ZynAddSubFX Android

Experimental standalone Android port of ZynAddSubFX with a rebuilt Jetpack Compose UI.

This repository contains:

• the Android application layer
• the JNI/native bridge
• the vendored upstream synth source under third_party/zynaddsubfx/
• local third-party dependencies required to build the app

Release

application available on play store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mick.zynaddsubfx

Status

• Standalone Android app, no VST host integration
• Current priority: engine/audio stability on Android, preset compatibility, then UX
• MIDI support is not the first milestone yet
• The project should be considered experimental

Repository Layout

• app/: Android app, Compose UI, JNI entry point, packaged preset assets
• native/: native adapter layer and integration helpers
• third_party/zynaddsubfx/: vendored upstream ZynAddSubFX fork used by this port
• third_party/fftw3/, third_party/mxml/: pinned Git submodules for upstream third-party dependencies
• docs/porting/: porting notes and license/distribution checklist

Build

Recommended setup:

• Android Studio recent stable
• Android SDK 36
• Android NDK installed from the SDK Manager
• CMake installed from the SDK Manager
• Java 11 toolchain

Typical local flow:

git clone --recurse-submodules <repo-url>
cd ZynAddSubFX
./gradlew :app:compileDebugKotlin --no-daemon

local.properties is intentionally not tracked. Let Android Studio generate it locally or point it to your SDK installation.

If you already cloned the repository without submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Licensing

Unless otherwise noted, this repository is distributed under the same license family as ZynAddSubFX: GNU GPL v2 or later.

This port distributes GPL-licensed synth code from ZynAddSubFX, so the repository should be treated as GPL-covered for distribution purposes.

• Upstream license text: third_party/zynaddsubfx/COPYING
• Additional bundled dependency notices: NOTICE.md
• Public release checklist: docs/porting/LICENSE_DISTRIBUTION_NOTES.md

If you publish binaries built from this repository, make sure the corresponding source remains available.

Upstream

• Upstream project: github.com/zynaddsubfx/zynaddsubfx