What's New
v1.6.1:
Performance fix!
- We noticed after playing back a song for more than a few minutes the device could become unreponsive. Oops. Bug squashed.
- Little UI tweaks.
v1.6.0:
Lots of sequencer tweaks and other things including:
- Biggest change in this release: sidechaining. Yeah, the cool audio ducking technique that uses the audio from one channel (e.g. the kick) to temporarily mute another track (e.g. pads or bass). A lot of pop music and modern mastering techniques use this. ANILOG uses a simplified version of it. Go read the sidechaining/auto-ducking help section!
- ⭐️ You're the star! You can add instruments to a Favorites list for quick access.
- Real clock vs performance clock: when not playing a song sequence, the clock shows you the current hour and minute (HH:MM). But when you start playing, it switches to show the elapsed time in H:MM:SS! This is useful to track time in a performance.
- You can pop the Help screen out into a browser window.
- Track mute/solo/unmute: it's easier to control on/off of tracks.
- There is now 1 "[Bells]" category (not Bell and Bells). You can Reset Factory Banks to pick up this change. WARNING: This will overwrite any changes you did to the factory set.
- Pick the instrument in the current sequencer cell quickly by pressing on the song grid.
- Setup: shift the output audio balance to pan more left or pan more right.
- Setup: change the "Play Test Note" note. This is great if you need to go fullscreen in the Instrument editor.
- On-screen piano keyboard now shows octave labels
- Fix: swapping an instrument in the sequencer will update the grid instruments.
- Fix: deleting a sequencer track made ANILOG do strange things to the song data. Sorry, our bad.
- Fix: on iPhone, hiding the piano keyboard would make graphs do a "thick blink". You know what we're talking about if it has bothered you too.
v1.5.0:
- The biggest announcement here: 32 voice playback support. Yes, now that CPUs are so fast, ANILOG now lets you play back 32 simulataneous instruments (each with their own 3 oscillators). But, if you need to, go to Audio and you can turn down the to 16. >
- Sequencer now has a new visualizer! During playback, each oscillator frequency and panning position will be graphed. This is useful to show you where the spread of your frequencies are going.
- UI Updates: Buttons are more buttony, with more muted colors. Text is tweaked a little. Mono programs now show "(MONO)" after their name in the programs list. Background texture is more wavy.
v1.4.0:
- News?! Yes, ANILOG will now show you news bulletins when you launch the app if connected to the web.
- Songs catalog! ANILOG can now load its new catalog from the web.
- Some internal fixes. You'll hardly notice. Except ANILOG needs iOS 17.
See Older news and release notes.
Getting Started
Just start pushing buttons! That's the fun of it! Worst case: just reset back to factory settings! #YOLO
There are three main modes:
- Setup mode lets you configure the app.
- Sequencer mode plays and edits songs. It also lets you edit the song's instruments. Tip: Load a song and just play!
- Instrument Editor mode lets you focus on designing instruments and live performance.
💡 Tip: Do you want to keep this help doc open while you use the app? You can open it in a web browser: www.seqmedia.com/anilog-help/
User Interface Overview
There are some common UI elements in any mode:
Tip: On an iPhone, some parts of the UI might not be visible until you hide the keyboard with .
- : Current time (HH:MM). During playback this switches to the total elapsed playback time (H:MM:SS) so you know how long you've been playing for.
- : Show this help screen.
- : Change to interface mode to global setup, song sequencer, or instrument editor.
- : Change global sound shape and amplification adjustment.
- : Touch to sustain. If using an external MIDI controller, it will light up.
- : Scroll on-screen keyboard octaves. Long-press to reset to the middle.
- and : Tap the sides to go previous/next instrument. Tap the center of the Program button to pull up the whole Instrument List (factory and user banks) or the instruments loaded into the song.
- : Show / hide the onscreen keyboard, and expands the editor region.
- : Bend the pitch of playing sounds.
Sequencer Mode
Play and create your own songs in ANILOG! Share your creations too!
Sequencer Mode Buttons
- (Press on a hardware keyboard to play/pause from any screen.) : Begins song playing at current cursor position. (If Recording is on, the cursor will move.)
- or : If step recording is on, this will pause playback at the current cursor's row. If step recording is off, playback is stopped and will continue at the current cursor position.
-
- Step Recording: When the song is paused ... key-down presses are recorded (note, velocity) at the cursor position.
- Live Recording: When the song is playing ... key-downs (note, velocity) and key-ups (note Off) are recorded at the current playhead position. Also, the sequencer grid will scroll with the playhead.
: Enters "step recording" or "live recording" modes:
-
Note: file names are not shown and are automatically generated.
When you export a file the contents are copied to the
clipboard.
- New song: Create a new song.
- Save song: Save current song. If you leave the app ANILOG will save a backup of the current song.
- Save song as copy: Save as a new song.
- Load song: Load a song, also open the songs server.
- Delete this song: Delete the current song.
- Open songs catalog: Load songs catalog from the server.
- Export song to clipboard: Exports the song in JSON format and puts it in the clipboard. If you bring another iOS device nearby you can paste into the other device to share it!
- Import song from clipboard: ANILOG will try to import the song and save it on your device.
: Opens the menu.
- : Load a song from the device or the network.
- : Save current song to device.
- : Undo / redo last sequencer edit.
Sequencer Mode Tabs
- SONG: Song information tab
- GRID: Song grid tab
- PATS: Song patterns tab
- S.INST: Song instruments tab
- PROPS: Song properties tab
Song About the Song Information tab
The Song tab gives you information about the song. Tap to open the menu to enable editing various fields like the song title, album, and so on.
When the song is playing, a graph will show you the approximate pitch of every oscillator (i.e. each instrument has 1 to 3 oscillators) and its stereo panning location on the [L]eft or [R]ight.
Grid About the Grid Tab
Create multitrack songs in a grid format called a "tracker". It's like a MIDI piano roll, but vertical and shows all the notes (and commands) to be played. Notes will play until they either turn themselves off, or a new note is triggered, or you insert an -Off- or -Stop- command.
- Rows of notes are triggered from top to bottom. The current row being played will be highlighted.
- Rows are grouped into patterns. See the PATS tab.
- Each column is a "track", and tracks have volume and reverb send sliders. Tap track header to show this menu.
- If a new note is triggered in a track, any playing note in that track will be turned off.
Notes in the Grid
Notes in the grid are in a compact format. When the play head reaches the row, it will trigger the note on with the following:
- : The note triggered (C, D, E, etc. Flats are indicated like "Gb") and octave.
- hexadecimal.) : The song instrument number. (Note: numbers in
- hexadecimal, 00 to 7E.) See also the Input Filtering (IN.FILT) setting to force a certain velocity. : The velocity value, small numbers are weak velocity and big numbers are strong velocity. (Note: numbers in
- hexadecimal, 00 to 7E.) The track volume multiplies this value. See also the Input Filtering (IN.FILT) setting to force a certain volume. : The volume value, small numbers are quiet and big numbers are loud. (Note: numbers in
- : The panning value in % from Left speaker to Center to Right speaker. Panning changes affect all future notes! To "unset" the panning and use the last set value, slide the value slider to the right.
- : The glide time (glissando, portamento) from the previous played note to the new note value. To "unset" the glide, slide the value slider to the far right.
Track mute and effects
Tap on the track header to switch to the Track Properties panel.
- : Mute/unmute a track
- : Set the general track output volume
- : Set the amount of track output sent to the song FX
- Off. : Set the track to use as the side-channel triggering. Slide to the far left to turn it
What is "side chaning"?
In pop and dance music, bass drums and bass instruments are loud and prominent. But to make those instruments heard over all the other instruments, the common technique is to "duck" (or temporarily silence) the other instruments. This lets the listener hear the clean bass kick without having all the other instruments play louder to compensate.
Also, by ducking all the other instruments, it has the effect of adding a volume swell to them, which sounds like you are rhythmically "pumping" the other tracks.
In ANILOG, sidechaining is not an exact "signal follower" of the bass drum. Rather, per track, you choose which other track should trigger the temporary ducking. For example, if your bass drum is on Track 2 and your synth pads are on Track 4, tap the Track 4 header then slide the 2. When any instrument plays on Track 2, ANILOG will look at its Amp envelope and apply the opposite envelope shape to Track 4's volume. (The instrument's volume is ignored; we only pay attention to the amp envelope.)
toTip: Let's say you want to sidechain some pads but you don't want to hear a bass drum. Go ahead and use a Track as the sidechain but set the to 0%. This will still make your pads follow the sidechain envelope but since that Track is 0% volume you will hear the pads "pump".
Tip: You can have multiple sidechaining tracks! Let's say the bassline's sidechain is the Kick track. But you use the previous technique of having a "silent" sidechain track that is continuous 16th note pops: the pads that follow this track then get a kind of staccato "pip pip" sound! (This gives the effect of using a "tempo gate".)
Editing note values
There are two ways to edit:
- Tap on the value button and move the slider.
- Turn on or and tap a note key.
About Hexadecimal Numbers
Why the odd numbering? It is a more compact format to write numbers in the range of 0 to 127. It does take a little getting used to, but here's a quick guide:
- Each number digit isn't just 0 - 9, it is: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F
- After "F" the "tens" digit increases, e.g. ... D, E, F, 10, 11, 12, ...
-
The equivalent of common hexadecimal numbers to normal decimal values
is:
Hex Dec 00 0 01 1 02 2 ... 09 9 0A 10 ... 0F 15 10 16 ... 40 64 ... 64 100 ... 7E 126 7F 127 80 128
Stopping a playing note
Tap the
button:- Tap the button to insert the -Off- command, which will cause the playing note to "release".
- Long-press the button to insert the -Stop- command, which causes the note to cut off immediately.
If you have selected a region then the selection will be erased and the -Off- or -Stop- commands will be set on the first row.
If you have a hardware keyboard attached, you can use the shortcuts -Off- or to insert -Stop-
to insertClearing note data
Tap the
button to delete the selected region.Selecting a region of notes
If you long-press a cell then a menu will appear to select a range.
Also, if you have a hardware keyboard attached, you can hold down
and tapping on the arrow keys will change the selection.Editing a selected region of notes
If you long-press on a selection region or tap the
button, you get access to new tools:- Pick instrument ...: Set the selected instrument the same as the cursor cell.
- Select range ...: Set the selected range from the first cell to the current cell. You can then do group operations.
- Transpose notes: Transpose the selected range up or down 1 semitone or 1 octave.
- Ramp: Between the first cell to the last cell in each track, ramp the values: notes get transposed up/down by semitones, other values smoothly go up/down.
- Clear selection: Deselect the range.
Copying, cutting, and pasting a region of notes
Once you have a selection of notes (or just the current cell highlighted), tapping the
button will bring up a menu to copy, paste, or cut the region.When you paste copied notes the cursor will be placed on the next row just after the pasted region. This makes replicating sections of songs super fast!
If you have a hardware keyboare attached then
will copy the selected notes. ( and will cut and paste.)Pats About the Patterns Tab
Songs use patterns as a way to group a block of grid notes together. Think of it like a phrase—the default grid is 4 measures of 16th notes (64 rows, 4 rows per beat).
Tap on a pattern number (e.g.
) to select it. Long-press a different pattern number to select a range. The length of the pattern appears next to the number (e.g. rows).Tap on the label for the pattern to open a menu. You can then edit the pattern descriptions or clear them.
If you have selected a range of patterns, the
slider lets you change all the number of rows. You can also duplicate and delete ranges of patterns.Use the
slider to scroll through the list of patterns.S.Inst About the Song Instrument Editor Tab
If the song's Instrument Editor tab looks familiar to the
Instrument mode ... that's because it is the same! You get the same editing workflow, same import/export, same undo/redo/save.What's different: song instruments are not split into banks. There is one list of instruments that the song uses. You'll notice that the song instrument numbers are also in hexadecimal and correspond to the note instrument commands in the grid.
Importing ANILOG instruments into the song, exporting
You can copy instruments from ANILOG's main Instrument mode to the song, and vice versa. Just use the
button to open the menu, then .Then you can either change to a different song instrument and then
, or you can change to Instrument mode and paste.Props About the Song Properties Tab
The song properties tab lets you set global properties. The reverb is a more granular feedback tank. Tip: In this version of ANILOG it is still a little bit "grainy", so you may want to reduce the Feedback Brightness to compensate.
- : This is the song's beats per minute (BPM).
- : This subdivides the beat into a number of rows. The grid will also highlight each beat.
- : The reverb feedback can be lengthened with no dampening, or shortened with maximum dampening.
- : A high frequency cut on the reverb chamber.
- : The global amount of feedback.
Instrument Mode
Changing sounds is just as much fun as playing them! There are 3 Oscillator pages (with generators and envelopes), 1 Noise Generator Page, and 1 Properties Page. Change pages with the Prev Page and Next Page buttons. Here's what's on each:
-
Oscillator Pages
OSC1
OSC2
OSC3
- Generator Tab GEN1 GEN2 GEN3
- Shape Tab SHAPE1 SHAPE2 SHAPE3
- Amplifier Tab AMP1 AMP2 AMP3
- Effects Tab FX1 FX2 FX3
-
Noise Page
NOISE
- Noise Envelope Tab N-ENV
- Noise Effects Tab N-FX
-
Properties Page
PROPS
- Instrument Properties Tab INST
- Instrument Feedback Tab FEEDBK
- More Tools Menu
Some notes about the sliders:
Sliders go up/down or left/right, and you can touch anywhere on the strip—not just on the tiny current value! Each has a default value indicated by a thick bar. Tapping above/below the current value will step up/down. For more precision long-press and then drag outside the slider.
- Current value: White bar is the current value, and you can touch anywhere on the slider strip to change the value!
- Tap above/below: Step up/down the current value.
- Tap thick bar: Touch to reset to a default value.
- Drag outside: Tap in the slider strip, then drag outside to make smaller increments.
Oscillator Pages (OSC1, OSC2, OSC3)
GEN1 Generator Tab
Each Oscillator makes sound from its Generator engine and are added together:
- Tip: Set it high for square waves or overdrive. : Oscillator loudness, values above 1.0 are hard-clipped.
- Tip: Add a second Oscillator slightly detuned for a chorus effect. : Adjust frequency by semitones.
- Tip: Set the value to full saw or full ramp for a sharp buzzy sound, set it right in the middle for a smooth sine. : The waveshape—this is really the "special sauce" of ANILOG! Far left is 100% Saw, in the middle is 100% Sine, far right is 100% Ramp. (In reality, the actual saw/sine/ramp is passed through a sine function to smooth the wave a tiny bit, so this is not pure digital saw/ramp but a more "round" midtone-heavy generator.)
- Tip: Make a wide stereo effect by panning two Oscillators left/right and detune one of them. Output panning.
- Tip: add breath effects with a tiny by of noise : Add sample-and-hold style noise—see the Noise page for envelopes.
- Tip: over-Gained Oscillators seem louder so turn the Out Level down. : Overall output after clipping.
- If you don't see the X/Y graph try hiding the keyboard by tapping .
SHAPE1 Shape Tab
This is part of the "ANILOG magic" that affects the Saw/Ramp values with an envelope:
- : Milliseconds before beginning the Attack phase.
- Tip: small values for plucked instruments, 100.0ms for horns or woodwinds, and longer for strings or pads. This can be affected by key Velocity. : Milliseconds to go from pure Sine (middle of the Saw/Ramp slider on the Generator tab) to the Saw/Ramp value.
- Tip: small values for plucked or synth instruments, longer for natural instruments. : Milliseconds to go to the Sustain value.
- Tip: use 1.00 for pads or strings or bells, small values for pianos and synths. Choose a large negative value for a quick pulse. : When 0 or greater, the sustain amount of Saw/Ramp in the Generator tab when a key is held down. When less than 0 sustain is disabled: after the Decay phase the note will be released.
- : Milliseconds for the Generator to return to pure Sine after a key is released.
AMP1 Amplifier Tab
The amp envelope controls the loudness of the Generator:
- : Delay (milliseconds) before Generator begins making output.
- Tip: shorter values for hard attacks and plucks, longer values for soft pads. : Milliseconds for the Generator to go from 0% Gain to 100% Gain.
- Tip: shorter values for plucks and synths, long for pianos. : Milliseconds from 100% Gain to the Sustain amount.
- : Sustain percent of the Gain when a key is held down.
- : Release (milliseconds) from the Sustain percent to 0% Gain when a key is released.
- Touch parts of the graph to modify the corresponding slider, the dotted line is the Sustain point.
FX1 Effects Tab
Various effects such as pitch change, velocity-to-envelope, and bit crushing:
- Tip: very big or very small values sound unrealistic or electronic, moderate negative sound like drums, and tiny values sound natural. : Automatic pitch glide over time.
- Tip: set your initial Saw/Ramp to its harshest sound and set Vel->Shp high to make soft keypresses mellow out the sound and hard keypresses really ring out. : Amount of key velocity to affect the Saw/Ramp value of the Generator.
- Tip: set this medium-high to make soft key presses quiet and hard key presses loud. : Amount of key velocity affecting the Generator's Out Level.
- Tip: if your Amp and Shape envelopes have a small Attack (16.0) then hitting keys hard makes a metallic pluck sound, while soft key presses make a softened sound! : Amount of key velocity affecting the Attack values of the Amplifier and Shape tabs. Hard velocity shortens the attack, soft velocity lengthens it.
- Tip: with a short Decay (120.0) hard presses make the Generator ring out long but soft key presses make the Generator brief and soft. : Amount of key velocity affecting Decay values of the Amplifier and Shape tabs. Hard velocity lengthens the Decay and soft velocity shortens it.
- : A value quantizer that adds some digital distortion for a harsh distorted metallic sounds. Turn up for very hard digital distortion!
Noise Page
Noise is not a white noise but more of a sample-and-hold randomizer which creates weird overtone effects.
N-ENV Envelope Tab
Like the Oscillator Amplifier tab, this is the output level envelope of the noise generator.
Tip: for sustained noise set the Sustain and Release values to maximum.
N-FX Noise Effects Tab
Applies various effects to the noise generator:
- : High values cause white noise effects, medium values make brown noise, and low values sound like bit rate errors.
- : Adjusts the Noise Color over time.
Properties Page (INST, FEEDBK)
Settings that affect the overall instrument:
INST Instrument Properties
General settings
- Tip: most instruments sound best between 0.30 to 0.60. : Overall gain of the instrument, high values may cause digital clipping.
- Tip: use 0.00 for pianos and synths, use 60.0 for a nice glide with woodwinds and leads. , : At the bottom this instrument is in Polyaural mode (each keypress is a new instance of the instrument), any other value is the milliseconds of glide time when more than one key is held down.
- Tip: set it to 0.0 for piano sounds, but set it to 2.0 for expressive wind, strings, and brass sounds. : The aftertouch amount (dragging fingers after holding a key) that affects Oscillator Generator Saw/Ramp shaping.
- Tip: set it to 0.2 or larger to get natural left/right panning with piano sounds. : Larger values shift the panning left/right based on the played note below/above C4 (middle C).
FEEDBK Instrument Feedback
Feedback loop buffer settings. Feedback works either like metallic resonance or a line delay.
-
- Milliseconds Mode: Move the slider up to set a fixed length buffer. Tip: this is good for creating robotic sounds or delay/tap echoes.
- Percentage Mode: Move the slider down to set the length of the buffer based on the length of 2.0 periods. (It is similar but not quite Karplus-Strong resonance.) Tip: this mode creates metallic sounds best used in bells, guitars, and pianos.
: ANILOG uses a looping feedback buffer that has two modes:
- : Increment of the Feedback Length over time, and creates a phasing effect.
- : The percent of feedback added back to the generated sound. Greater amounts create very metallic sounds or long tap echoes.
- Tip: low values make for long echoes (useful when Feedback Length is in milliseconds mode), high values sharply cut off the feedback (useful when Feedback Length is in % mode). : The amount of feedback dampening applied to released voices.
More Tools Menu
Various tools are tucked away:
- : Save instrument.
- Tip: to swap two instruments, copy the instrument, change to a different patch, then reopen the More Tools Menu and choose Tools > Swap : Can copy the whole current instrument or just the current generator/amp/shape tab.
- : Can paste the copied instrument or just the generator/amp/shape tab.
- : Tag your favorite instruments for quick access in the Instrument List.
- : Instruments can have up to 30 ASCII characters.
-
- Export instrument to clipboard: Exports a JSON format of the current instrument to the system cut/paste.
- Import instrument from clipboard: Imports the JSON format of an instrument that was copied to the system cut/paste.
- Swap instrument bank - prog - with bank - prog -: An instrument that was copied with the "Copy instrument" menu will be swapped with the current instrument. Note: you can't swap instruments between Instrument and Sequencer mode.
- Reload factory instrument: Current instrument will be replaced with the original factory version if it's in one of the factory banks (0-7).
- Reset instrument to blank: Initialize the current instrument to a default sawtooth patch with some basic shaping options.
: Powerful extra tools:
Global Setup Mode
The Setup mode shows you system status, how many voices are being played, global tuning, user interface changes, MIDI commands heard by the system, and other tools.
-
Status: Shows current instrument
voices being played (up to 16 voices at one time) and the current CPU
load.
- : Stops playing stuck notes.
-
Audio: Various global audio settings:
- : Tune the base keyboard pitch up/down
- Tip: mobile phones have weak bass response so lower values are better, large stereo systems have subwoofers so higher values are better. If doing studio recording then a cutoff around 50hz-65hz is ideal. : Set the cutoff frequency where bass oscillators begin to taper off to 0% volume. This is a kind of EQ. Set to a low value to get a big thump, set to higher values to reduce the "muddy" bass notes.
- Tip: the factory setting is 42% Lo, 21% Mid, 100% Hi. In tests this made the synth sound the most crisp with enough bass to be rounded. : Main EQ filtering.
- : Adjust whether sounds play more from the left or from the right.
- : Set to 32 if your device has enough CPU power, or reduce to 16 if the audio is breaking up.
-
UI: Various global user interface
settings:
- : Change the pitch bend slider's range in semitones
- : Show more/less onscreen keyboard
- : Shrink the on-screen keyboard to give it some space below, so you don't trigger the "go home" app switcher gesture.
- : Set the MIDI note played when you push the Play Test Note button.
- : Choose the color of the on-screen clock. Set to bottom for gray, set to top to turn it off.
-
In.Filt: Note input filtering.
- Velocity is the intensity of a note and these values affect the actual envelopes and shaping of the instruments. Velocity affects the expression of the instrument.
- Volume is the output level of the instrument.
- Tip: This is useful when your MIDI input velocity needs to be a specific number, especially with drum pads. : If 0 then the velocity of the key is what is recorded into the Sequencer and live instrument playback, otherwise the velocity is set to the slider value.
- : The volume of the note in the sequencer.
-
MIDI: Realtime MIDI log of events
being received.
- : Choose which MIDI channel to listen to, or any channel, or ignore MIDI altogether!
- : Adjust MIDI note input by +1 or -1 semitone.
- : Multiply the MIDI keyboard velocity by a factor up to 250%.
- : Clear the MIDI message log.
- : Turn off stuck notes.
-
Utils: More utility functions!
- : Another way to see this page.
- WARNING: You will lose your edits in the factory bank. : Hard-reset the factory bank programs.
- : Export banks 0 - 7 in JSON format to the cut/paste buffer.
- : Export banks 8 - 15 in JSON format to the cut/paste buffer.
- : Show the latest from the news server.
- vX.X.XX: Current version number of this app!
Note: Reset patches to factory will totally erase all instruments and set things back to the original sound set. Proceed if you are sure!
You can also export the entire sound set as a JSON blob for sharing. At this moment you cannot import.
Keyboard Shortcuts
If you have an external keyboard connected to your iPad or iPhone, you can take advantage of these key commands!
Global Key Bindings
- open this help popup
Change Mode
- switch to Setup mode
- switch to Setup mode
- switch to Instrument mode
Interface Control
- toggle on-screen keyboard
Sequencer Playback
- play from cursor
- play from top of current pattern
- play from start
Sequencer Mode
Files
- load song (open)
Copy, cut, paste
- copy region
- cut region
- paste region
Deleting
- clear selection
- set selection to "off"
- set selection to "stop"
Editing notes
- Pick instrument at current cell
- Ramp values in selection
- Ramp all notes and values in selection
- transpose selection -1 semitone
- transpose selection +1 semitone
- transpose selection -1 octave
- transpose selection +1 octave
History
- undo edits
- redo changes
Instrument Mode
Navigation
- go to Instrument Osc 1
- go to Instrument Osc 2
- go to Instrument Osc 3
- go to Instrument Noise
- go to Instrument Properties/Feedback
History
- save changes
- undo edits
- redo changes
Working with MIDI
ANILOG supports MIDI hardware you just plug in and host apps like Audiobus or AUM:
-
Connect using Audiobus:
- Get the app: Install Audiobus.
- Connect the audio stream: tap the Audio tab, tap [+] INPUT, select ANILOG.
- Connect your MIDI device: connect your device over USB or Bluetooth, tap the MIDI tab, tap [+] INPUT, select your device.
- Route MIDI to ANILOG: tap [+] OUTPUT, select ANILOG.
-
Connect using Kymatica's AUM:
- Get the app:Install Kymatica AUM.
- Connect the audio stream: tap [+], tap [+ AUDIO], tap the top (+), tap Inter-App Audio, select ANILOG.
- Connect your MIDI device: just connect it!
- Route MIDI to ANILOG: tap the Z-shaped icon in the top right, tap the square whose column is your device name and the row is ANILOG.
What is currently supported
ANILOG will respond to:
- Playing keys, with velocity
- Moving the pitch wheel
- Moving the mod wheel
- Sustain pedal
- Song start/stop
Additionally, for the Korg taktile these default buttons are supported:
- Sequence play, stop
- Record
Troubleshooting Guide
-
PROBLEM: Audio is stuck on
In Setup on the Status or MIDI tabs, tap the button to turn off all playing notes (aka "MIDI panic").
-
PROBLEM: Audio sounds very quiet or "soft"
The slider might be turned all the way down. Try pushing it all the way up.
-
PROBLEM: Audio seems to stutter when connected to Audiobus
Try increasing the latency: 1) Launch Audiobus, 2) tap the Settings gear, 3) tap Latency Control, 4) select a larger number like 512 frames or 1024 frames.
Older News
v1.3.1:
We did a sad. App might not load up right the first time.
v1.3.0:
MIDI 'n things!
- CoreMIDI! You can just jack in a MIDI keyboard into your iPad/iPhone and it should Just Work™ ! If you want to choose a specific MIDI channel to listen to or ignore hardware MIDI, see the MIDI tab in Setup.
- "Globals" in Setup is now split into Audio and UI.
- There is a clock in the upper right! You can set the color hue as you like, or turn it off.
- You can add some extra blank space at the bottom of the screen. (The on-screen keyboard can be too close to the operating system bar that can close the app.)
v1.2.1:
If your DAW supports it, saving the session state should now save the current state of ANILOG's sequencer and current instrument. This is helpful if you have an instance of ANILOG and have tweaked the instrument but haven't yet permanently saved it.
v1.2.0:
AUv3 support! 🎉 Yes, the app now supports Apple's Audio Units version 3 and should be compatible with most iOS DAWs. 🔊 (Note: different DAWs do different things with Audio Units, so please send us a note if something isn't working quite right.)
Other things:
- Modulation wheel direction goes in the "up" direction now. Better compatibility with DAWs.
- Max modulation only attenuates the sound mostly, before it silenced it.
- Noise generator is tuned a little bit.
- Output now defaults to 48KHz.
- Patch selection menu will stay open in AUv3 mode.
- HOLD is now SUSTAIN.
v1.1.4:
Necessary upgrades and improvements:
- Fixed an audio bug where the sequencer would sometimes steal a playing voice rather than look for the unused one.
- You'll be prompted to save the current unsaved song when importing a song from the clipboard.
- Various UI tweaks: slider textures look more rad, grid notes are brighter for higher velocity, pattern lengths now visible on the sequencer Pats tab.
- The reverb tank now cross-mixes stereo channels for a slightly wider effect.
-
Change the user file storage in preparation for something else.
:)
v1.1.3:
Merry Fix-mas! 🎄 There is a new song and a bunch of fixes:
- MIDI works better in AUM now! (Not just Audiobus!)
- New song "Impulse".
-
Instruments can be sorted by name (ignoring their
"[category]" ). - Hardware keyboard tweaks: Tab key will change tabs, tapping arrow keys outside of the Sequencer grid won't navigate the grid cursor.
- Moving the MIDI mod wheel doesn't make the sound crackle and pop.
- Sequencer Play button is large and in charge on iPhone screens too (not just iPad).
- In-song instruments are now known as Song Instruments (S.INST for short).
- Other little tweaks.
v1.1.2:
- The song loading list can now be sorted. Instruments too!
- Demo songs that are used in the YouTube tutorials.
- Little fixes here and there.
v1.1.1:
- Various fixes. Sorry, we're not perfect!
v1.1.0:
- We have a sequencer! Yes! Load the demo songs and check out the Sequencer section below. Each song has its own bank of instruments.
v1.0.67:
- Finally. MIDI is more stable and stuck notes almost never happen anymore!
About ANILOG Synthesizer
Thank you again for downloading ANILOG! This has been a labor of love for many years to try to bring something new into this world. There are so many great synthesizer choices out there, but I had a few design goals in mind:
- Mobile-first: No functionality is compromised on the smallest screens. It was built with the idea: the best synthesizer is the one you always have with you.
- Built for the stage: The UI is optimized for high-contrast low-light-friendly situations.
- Quick and responsive: Buttons and sliders instantly respond to you and tweaking sounds should not require "menu diving".
- Expressive: ANILOG heavily relies on keydown velocity to impart effects to the output levels and envelopes. With just a couple of sliders you can affect sharp attacks and long decays. Oh, also, many patches support aftertouch drag up/down for more modulation!
-
Opinionated engine: The engine has a number of "secret sauce"
shaping that goes on that gives it its character: the oscillator waves
are passed through a sine functions that produce perfect sine waves
and "rounded off" saw waves; note oscillators auto-taper off volume at
very low tones and above C8; higher notes are forcibly made more
sine-like to give smooth highs; the most saw you can have is 0.05 or
the most ramp is 0.95; noise is really more of a sample-and-hold/
granular effect, the note played can affect its pan position. - Shareable: The main storage format for all instruments and songs is a common web format called JSON. That makes it an "open source" format that you can inspect and share! Yes, you are encouraged to create your own tools and community to utilize these formats.
Thank you!
Big thanks to the many people who have been part of the production of this app:
- Hamilton at Harmonicdog, maker of the MultiTrack DAW
- Rob at Purple Cat Audio
- McKay at McKay Garner Music
- Mark, maker of the awesome DrumKick app
- Musician community of the San Francisco Electronic Music Meetup
- Musician community of the Silicon Valley Music Production Workshop
Pssst ... do you want to keep this help doc open while you use the app? You can open it in a web browser: www.seqmedia.com/anilog-help/
ANILOG is (c) copyright 2024 Sequence Mediaworks LLC