diff --git a/libs/ardour/ardour/auditioner.h b/libs/ardour/ardour/auditioner.h
index 4bbcf5e92f..f1fc8b4c3a 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/ardour/auditioner.h
+++ b/libs/ardour/ardour/auditioner.h
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ public:
 	sampleoffset_t seek_sample() const { return _seeking ? _seek_sample : -1;}
 	void seek_response(sampleoffset_t pos);
 
+	void idle_synth_update ();
+
 	MonitorState monitoring_state () const;
 
 	bool needs_monitor() const { return via_monitor; }
diff --git a/libs/ardour/auditioner.cc b/libs/ardour/auditioner.cc
index e9613e7e23..391309a74a 100644
--- a/libs/ardour/auditioner.cc
+++ b/libs/ardour/auditioner.cc
@@ -551,6 +551,22 @@ Auditioner::seek_response (sampleoffset_t pos) {
 	}
 }
 
+void
+Auditioner::idle_synth_update ()
+{
+	if (auditioning() || !asynth) {
+		return;
+	}
+	auto pi = boost::dynamic_pointer_cast<PluginInsert> (asynth);
+
+	/* Note: calling thread must have process buffers */
+	BufferSet   bufs;
+	samplepos_t start     = 0;
+	pframes_t   n_samples = 16;
+	/* MIDI buffers need to be able to hold patch/pgm change messages. (16 bytes + msg-size) per event */
+	bufs.ensure_buffers (max (asynth->input_streams (), asynth->output_streams ()), std::max<size_t> (1024, n_samples));
+	pi->run  (bufs, start, start + n_samples, 1.0, n_samples, false);
+}
 
 void
 Auditioner::output_changed (IOChange change, void* /*src*/)