Syntheogen, new sequencer and synth for Android

[anthemion]

Hello everyone. For my first post, I want to announce the release of my new audio app, Syntheogen, a sequencer and synth for Android devices:

[Play Store] https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... heogenDemo

[Syntheogen site] http://www.syntheogen.com/tour.html

Syntheogen focuses above all else on composition and usability, but there are still plenty of knobs to be spun, and many more will appear as I add effects and other features in the coming months.

By the way, I have to thank everyone from the KVR forums for dropping so much knowledge over the years. This site was a huge help to me while I developed Syntheogen, especially when I took on the filtering and reverb. I read Dodge and Jerse before I started the app, and much of the Curtis Roads book, but these forums far and away beat those when it comes to real, usable, practical knowledge. Utterly indispensable.

The app is in beta now, and I can think of no one better to appraise it than the KVR army. A lot of additions and improvements are coming, so this is your chance to influence the final design. These are a few of the changes already on the way:

http://www.syntheogen.com/support_coming.html

Here's a basic feature list:

+ Produce classic analog sounds with the two-oscillator subtractive synth

+ Build complex multi-track arrangements that barely challenge your device with the simple sampler

+ Combine subtractive synthesis and sampling with the hybrid sampler

+ Create menacing growls or piercing spectral shrieks with self-oscillating filters

+ Add bite to your sounds with FM or AM synthesis

+ Shape sounds with two LFOs, each capable of targeting multiple parameters simultaneously

+ Create as many tracks and assign as many effects to each track as your device can handle

+ Edit every note in the loop from one place with an intuitive step sequencer

+ Program triplets with ease or work in unusual time signatures with step guides

+ Create sophisticated polyrhythms by joining tracks of different length in the same loop

+ Gain detailed control over pitch bends and note dynamics with step ties

+ Transpose compositions to different scales or modes with just a few button presses

+ Turn loops into complex, dynamic compositions with the convenient song editor

+ Export finished loops and songs to WAV files for external playback

+ One app for phones and tablets

+ Clean, usable interface scales to all display sizes and resolutions

+ Minimal device permissions required

+ Extensive help

+ More features coming soon!

Thanks again, and have fun with the app!

[anthemion]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I was going to limit the beta test to English-speaking countries to be sure I could support it if a problem came up. Several people in other countries have asked for access, however, so I have now updated the Play store listing to allow downloads everywhere. That change should take effect in the next hour or so.

[kittenz]

well, that was quite a silly notion, I'd be pissed off by not being able to test the app. last time I checked english was something like the OFFICIAL language of the internet, but I may be wrong.

[SingleCell]

Very cool!

Why is the minimum API Honeycomb? doesn't 2.3 have most of what you need for audio?

[anthemion]

last time I checked english was something like the OFFICIAL language of the internet, but I may be wrong.

Fortunately, you are wrong about that.

Anyway, limiting the size and scope of the beta pool is a standard practice in software development; it minimizes risk for users who perhaps don't understand what a beta really is, and it saves trouble for the support staff (in this case, me) by reducing possibly redundant support requests.

[anthemion]

Very cool!

Why is the minimum API Honeycomb? doesn't 2.3 have most of what you need for audio?

Thank you! I have to say, Caustic is an amazing app. Every time I thought to myself, 'my app doesn't look so bad, does it?', I'd launch yours and realize, 'okay, I'd better stay up another hour'. In fact, one of the reasons Syntheogen is so different from Caustic is that, as far as I'm concerned, that part of the market simply offers no room for another competitor.

You are absolutely correct about 2.3, but I don't have any 2.3 devices right now, and after seeing some bizarre behavior differences among different Android versions, I decided to be conservative. Once the beta test is over, or once I get an old device somewhere, I will lower the minimum to 2.3.

[musical android]

Tried it for about an hour yesterday and must say that my first impressions are very good.
And yes it does touch some of the same areas as Caustic but is very different and not in competition- Which is good. L
ike that the applications that gets used have different flavors as each one direct me to a different place musically.
Excitement, this year have already delivered a lot for Android and more will come!

Easy times

[SingleCell]

Thank you! I have to say, Caustic is an amazing app. Every time I thought to myself, 'my app doesn't look so bad, does it?', I'd launch yours and realize, 'okay, I'd better stay up another hour'. In fact, one of the reasons Syntheogen is so different from Caustic is that, as far as I'm concerned, that part of the market simply offers no room for another competitor.

You are absolutely correct about 2.3, but I don't have any 2.3 devices right now, and after seeing some bizarre behavior differences among different Android versions, I decided to be conservative. Once the beta test is over, or once I get an old device somewhere, I will lower the minimum to 2.3.

Your UI is good, definitely shows you put some time into it, it's got a distinct theme. Some people like mine, some people think it looks cartoony, doesn't matter as long as it's usable and consistent. Yours shows commitment to quality, and that's the first step to convincing people to try it. The other thing I think would help you is a demo video on the Play store page. Especially to reach out to beginners. Lots of knobs are always overwhelming for a new user.

My dev console shows ~20% of my market is 2.3 so it's not like you're missing out on a huge portion of the market, but if you're thinking about releasing on the Kindle (and why not), you'll have to reach lower. Feel free to send me a build if you need testing on 2.3, I have a a Kindle and a Nexus One running various flavors of gingerbread.

Good luck with the release.
-Rej

[kittenz]

I don't have much experience yet, but to me the workflow seems to be quite unintuitive, at least not easy to get used to (the home screen is quite confusing). I think a good video would suffice. Anyway, I'll give some more (hopefully) helpful feedback when I get time.
Apart from the workflow side of the layout, the graphic style needs to get polished. What gives away amateurishness is overuse of stripe patterns, italic fonts and bad use of color... that's most obvious ones. Hue variation loses its value when color is everywhere. Look at Ableton. Loops are bright colorful while the sorrounding UI is monochrome with touches of desaturated yellow and orange. It's just elegant. And the UI is flat without cheap stripes. I don't mean stripes are bad, overused stripes are bad.

What you don't need is another amateurish looking android app, there are THOUSANDS of them. Caustic is an example of a good design (not polished, but tasteful), among a few others. So, just be sure to get the UI refined in future and help making android a more serious platform for music.

[anthemion]

Tried it for about an hour yesterday and must say that my first impressions are very good.
And yes it does touch some of the same areas as Caustic but is very different and not in competition- Which is good.

Thanks, I'm glad to hear it! I would rather work to expand the market than fight over the portion that's already developed. There are a lot of devices out there, and a lot of people who just need to be convinced that they really can make music.

[anthemion]

Your UI is good, definitely shows you put some time into it, it's got a distinct theme. Some people like mine, some people think it looks cartoony, doesn't matter as long as it's usable and consistent. Yours shows commitment to quality, and that's the first step to convincing people to try it. The other thing I think would help you is a demo video on the Play store page.

Well, you certainly can't please everyone. I've been surprised at how different the apps look on different devices. I'm not at all satisfied with the appearance of my app, but I find it looks sort of okay on a Nexus 7. Caustic, which looks merely 'very good' on a 10" device, looks incredible on a phone or a 7". I'm planning to move toward a more minimalist look, but I have to finish a few basic features first.

I agree about the video; I starting work on one today. I had planned to make a series of instructional videos, but I did not realize what a pain it is to produce them. Hopefully I can find some way of simplifying that.

My dev console shows ~20% of my market is 2.3 so it's not like you're missing out on a huge portion of the market, but if you're thinking about releasing on the Kindle (and why not), you'll have to reach lower. Feel free to send me a build if you need testing on 2.3, I have a a Kindle and a Nexus One running various flavors of gingerbread.

Thank you, that's truly generous! I'll have to get more devices, though, particularly if there are any problems. It does make sense to target 2.3 and the Amazon market. For a while I was also concerned that older devices might not have the power I need, but even my Toshiba Thrive can play fifteen (largely sampler) tracks in my demo song with room to spare, so I feel better about that.

Jeremy

[anthemion]

I don't have much experience yet, but to me the workflow seems to be quite unintuitive, at least not easy to get used to (the home screen is quite confusing).

Well, thank you for looking at it. Was there something specific about the Main dialog that seemed confusing? Did you look at the diagram halfway down the page here?:

http://www.syntheogen.com/guide_start.html

Apart from the workflow side of the layout, the graphic style needs to get polished.

That's definitely on the to-do list.

[SingleCell]

I agree about the video; I starting work on one today. I had planned to make a series of instructional videos, but I did not realize what a pain it is to produce them. Hopefully I can find some way of simplifying that.

Agreed, it takes me about 4 hours to create a 10min clip. My only advice, don't try to record it all in one take, especially if you're talking over it. It's fine to have cuts and jumps as long as they're nicely done in video and the progression is maintained. (I need to start doing that more myself and save some time with re-takes)

Thank you, that's truly generous! I'll have to get more devices, though, particularly if there are any problems. It does make sense to target 2.3 and the Amazon market. For a while I was also concerned that older devices might not have the power I need, but even my Toshiba Thrive can play fifteen (largely sampler) tracks in my demo song with room to spare, so I feel better about that.

Many devices are "balanced" similarly. The newer devices have faster clock speeds but tend to have more pixels to push and other things going on so you often get a similar amount of DSP time remaining. My NexusOne is actually relatively "faster" than my GalaxyNexus in that regard.

[anthemion]

My only advice, don't try to record it all in one take, especially if you're talking over it. It's fine to have cuts and jumps as long as they're nicely done in video and the progression is maintained.

Yeah, I learned that the hard way. After getting unimpressive results from my videocamera, I'm going to try something different. Like your app, Syntheogen also runs in Windows, so I'm going to record a demo with a screen recorder and narrate with captions rather than a voiceover. I'm guessing it won't be much more difficult, and the quality should be a lot better. I'll post a link here when it's done.

[anthemion]

Wow, that was a lot of work:



It was difficult to find a decent screen recorder, and the editing process was very involved. It certainly looks better than anything I could have done with a camera, however.

Next time I'll have to use a better loop; I just threw that together because I thought this would be a short project.