Best synth app available! – Modular Synthesizer Review

UPDATED*** Just like the title says.. This really is the best synthesizer app currently on the App Store IMO. Not really for beginners but, could be pretty useful in learning modular subtractive synthesis concepts. It's very similar to Arturia's Moog Modular V and the sound is nearly as good. As others have mentioned, there is room for improvement. Connecting cables can be a pain and is a bit buggy. Different color patch cables would also be helpful. I like the idea of being able to stack patch cables but the mixer module usually solves that problem just fine till you run out of cabinet space. Being able to add/remove cabinet sections as needed would be nice. One other thing I'd really like to see in this app is a polyphony switch. Being that it's a virtual analog/software synth type thing, polyphonic capability shouldn't be out of the question. Plus, the delay module definitely needs the ability to sync to tempo just like the LFO can. I tried messing with the MIDI input of Modular using the output of the "Little MIDI Machine" app from Synthetic Bits and was somewhat disappointed. It did work... but, It seems there is considerable latency. Hopefully that will get sorted out. Aside from that stuff, I just wanna see more modules. Especially a sequencer module. This app definitely needs a native sequencer for sequencing simple note and/or CV patterns. Being able to select different "skins" for the modules either individually or as a whole would be a nice touch. UPDATE*** I don't know if it was intended to work this way or not, but... Out of curiosity to see if it would in fact work, I connected the output of the iPhone to a real hardware filter module and believe it or not, it actually works! Now, I know what some of you are thinking. "Of course it works dummy.. It's an ordinary audio signal!" No, that's not what I mean. Read on... First, I whipped up a very simple patch in Modular using a single oscillator, 1 VCA and an ADSR envelope. I then used the splitter module to split the voltage control output of the envelope into two separate outputs. I connected one of them to the voltage control of the software VCA and, the other one was connected to the on screen left main audio out. The VCA audio out was connected to the right side on screen main audio out. Now, using a cable that splits the 1/8" stereo out of the iPhone into 2 individual 1/4" cables, I connected the right side (the audio output from the VCA) to the audio input of a Tellun TLN-428 VCF module and, the left side that carried the envelope's voltage control output was connected to one of the frequency modulation (CV) inputs on the Tellun filter. After a couple of knob adjustments on the controls of the software modules and my hardware VCF, I crossed my fingers and struck a key on the screen. To my surprise, it worked...The CV of the envelope was actually controlling the hardware filter! I also did the same with one of the LFOs in Modular and had the same results. It didn't seem to work perfectly and I had to do some tweaking it but, I did work. There possibly wasn't quite enough amplitude on the control signal to fully open the filter but I think I might be able to mess with it more for better results. Again, I don't know if the developer intended the app to be used in such a way but, it pretty much blows my mind that you can actually use it in the same way you would use real hardware modules. All that for less than $10 once you've unlocked all of the modules in the bundle. You would be lucky to be able buy a single quality patch cable for that price! All in all... This app is incredible and, in my opinion worth 10X what you pay to get all of the modules unlocked. If you're into synths and, especially modular synths but don't have the $$$ it takes to put a proper modular together... What are you waiting for? GET THIS APP!
Review by Tel3tr0nn on Modular Synthesizer.