As for the marketing, well that was a shame. Of course Animoog isn't the 1st professional synth for the iPad, and making that kind of claim really doesn't go down well with the rest of the family.
Thanks to everyone who pointed out the CDM piece on Animoog, it was well worth a read.
14 comments:
I read and commented on this earlier, in the 'Animoog from Moog. Here are all the details' post:
Sebastian Dittmann (Audanika) said...
Looks like it'll have background MIDI as well:
http://bit.ly/pK1WX1
:)
Funny that even a poor marketing campaign has not stopped people going crazy over this app. I've even read comments on other sites where people said they've bought the app even though they won't have an iPad until Christmas or the new year! Don't remember ever seeing this kind of response to any app.
It took me a little while to get my head around it, but now I have, I can't praise it highly enough. I've not even plugged it into my io dock and Axiom 49 yet, or tried it with StepPolyArp, or Genome (which I also bought today thanks to other users feedback). Looking forward to that!
N 1 in Spain too.
+1 Zac
@zac: Appreciate your enthusiasm, but sounds & visuals are too limited and much too branded with that kind of sci-fi, retro, everything must be thick image which quickly gets boring (unless you make 60ties sic-fi sound tracks)
In fact, they did good samples from some analogue monsters, but still it is simple wavetable synthesis. And their selection of waves in that respect is quite narrow in style and flexibility.
In terms of innovation, many things are stolen from other apps. Take the visual representations which remind to Morphwiz and the realtime wave to SynthX.
The keyboard is simple, horiz & vert sliding on keys many other apps do as well and having an XY controller pad is old as iOS apps have been programmed.
The sound modules like the filter and effects have a good standard, but they are not better than the current crew of iOS pro apps.
It is still a nicely made app, and the combined (stolen) best practices from other apps, but far away from anything which rises the bar.
Their marketing punch line says it correctly:
Moog for the Masses
The thrill is to have a Moog synth for 0.99 USD
It was similar when Filtatron came out. But after some
initial excitement, time will tell if it really changes anything.
too much restricted, too much retro, too much stolen.
Have fun, though ;-)
I was looking forward to this app, but thought we would have to wait until Moogfest at the end of the month. When I saw that it was coming out this morning, I stayed up a couple of extra hours so that I could download and try it out. The actual app has exceeded my expectations. But I see things a little differently from zaclaurent.
1. I would add NLog to the list of "good synths on the iOS." It's a mature product with a rich sound and a deep set of well-implemented features.
2. I agree that Animoog represents a quantum leap, not just a variation. But I don't see the other apps I've bought as superfluous or homogeneous. NLog sounds different from Sunrizer, and Addictive sounds different from both. I feel very lucky to own so many really good instruments. Maybe the smart thing for me to do would be to delete all of these from my iPad and just focus on Animoog. I could see the point of that, and maybe if I had a child that I was teaching music to, I would do it. But I'm an adult, and if I like those other sounds, then I'll play them. "To the pure all things are pure."
3. I think it's great that Moog is selling Animoog for $1. But we all know that's not the real cost of the app. Unless you think Animoog is the last app you will ever want or need, developers need to charge more. Animoog doesn't change that one bit.
@zac: Calm down, I do not wanted to hurt your feelings, but it seems you have a new religion.
Have a good sleep in your universe!
@zaclaurent: I see that you like SynthX too. It crackles too much for my liking, but I love playing it. I wonder if there's something that can be done to cut out the crackles (cf. turning down the oscillator volume on Arctic Keys).
Animoog is absolutely nothing like MorphWiz, that's just nonsense sorry.
Isn't the appshopper list worldwide? If so, Animoog is the number 1 iPad app in the world right now:
http://appshopper.com/bestsellers/paid/?device=ipad
That's pretty amazing.
@anon
"Many things are stolen from other apps."
I don't know what it is you consider stolen.
I assume the interface element you are referring to is the sliding on the keys to effect modulation. Though I'm not sure, I think BeBot was the first for that on iOS with the Theremin, or Thereminator, being its probable inspiration.
If your referring to the modulation display. MorphWiz displays a animated graphic representing a modulation value. Just like BeBot. Animoog is displaying a modulation value moving through an X/Y grid to supply other values. Besides. Graphical representation of numerical values is older than a lot of things.
A realtime oscilloscope display for an audio waveform is hardly a new idea. As well, SynthX is a bit different. It places a small wave under each of your fingers that are playing.
Your comment reek of sour grapes.
I'm not keen on the marketing of this app and that's no problem as I'm sure most buyers don't really pay attention. I have spread the word to 5 of my friends who are musicians and own iPads. They didn't even realize it was out, but went ahead and purchased regardless. I've been an iOS user since itouch 1 and iPhone 2g, back when jail breaking and drummer was the only music app. Just being able to ssh my own samples into that was simply awesome at the time. It's incredible how far the platform and market have become. I'm glad that big name companies are taking the plunge and committing themselves to the iOS platform; korg being the first. With the market being so competitive there's room for both the big company and the smaller Indy devs. Both bring important innovations to the table.
As far as the cdm article goes I have mixed feelings about that. Sometimes I fear Peter goes too far leftfield to express his view, but it's his site so my point is moot. As a fellow digital music enthusiast I wish he'd get back to the roots and make more posts that inspire viewers to create good music. A lot of the commentary his posts create a tension between communities who choose one method or the other to create music. In the end any aural pleasure is lost because of too much focus on the way the person looks performing or the gear in use.
Personally, I feel the iOS platform is still too new to define any genres or become something that stands the test of time for musicians. In many ways it's a stepping stone for future products and instrumenst. As we've seen by the 99 cent price of Animoog, the app store is a cheap way to prototype ideas and get them in the hands of real users. I am grateful as an artist and musician to be exposed and privileged enough to be able to afford and use these tools. As somebody who's nearly pushing 30yrs old, this is the stuff I dreamt about as a child!
@zaclaurent: Thought your posts were well written and made some good points, nice one :)
I have to agree that Animoog has raised the bar for iPad synths - a unique user interface which has obviously been designed for the group up for the multi-touch paradigm (except the slightly fiddly knobs!) and it sounds fantastic. Can't wait to get sampling it and making some music - so far, I can definitely see myself using this and Sunrizer in tracks, not sure about any others.
My only complaint about Animoog is that it's too fun to play with - I was up til 2am playing and I'm tired now ;) But on a serious note, I am finding that I am really enjoying properly playing and experimenting with synths on the iPad, whereas in the past I've been more of a preset user on my DAW. I guess it's to do with the "hands on" interface - I also quite like the fact that using the iPad, you are "restricted" in the same way you are with hardware, in that you have to record your part down to audio and then you're stuck with it (unless you go back and replay it) - forces a bit of a different workflow for those of used to being able to go back and tweak sounds all the way through the production process.
On a separate note, can anyone point me in the direction of an impressive piece of music/demo created with SynthX? I have to say, I don't understand the good reviews it gets at all - I thought it sounds really basic and cheap and nasty, the filter sounds horrible, but I'm no synth expert so I think I must be missing something!
"for the group up" should be "from the ground up"!
@Tom D...
I believe that SynthX is supposed to be modelled on an Arp Axxe. That would explain it's 'grittyness'.
@Romeo November...
"Funny that even a poor marketing campaign has not stopped people going crazy over this app."
It's just the name. "Moog". If it was called "Mog" than I don't think there would be so much fuss made?
@Zac...
Good initial post Zaclaurent. People should always speak their mind! Even if it upsets others. We all have brains, and are all quite able to reason with each other properly- it makes for why Palm Sounds is such a great place to hang out?! :D
Just putting in my 2 cents. What I find extremely unique about Animoog, and why it is so easy for me to create new interesting patches in it, are the path editor, and orbit editor. I know they are similar to what you can do with multiple LFO's but I have never seen them visualized quite like that, and the way that you can stack 8 Oscillators on a grid and have the paths move through them all tempo synced, that is what is so incredible to me about Animoog.
-distraub
Post a Comment