All posts by Satri

Animoog Z Announced by Moog Music — my Beta Testing Perspective

Animoog App, Expansion Packs, , , ,

Synths are like friends. It’s not how many you have that matters, it’s the time you spent developing familiarity and building a relationship with your synth that brings joy and value.

And today, our dear friend Animoog comes back to us
with a new dimension. Welcome Animoog Z !

I’m happy to announce Moog Music has introduced Animoog Z, a major new version of the iconic Animoog ‘appstrument’ for iPadOS, iOS, and for the first times, on macOS and as an AUv3 plugin. Here’s the official Animoog Z announcement, the direct link to Animoog Z on the App Store and Moog’s video introducing Animoog Z and its new features:

Animoog is now a free appstrument for which there is plenty to have fun with. If you’re reading this, chances are you’ll want to unlock all features for $9,99, which will enable you to modify the envelopes, the LFOs, modulations, apply effects, as well as support for the accelerometer and the Apple Pencil. Three expansion packs add new presets and timbres for $4,99 each. They’re named ‘Fundamental Elements’, ‘Evolving Oscillations’ and ‘Outer Orbits’.

Providing Animoog for free to everyone is a brilliant idea. You can play with the built-in presets and if you like Animoog, how it sounds, how you can interact and glide over its touch keys, then you can get the full appstrument for only $9,99. This is incredibly affordable if you consider this is one of the flagship appstruments out there. Here’s the second video Moog released for the occasion, an Animoog Z performance by Suzanne Ciani and her Buchla:

Z — The New Dimension

The Animoog keys and configurable scales have been allowing us to play with a dimension of sound, live with our fingers gliding on the touch screen. Animoog Z adds a third dimension to draw a path in a space of timbres named the Wave Cube ; the notes we play now follow a path in this 3D space of timbres. As Moog puts it in its manual, this third dimension allows “more dynamic waveshaping than was possible within the original Animoog.” Funny this website’s title since 2014 has been ‘Animoog Love — an other dimension of music’!

Animoog comes to macOS and AUv3

This will please many, Animoog is now available on macOS and as an AUv3 plugin. The macOS version offers plenty of playing expressivity and you can use your mouse or your keyboard to trigger Animoog keys. Might not be as expressive as gliding our fingers on the iPad, but works well for plenty of use cases and playing styles. Animoog is not the first Moog appstrument to have jumped from mobile to desktop, Model 15 made the leap in January 2021.

Animoog AUv3 is a welcomed new feature requested by many players. This will ease integration into various workflows involving DAWs and other tools. There are a number of additional new features for us to discover in Animoog Z, such as the timbre editor, the arpeggiator and now a 16-voice polyphonic synthesizer. Animoog was one of the first synths to support the MIDI MPE specification and Animoog Z is no exception.

Lots of New Presets & Timbres

Let’s start with good news: the 3,000+ presets and 5,000+ timbres available for Animoog 2 can be imported in Animoog Z with a relatively simple process. Before we get to it, this now possible thanks to a recent update to Animoog 2 which adds an important new feature ; Animoog 2’s files are now accessible through the Files app. This is major given managing our collections of presets and timbres has been cumbersome until now. You can import your presets and timbres into Animoog Z by copying the presets and timbres from Animoog 2, zipping them altogether and opening the resulting zip file in Animoog Z. The manual will walk you through with screenshots in the ‘Importing Legacy Presets & Timbres’ section. I’ve been able to import thousands of Animoog 2 presets and timbres in Animoog Z in a single attempt.

One of Animoog’s strength is its large fanbase and community of players. This is exemplified by the diversity of unofficial expansion packs already available for Animoog 2. And I have multiple new free Animoog expansion packs to announce!

Obviously, you’ll need to play with and edit Animoog 2 presets to make use of Animoog Z’s third dimension. This also means I’ll need to update the list of available presets and timbres, stay tuned! Let us know in a comment if you have new Animoog presets to submit for our list of third party expansion packs. Presets and timbres can now be easily managed and shared in Animoog Z and this is immensely useful.

Animoog 10 years anniversary

The initial award-winning Animoog was release in 2011. Ten years later, we’re being offered a large diversity of incredible appstruments, musical instruments in their own rights, which lets you play music in ways not possible before. Animoog has its place in Jakob Haq’s video on the evolution of the iOS/iPadOS music making platform from 2007 to 2021.

Despite being 10 years old, Animoog still get lots of attention. I’ve seen Jean-Michel Jarre and Suzanne Ciani playing Animoog live in shows. Another recent example is Animoog’s presence in Apple TV+ Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson documentary.

Animoog Z Beta Testing Experience

I’ve got the chance to do beta testing for Moog since March 2015. Animoog Z has come a long way since the initial version I got access to as a Beta tester. The entire process lasted several weeks and we thus had the opportunity of discovering Animoog Z, finding bugs and providing feedback on features. Both the desktop and mobile versions were provided. This has been a unique opportunity to influence and contribute a bit to the design and features of Animoog Z. There’s some of me in it! :-)

We got our hands on presets only at the very end of the process. Presets obviously comes last. While I played quite a lot with Animoog Z, I didn’t record much of it at all. My previous Animoog solo performances are available for free in my ‘stars’ best-of album. Here’s the only video I have and it’s for my very first short test with an Animoog Z preset, the ‘The Meaning Of…’ pad preset. Nothing stellar, but you’ll quickly find out why I choose this preset to begin my journey into Animoog Z ;-)

Moog is pretty open to suggestions that makes sense. I focused testing for the context of my own music setup, which led me to find some edge bugs while getting familiar with Animoog Z. They have an excellent software development team led by Geert Bevin, which have been blazing at fast triaging and handling issues and requests. In the following interview, well worth watching in full, Geert explains how he initially got involved in the development of Animoog, which ultimately led him to become Moog’s software engineering and software product manager:

Onwards

Over the years, Animoog got updates with some new features and compatibility updates. Moog never abandoned Animoog. On the contrary, today we leap to the next level. This familiar yet new Animoog Z version offers an additional sonic dimension which promesses hours of fun explorations and inspired music playing.

I expect new community presets to become available over the coming months. Subscribe to our newsletter to learn about them and upcoming Animoog Z news.

Enjoy Animoog Z! – Alex / Satri

Related posts:

  1. Step-by-step Instructions to Install Third-Party Animoog Presets and Timbres with iFunbox
  2. The Table of Animoog Presets v1.6 Released: over 3,148 Presets and 5,129 Timbres
  3. ‘Unanimoog’ Featured by Moog Music, and other Animoog news
  4. New Free Packs: 2,224 Animoog Presets Now Available — Major Update
Satri stars album cover

Announcing ‘stars’ by Satri, an album of Moog and Seaboard synth solos

Playing, , , , , ,

A gift to myself, a gift to my fans.

stars

stars is a collection of my favorite solos from previous releases, with some of the original tracks shortened and most of them mastered for an enhanced listening experience. As usual these live Animoog, Model 15, Seaboard and Minimoog improvisations are downloadable for free on Bandcamp and available thought most music services including Apple Music and Spotify.

Satri stars album cover

On stars you get selected solos starting with Animoog tracks from my Unanimoog, escape inside the music and Pianimoog •• discoverY albums, then Moog Model 15 tracks from the album of the same name, followed by my ROLI Seaboard tracks from the RISE 42 album. The last track is a Minimoog Model D solo. In the respective announcements you’ll find which presets was used for each improvisation. Here’s one of the Animoog tracks on stars, une vision pour notre futur.

The Minimoog is celebrating 50 years in 2020! Our family trip to the Canary Islands coincided with the beta testing timeframe for the iOS Minimoog Model D synth. The following montage shows photos from Cesar Manrique’s Jardin de Cactus in Lanzarote along with the Seaboard track ‘Thinking about it‘. It is a Strobe2 synth solo with preset ‘AR Stranger Arp 5D‘ improvised on the ROLI Seaboard RISE 49, available on stars. The album’s cover art is also a picture from these gorgeous islands.

Thinking about it – ROLI Seaboard solo, photos from Manrique’s Jardin de Cactus, Lanzarote
Satri at Los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands
at Los Muchachos, La Palma, Canary Islands

intergalactic masters

Current automated online audio mastering services are appealing with their ease of use and 5-minutes delivery time ; upload your track, select a few options and download the resulting mastered track. CloudBounce and LANDR offer such services for a reasonable fee. I haven’t worked with professional audio engineers yet but consider these services did a pretty good job at enhancing the enjoyment of the stars tracks. On the album you get a mix of tracks mastered by CloudBounce and LANDR, as well as a few unmastered tracks given the algorithms had a hard time handling some of the synthesized sounds.

a limitless sonic universe

Our beloved award-winning Animoog was released in 2011 and so much happened since the first wave of mature mobile music apps. Anyone with a tablet or smartphone has access to these ‘appstruments’ and lots of them are sophisticated musical instruments, far from being toy apps on a touch screen.

« I play the synthesizer the same way somebody else would play cello or violin »
— Suzanne Ciani, Patch & Tweak

And it continues to get better on multiple levels ; protocols, hardware and software. Standards are crucial for interoperability and this January, the MIDI 2.0 specification has been officially adopted. MIDI 2.0 capabilities are game changing and pave the way for a blissful musical future. I particularly enjoy the new expressivity opportunities made possible by MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE), and Moog were amongst the first and added support for MIDI MPE in Animoog 2.4 in 2016.

On the hardware realm, on top of the resurgence of modular synthesizers, the past few years brought plentiful new synths, controllers and other tools. The ROLI Seaboard and its ‘5 dimensions of touch’ is one of them I’ve been lucky to get familiar with. Moreover since RISE 42, I usually play synths with Audiofront’s hands-liberating MIDI Expression interfaces, which I wholeheartedly recommend – I’m slowly preparing a post explaining how I’m leveraging these devices.

On the software side, there are tens of new worthwhile synths and music apps launched yearly. In addition to unmatched mobility, those appstruments are diverse and affordable. If you’re curious to discover what’s available, I recommend Jakob Haq’s music apps top lists and his outstanding reviews. We even have access to an excellent open source and free mobile synth, AudioKit’s Synth One.

a universe of digital musical instruments to explore

I care

Sincere thanks to all of you for listening to my music and your support. Special kudos to the ones amongst you whom directly contributed to my projects through Bandcamp contributions or other means. For instance I recently got contacted by Eli Schwanz, the third nice person whom created a video with one of my Animoog tracks ; his FORESTSSS FORTRESSS video with the ‘and dance‘ track from the ‘Unanimoog, escape into the music‘ album (track not available on stars though). Thanks Eli!

Eli Schwanz’s FORESTSSS FORTRESSS video featuring my Animoog solo ‘and dance‘

engage

I hope you’ll enjoy stars dear synth enthusiasts. It took a while in the making and I’m readying myself to dive into new sonic dimensions.

These stars are where I come from,
I’m eager to show you where I’m going.
The stars are where we’re coming from,
I’m eager to discover where we’re going.

I’ll also try to complete and publish some Animoog-related posts, I accumulated lots I’d like to share with you :-)

Kind regards — Alex / Satri

Related posts:

  1. Announcing ‘RISE 42’ by Satri, an Album of ROLI Seaboard RISE 49 Solos
  2. Announcing ‘Model 15’ by Satri, the very first album of Moog Music’s ‘Model 15’ app solos
  3. Announcing ‘Pianimoog •• discoverY’, Free MIDI-Controlled Animoog Solos
  4. Animoog solos: free ‘Unanimoog, escape inside the music’ album

Minimoog Model D App Launched by Moog — An Overview of Resources

Minimoog Model D, Moog, Playing, , , ,

What to expect in this article: what is the Model D app, link to Model D presets, video tutorials and which documentation to read. You’ll find more, even newly free Animoog presets and timbres! Enjoy :-)

Welcome, Minimoog Model D

Dear Animoog enthusiasts, rejoice! A few weeks ago Moog Music released a new stellar app-instrument, modern replication of their Model 15 modular synth from 1973 as an app, this time we get a modern version of the iconic Minimoog synthesizer initially built in 1970. The Minimoog is absolutely relevant today and remains an excellent tool not only to play great synth sounds live, but also for learning and experimenting with sound synthesis.

I’ve been fortunate and have helped beta testing Moog’s Minimoog Model D app before it launched. While my contributions were clearly minor, there’s a little of me in it! Many others have said it and I confirm with confidence that you’re in front of an outstanding app and a wonderful synth. Wikipedia introduces the original Minimoog this way:

[…] the Minimoog was designed to include the most important parts of a modular synthesizer in a compact package, without the need for patch cords. It later surpassed this original purpose, however, and became a distinctive and popular instrument in its own right. It remains in demand today, over four decades after its introduction, for its intuitive design and powerful bass and lead sounds

Amongst the significant new features Moog added to the app over the real-life Model D, you get “[…] the ability to play chords with up to four-note polyphony, an easy-to-use arpeggiator for rhythmic pattern creation, a real time looping recorder with unlimited overdubbing capacity, a tempo-synchronizable stereo ping pong delay module, and the Bender — a wide-range stereo time modulation effect module. The Minimoog Model D App also supports AUv3 Audio Unit extensions, which allows multiple instances of this powerful instrument to be used simultaneously […]” All these features brings lots of value to players and tinkerers amongst us. Here’s the official Model D announcement video.

This Moog app goes beyond the current versions of Model 15 and Animoog in terms of features and I can only hope these older Moog apps will eventually benefit from the nice things Model D can do.

Given that Model D’s price is less than a meal at a restaurant and considering that a physical Minimoog Model D synth will cost you several thousand dollars, it’s a bargain and the sensible thing to do is to head right away to the App Store!

If you read Geert Bevin’s interview on Synthopia, Geert being a Senior Software Engineer at Moog Music and leading the development of the Model D app, you’ll learn about this interesting difference between in the hardware Model D and its app incarnation:

“One thing that took a completely different approach was the actual feedback path – where you have the external audio which is normalized to the output of the mains. That’s really, really hard to do in DSP, because you have a buffer size which prevents you from having a real feedback path. Because of latency, you don’t get the same behavior.”

In the interview we’re also advised not to expect desktop or Android versions anytime soon, “It’s going to be a lot of work, if we go to other platforms. It doesn’t meant we won’t do it, but we’re going to need a lot of additional resources. We’re in the process of discovering how we can move through this software world, while building synths in the way we build them, which is with a lot of love and care and attention to detail.”

A Fountain of Presets

While the Minimoog really invites you to explore sound synthesis from scratch, I personally like presets as starting points and inspiration. It feels like standing on the shoulders of giants. Model D ships with over 160 presets and offers hundreds more in its in-app store.

If you search the web, you’ll find a lot more. And I’m going to give you a head start, here’s the 3 thousands presets we have for Animoog. Furthermore, in Tom Rhea’s Minimoog Sound Charts, you can even find the appropriate settings to play classic instruments such as the harpsichord, the cello, the flute, the clarinet, the trumpet, the xylophone and so on.

Here’s a test solo track I improvised with Model D made with haQ attaQ’s ‘init’ preset, which I modified a bit. Jakob gives this Model D preset to RISE 42 synth solos album heavily rely on this incredible product. I didn’t told anyone at the time, my apologies. I’m excited and have been writing a detailed article on using MIDI Expression with synths, you can simply subscribe to Animoog.org’s newsletter, or follow the Facebook page or the Twitter account to ensure you don’t miss it once I publish it. Meanwhile, the following ‘Embrace m’ track provides an example of improvising with two expression pedals connected to the Model D app.

Watch the (Tech) Doc

While I started by reading the Model D manual — reviews were obviously not available during the Beta testing phase — I’ll completely understand if you favor watching videos first! Amongst the most interesting ones, I selected the next two videos from haQ attaQ to share with you. They clearly explain modulation sources and how the filter works on the Minimoog. Absolutely valuable.

Read the (Tech) Doc

Years ago when I was looking for documentation on sound synthesis and synthesizers, one of the nice people who replied suggested experimenting with sound as one of the best way to understand sound synthesis.

I claim the Minimoog and its subtractive synthesis, centered on oscilloscopes, the famous Moog ladder filter, envelopes and modulations, is a great synth for learning and understanding sound synthesis

To help you in the process, Moog provides useful documentation. You can have fun with Model D without reading the manual, but to improve your understanding of the synth, and thus your ability to make it sound like you envision, you’ll likely need time reading and experimenting. Unless you’re already an expert, you’ll want to read the ‘Understanding Sound and Synthesis’ section. And even more important to learn to use the Model D app-instrument, head to the ‘Features and controls’ and ‘Using the effects’ sections. Here’s a tip before you dive. In my experience, the in-app manual is a bit awkward to use (as an example, it doesn’t remember where we were reading if you leave it momentarily to turn knobs a bit and go back to the manual), but there’s a workaround: you can access the full Model D manual on this official webpage. It’s easier to search and to switch back and forth to the app.

Here’s the diagram presenting the Model D audio and control pathways. After some time tweaking Model D, it becomes more intelligible! :-)

Bring in more (synth) joy

While we’re into exploring sound synthesis with Model D, the timing is good for an insightful introduction to synthesizer basics by the Suzanne Ciani herself.

https://youtu.be/36WMySitV74

I mentioned MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) several times in the past — this crucial modern MIDI standard elevates synth expressiveness to new levels. Unsurprisingly, Model D supports MPE as shown in this short demo where Jordan Rudess’ GeoShred app is used to control Model D through MPE.

The Model D app was only 5$ for its first days, and at the same time, our dear Animoog was on sale as well. So what I do to ensure fellow enthusiasts amongst us don’t miss such opportunities is by mentioning it on the Animoog Love Twitter feed:

Free Animoog timbres and presets

Hey, this is still an Animoog-focused website! I have several updates I’d like to share with you. While time is infinite, I’m not! Thanks for your patience and meanwhile, I’m glad to inform you that Table of Animoog presets and timbres eventually :-)


In the previous picture, I’m saying hi to all synth enthusiasts from at Moogfest 2016  and it’s only now, thanks to this new Model D app, that I’m happily renewing ties with it. I’m glad we all have this opportunity now.

Enjoy Model D! — Alex / Satri

Related posts:

  1. Announcing ‘Model 15’ by Satri, the very first album of Moog Music’s ‘Model 15’ app solos
  2. ‘Unanimoog’ Featured by Moog Music, and other Animoog news
  3. Video Tutorial: Connecting Animoog to Model 15
  4. Final Version of Satri’s ‘Model 15’ Album: Four New Tracks

Announcing ‘RISE 42’ by Satri, an Album of ROLI Seaboard RISE 49 Solos

Playing, , , , ,

I recently turned 43 and I am proud to give you —= RISE 42 =— , my fifth music album. It entirely consists of improvised solos played live on the innovative and multiple award-winning ROLI Seaboard RISE 49 keyboard. I particularly enjoyed the freedom it provides for exploring and playing with soundscapes in new ways.

I acquired my Seaboard near my 42th birthday. Over the past year, about once in a week when the girls were asleep, I recorded these 42 tracks for ‘RISE 42’  — showcasing for an hour and a half what this modern keyboard can sound like

 

I’m rather happy with the result of these explorations, especially given it’s pure freetronica; electronic music improvised live in a single take, just like my three previous albums made of Animoog and Model 15 solos. Here’s the album cover for RISE 42, leveraging a fortunate photo I took while traveling and getting started with the album.

The Seaboard RISE is a controller and needs a synth to make sound. I leveraged a diversity of presets from ROLI’s Equator synth as well as FXpansion’s Strobe2 synth, the two being bundled with the Seaboard.

Both Equator and Strobe2 offer many impressive presets which provide a wealth of sonic expressivity when connected to a MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) -capable controller such as the Seaboard RISE

Here’s one of my favorite tracks on the album named ‘Snow falling slowly‘, improvised live on March 14th with the Equator Broomstick preset during a significant snow storm in Montreal. Just like for Animoog tracks, quality headphones are required to fully enjoy the depth of those sounds.

The saturated audio segments present on some of the tracks are a good example that these are indeed live improvisations in multiple sound dimensions, where exploring the edges of live sound manipulation can lead to sound saturation.

At some point I inadvertently had the standalone Equator synth launched at the same time as the Equator Audio Unit plugin version. This unplanned but happy combination resulted in tracks which showcase two presets simultaneously. The RISE 42 track list provided below indicates which presets has been used.

The following track named ‘Confiance’ has been improvised June 17th with Equator’s Little Master Synth preset. It shows how precise the control we have on the Seaboard RISE can be.

The Seaboard RISE’s keys, named keywaves, are made of silicon and are very sensitive to multidimensional pressure, allowing you to glide your fingers not only left and right, but up and down while varying the downward pressure at the mean time. Each finger expression is considered individually, a significant evolution over the classic MIDI standard. MPE-compatible synths and presets take advantage of this potential of expressivity at the tip of our fingers. You’ve been witness of the decision process before I bought my Seaboard RISE 49 when I published last year the article on two popular MPE-compatible controllers, the LinnStrument and the ROLI Seaboard.

At the time I wondered if I would like the Seaboard after trying it, now I know the answer’s yes!

Since then I’ve been lucky to have experimented with the Haken Continuum fingerboard at MUTEK 2017 and I felt it’s quite different to play and full of potential as well.

The next track, ‘Empire‘ has been improvised with Equator’s Dark Hall Synth Lead preset on March 8.

I owe immense gratitude to my wife and daughters for having supported the making of this album, on top of our crowded family schedule. The next picture is work from one of my wonderful daughters who knows well her dad, showcasing a doll with the music gear I play with and love — you’ll recognize Animoog and the Seaboard :-)

The following track named ‘Field trip‘ has been played on February 4th with the preset named TX Saturated Tremolo Texture 5D, the day I started recording FXpansion’s Strobe2 tracks with my Seaboard RISE.

If you like my music, get all my albums for free and do what you want with them! They’re all released under a Creative Commons license. Immense thanks in advance for any support and I hope you’ll enjoy listening and discovering what the Seaboard RISE and those presets have to offer. The CC-BY Creative Commons license means the tracks are free to anyone to copy, use and transform. Let me know if you mix or use RISE 42 tracks for your projects, I’m eager to hear the results!

In addition to being free on Bandcamp, the album is available on all major streaming services and digital stores such as…

Apple Music:

Spotify:

Google Play:

I hope you’ll enjoy RISE 42, thanks for listening :-) — Alex / Satri

RISE 42 tracks

track nametimeimprovisation recording dateplayed with preset
01Diving underwater1:002016-12-10unknown
02Listening carefully2:072016-12-10Equator
Faeries Synth
03Coming back to share3:212016-12-18Equator
Granular Flute & Analog Funk Lead
04Raise the castle2:472016-12-18unknown
05Welcome dead year0:452017-01-01Equator
CLAPS Analog Splash
06Open Passage3:402017-01-07unknown
07Interlude %0:552017-01-07Equator
Analog Funk Lead & Mono Razor Lead
08Aquarium3:152017-01-07Equator
Little Master Synth & Press Control Overtone Series
09Toying around0:482017-01-07Equator
Magic Toy Piano
10Slowly disappearing4:082017-01-14Equator
Antarctic Pad
11strobetwo1:332017-02-04Strobe2
KB Wah Clavinetti 5D
12White flash1:242017-02-04Strobe2
TX Ambient Vocal Steps 5D
13Field trip2:542017-02-04Strobe2
TX Saturated Tremolo Texture 5D
14Offset1:282017-02-17Equator
Tuned Ethno Clave
15Petite pause2:022017-02-17Strobe2
PD Cold Wash 5D
16Cosmonaut suit0:482017-02-17Strobe2
TX Deep Space Communication 5D
17Frontière subite1:572017-02-17Strobe2
WI Soft Woodreed 5D
18Empire3:322017-03-08Equator
Dark Hall Synth Lead
19Snow falling slowly2:472017-03-14Equator
Broomstick
20Volzez1:222017-03-14Equator
Basic Erhu
21Petite souris1:542017-03-19Equator
Dark Dragon Bass
22Sombre forêt2:542017-03-19Equator
Breath Flute
23L'aigle perdu5:022017-03-19Strobe2
LD Mashroom Head Lead 5D
24Serpent1:522017-03-27Strobe2
LD Psychedelic Overdrive Lead 5D
25L'essaim2:292017-03-27Strobe2
TX Saturated Tremolo Texture 5D
26A light3:102017-04-09Equator
Dolce Digital Reed
27Scarred2:302017-04-21Strobe2
KB Fantasy Organ 5D
28L'étranger sous la pluie1:332017-04-21Strobe2
LD Rez Square 5D
29newground1:402017-04-30Strobe2
BA Cheap 101 5D
30Overboard1:282017-04-30Equator
Classic Acid Bass
31The door is open1:192017-05-22Equator
Vintage Mono Lead
32Confiance1:202017-06-17Equator
Little Master Synth
33Thinking about it2:232017-07-28Strobe2
AR Stranger Arp 5D
34One dimension flashlight1:392017-09-01Strobe2
AR Cold Frequency 5D
35Off target0:372017-09-03Strobe2
AR Stranger Arp 5D
36In the 501:442017-09-03Strobe2
AR Stranger Arp 5D
37Inroads5:342017-09-09Strobe2
AR Over The Mountains 5D
38An alternative2:062017-09-16Strobe2
AR Pulse Dream Runner 5D
39A silence within1:562017-09-16Strobe2
SY Sync Or Swim 5D
40
Denizens2:122017-09-16Equator
Little Master Synth
41Little star0:332017-11-03Strobe2 & Equator
AR Punchy Bass Arper 5D & Elektro 2000 Bass
42make a wish1:272017-11-03Strobe2
LD Mashroom Head Lead 5D
Track list for the 'RISE 42' album by Satri

 

Related posts:

  1. Announcing ‘stars’ by Satri, an album of Moog and Seaboard synth solos
  2. Animoog on the LinnStrument and the ROLI Seaboard with Expressive MIDI
  3. Announcing ‘Model 15’ by Satri, the very first album of Moog Music’s ‘Model 15’ app solos
  4. Announcing ‘Pianimoog •• discoverY’, Free MIDI-Controlled Animoog Solos

The Table of Animoog Presets v1.6 Released: over 3,148 Presets and 5,129 Timbres

Animoog Open Database, Expansion Packs, Playing, ,

I’m happy to write to you and I bring good news: an updated version of the Table of Animoog Presets, adding 572 new presets and 274 new timbres to Animoog from 6 expansion packs. This table that I’m gladly compiling for the community of Animoog players now lists a total of 3,148 presets and 5,129 timbres for Animoog. This gives us access to a large diversity of presets to explore for hours and hours.

Here’s the six new Animoog packs available.

Song-Haven MPE

The new  Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression (MPE) MIDI version of the Song-Haven pack bring 50 new presets to Animoog for $6,99. We were lucky to have Steffen Presley explaining the process to configure presets for the MPE MIDI standard supported by lots of interesting controllers such as the LinnStrument and the Seaboard.

Animaal

Then there came the wonderful sounds of animals with the Animaal pack from Terra Nova Music which brings 55 new presets and 134 new timbres for $3,99.

For this Animaal pack announced in October 2016, I presented three improvised solos done with the Animaal Animoog presets. Here’s a fourth one with Animaal’s Ear Worm preset:

RUST(i)K X & K

Sound designer RUST(i)K brought us the X & K pack which contains 251 new Animoog presets and 159 new timbres, available for free — RUST(i)K suggests a donation. RUST(i)K previously shared with us two large free Animoog packs, download them today :-)

Here’s a track I improvised for this announcement, played with the preset named ‘Bass Oh Boy 2.0’ from the RUST(i)K X pack:

analogue, I wish you were: Otherness and Stranger Things

Just like last year, ‘analogue, I wish you were’ brings us two new packs of Animoog presets, Otherness and Stranger Things with respectively 119 and 25 new Animoog presets and available for $1,99 and $1 on Bandcamp. It’s the first time we mention those new packs, let’s look at their descriptions:

  • Otherness: “119 presets containing otherworldly textures, ambient pads, unruly FX, and many other eccentric sounds only Animoog could produce!”
  • Stranger Things: “22 presets inspired by the warm vintage mood of the “Stranger Things” Netflix series soundtrack”

I like these presets. The following track is an improvised solo played with the Animoog preset named ‘PWM soft chords’ from William McFarland / analogue, I wish you were’s Otherness pack:

 

Anigrit

Sound designer Sound of Izrael gave us 121 free Animoog presets last year, this time he’s back with a new pack named Anigrit, which brings an additional 75 new presets and is sold for $5,99 on eBay. It’s the first time we mention these presets on Animoog.org, but for those amongst us whom couldn’t wait, we mentioned it on Twitter as soon as they became available:

Here’s the video presenting the new Anigrit presets in a nice track created entirely with those new Anigrit presets:

 

Table of Animoog Presets version 1.6

With all those new packs, here’s what the new version looks like:

Animoog Expansion Packs table

The permanent webpage for the Table of Presets and Timbres is found here

and it provides direct download links to these presets packs, contains guidelines for submitting presets along with some more info. Don’t forget the instructions to easily install those presets on your iPad without relying on iTunes.

Players will also be happy to hear that since my last blog entry, two minor versions of Animoog have been released, version 2.4.6 in April and 2.4.7 in June, bringing minor bugfixes and one small feature for those wanting to play along with existing tracks: Animoog now allows Apple Music to continue playing when Animoog is in the foreground. Animoog for iPhone followed the same path and got the same new feature, reporting now as version 1.3.3.

I read reports that the current version of Animoog doesn’t support iOS 11, Apple’s upcoming iOS version currently only available as a public beta. It’s extremely likely that Moog Music will update Animoog over the coming weeks to fix compatibility issues with iOS 11 before it launches.

Enjoy the new Animoog presets! — Alex / Satri

Related posts:

  1. New Free Packs: 2,576 Animoog Presets Now Available — Major Update v1.5
  2. New Free Packs: 2,224 Animoog Presets Now Available — Major Update
  3. Announcing the ‘Animaal’ Animoog Presets and Timbres
  4. RUST(i)K X & K: 251 New Animoog Presets and 159 New Timbres

Animoog 2.4.5 & Animoog for iPhone 1.3.1 Released with Audiobus 3 Support

Animoog App,

Good news, the first Animoog update since last October. Happy to see Moog is keeping our beloved app up to date :-)

What’s new according to the release notes:

  • Integrated Audiobus 3 with full support for MIDI routing
  • Improvements to pressure modulation behavior when playing over MIDI
  • Updated AudioCopy SDK to v3.4
  • Improvements to mod and pitch wheel rendering
  • Fixed media import for clips in the 4-track on iOS 10
  • Improved background audio compatibility with other apps

Animoog for iPhone gains one more feature:

  • Animoog for iPhone keyboard now sends polypressure when the MIDI Expansion Pack is purchased

The update has certainly been triggered by today’s release of Audiobus 3, which Animoog’s new version supports.  Audiobus has been an essential app for mobile musicians needing to send audio signal from one app to the other. Audiobus 3 now supports inter-app MIDI routing as well.  Here’s the video that presents Audiobus 3 capabilities, and yes, this overview showcases Animoog!

Thanks Moog for the Animoog updates and let’s hope there’s more for Animoog to come from Moog developers! Enjoy the new version — Alex / Satri

Related posts:

  1. Animoog for iPhone 1.1.2 Released
  2. Animoog version 2.2.8 and Animoog for iPhone 1.1.10 Released
  3. Animoog 2.2.1 and Animoog for iPhone 1.1.3 Released
  4. Animoog for iPhone 1.1.6 Released

Playing Animoog with Your Brain with Brain2MIDI

Playing, , , ,

It’s not zombies targeting Animoog players, but yes, this post really is about playing Animoog with your brain! You read that right, the tool I was invited to test leverages brain fluctuations and converts the signal to MIDI messages. This tool is Brain2MIDI from ‘Vision EEG‘. EEG stands for electroencephalography which essentially is “an electrophysiological monitoring method to record electrical activity of the brain”.

About a year ago, Brain2MIDI’s developer Laurent Allen-Guerard invited me to testdrive his software with Animoog. That’s how I got to play Animoog with my brain! Two recording sessions were enough for me to understand the potential of Brain2MIDI. Here’s the 3-minutes video that Vision EEG created from this experiment of playing Animoog with your brain. The video demonstrates Brain2MIDI in action with Animoog.

This video is also available in French, as it is obvious from the video that English is not our native language! ;-)

Here’s a few points about Brain2MIDI and the experience as a whole. Connecting Animoog to Brain2MIDI is straightforward and I could easily map multiple Animoog parameters to the brain sensors. I would not recommend using your brain to actually play notes, unless you like erratic music! Assigning brain fluctuations to other parameters such as Animoog’s stereo delay mix, orbit time and the key’s glide resulted in pretty fun and melodious results. Was I able to control what came out of my brain? Not entirely, but despite the little experience I had, I felt like I could really control something. There’s also certainly a feedback loop: my brain is influenced by the music I’m hearing and this very music is directly influencing my brain in real time, creating a positive feedback loop! What The Brain2MIDI software provided visual indications of what is going on and allow users to fine tune the signal configuration.

I consider myself lucky to have experienced playing Animoog with my brain. If you’re interested as well, you’ll need a Muse headband, which can be put to other uses than playing music, such as for meditating.

You’ll of course need some way to connect Animoog to Brain2MIDI. At the time of recording the videos, Bluetooth MIDI networks were not supported in Animoog and that’s why I used my iRig MIDI 2. One thing that may constitute an annoyance to you is that the Brain2MIDI app is Android-only at this point. So you’ll need an Android device to run it. An iOS version is under consideration if enough users express interest. Brain2MIDI is currently available on the Google Play store for $19,99, which is a bargain considering you need a Muse headband which is much more expensive.

Brain2MIDI’s developer Laurent is also a Trance musician and published lots of music already. I felt his track ‘Brain Stimulation’ was appropriately named for this post! Here it is :-)

Playing music your brain sounds esoteric? With the upcoming omnipresence of augmented and virtual realities and their current and future inroads in music creation, I would not be surprised to see more and more of our physical selves making its way in our music creation processes.

I wish us all an excellent year 2017 with our favorite synths, such as Animoog! Cheers — Alex / Satri

Related posts:

  1. Playing multiple presets on a single Animoog
  2. Announcing ‘Pianimoog •• discoverY’, Free MIDI-Controlled Animoog Solos

RUST(i)K X & K: 251 New Animoog Presets and 159 New Timbres

Expansion Packs, ,

Dear fellow Animoog players, I have good news for all of us just in time for the holiday break: 251 new Animoog presets and 159 new timbres! The prolific sound designer Rust(i)k previously gave us two packs earlier this year, one with 132 presets last May and the other with 169 presets in July. Big thanks to Rust(i)k for providing us an even bigger playground to explore sounds with Animoog.

Here’s the announcement Rust(i)k wrote for these new X & K presets and timbres:

RUST(i)K : X & K Animoog presets and timbres

The presets are wide ranging and their names attempt to convey the intended mood. My goal was for these timbres and presets to allow a person to use Animoog for all synth needs. Essentially, the ultimate Swiss Army synth that can produce the most lovely of etheral pads and heavenly atmospheres to the booming wobbles of the bowels from hell.

The presets are categorized and arranged nicely. All the timbres are original and painstakingly compiled over the last 6 months.

I was going to set this up on a sale platform to make a couple dollars but with the holiday and my inner voice said to help my friend Doug Woods of The Sound Test Room in this time of adversity. Here's the PayPal address for people to donate the $5.55 to: thesoundtestroom@gmail.com

The timbres and presets are not lined up according to the bank number. Timbres are used from both timbre banks in both of the preset banks. Dividing them is to help not get overwhelmed with too many options. For every preset, pluck a single note, play a chord, hold it, and then sequence it. The presets are multi-dimensional in that they have a surprising variety of sounds per many of each of the presets. So treat this like an amusement park - and ride till you scream!

Happy Holiday and please enjoy. Best of health for all. And a special thank you to Satri here at Animoog Love for all the hard work he does for all of us.

RUST(i)K
Thanks Rust(i)k! Plenty of Animoog players will benefit from these new presets and timbres! :-) Here’s the download link for these RUST(i)K – X & K presets and timbres. And don’t forget to contribute $5.55 to thesoundtestroom@gmail.com through PayPal. If you’re not interested in donating directly to thesoundtestroom, you can get his albums directly from Bandcamp or the albums Doug Woods made with Colin Powell.

Why does RUST(i)K invites us to contribute to the thesoundtestroom? Jacob Haq explains it in this video. The short story is thesoundtestroom has created and shared tons of videos for iPad Musicians, such as app reviews and demos, and he is an important figure in this community. If you have interests in other apps than Animoog, chances are you heard of him already. Unfortunately, Doug Woods is very sick and a small financial contribution can help. That’s why RUST(i)K and many others in the community decided to help Doug in ways they can, just like what I’m doing myself with this post ;-)

I am personally indebted to the thesoundtestroom crew: in early 2015 and without knowing me in any way, they created and published a video for my January Planet Animoog solo from the Unanimoog album, a track which made its way to the Best of Apptronica 2014 album. This was the encouragement to then create my own videos for my improvised Animoog solos. These guys inspired me.

Here’s the initial Animoog demo video thesoundtestroom published in Summer 2012, not that long after Animoog came to existence!

Yes, Animoog is 5 years old and still is by far the most appreciated iOS music synth out there. Animoog is a reference synth. We can sculpt incredible sounds with Animoog

Please note that thesoundtestroom collaborators, Jacob Haq and Pants of Death are still contributing videos for the iPad musicians amongst us.

Because I want all of you to benefit from these presets and timbres for the holiday break, I exceptionally did not take the time to play and publish an improvised solo with these new presets, something I usually do. I have quickly tested the presets and timbres and I can confirm they’re pretty interesting. Don’t forget the instructions to install third-party presets and timbres on Animoog.

Now I have one more reason to update the table of Animoog presets and timbres over the coming weeks! Enjoy the holiday break and the new Rust(i)k Animoog presets and timbres, cheers! — Alex / Satri

Related posts:

  1. New Free Packs: 2,224 Animoog Presets Now Available — Major Update
  2. Announcing the ‘Animaal’ Animoog Presets and Timbres
  3. New Free Packs: 2,576 Animoog Presets Now Available — Major Update v1.5
  4. Step-by-step Instructions to Install Third-Party Animoog Presets and Timbres with iFunbox

50% Discount on Animoog & Model 15

Animoog App, Model 15,

If you’re reading this website, chances are you already own and play Animoog. But do your musician friends do as well? That’s the opportunity for everyone to get Animoog, both the iPad and the iPhone versions, as well as Moog Music’s Model 15 app, at a 50% discount. I suspect this sale will last until next Monday or so, enjoy it while it lasts.

Share the good news with your friends! And maybe it’s time for you to discover and explore new sounds with Animoog? If that’s the case then head to the table of Animoog presets which lists over 2,500 presets. I have tons of incomplete Animoog-related posts to share with you and hopefully I’ll find the time to complete them in the coming weeks. One thing I can tell you though: the next version of the table of Animoog presets will add 4 packs of Animoog presets! Yes, this means new presets for all of us to enjoy! Thank you for your patience :-) — Alex / Satri

Related posts:

  1. Major Animoog Discount: $4,99 / $1,99
  2. Video Tutorial: Connecting Animoog to Model 15
  3. Announcing ‘Model 15’ by Satri, the very first album of Moog Music’s ‘Model 15’ app solos
  4. Final Version of Satri’s ‘Model 15’ Album: Four New Tracks

Announcing the ‘Animaal’ Animoog Presets and Timbres

Expansion Packs,

I have great news dear Animoog players! A new expansion pack for Animoog, and it’s an excellent one! I’m happy to share with you the Animaal pack, which brings us 55 presets and 134 new timbres from Terra Nova Music.

animaal

Here’s the official announcement for the new presets being released today and announced on Animoog.org before anywhere else:

Animaal: You've never heard Moog like this.

    NY, NY:  Today Terranova Music released a set of jarringly organic presets for Animoog, Moog’s synthesizer for iOS.  The Animaal library takes most of its inspiration from insects but also includes whales, birds, cats, and reptiles.  Technologist Matthew Aidekman sifted through hundreds of hours of ECM Artist David Rothenberg’s private library of nature field recordings and painstakingly transmogrified them into magical instruments.
    “When David showed me Animoog,” Aidekman said, "I was struck by its ability to make any sound playable. We’ve tested the limits of that by dumping tons of unusual biological sound in and making them play like professional instruments.” Aidekman said. The results are uncanny.
    Animaal spans from a searing rattle-snake inspired leads to “galloping” basses but it’s real power is in full spectrum drones and pads which seem to simultaneously strike the ear as single 3D objects and serve as complete living soundscapes.
    They’re slimy, they’re odd, they grow on you.  The beasts have been released.

On the Artists:
    An accomplished recording artist, writer, and thinker, David Rothenberg is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.  Matthew Aidekman has been a record producer, music technologist, and composer currently working on technologies specific to Indian classical instruments.

Here’s a video showcasing some the included presets.

Regular readers of this site know I could not resist testing and creating Animoog solos from these new presets. Here’s the first one I played with Animaal’s Laughing Lyrebird preset. As usual, it’s raw Animoog improvisations, no overdub/effect, just Animoog played live with these marvelous presets :-)

The second one is played with Animaal’s Grunge Drone preset:

And a third one with Animaal’s VoxAmpTremolo preset:

With quality presets such as these ones, I’ll certainly spend more time exploring the whole pack! Now it’s your turn to play Animoog with these wonderful new presets, you can get the Animaal presets and timbres for $3,99 directly on Bandcamp.

Buying the presets will also get tracks from the Animaal pack creators, as well as improvisations I just share with you. On the preset’s download page, you find these pertinent additional details about Animaal:

“55 presets based on 134 new timbres derived from the sounds of hermit thrushes, humpback whales, seventeen year cicadas, superb lyrebirds, snowy tree crickets, various tree frogs, swamp demons, rainforest ambiences from Senegal and Cameroon, purring cats and European marsh warblers–quite simply, the best more-than-human musicians on the planet. 

The cognoscenti will realize that Animoog works with wavetables, not samples, so music programmer extraordinaire Matthew Aidekman has painstakingly converted nature sound samples collected by interspecies musician David Rothenberg into timbres that Animoog can use, and assembled them to make some of the most unique musical tools ever contained on an iPad.”

Yes, that’s one more reason to update the table of Animoog presets, now featuring over 2,600 unique presets! While I tackle an update, enjoy those great new Animaal presets and timbres :-) — Alex / Satri

 

Still reading and ready for something a bit unusual? Head to 8 minutes in the video and see Animoog played in the wild! Yes, that’s from Terra Nova Music as well :-)

Related posts:

  1. New Expansion Packs Table version 1.3, including new ‘Vector Universe’ Presets
  2. RUST(i)K X & K: 251 New Animoog Presets and 159 New Timbres
  3. Step-by-step Instructions to Install Third-Party Animoog Presets and Timbres with iFunbox
  4. iOS 8.3 Warning: Transferring Presets and Timbres