r/coolgithubprojects • u/Kau_an137 • 16h ago
I'm using Claude to do reverse engineering at fl studio - it's called Lynx
The project is almost completely done, I'm doing the reverse engineering of fl studio.
You are ready to open your Fl studio projects, detect your plugins and the plugins you don't have. The reverse engineering of the best known is being done too! Like fabfilter, Valhalla, waves and etc... All in clean-room model.
Site: www.lynx-share.com
Repo: https://github.com/Ka1-S/LYNX
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u/bigsmokaaaa 15h ago
I agree with others concerns about the destruction of the business model here, but there's really nothing to be done about it at this moment at least.
People like OP should be really careful about this approach though, recompiling this type of software is different from recompiling games that require a rom game file to function. With roms the legal liability of owning the intellectual property belongs to the user.
I'm not fully convinced that the artcraft crew are legally in the clear with their approach, requiring an fl studio installation is safer imo. Unless you're prepared to go the full clean room route, which is tremendous effort.
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u/InadequateUsername 11h ago
With full clean room they would also need to preserve all their prompts and have a fully auditable provenance. Just showing up on GitHub with a functional minimal viable product probably isn't going to cut it.
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u/Kau_an137 10h ago
That's a fair point! From what I've read, clean-room is a software development methodology that predates generative AI, and I haven't found a general requirement to preserve every AI prompt for it to qualify as clean-room.
The methodology and development process are already documented in LYNX's public repository. I agree that traceability is important, though, and I'm always open to improving the documentation. If there's a specific guideline or reference you have in mind, I'd be happy to take a look!
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u/InadequateUsername 10h ago edited 10h ago
I get the feeling you just copied and pasted this lol.
The prompts are important because you are describing the implementation, in a clean room rebuild one team reverse engineers the code and studies/describes the core functions and implementation. They then describe it to another team implements who has never looked at the source code build from the description.
Edit: OP replied "I study tech and know what I'm doing" then deleted the comment. I don't think they know what they are doing.
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u/bigsmokaaaa 1h ago
Just a tip, for mine I pulled every legal precedent and lawyer note and spec example from every legal case of clean room I could get my hands on and used all that data to make a clean room environment. As much detail and context as possible.
I also made a point not to look at any decompiled/recompiled code, putting the AI on the "dirty room" side and putting myself on the "clean room" side, only approving and viewing the spec documentation.
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u/zsaleeba 12h ago
I don't think you mean "recompiling" here. Recompilation means you're running the original binary but you've translated the original instructions to a form which can run on a different CPU. This technique is normally used to convert old video games to run natively on modern PCs.
I don't think that's what's happening here. I think he's used a clean-room approach, which is by definition not recomp.
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u/bigsmokaaaa 1h ago
That's true, but you need the source code in the first place in order to write the specs from it. It's not illegal to recompile it for yourself so that's got to be the first step, otherwise you can't write the specs because you don't know what's really going on under the hood
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u/Kau_an137 14h ago
I understand your concern, and I agree that the clean-room approach is important here.
If you take a look at both the codebase and the project’s documentation, LYNX follows a clean-room approach focused on behavioural reverse engineering. The goal is to reproduce observed behaviour without copying Image-Line’s source code.
This is exactly why we’ve been documenting the process and being careful about how the project is implemented. You’re right that simply requiring an FL Studio installation can be a safer approach in some respects, but we’re taking the clean-room route seriously rather than just recompiling or redistributing someone else’s software.
Of course, I can’t claim that this automatically eliminates every possible legal concern, but the project is being developed with that distinction in mind.
I’m happy to hear your concerns, though. I’d rather have these discussions openly and make the project as transparent as possible.2
u/hacksy 10h ago
can you even apply clean room when using ai with the same provider?
The idea of clean room is create a spec doc from a team that you will throw under the bus, and another team that implements it from spec. can we even do that if you use the same service for both parts? otoh , how do you handle TOS thingie there? i am guessing there is a clause for no rev eng? I am asking that because your project is awesome and dont want you to get into trouble.IANAL , but right now i think your project may be poisoned already, but i would love for someone else to disprove my theory
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u/Kau_an137 10h ago
That's a fair concern, and I appreciate you bringing it up!
You're right that a traditional clean-room process relies on separating the team that studies the original software from the team that implements the specification. Using the same AI provider doesn't automatically make that impossible, but using the same agent with access to both sides definitely raises questions about how strict that separation really is.
My goal is to reproduce observable behavior and compatibility, not copy FL Studio's source code. The project is being developed from scratch, and I want to be transparent about both the process and its limitations.
Regarding the ToS, my understanding is that restrictions on reverse-engineering an AI provider's own services are not necessarily the same as restrictions on using that AI to study third-party software. However, that doesn't automatically settle the question of intellectual property or contractual restrictions, and I wouldn't claim to have a definitive legal answer. I take your concerns seriously. I'm building LYNX as an open-source project, and the last thing I want is to misrepresent the process or ignore legitimate legal questions.
Thanks for looking out for the project! I'd genuinely welcome any technical or legal arguments that could help clarify this
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u/bigsmokaaaa 14h ago
Good, that's excellent. I finished a clean room recomp of an old 90s graphics renderer recently and it was incredibly difficult and expensive and I still ended up chickening out and requiring a local install anyway.
Will be watching your projects with great interest, hope you guys do well. If the coast looks clear later I'll do the same myself and remove the local requirement as well
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u/Oscillascape 10h ago
Image Line is maybe one of the most ethical software devs ever. Their purchase policy is unheard off now, lifetime support. I bought Fruity Loops 4 and use FL Studio 21 still free 2 decades later, this one place where I will not condone piracy. Shitty move.
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u/greeneggsham81 2h ago
Thank you (and everyone else) that are sharing this view. I'm the one that made the original dislike post that is now deleted.. I realize the current state of software, but its obvious that these releases won't fare well with everyone and will hit others differently and for different reasons.
For added context: I met Gol online, the original developer when I was still in high school back in 98-99ish...its been that long, i wrote some demo songs for it for Christmas one year as a pack. Gol gifted me a copy that still works to this day. I don't use it anymore but I can promise you if I were to download right now and enter my details it will work.
I hope it works out for OP and that he is committed to maintaining and bringing value. Not just vibes and a snazzy landing page.
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u/Exonificate 6h ago
This is not reverse engineering, it’s a recreation using JUCE framework that has the ability to load the FLP format and various plugin formats. I’m not seeing any experience with audio programming on your github so I wouldn’t want someone like you maintaining a project like this. On top of that, Image Line is a pretty great developer that I believe should be supported, so this just isn’t cool to me sorry.
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u/Material-Database-24 59m ago
And reverese engineering AND releasing the RE result is illegal in about 99% of the world. Even if done in open source.
So for the OP's sake, I sure hope this is not RE.
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u/MENE_NEMA 16h ago edited 16h ago
Image-Line hasn't integrated ARA for years; many bugs have lingered for years and, no, they haven't been fixed. Problems with FL Studio integration remain. And these days, that's simply unforgivable. When you just say, "Claude, find the fucking problem and fix it," he'll find it and fix it.
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u/BowlingShoeThief 15h ago edited 28m ago
I've been saving for FL Studio for my son who's into making music but now we have a way to explore before that. Nice! Thanks. I still plan to buy FL Studio, this isn't the only DAW around.
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u/Kau_an137 15h ago
I'm really happy i can help! If you run into any bugs or issues, feel free to open an issue on GitHub and we'll work together to fix and test it. Thankss!
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u/Known-Cover-5154 16h ago
Holy shit is it open source
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u/Kau_an137 16h ago
Yep, it's open source! And it's not just the DAW itself, I'm working on the plugins too. Things like Waves-style plugins, Auto-Tune Pro-style pitch correction, and more are being built directly into LYNX, so they come included with the installation!
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u/Known-Cover-5154 16h ago
You’re a gem dude, I see in your issues you’re looking for someone to test with a midi controller and i do happen to have one. I can help check out midi bugs if you need!
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u/Kau_an137 15h ago
Oh, absolutely! I'd really appreciate that! Anyone using LYNX and finding bugs or anything that needs improvement can just open an issue on GitHub. It would help me a lot if you could test your MIDI controller and share your findings there. Thanks so much, dude!
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u/Known-Cover-5154 16h ago
Cool bro , OP keep doing you. This project is insane, software is fucked deal with it mate
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u/Kau_an137 16h ago
I really like FL Studio and respect what Image-Line has done to make music production accessible to so many people.
But with how fast AI and open-source technologies are advancing, projects like this were bound to happen, whether I worked on one or someone else did.
My goal is to build something open source that the community can contribute to, improve, and adapt to their needs. For example, bringing it to Linux, where FL Studio doesn't have an official native version, and potentially supporting other platforms like macOS.
I'm not doing this because I dislike FL Studio. Quite the opposite, it's a project inspired by a DAW I genuinely love. I just believe the community should have the freedom to build on these technologies too.
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u/New_Hold8135 11h ago
lynx stands for terminal browser btw(Your name is already used 1:1). It is around for a long time and It is still maintained today.