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Moog Brings Iconic Model 15 Analog Synthesizer to iOS

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Moog Music has brought its legendary $10,000 Model 15 analog synthesizer to iOS with the launch of the $30 Model 15 app.

The digital version of the analog modular synth is a one-to-one recreation of the iconic Model 15 from 1973, with a scalable interface that features gestural support for oscillators, low/high-pass filters, a looping recorder, full MIDI integration, ping-pong delay module, and numerous patch cables among the various knobs and switches.

moog-ed.jpg

The Model 15 ships with over 160 unique presets, a 1150 ribbon controller, 8-step sequencing arpeggiator, as well as the award-winning Animoog keyboard with 22 built-in scales and polyphonic modulation capabilities.

The Model 15 app supports Inter-App Audio and external MIDI controllers, and comes with Apple Pencil support for iPad Pro owners. The app was built using Apple's Metal low-level graphics optimization API to ensure smooth scrolling and a responsive touch interface throughout. As such, it only works on 64-bit devices running iOS 9.3, including the iPhone 5s and iPad Air or later.


Model 15 is available for $29.99 on the App Store for iPad and iPhone. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Moog Brings Iconic Model 15 Analog Synthesizer to iOS
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/05/04/moog-model-15-analog-synthesizer-to-ios/
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chromite

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Jul 6, 2013
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Wouldn't a synthesizer from 1973 be bad? How could it keep up with today's music and create beats in genres like dubstep or trap?

Electronic music in 2016 is pretty complicated.
 
keysofanxiety

keysofanxiety

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chromite said:
Wouldn't a synthesizer from 1973 be bad? How could it keep up with today's music and create beats in genres like dubstep or trap?

Electronic music in 2016 is pretty complicated.
Click to expand...

It's a classic synth, which accurately replicates the sound from the $10,000 hardware model. Plug this thing into an amp and it'll sound incredible. It's definitely not designed for dubstep and stuff like that.

I'd really recommend you check out a few Moog synth videos on YouTube.
 
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mixel

mixel

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chromite said:
Wouldn't a synthesizer from 1973 be bad? How could it keep up with today's music and create beats in genres like dubstep or trap?

Electronic music in 2016 is pretty complicated.
Click to expand...
I'd *love* to hear some Moog dubstep.. It has it's own sound which is pretty interesting, its not an all purpose modern thing, but can sound incredible.
 
Kabeyun

Kabeyun

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With Animoog I found that even on an iPad it's difficult to use. The control knobs are small, panning the keyboard is a bit of a pain, and most of all, you can't see the entire instrument at once.

Looking at this demo video you can see this woman awkwardly pan upwards while she pulls a patch cable to a not-yet-visible target with the same hand. It's like trying to type something or appreciate a painting through a 2-inch hole you have to move around. You really need to see the whole panel to get the most out of these synthesizers, not panning or switching panels. That's just what the devs had to do to give you access to all the controls without making them absurdly small.

Maybe it'll be a bit better on an iPad Pro. As with Animoog, I'm sure the sounds are fantastic, and I'm sure Moog did the best they could with the UI. But stuffing a Model 15 into a small screen presents what I think are insurmountable usability sacrifices. Imagine doing it with an 88-key piano and having to pan across as you play.

Oh well. Nice effort, but I'm not sure I see myself dropping $30 on it. We'll see.
 
J

Jeff3f

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Nov 12, 2010
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This is pricey unless the buyer is a Moog fan or semi-pro musician. I think where this app would shine would be with a separate keyboard for input...this would be a neat thing, a keyboard as a peripheral, that one could map physical buttons to iOS app controls.
 
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atari1356

atari1356

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keysofanxiety said:
It's a classic synth, which accurately replicates the sound from the $10,000 hardware model. Plug this thing into an amp and it'll sound incredible. It's definitely not designed for dubstep and stuff like that.

I'd really recommend you check out a few Moog synth videos on YouTube.
Click to expand...

There's also an excellent documentary on Netflix called "I Dream Of Wires" that covers the history of modular synthesizers. Definitely worth a watch if you're interested in electronic music.
 
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iLoveDeveloping

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chromite said:
Wouldn't a synthesizer from 1973 be bad? How could it keep up with today's music and create beats in genres like dubstep or trap?

Electronic music in 2016 is pretty complicated.
Click to expand...


Really? I can make an electronic song on my iPhone in about 60 seconds, which part of electronic music is complicated? That statement doesn't even work as proper English.
 
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keysofanxiety

keysofanxiety

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Jeff3f said:
This is pricey unless the buyer is a Moog fan or semi-pro musician. I think where this app would shine would be with a separate keyboard for input...this would be a neat thing, a keyboard as a peripheral, that one could map physical buttons to iOS app controls.
Click to expand...

It says it's MIDI integrated so at least you can plug in a MIDI keyboard and use it that way. I'm not sure if you can map some of the controller knobs to a MIDI controller, though I'd assume you can. I guess from there, the only touch input necessary would be for the patch cables.
 
R

rubenrp

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Aug 18, 2015
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Just picked this one up - it's well worth the $30. The interface is quite good - the demo video does not show all of the options. For instance, rotating it on a regular iPad and minimizing/hiding the keyboard makes the modules section directly accessible - little to no scrolling needed. Similarly, the patch cords can be adjusted by simply double-tapping on the appropriate inputs/outputs - no need for the complex scroll-drag shown in the video. I haven't hooked it up yet to an external Midi keyboard, but I've already had a lot of fun trying out some simple ideas on the iPad. And the sound is amazing - it truly recreates the "personality" of the Model 15.
 
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Satri

Satri

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mr.steevo

mr.steevo

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atari1356 said:
There's also an excellent documentary on Netflix called "I Dream Of Wires" that covers the history of modular synthesizers. Definitely worth a watch if you're interested in electronic music.
Click to expand...

And it's narrated by Patti Schmidt of Brave New Waves which brought me right back to my youth.
 
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EricTheHalfBee

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Kabeyun said:
With Animoog I found that even on an iPad it's difficult to use. The control knobs are small, panning the keyboard is a bit of a pain, and most of all, you can't see the entire instrument at once.

Looking at this demo video you can see this woman awkwardly pan upwards while she pulls a patch cable to a not-yet-visible target with the same hand. It's like trying to type something or appreciate a painting through a 2-inch hole you have to move around. You really need to see the whole panel to get the most out of these synthesizers, not panning or switching panels. That's just what the devs had to do to give you access to all the controls without making them absurdly small.

Maybe it'll be a bit better on an iPad Pro. As with Animoog, I'm sure the sounds are fantastic, and I'm sure Moog did the best they could with the UI. But stuffing a Model 15 into a small screen presents what I think are insurmountable usability sacrifices. Imagine doing it with an 88-key piano and having to pan across as you play.

Oh well. Nice effort, but I'm not sure I see myself dropping $30 on it. We'll see.
Click to expand...

Why would you pan an 88 key piano across the screen? You connect an external MIDI keyboard instead. And you can map the controls (knobs/sliders) on your keyboard to actual controls in the App.

Something tells me you don't have a clue how these tools (Apps) are actually used.
 
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rigormortis

rigormortis

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i'll wait for the Roland MT-32 iOS app, the way i can unnecessarily connect my iPhone to my old 386/486 and play Space Quest on the pc. You lose the cool feature of a real Roland MT-32's lcd panel displaying ' INSERT BUCKAZOID ' with todays emulation.

or better yet, maybe they will come out with a Sound Blaster AWE 32 app. and charge you an In-App Purchase for 28 MiB of memory to store instruments
 
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ApfelKuchen

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OllyW said:
It's $9,970 cheaper than one of the Model 15 reissues. :D
Click to expand...
Or just about twice the price of a decent set of guitar strings.

You don't even have to be an aspiring "semi-pro" musician to be willing to spend this kind of money to get a sound, no less the range of sounds possible from synths of that era. Compared to the days when you had to buy an entire instrument to get just one sound (as John Oliver might say, "I'm thinking of you, Clavinet!")?

People spent many times $30 just buying patch cords for Model 15s, Arp 2600s, and other analog synths of the day. Synth patches could resemble a knitter's yarn bag after a litter of kittens got into it. And the sounds those synths made were very hard to duplicate, since the circuitry was temperature sensitive, carbon potentiometers were nearly impossible to re-set with any kind of precision, you might fail to document a particular pot or patch cord... so many variables! A composer friend of mine bought an E-mu Emulator (digital sampling keyboard - in the $8,000-$10,000 range) just so he could preserve/reuse his Arp 2600 setups. The digital synths' ability to store presets was a revolutionary advance.

There's an art to pricing. Sure, you can sell many more apps at $2.99 than $29.99, but if your product has the right cachet (and I think this does), you can earn more selling fewer copies at a much higher price. If 15% of your potential market is willing to pay $30, you'll make more than if 100% paid $3.
 
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