discoDSP Vertigo 5, additive Synthesizer plugin with new features and improvements
November 2, 2025 Synth Anatomy News, Plugins, Software 0

discoDSP Vertigo 5 is a significant update for its additive Synthesizer plugin for macOS, Linux, and Windows with new features.
Earlier this week, I reported on the new Mellatonin Sine Machine plugin, a synthesizer designed to make additive synthesis easy to use and fun. It’s not the first additive synth and thus joins the many that already exist.

discoDSP Vertigo is one of the longest-running additive synths available. It was released back in 2003. Vertigo 5 is now available as a paid update, offering significant new improvements in various areas.



discoDSP Vertigo 5
Like the previous v4 from 2021, Vertigo 5 is an additive Synthesizer with a rich feature set, providing precise control over harmonic content through advanced FFT re-synthesis.

discoDSP Vertigo 5 is a major update with an upgraded engine, many improvements, and more. When you open the plugin for the first time, the synth appears in a more modern guise.

The user interface now features a completely redesigned 3D render skin, built from scratch, to support a modern workflow. It has larger envelope points with improved visibility and curve rendering.

Additionally, the formant editor now displays frequency and gain values when the mouse hovers over them. discoDSP also added mouse wheel support to all knobs, partial editing controls, and many other features.

A highlight of version 5 is the doubled operator count from 256 to 512 for richer, more complex timbres and textures.

Then, the engine benefits from new zero-delay feedback filters with enhanced sonic quality, a better noise generator, 8x oversampling distortion, and improved reverb.

Additive synthesis involves combining individual sine waves to create complex sounds. Vertigo offers alternative methods to achieve this. You can either import audio or photo files, which are then transformed into additive spectra.

Vertigo 5 introduces support for importing MP3 and M4A files, alongside the existing WAV/AIFF formats. This also offers automatic FFT re-synthesis with comprehensive safety controls for instant additive conversion.

According to discoDSP, it also has enhanced loop point detection supporting embedded markers in audio files. Another notable addition is support for micro-tuning MTS-ESP, enabling advanced micro-tuning and alternative scales.

Other news is:

• comprehensive pop-up menu system with program and bank operations with quick save functionality
• many workflow improvements
• performance optimizations (platform-specific SIMD acceleration (AVX2/NEON) for oscillator engine…)
• new secure licensing system

discoDSP Vertigo 5 First Impression
Vertigo is one of the longest-running additive synthesizers. While powerful, the UI had looked like it was from the early 2000s for a long time. The update is welcome news, as are the additional features. No free update, but it’s still good that there is an update.

discoDSP Vertigo 5 is now available for $199 and runs as a standalone application, as well as a VST, VST3, AU, and AAX plugin for macOS (native Apple Silicon and Intel), Linux, and Windows. Existing Vertigo customers can upgrade for $49.

More information here: discoDSP

 

Oh wow, now this here is a blast from the past for me. Kind of surprised it was still updated, not to mention improved.

Discovery was solid, Phantom I've no memories of at all, Highlife was fun (though it was better in principle than in practice IMO), but Vertigo I never got into. I mean you had Cameleon5000 and later Alchemy for additive so it kinda felt superfluous to me. But it did sound fine, the synth itself seemed great. Maybe there's a place for it these days, additive/resynthesis plugins are not too common, never been.

Just logged in to see if my account is still OK and it is. Now 50 coins for it might not be bad, but this kind of puts me off it:

That is to say, old downloads are not there anymore. I'm not sure I can be arsed to get in touch with customer support or look for alternative downloads. Too bad.