ZOA — Living MIDI Sequencer

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!

You tried the rest… now GET the best!! This is a must for all composers, experimenters and lovers of all types of electronic musics. After viewing how to set it up via various YouTube clips… I purchased it and after 5 minutes, I was straight down the rabbit-hole of glorious connected sequences and soundscapes… take the plunge… you certainly won’t regret it!

Just two days in and I’ve had this playing constantly Watching simple patterns explode into complexity or fall back into order is mesmerising Minor grip, sometimes the length slider becomes unresponsive, still five stars 👌😁

Love this sequencer and especially the new update of golden ratios.I would really like it if you could make the long press a bit easier to manage as it is quite tricky even with 2 fingers especially as the scroll feature always starts in the same place for choosing the options and the list disappears too quickly. Hope this makes sense! It would be better IMO to just have a scroll down that stays on screen! Cheers

It’s easy to use and works well in AUM. Some sequencers are confusing, this one isn’t.

Once again Apple lost my review, so here I am again trying to do the deed. Generative apps have come a long way, and for any new app to prosper it must live up to the quality of Piano Mottifs and Riffler (not to be confused with Riffer). Happily, ZOA is already off to a flying start, and well worth buying. It is easy to use, a whole lot of fun, versatile and has tonnes of potential. I would love to see a random/ programmable sustained note/ note length function added. The idea being that by chance or design certain notes could be held or extended. That for me would make it a five and half star app.

I love using this app to create hypnotic sound scapes to help me relax. I run it through AUM. Ryan’s tutorials on YT are very helpful.

Really fun and useful midi engine, yet as the cycles progress it has fewer and fewer motes and ends uo just playing two or threenecessitsting a grid reset. not horrid, but having to reset it egery few minutes is irritsting and diminishes this apps usefulness. i suspect its user error but havent figured out the solution

This is exactly what I’ve been wanting for quite some time, thank you! Instead of trying to describe the endless possibilities that ZOA offers, I strongly suggest to anyone that is looking for a generative ipad synth to take it for a ride through the Milky Way and beyond… you’ll be glad you did! Promote!!!

What I love about this is that you can use it to set up a complex and random melody for your next track, or you can set it, forget it, and just chill to the onboard synth playing in the background.