Mariana Bass Synthesizer

Once Again, Moog have knocked it out of the ballpark with this one. Something I have been missing on iOS for a long time is proper sounding sub bass, and as a result I collected a few apps promising to do it - Mariana has just replaced every single one. I’ve been surfing the presets and they sound brilliant, can’t wait to get digging into creating my own patches from scratch.

Horribly disappointing. Even though the App Store says it’s compatible with my 4th generation iPad mini, I get horrible static and drop outs. Unless I’m not running any other apps and set it to the lowest audio sample rate. I feel like I wasted my money.

Great synth overall. It is feature packed, works well with the other Moog iOS apps with regards to the virtual patching capabilities, and sounds amazing. I appreciate the inclusion of two synths and all the effects one could desire. The only quarrels I have are with MIDI and sync capabilities pertaining to the iPad version. I was bummed to see Mariana missing Ableton link, as well as the ability to recognize multiple MIDI inputs (like Animoog Z). I realize there is a desktop version and I own it, but I am use the iPad as an instrument feeding directly into my mixer. I found a workaround for using multiple MIDI inputs via MidiFire, but would really appreciate the ability to sync the standalone iOS version of Mariana to an external clock (Ableton, in my case).

I have been using all but the Model 15 for a while now, including the Mooger Fooger apps, Model D, and Animoog. Mariana is exceptional for me, because it didn’t break the bank to have a powerful bass synth. Eventually I may own a physical synth, but with Mariana’s interface and power house sounds, I may not ever need it. What I would love to see Moog come out with is a midi controller with all the knobs and keys that we would need for Animoog, Mariana, the Moogerfoogers, Model D, Model 15, etc. Then we would have the physical touch to work with. Maybe it could even be similar to a Sub 37 in form factor, or Animoog, with a placement for the ipad? Just food for thought.

Occasionally when running Mariana within AUM, the DSP meter will spike to 100% causing audio glitches and dropouts. In one instance AUM threw an error that said “bad signal” and stopped audio. This seems to happen when browsing certain presets or switching between the panels of the synth. I have never experienced this with other Moog apps. iPad Pro 2018 - iOS vers. 17.4

It won’t start on a 4th gen iPad Pro. Just shows the logo screen and then crashes. Anyone else have this problem?

This app sounds great. I haven’t really tried making my own patches yet and tbh it is a bit intimidating with all the modulation options, but there are a lot of super usable presets that come with it and I love the sound. One quibble: if you want Background Audio on for the standalone version, for some reason the app NEVER saves this setting. Not sure why… it’s really the only setting under Configuration I need to change so I tried changing a few others, closing the app and re-opening to see if it was an issue across all the settings… it’s not! It just won’t save Background Audio as on. Should be fixed. Another quibble: dang this is a very CPU-hungry synth. I run a 2018 iPad Pro so it’s not exactly the latest tech, but when I add an instance of Mariana in AUM or Loopy Pro, the DSP % goes up by like 30-40%… waaaaay more than any other synth I own (including the other Moogs). But it sounds so good!

Did not know about this until today. Glad Moog is on iPad and I’m digging it, will be stacking my sounds to achieve Parliament-Funkadelics, Roger Troutman, Bernie Worrel sounds! That’s also what Moog was famous for in the 70s-80s, so please keep that in mind and give us that funk in the future in update sound kits, and you will keep my business ✌🏿😎

I only wish it would drop the skeuomorphic UI. This is a modern pro tool, no need to simulate old hardware looks. At least give us a pro skin. Nevertheless, this thing is so musical, and fun to work with. Big big thanks to the team at Moog. <3

Over all this seems like an incredible synth, but there appears to be no way to use its native keyboard in AUM? It can obviously be played by other MPE capable midi plugins but that requires additional configuration and often idiosyncratic changes to the sound from the keyboard in the native app. Would be great to not only have access to the keyboard in resizable plugin window, but to be able to load it standalone as a midi processor. While using standalone the expressiveness of this synth is its greatest feature.