Rob Jackson ANALOGY8 is a new 3-oscillator virtual analog wavefolding Synthesizer app and AUv3 plugin for iPadOS and macOS.
In recent months, developer Rob Jackson has released several high-quality, affordable synthesizers and effects plugins that run on both iOS and macOS.
I like that these are designed with simplicity in mind, which makes them very beginner-friendly. For its new Synthesizer app ANALOGY8, Rob Jackson has adopted a much more classic synth design.
Rob Jackson ANALOGY8
ANALOGY8 is a new 8-voice polyphonic virtual-analog synthesizer for iPadOS and macOS.
No sliders this time, but knobs. The new Rob Jackson ANALOY8 app’s design is a knob lover’s dream. A welcome change from his usual slider design.
ANALOGY is a classic subtractive synth with some neat additions. Three multi-wave oscillators form the foundation of the synth with classic shape, tune, shift, and mix controls, available on the second interface tab.
Each oscillator also features a wave folder with which you can enrich it with harmonics. In the middle, you have a noise generator with color and a mix control.
An unusual but interesting addition to a VA synth is the four independent, fully tweakable amplitude envelopes with velocity for each oscillator and the noise.
One step forward, you reach the filter section that consists of two independent multimode ladder filters per voice. In the middle, you can set the filter routing to specify which filters the oscillator should go to.
Alternatively, you can bypass the filter stage completely. Two and four-pole configurations are available with lowpass, bandpass, and highpass options. Plus, they have a built-in drive/saturation.
Classic controls like cutoff, resonance, drive, and velocity give you full tweakability. Each filter also features a dedicated filter ADSR envelope.
Modulation & Shaping
Oscillators + noise have four envelopes, and filters have two, which makes six according to simple arithmetic. Well, that’s not all.
Alongside these, Rob Jackson ANALOGY8 also features four independent modulation sources per voice. Each comprises a variable shape syncable LFO with its own ASR envelope and a unique analog-style drifting option.
If you don’t need the LFO, you can turn it off and use the ASR in the traditional way. Modulation sources can be assigned to 22 voice parameters, and one mod source per parameter.
For example, mod source 3 could be assigned to the pitch of oscillator 2 and the cutoff of filter 1, and so on. Because it’s voice-based and not global, it allows for very expressive, evolving sounds that can change with every note press.
Further, ANALOGY8 features a multi-FX processor with a syncable analog-style delay, a reverb, and a compressor/limiter. The app ships with various ready-to-use presets.
First Impression
ANALOGY8 is, at first glance, a very impressive virtual-analog Synthesizer for iPadOS. It’s Rob Jackson’s most comprehensive synth app to date.
The nice extras like wavefolding per oscillator or envelopes almost everywhere make the synth exciting, even though it’s just another classic VA synth
Rob Jackson ANALOGY8 is available now for £ 7,99/8,99 €. It runs as an AUv3 plugin on iPadOS and macOS. The macOS version is still in development and will be released as a free update.
More information here: Rob Jackson /Apple App Store
Howdy – many thanks for the review, much appreciated!
Regarding macOS, the development is actually done, it’s just awaiting approval from Apple. Hopefully soon…
Also, currently in the midst of doing some UI scaling tweaks so an iPhone version will also be availble before too long. Again, all included as part of the Universal Purchase.
Cheers, -Rob
Congratulations to Rob for an app that produces such inspiring kind of sounds. Thank you very much.
Hi Folks, just a little update to let you know that the macOS version is now available – at last! It’s a Universal Purchase, so if you already have the iOS version, the macOS version is included. The App Store will look like it’s going to charge you, but at the final confirmation stage, it will say you already own it 😉
Cheers, -Rob