Syrinscape Nova: A Simpler, Smarter Way to Bring Immersive Sound to Your TTRPG

For over a decade, Syrinscape has been transforming tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs or Tabletop RPGs) with immersive audio, adding depth, excitement and a cinematic immersion to countless adventures. Now, we’re thrilled to introduce Syrinscape Nova, our first brand-new TTRPG audio platform in nearly five years. Nova is our response to how game masters run their sessions today. It’s designed with speed, clarity, and ease-of-use in mind, offering a fresh approach to immersive sound without the hassle. Let’s dive into what Syrinscape Nova is, who it’s for, and how it stands apart from our previous offerings.

What Is Syrinscape Nova?

Syrinscape Nova is a completely reimagined way to manage your Table RPG background music and ambiences. Harnessing Syrinscape’s renowned sound engine and feeding from Syrinscape’s absolutely enormous sound and music library, Nova has been rebuilt from the ground up with an absolute focus on simplicity and instant usability. Nova is currently in EARLY ACCESS, giving us the opportunity to fine-tune it as the community gives feedback. We truly believe that when it is complete, Nova will be the best tool for game masters looking to enhance their storytelling.

Who Is Syrinscape Nova For?

Nova is tailored for game masters who crave immersive soundscapes without the complexity of other options. Whether you’re new to GMing or a seasoned pro who wants to give as much attention as possible to your story, Nova offers powerful customization and control in a streamlined package.

New GMs: Nova provides an easy entry point for those new to the world of immersive tabletop audio, who want something simple, clutter free, with a shallow learning curve.
Experienced DMs: For those who want depth and control, but need a fast, efficient tool, Nova is for you.

With Nova, there’s no need to manage dozens of knobs and dials, or search through long lists of sounds. Nova’s power is right there on the surface, elegantly organized for quick access, allowing you to focus on what matters most—your story.

Designed to Be Intuitive – No Tutorial Required

Our catch phrase during the alpha phases of Syrinscape Nova’s development has been, “Simple”… in fact that’s what the project was initially codenamed. We have targeted a zero-explanation-needed design, where a single click results in immediate sound. This approach contrasts with our older platforms, which were optimized for deep and detailed control. Nova prioritizes clarity and speed, ensuring you can dive straight into gameplay. During our EARLY ACCESS period, we are resisting explaining anything, or making too many demo videos. When users report that the function of something in the UI is not immediately obvious, we plan to lean towards redesign rather than tutorials. We are already receiving a good rate of feedback from users on the Syrinscape forums and we welcome your feedback TOO.

What Specific Things Make Syrinscape Nova Different from Previous Syrinscape Platforms?

Independent Control of Music, Locations, Creatures, and Effects

In Syrinscape’s previous platforms, when you click a location Mood (e.g. “Busy day at the Inn”), everything else currently playing would stop. New Moods start as complete, fresh mixes. With Syrinscape Nova, users can start some music, adjust its volume, then try several different Locations (e.g. different days at the inn, a swamp, the plane of fire). All the while, the music keeps on playing independently. The same functionality applies to Creatures sounds and Effects like weather, fire, thunder etc. Each can be started and stopped independently and the volume of each is controlled by a separate slider.

Crafting sound for the table with Syrinscape Nova is now a matter of answering just these four questions:

1. What mood am I creating? Mysterious? Sad? Romantic? Epic combat?
2. Where is the party? A marketplace? A palace? A house of ill repute?
3. Any environmental effects? Rain? Thunder? Lava flow?
4. What creatures are there? Kobolds nearby? An owlbear attacking?

Long-Form Music Playlists Built for Gameplay

Nova introduces a shift from music tracks embedded in SoundSets to looooong curated playlists lasting 45-60 minutes. We have gathered together music tracks from all over the vast Syrinscape library, grouped them by things like Mood, Purpose or Instrumentation. There’s already more than 50 hours of music sorted into the Nova library like this, and we’ve only just started.

Performance Improvements and Lighter Content

Complex user interfaces can slow down older machines, so Syrinscape Nova’s cleaner UI and  a focus on delivering audio mixes efficiently work together to ensure good performance on even modest hardware, allowing more users to enjoy the platform without technical hiccups.

What Content Is Available in Syrinscape Nova Right Now?

Syrinscape Nova offers a rich array of content, including:

Over seventy 45-minute music playlists. Contour the mood at your table with precision!
More than eighty immersive location ambiences, each with a range of mixes varying in intensity and story.
Over thirty frightening monsters & dangerous creatures, either heard from a distance or in combat, heard above ground OR below ground.
More than sixty environmental effects. Need a little rain? Take your pick from the many options.

All Nova content is specifically designed with this four-channels-of-independent-sound concept in mind, and our library is expanding rapidly, fueled by community input.

What Games Does Syrinscape Nova Support?

During its EARLY ACCESS phase, Syrinscape Nova focuses on Fantasy RPGs such as Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Daggerheart, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, The One Ring and many others. We’re excited to bring additional genres soon, including:

• Sci-Fi, such as Starfinder and Cyberpunk Red.
• Horror, such as Call of Cthulhu.
• Modern, such as Vampire: The Masquerade, Everyday Heroes

Our plan is for all official Syrinscape content and user’s private content and uploads to be playable through Nova as well.

Early Access – What That Means for You

Syrinscape Nova is still in development so expect some rough corners and a few bugs, but we couldn’t resist sharing it with you. Also, some pretty important features are still missing, including:

🔨 Custom personal soundboards: At the moment we’ve created just a few example soundboards filled with content useful for a number of different kinds of TTRPG sessions. Of course, soon you’ll be able to create your own soundboards, choosing from Syrinscape’s epic library of music playlists, locations, creature sounds, and effects, for example a Pathfinder soundboard supporting an adventure in Golarion or a simple D&D soundboard with everything you need to delve into Avernus. This is Syrinscape, after all!

🔨 Saving scenes: Once you’ve set everything playing and balanced it perfectly, you’ll be able to hit SAVE SCENE, meaning you can store up a list of mixes and return to any of them whenever you need.
🔨 Remote play: Don’t worry, Syrinscape Nova will work for your remote sessions as well. We have just a few more bits and pieces to plug together and we’ll have your every virtual tabletop audio requirement covered. Well, actually it works already, but the volume knobs are a bit broken.

During this EARLY ACCESS period, your feedback is invaluable, and we will listen carefully to the community as we choose the direction we take in development. Make yourself heard on the Syrinscape forums and the support email.

If Syrinscape is in EARLY ACCESS now, Why Try It?

You’ve got nothing to lose giving Syrinscape Nova a go. Even though there are some features missing, Nova is already able to create beautiful, never-repeating, tweakable ambiences which you can use to immerse your players in a cinematic experience they’ll never forget. And best of all, if you are reading this, you have a unique chance to influence the platform’s direction, especially if you are a subscriber enjoying full access to the whole Nova library. We’ve made some specially curated content available to Non-subscribers during the EARLY ACCESS period, too.

A New Chapter for Syrinscape Audio

Syrinscape Nova is about immersive sound, simplified. It represents not an overnight replacement but a forward-looking evolution of our offerings. Syrinscape Nova aims to become the best sound app for Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and anything else you might wish to turn up to 11! We invite you to try Syrinscape Nova, join the conversation, and help shape what comes next in the world of Tabletop RPG audio.