ModSynth Modular Synthesizer

Brian J Owings

In-app purchases

About this app

ModSynth is a powerful modular synthesizer allowing construction of complex polyphonic instruments. Connect any number of oscillators, filters, delays and other synthesizer modules in a graphical editor. Adjust the settings of each module while playing the instrument to get a desired sound. Save as many instruments or variants of an instrument as you'd like. Ten built-in instruments are provided to help you get started.

The free version contains the following modules:
- Keyboard
- Pad (for theremin and "scratching" effects)
- Oscillator
- Filter
- Envelope
- Mixer
- Amp
- LFO
- Sequencer
- Delay (echo)
- Output (with scope to see the sound)

In-app purchase the full version ($5 US) to expand polyphony (from 3 voices to 10), unlock advanced capabilities, and access these additional modules:
- Arpeggiator for sequential playing of the notes in a chord
- Melody for more complex sequences of notes
- MultiOsc for strings and other chorus sounds,
- Unison for more complex chorusing,
- Operator for building FM synthesis,
- PCM for sampled sounds (WAV and SF2 SoundFont files),
- Reverb for simulating room acoustics.
- Crusher for adding digital distortion.
- Compressor to combine all voices and even the sound levels
- Pan to direct sound to either left or right stereo channels.
- SpectralFilter to control the spectrum of a sound with a bank of 25 bandpass filters
- Function module allowing entry of an arithmetic expression for the module's function
The full version also provides the ability to record sounds to a WAV file.

ModSynth has support for external MIDI controllers such as keyboards or DAWs, including mapping of controls to CCs. It has low latency on devices supporting Android low latency. All oscillators are anti-aliased, providing low distortion at higher frequencies.

A guide to using ModSynth can be found at http://bjowings.weebly.com/modsynth.html .

A VST plugin is available to run ModSynth created instruments on VST hosts on Windows. See http://bjowings.weebly.com/modsynthvst.html for the free download and instructions.

Ratings and reviews

Fun! I've used it to play swoopy analog sounds live with the touchscreen. I can easily set it up to control pitch with the X axis and cutoff with the Y, just what I want, and it sounds great. Parameters could be better labeled: units like kHz, half-steps, etc. might help. In the case of pitches, where appropriate an actual note name (like "C4") would be more useful than just a number. I'd also love some way to backup and restore patches and share them between devices. Works perfectly on my pixel 2. On a Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 there are some latency problems.

The app has a user friendly interface for building your own synthesizer set ups. There's no ads or anything nagging you to upgrade to the paid version. Even without the paid version the app is well worth trying. I decided to upgrade so I could use the PCM module and was pleasantly surprised with how many extra features are added in the paid version.

For the discriminating synthesizer creator/player, this thing is very impressive and the sounds are excellent. I thought I had an issue with the output through headphones and the developer got right on it to resolve an issue I should have noticed (nothing to do with the app at all). Anyway, because you have to "patch" modules together to make noises/sounds/music, this may not be everyone' cup of tea (in which case I can highly recommend the developer's other app, Easy Synth), but, for me, most of the fun lies with experimenting on patching the various modules in different ways. And the sounds I have been able to create are insane in the best way possible.

What’s new

- Modernized recording save logic. (Note that this causes a new ModSynth folder to be created for new recordings.)
- Updated Google Play billing as required by Google.