Hold a note. Or a chord.
Letter keys become piano keys. The on-screen keyboard shows you where each note lives. Pads and choirs welcome a handful of notes at once.
A NEW WAY TO PLAY YOUR MAC
Open your laptop.
Find your sound.
Your keys play the notes. Your screen shapes the swell.
A small, expressive synthesizer for the Mac you already have.
Native macOS app · macOS 14 or later · Made by Panlab
01 / EXPRESSION, IN YOUR HANDS97°
Open a little. Feel a lot.82%
NEARLY CLOSED / SILENCEOPEN / FULL EXPRESSION
Drag to explore the idea. The Mac app reads the real hinge angle.
PAD✳CHOIR✳LEAD✳YOUR SOUND✳YOUR HANDS
01 — THE GESTURE
One hand on the keys.
The other on the feeling.
Let the screen breathe.
Lower the lid and the sound fades. Open it and the sound rises. Calibrate your comfortable range, then follow your ear.
Stay with the moment.
Sustain a pad with Space. Shift octaves with the arrows. For a solo, choose a lead and let the pitch glide between held notes.
Space↑↓sustain & explore
02 — A PALETTE TO PLAY WITH
Soft foundations.
Singing possibilities.
Eight starting points, from a warm bed of sound to a voice that floats above it. Here are three, recorded straight from the synth engine.
POLYPHONIC / PAD
Warm Pad
A soft place for your chords to land.
POLYPHONIC / CHOIR
Choir Aah
A human-like shimmer, without a single sample.
MONOPHONIC / LEAD
Soft Lead
One voice. Smooth journeys between notes.
Also in the palette: Glass Pad · Air Pad · Choir Ooh · Saw Lead · Square Lead. These clips are dry; add reverb and echo inside the app.
THE SOUND EDITOR03 — MAKE IT YOURS
A starting point.
Never a limit.
Make the attack softer. The tone brighter. The room wetter. Shape each sound while you play, with plain-language controls and a live envelope curve.
Keep every little discovery.
Save your own named versions in My Sounds. Each one is independent, remembers your edits, and is ready next time you open the app.
A FEW GOOD THINGS TO KNOW
Less setup.
More playing.
Will it work on my Mac?
LidSynth runs on macOS 14 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs. Screen-controlled volume needs a MacBook with a compatible lid-angle sensor. On other Macs, or in clamshell mode, the on-screen volume control keeps you playing.
Do I need a MIDI keyboard?
Just your Mac keyboard. Letter keys play the notes, and the piano on screen shows the mapping. You can also click the piano. The layout follows your keyboard and works while a Chinese input method is selected.
Does anything leave my Mac?
The app works offline. No account, advertising or analytics. Your sound library and preferences stay on your Mac. Read the privacy policy for the app and this website.
Privacy policy ↗Can I keep more than one version of a sound?
Yes. Save up to 200 of your own sounds, with names in any language. Rename, duplicate, or delete them whenever you like. Undo brings back an accidental edit or deletion.
A LITTLE INSTRUMENT. A LOT OF ROOM TO EXPLORE.
Your next idea
might be right here.
Coming soon to the Mac App Store
Free at launch · macOS 14+ · No account needed
Questions? We’re here ↗