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Moog's new app gives you a $10,000 synth for $30

Moog's new app gives you a $10,000 synth for $30

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Moog's Model 15 modular synthesizer, first released in 1973, can cost upward of $10,000. But Moog understands that not every synthesizer fan has a casual 10K laying around, so yesterday the company released an iOS app version of the classic instrument. It's available for iPads, iPod touches, and iPhones that are running iOS version 9.3.1 or later.

What's really cool about the app is how hands-on it is. Although the buttons are virtual, users actively participate in creating their music. They can drag cables around the board, play on the collapsable digital keyboard, and turn knobs. It's a hefty app with a lot of simultaneous motion and sound, so Moog says it took advantage of Apple's Metal API for smooth transitions. (Check it out in the above video.)

Moog

For the lower price, users will also get some bonus features over the original, including MIDI integration, use of a MIDI controller, and a master ping-pong delay module. Moog's app fits into a long tradition of condensing musical hardware into app form, although props to Moog for its attempt to actually recreate the physical gestures that go into music making.


The futuristic keyboard that lets you bend notes like a guitar