Tag Archives: Model 15

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

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

Animoog for iPhone 1.3.0 Released, as well as Model 15 1.1.0 and Animoog 2.4.4

Animoog App, Model 15,

For those amongst us playing Animoog on their iPhones and iPod Touch, we have great news! The first update since last February, here’s a welcomed major update to Animoog for iPhone which includes several features we already have in its larger brother Animoog for iPad. The latter got minor improvements and is now at version 2.4.4.

If you’re an Animoog fan, chances are you’re a Model 15 enthusiast as well. If that’s the case, you’ll be happy to hear that Model 15 version 1.1.0 has been released, the first update since June and its first major update since the launch of Model 15 last May.

The Animoog for iPhone 1.3.0 release notes:

  • Animoog now requires iOS 8.2 or later
  • Support for ‘path-width’ as modulation source for presets created with Apple Pencil on iPad Pro
  • Support for accelerometer modulation controls as ‘accel-x’, ‘accel-y’, and ‘accel-z’
  • Support for Bluetooth LE MIDI devices
  • Support for MPE input with note-per-channel MIDI controllers
  • Added collapsible Inter-App Audio transport bar
  • Consolidated ‘poly-pressure’ and ‘chan-pressure’ into one ‘pressure’ modulation source
  • The vertical position of the keys on initial touch is now used as the ‘velocity’ modulation source
  • Tapping left or right of the scale slider will now transpose octaves up or down
  • Timbres panel improvements for easier sound design
  • Single-tapping on a left panel timbre now highlights it, while double-tapping scrolls to its location in the Timbres list
  • The Timbres list on the right panel no longer collapses when switching presets
  • Values of CC mapped controls are now sent out at preset change
  • Incoming MIDI CC 120 now turns off all active sound
  • Incoming MIDI RPN 0 now sets the active pitch bend range
  • Application settings are now saved immediately when changes occur
  • The keyboard now allows more space between keys
  • Fixes to timbre list where auto-scroll would overshoot at times
  • Fixes to built-in scale definitions
  • Fixed crashes when Animoog goes to the background
  • Fixed crackling sound when using hold from a MIDI controller
  • Fixed sound cutting out when switching between certain audio devices while Animoog is running

The Animoog 2.4.4 release notes:

  • Improvements to sample rate / buffer size behavior
  • Improvements to scale slider

The Model 15 1.1.0 release notes:

  • The SETTINGS -> SHARE panel now allows you to create and share a music video from audio in the Recorder module
  • Saved patches, arpeggios and CC maps are now automatically stored on your iCloud drive. They can be retrieved through SETTINGS -> SHARE -> iCLOUD DOCUMENTS from any device that uses the same iCloud account
  • Keys can now be released when HOLD is active by tapping any currently pressed key
  • Recordings now use much less memory
  • Recordings can now be up to 5 minutes in length
  • Recordings are now persisted across application restarts and the undo buffer
  • Added crossfading to the Recorder Module to prevent clicks at the beginning and end of a recording
  • Added a configuration option to prevent controllers from being changed when presets are loaded
  • Added a progress indicator for tutorial presets
  • Tutorial presets now continue highlighting areas during wiring
  • Added support for highlighting individual ports, knobs and switches in the tutorial presets
  • Updated factory tutorial presets to reflect new highlighting capabilities
  • Factory tutorial presets can no longer be accidentally replaced
  • Values of CC mapped controls are now sent out on preset change
  • Added support for incoming MIDI RPN 0 to temporarily set the pitch bend range
  • Added support for “shake to undo”, which also works during tutorial presets
  • Added “rate on app store” and “contact us for help” buttons on the SETTINGS -> ABOUT panel
  • Support for iOS 10
  • Improvements to inter-app audio connectivity
  • Improved core audio engine
  • Improved Ableton Link support
  • Improved stability on iPad Air 1
  • Improved fluidity of GUI rendering on older devices
  • Improved precision of the Apple Pencil as a controller
  • Improvements to the built-in manual
  • Updated AudioCopy to v3.3
  • Fixed stability problems when using incoming messages on MIDI channel 16

More Animoog news to be published probably within a week. Stay tuned :-) Enjoy the apps updates! — Alex / Satri

Related posts:

  1. Animoog 2.4.0 Released
  2. Animoog for iPhone 1.1.2 Released
  3. Video Tutorial: Connecting Animoog to Model 15
  4. Animoog 2.2.4 Released – Major bugfix update

Final Version of Satri’s ‘Model 15’ Album: Four New Tracks

Model 15, Playing,

I’m happy to have completed and now share with you the final version of my ‘Model 15’ album of improvised solos made with Moog Music’s ‘Model 15’ app during its Beta testing phase. I couldn’t resist the fun of releasing an album the very day the musical instrument becomes available to the world :-) That’s why you got an incomplete preview version. Please read the initial announcement if you haven’t do so already.

Those who have purchased the album already, THANKS AGAIN! :-) and please redownload the album for free on Bandcamp in order to get the full album as I intended it. My apologies for not having told you in advanced that I wasn’t done reviewing all the improvisations I did with the ‘Model 15’ app during its beta testing phase. I thought my first track triage was good enough but it wasn’t.

The four tracks I added are quite different from the previously released ones and I hope that you’ll like them as well :-)

The new total is 17 tracks and a running time now of 40 minutes. I also slightly shortened the ‘There will be more’ track for it to begin and end more smoothly. In a minority of cases, I truncated the beginning or the end of a track, which is provided raw without any mastering: that’s really how great the ‘Model 15’ app sounds by itself and played live :-) We really need quality headphones to fully enjoy such an app and the resulting tracks.

 

Here’s the updated list of tracks with the presets I used to play the improvised solos with Model 15. For the new version of the Album, I admit I haven’t respected the chronological ordering of tracks I used for the initial release, the new tracks haven been inserted attempting to make track transitions pleasant as much as possible.

Track list for the 'Model 15' album by Satri

#track nametimeModel 15 preset
1The wind0:41Pad / Drew Neumann
Polynoise
2Another blow1:09Pad / Drew Neumann
Polynoise
3Lumières2:01Brass / Fabio Di Mauro
Sperimenting in
4Learning to walk1:54Arpeggio / Kevin Lamb
Play one note at a time
5Constrained nonetheless2:49Brass / Trent Thompson
Wod wheelopoly
6Take off0:59FX / Trent Thompson
Ghost in the record
7Being real3:04Keys / Geert Bevin
Soft poly
8La foule1:22Brass / Trent Thompson
Wod wheelopoly
9Yourself alive6:05Tom Wies
Sequence I
10There will be more2:07Tom Wies
Sequence I
11Three trees2:25Tom Wies
Sequence III
12Through the rift2:59Modern / Geert Bevin
Between The Edges
13Steam loco1:50FX / Tony Saunders
Steam loco
14Ledom 51 test 145:54Tom Wies
Sequence I
15Légère2:04Keys / Geert Bevin
Soft poly
16Flat Earth horizon1:46Modern
Cosmic Organ Grinder
17D'autres traces0:39Modern / Geert Bevin
Sagittent Voluris

I’m rather happy with this album, I feel it brings something new I never heard elsewhere. That’s the feeling I get when I play solos with the Model 15 app. That’s fun music anyone can play live with the ‘Model 15’ app just like I did.

The album is of course still free, better actually as it is available as  Creative Commons CC-BY, and you can ready for Moogfest 2016! I think I’m now done working on Animoog albums for some time, there’s another music project I want to work on first. And yes, it’s Animoog related :-) I obviously won’t stop playing since I like it so much. And you’ll still hear from me since I have a few other Animoog-related posts to share with you.

Enjoy life! — Alex / Satri

Related posts:

  1. Announcing ‘Model 15’ by Satri, the very first album of Moog Music’s ‘Model 15’ app solos
  2. Video Tutorial: Connecting Animoog to Model 15
  3. 50% Discount on Animoog & Model 15
  4. Announcing ‘stars’ by Satri, an album of Moog and Seaboard synth solos

Video Tutorial: Connecting Animoog to Model 15

Animoog App, Model 15, Playing, ,

Great news! Italian sound designer Tiziano Gileno Fasano, aka Subconscience, recorded a video tutorial just for us, showing how to connect Animoog to Model 15 with Audiobus, a process which further opens the door to endless possibilities!

Here’s the short video which shows every step and ends with a quick demonstration of how Animoog presets can be morphed from within the Model 15 app itself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aEES5aiPUI

Thanks Tiziano! Now we know how to easily mix my two favorite musical instruments, Animoog and Model 15! Subconscience also provided 25 excellent free Animoog presets, you’ll find them here in our recent update to the table of expansion packs.

While we’re at it, here’s two videos he made with Animoog, enjoy! — Alex / Satri

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upMh2_UWKgo&app=desktop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry1kKjS8urA&app=desktop

Related posts:

  1. New Free Packs: 2,224 Animoog Presets Now Available — Major Update
  2. Announcing ‘Model 15’ by Satri, the very first album of Moog Music’s ‘Model 15’ app solos
  3. 50% Discount on Animoog & Model 15
  4. Final Version of Satri’s ‘Model 15’ Album: Four New Tracks

Announcing ‘Model 15’ by Satri, the very first album of Moog Music’s ‘Model 15’ app solos

Model 15, ,

A great day for synth players! Moog Music has launched a new musical instrument for the iPad, the app named ‘Model 15’, replicating the actual Model 15 modular synthesizer from the same company. It’s my pleasure to release my ‘Model 15’ album of improvised solos played live on the ‘Model 15’ app and provided raw, without any mastering, sequencing, overdubbing or external effects — Model 15 allows us to play amazing tracks live.

Model_15_app_Horizontal_4

It’s the very first album entirely created with the Model 15 app simply because I’ve been lucky to be selected as a beta tester for the ‘Model 15’ app. My previous experience was with the musical instrument Animoog, for which I published two freely available albums of improvised solos, ‘Unanimoog, escape inside the music‘ and ‘Pianimoog •• discoverY‘, I had no experience with a modular synthesizer, and now I do! Over a period of a few weeks during late sessions once my girls were in bed, I’ve been able to explore the Model 15 app and discover the richness of its built-in presets.

The ‘Model 15’ app brings a classic modular synthesizer to the masses . An amateur like myself can have lots of fun playing this musical instrument live without any prior experience with modular synths — that was my case!

Model-15_cover-art_1400px

The album is filled with freetronica tracks: electronic music played live without any part of the track pre-recorded. No excuses and no preparation required: pick the instrument and play! Just like for Animoog, quality headphones are required to fully enjoy the depth of those sounds.

Despite being used to the diversity of presets available for Animoog, I was surprised when I found the ‘Polynoise’ preset from sound designer Drew Neumann, a preset sounding like the wind! I found myself happily smiling “I am the wind!”. The album smoothly begins with two tracks of blowing air :-) Then at some point I started messing with the Model 15 knobs while playing and wonderful sound modulations reached my ears. Understanding what the knobs and wires do is not a requirement, but it’s certainly an asset. The track ‘Constrained nonetheless’ is such a track where I turn knobs while playing live.

Some presets offer repeating patterns thanks to Model 15’s embedded arpeggiator which provided a different inspiration to me, such as this track ‘There will be more’:

This short 30-minutes album presents 13 tracks offered in chronological order. The various presets I leveraged are listed in the table below. Sound designers are able to do magic with the Model 15 app. My freetronica albums are brought forward by the Apptronica label, a warm and welcoming home for several ‘iOS musicians’. The album is freely available on Bandcamp and soon available in many other places online. Like my previous ones, it is available under the CC-BY Creative Commons license and consequently, free to anyone to copy, use and transform.

I’m impressed with the sound quality of the presets available for this musical instrument, and this is only day one of Moog Music’s
Model 15 app which officially launched today!

It’s incredibly fun to play such tracks live: instant freetronica gratification for lots of us! I still have lots to learn and to improve, especially that there’s now many more presets available than what was available during the beta testing phase. I expect musicians to start creating surprising new music thanks to the expressiveness capabilities of apps like Animoog and this new Model 15 app.

Track list for the 'Model 15' album by Satri

#track nametimeModel 15 preset
1The wind0:41Pad / Drew Neumann
Polynoise
2Another blow1:09Pad / Drew Neumann
Polynoise
3Lumières2:01Brass / Fabio Di Mauro
Sperimenting in
4Learning to walk1:54Arpeggio / Kevin Lamb
Play one note at a time
5Constrained nonetheless2:49Brass / Trent Thompson
Wod wheelopoly
6Take off0:59FX / Trent Thompson
Ghost in the record
7Being real3:04Keys / Geert Bevin
Soft poly
8La foule1:22Brass / Trent Thompson
Wod wheelopoly
9Yourself alive6:05Tom Wies
Sequence I
10There will be more2:07Tom Wies
Sequence I
11Three trees2:25Tom Wies
Sequence III
12Through the rift2:59Modern / Geert Bevin
Between The Edges
13Steam loco1:50FX / Tony Saunders
Steam loco
14Ledom 51 test 145:54Tom Wies
Sequence I
15Légère2:04Keys / Geert Bevin
Soft poly
16Flat Earth horizon1:46Modern
Cosmic Organ Grinder
17D'autres traces0:39Modern / Geert Bevin
Sagittent Voluris

I’d like to thank Animoog.org readers for their patience since the time spent preparing this album significantly delayed other Animoog-related content I want to, and will, share with you. I hope you’ll like my new album and that it will inspire you to create in your own way! — Alex / Satri

UPDATE 2016-05-16: Here’s a followup post named Final Version of Satri’s ‘Model 15’ Album: Four New Tracks, thanks — Alex / Satri

Related posts:

  1. Announcing ‘stars’ by Satri, an album of Moog and Seaboard synth solos
  2. Final Version of Satri’s ‘Model 15’ Album: Four New Tracks
  3. Minimoog Model D App Launched by Moog — An Overview of Resources
  4. Announcing ‘RISE 42’ by Satri, an Album of ROLI Seaboard RISE 49 Solos