Retronyms Phase84 Synthesizer Now Available On Android

I have some Android Synthesizer news. Retronyms Phase84, a phase distortion Synthesizer long time available on iOS, is now available from the Google Play store. I’m always somewhat skeptical about such new releases because you still know that Android is not the best mobile operating system for music making. The problem that is with Android devices is the long audio latency which makes it difficult to play properly with such instruments apps.

With this new release, Retronyms shows that developers are still trying to bring good sounding Synthesizers, known from the iOS world to the Android market. Very interesting to hear your feedbacks about this new Synthesizer available for Android. Especially on topics like the audio latency and how good is it playable. I hope I can test it on a newer Android device so I can give you also my feedback about it.

San Francisco, CA USA (July 5th, 2017) – Retronyms has expanded mobile app ecosystem to now include Google Play with the launch of Phase84 for Android. Previously only available on iOS in The App Store and Samsung Galaxy Apps Store, Phase84 is the first Retronyms music app on Google Play.

Phase84, a next generation phase distortion synthesizer, fuses gritty digital sounds with traditional analog punch. The app features over 110 presets, containing all sorts of basses, leads, pads, bell tones, sweeps, atmospheric sounds, pseudo-realistic tones, and more. Phase84 offers a multitude of unique features, such as the groove gate, a 16 step rhythm matrix with tweakable envelope, patterns, and tempo while in perform mode. Experienced synth tweakers will be thrilled at the sheer variety of unique sounds that can be produced with this incredibly versatile synth, as well as musicians exploring Phase84 for the first time.

Phase84 takes the basic phase distortion technique and supercharges it, giving musicians endless amounts of creative options. Phase84 author Louis Gorenfeld expands on this, saying, “The sound of Phase Distortion exists somewhere in the space between traditional analog subtractive synths like the Minimoog and Yamaha’s chilly plucky FM tones.”

Phase84’s roots date back to the 80s, with the wave shaping synthesis in Casio’s CZ line of digital synthesizers. “Casio’s resulting CZ synth line found use on albums from a diverse list of artists from Moby to Jean-Michel Jarre to They Might Be Giants,” explains Gorenfeld. With Phase84, users can customize their waveforms much more than on the original Casio CZs.

The app in particular can create warm pads, glitchy sounds, dirty basses, filthy sweeps, screaming leads, and anything in-between. For those familiar with the typical Moog-like synthesis, think of the “shaper” as being synonymous with “brightness” or “filter cutoff”. An organic semi-randomized unison mode helps it produce killer pads. The oscillators can be FM’d together for even more complex and rough tones, or phased using pulse-width modulation.

FEATURES:

More than 100 presets
USB MIDI controller support
Low-latency audio on both Samsung and non-Samsung devices
Advanced Keyboard section
Expressive Perform Mode with Groove Gate
Precision Knob mode
Preset saving in Standalone Mode
Phat, naturalistic unison feature for super thick pads and sweeps
Oscillator Section: 9 Params, 2 General-Purpose Oscillators, 1 Formant Oscillator
Mix Section: 8 Params including Delay Amount and Pulse Width
Envelope Section: Amplitude and Shaper Envelopes; fully visualized and interactive ADSR plus special Fade Param
Delay/Filter Section: Stereo delay with loss modeling and a punchy overdriven analog-style filter
3 LFOs: More flexible than your average LFO, this has 4 waveforms, optional delay and repeat count, and can go into the audible frequency range