and Process modes, Euclidean patterns, scale-degree chords, Scala microtuning over MPE, OSC and MIDI CC output
- Data Synth: subtractive and additive data oscillators, four envelopes, four LFOs, 64-slot modulation matrix and a data sequencer
- Data FX: seven data-driven effect types, 17 modulation sources, and four global effect slots
- Data Map: generates MIDI clips, transforms existing MIDI, and renders or transforms audio inside Live
- Screen reader and keyboard accessible
With the full bundle, one license key covers every format and all four desktop products, while the three plug-ins can be trialed in demo mode. Requires an AU, CLAP, or VST3 plug-in host on macOS, Windows, or Linux. Data Map requires the latest beta of Ableton Live Suite 12. An internet connection is needed for most data sets.
Introductory pricing for the bundle and each individual plug-in ends 1 November, 2026.
Visit the Manifest Audio website to purchase.