By Lampdog
Thu Sep 25, 2014 2:27 am
Animoog update – Moog Music’s classic synth app gets iOS8 supportWhile iOS music apps have only been with us for a few years, I think there are still a number of candidates that still deserve to be given a ‘classic’ status. One of those is undoubtedly Moog Music’s Animoog. This iOS synth is available in both iPad (UK£10.49) and a streamlined iPhone version (UK£1.99) and, as a 25MB download, would find a home on even the most highly stuffed of iOS devices.
The iPad version (shown here in the various screenshots) has been around on the App Store since October 2011 (a few months before I launched the Music App Blog website) and, on first release, is scored heavily on two counts. First, the synth engine is capable of producing some wonderfully warm and engaging analog-style tones; sound for pound, Animoog is absolutely worth its price tag. Second, the virtual keyboard – and the various scale and performance options it offers – made this one of the first touchscreen synths that was actually both expressive and (through those scale options) easy to play. Indeed, the keyboard system made a pretty good performance surface to control other, less well endowed, iOS synths
The app has got a substantial and dedicated user base amongst the iOS musician community but the most recent update was actually way back in June 2013 and I suspect some users might have been wondering whether one of their favourite iOS music apps might get left behind with the coming of iOS8….
… until today anyway as, freshly arrived this morning is v.2.2.1 of Animoog and the headline new feature is iOS8 compatibility. Of course, we also get Audiobus 2 support (although not yet State Saving as far as I can see) and, rather wonderfully, support of IAA both as an audio source and a MIDI instrument. Support for AudioCopy 2 has also been added in this release
While I’ve only had a time for a quick play this morning on my freshly updated iPad Air, the new version of Animoog performed very nicely as a stand-alone app, within Audiobus and as an IAA instrument within Cubasis (both as an audio source and as a MIDI instrument).
It’s great to see the app bang up-to-date in terms of the latest iOS developments and, simply because of the way I like my personal workflow organised, the IAA support is really welcome. I’m sure it will mean that Animoog gets more use in my own iPad-based projects. The only limitation to note is that I could not see any IAA transport controls within Animoog; this just means a flick of the ‘home’ button to get back to Cubasis but it would be nice to see that added also.
Animoog’s IAA support – both as an audio source and as a MIDI instrument – seemed to work well within Cubasis.
I suspect most long-standing iOS musicians may already have Animoog in their app collections but, if you have not, or if you are new to the whole wonderful world of iOS music apps, then this is a classic bit of iOS synthery. The UK£10.49 price tag is more than justified given the quality of the sounds and that brilliantly conceived virtual keyboard. And once you have explored the base app, if you want more, there are also a number of IAPs available that allow you to expand upon the range of presets and the effects available.
Animoog – now with added iOS8, Audiobus 2 and IAA support – comes highly recommended.
Str8 WINNING!!
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