PRETTY AMAZING APP
This is the app that made me go and buy Aum. Why? Because, I wanted to go beyond the basics and slot it in to other music apps to see what it could do. For me, ZOA hits on two fronts. Many years ago I had a Roland MC202 and I’d walk around the streets of Oxford with my sister and the MC202 and headphones, composing monophonic soundtracks to the cityscape we’d be walking through. ZOA is a little like that - I find it’s great to put on during odd moments when I’m out and about and want to be a bit creative. Finding a nice sequence that works well is great and then when you load in the other three play heads and you create something that gels, it can become almost magical. The in-built synth voices are very soothing. I use it during study moments while teaching, and get the kids to turn on or off playheads as and when. The second way I’ve used it is primarily with AUM. I love getting something together in AUM and then routing the playheads to different audio effects/units. It’s so much fun and I feel better about my level of creativity and involvement than just plonking down other people’s audio samples. Most of what I’d like to see different/ improved doesn’t really involve ZOA directly: 1) New audio for the tutorials on YouTube (current ones are very quiet) 2) I’d love a Windows version, so I could use it in Cubase (yeah, Ryan, I know what you’re going to say!) 3) Never thought I’d ask this, but I’d love more playheads - 8? Would love to try weaving 8 strands together. Those 3 points are really minor, though. If for some reason you’re reading this because you are wondering about whether to get this app - just do it, you won’t regret it. Don’t write many reviews but I’m writing this one because this app is just so fun to play with. Simplicity in form and function, creative, engaging, immersive. Beautiful!