Download Koton Studio

Free for Windows. Per-user install, no administrator rights.

Latest version

Koton Studio 2.0.0.2

2026-09

Download the portable version Recommended

Just a .zip to unpack anywhere: no installation, no shortcuts, the executable runs from where it sits. Ideal for a first try, a machine without install rights, or carrying Koton Studio on a USB stick.

Download the installer

Standard per-user install: Start menu and desktop shortcuts, clean uninstall, automatic updates.

All versions ↗
SystemWindows 10 / 11 (64 bits)
Requirements.NET 10 Desktop Runtime (x64)
Portable≈ 12 Mo
Installer≈ 9 Mo

Installation

  1. Download and run KotonStudioSetup-2.0.0.2.exe.
  2. It installs for your user account — no administrator rights required.
  3. On first launch, Koton Studio offers to download MuseScore's SoundFont (.sf2) automatically to enable audio — or point to your own.
  4. Later updates install automatically at startup.

ℹ The sound bank (.sf2) is not bundled (several hundred MB). Koton Studio can download one, or use e.g. MuseScore_General.sf2.

ℹ In portable mode, automatic updates do not self-install: download the next .zip and replace the folder.

Version history

What's new in each version. The full list is available on GitHub.

v2.0.0.2

2026-09
  • Fix: updating the portable build could not complete. Extraction wiped the working folder before opening the archive — so it deleted the zip it had just downloaded.
  • A portable install older than this version must be updated manually once (download the zip, replace the folder); later updates will run on their own.

v2.0.0.1

2026-09
  • Fix: the portable build could not update itself. The updater was missing from the 2.0.0.0 archive — the zip downloaded, then nothing could apply it.

v2.0.0.0

2026-09
  • 69 Koton plugins shipped with the app: 34 instruments, 18 effects, 6 generators and 2 note filters.
  • Physical-model instruments — the sound is simulated, not sampled: Armenian duduk, guqin, didgeridoo, bagpipes, kalimba, music box, erhu, sitar, jew's harp, singing bowl, harpsichord, bowed strings, brass, blown flute…
  • Koton Live, a program of its own: your microphone or MIDI keyboard in real time, as an effects rack or as an instrument. WASAPI output, or ASIO for low latency.
  • VST2 AND VST3 host, effects as well as instruments: drop a third-party synth on a track, its native interface opens and the patch is saved with the project.
  • Automate any plugin parameter along the piece — on a track's instrument, on its insert effects and on the master bus.
  • Staccato curve: re-articulates held notes up to 16 times a second, for every sound source (SoundFont, VSTi and Koton plugins).
  • Plugin presets saved at user level: a setting found on one piece is available in all the others, for any kind of plugin.
  • Shared reverb bus in the mixer: a per-track send feeds a single reverb, adjusted from the Master strip.
  • Hover to hear: resting on an instrument in the menu sounds it. And a button on every mixer effect plays an excerpt of the track through the chain up to that effect.
  • Life Grid, a generator you seed rather than program: cells of Conway's Game of Life give the notes, and how long they live gives the note lengths.
  • Drive: saturation with 6 characters and 4× oversampling (15.6 dB less aliasing, measured).
  • Effects that follow your pitch without detecting notes: String Resonator and Synth Violin.

v1.7.0.0

2026-07
  • Console-style mixer with a vertical strip per track (fader, pan, mute/solo, level meter) and a Master strip.
  • Per-track and master insert effects: 3-band EQ, compressor, delay (with ping-pong), saturation — ordered chains, toggle on the fly.
  • Effect parameters are LIVE: move a slider during playback and hear it immediately, no need to restart playback.
  • 7 new MIDI automation lanes per track: Pan, Expression, Modulation, Sustain, Reverb, Chorus, Pitch bend (on top of volume).
  • Double-click an automation point to reset it to its neutral value.
  • Mixing latency divided by 5 (pre-buffer 5 s → 1 s).
  • Auto-update now works for the portable release too (via a small bundled updater).

v1.6.1.0

2026-07
  • Compose with AI: chords and drums in polyrhythm, in 4-bar blocks — and the pattern stays consistent within a section (theme, chorus, bridge), only really changing at the next section.
  • Track management: duplicate, reorder (up/down), undoable delete — right-click a track header.
  • Horizontal timeline zoom: 11 steps, from 10% to 400%.
  • Section markers: a marker strip above the ruler; sections named by the AI and by the composers automatically become markers.
  • Polyrhythmic chords: full harmonic vocabulary, 7ths preserved, playback loops over the module length, shown in the score and all exports, editor no longer freezes.
  • Polyrhythmic drums: half-beat hits no longer disappear.
  • Riff block copy/paste: notes no longer lost.
  • "Save before closing?" dialog now themed (no more native MessageBox).

v1.6.0.0

2026-07
  • New "Polyrhythmic chords" module on the chord track: a list of chords played by euclidean rings, like the polyrhythmic drums and melodic line.
  • Two modes: one ring per chord note (polyrhythmic voicing), or one ring sweeping across the chord notes along a contour (wave, ascending, zigzag, random…).
  • Six restart modes on chord change (nearest note, lowest, highest, root, third, fifth) for smooth transitions.
  • The euclidean cycle is independent of the chord duration: a short chord just moves to the next at its boundary, without speeding up the notes.
  • Voice-leading chained with neighbouring chords; "Add chord" on a poly module appends to its list instead of creating a new block.

v1.5.1.0

2026-07
  • Complete MIDI export: the file finally carries your mix — tempo map, mute/solo, pan, volume (automation included) and reverb. What comes out sounds like what you hear.
  • Per-track reverb in the mixer.
  • "Save As", and a single "Export" button whose format follows the extension you type: piece.mp3 gives you MP3.
  • Shortcuts: Ctrl+S saves, Ctrl+Shift+S saves as, Ctrl+E exports.
  • Safe saving: a file can no longer be lost if the app stops mid-save, and closing a modified piece asks for confirmation.
  • Riffs now belong to the piece: opening a second project no longer disturbs the first.

v1.5.0.0

2026-07
  • Euclidean rhythms: spread K hits over N pulses and rediscover the tresillo, the cinquillo or the bossa-nova — with a rotation to choose where the pattern starts.
  • New "polyrhythmic drums" module: several layers, each with its own instrument and its own division of the cycle.
  • New "polyrhythmic melodic line" module: the same idea for melody, with the harmony engine picking pitches from your chords.
  • Concentric wheel: one ring per layer, hits in the instrument's colour, and a needle turning as it plays.
  • Free mode: click the hits straight onto the circle when the formula won't say what you mean.

v1.4.0.1

2026-07
  • MusicXML export: your score now opens in Finale, Sibelius, Dorico or any notation editor. Notes crossing a barline are written tied.
  • Swing: adjustable uneven eighths under "Bar", from light to triplet. Playback and audio export follow the groove; the score keeps straight eighths.
  • New logo on the home screen.

v1.4.0.0

2026-07
  • The app is now Koton Studio: new name, identity and logo.
  • New: "Merge with next" to concatenate two riffs into one (vary a whole theme at once).
  • Playback: simplified A-B loop behavior.

v1.3.0.0

2026-07
  • New Track menu "Add an instrument / drums with AI": the AI receives the whole piece and composes a track that fits in.
  • Generative project templates: the app draws from banks of material and assembles the piece on each open ("Regenerate" button).
  • Generate your own styles with AI.
  • Much-improved audio rendering and velocity-based dynamics.

v1.2.1.0

2026-07
  • Localization: full coverage of dialogs and editors (7 languages).

v1.2.0.0

2026-07
  • Multilingual interface: French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese.
  • The chosen language also drives the what's-new feed and AI-generated titles.

v1.1.0.0

2026
  • Automatic updates at startup and built-in bug reporting.
  • Release tooling (Inno Setup installer).