Moog’s own “multisensory” synthesizer now has full Spatial Audio support so that the sound-producing comets you see in immersive mode can synthesize sound live in space. The app is exclusive to Apple Vision Pro and visionOS, but it could be a sign of things to come.
We’ve got plenty of immersive audio and specialization tools but not a lot of spatial synthesis. It’s rare to see a synthesizer architecture with specialization built in as an element. For this to be a core feature of the synthesizer, you really need an environment where the spatialization is always available as part of the platform. And that’s why Animoog Galaxy for visionOS is so interesting: this is an app that was built from the ground up to be “a multidimensional sonic, visual, and spatial” synth.
Animoog Galaxy 1.2.0, out today, adds that support for Spatial Audio. Animoog already has these animated comets that move around in space – a kind of fun, colorful take on envelope visualization. Now, the sound can follow those positions, adjusted to taste in settings (with controls over attenuation and spatialization amount).
Moog’s Geert Bevin tells CDM that those comets generate synthesized sound in real-time as you play. To tailor the experience, behind the scenes, they’ve created virtual speakers that trace the same shapes near your head so you get a full sense of immersion. (That’s familiar to anyone who works with spatial sound – you tend not to be entirely literal but achieve an effect by designing it how you expect to hear it.)
I think the only other commercially available end-user environment that delivers this at the moment – complete with mixed reality support and interactive synthesis – is PatchWorld on Meta Quest. That works a little differently in that all the sound sources in an interactive environment are spatialized, and of course, Meta’s immersive audio implementation is also distinct from Apple’s. But taken together, I think we have a really compelling proof of concept in spatial synths that you could interact with. (Spatial Symphony for visionOS does this with synthesis, too, but it’s nowhere near a complete synth like Animoog Galaxy is.)
In the long run, we could also see these concepts ported to other spatial listening tools, with or without the headset/visuals. There have already been experiments on iOS working with spatialized audio, for instance, using supported devices like Apple AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. See Portal, for instance.
For now, it’s great to see Moog experimenting in this space, especially given that the company got its start with the Theremin. Also in this update:
• Updated recorder to always record the stereo version, even if Spatial Audio is enabled.
• Added support for resizable volume in shared space.
• Re-implemented shared space preset browser to use ornaments.
• Tweaked immersion style limits.
• Adopted new highlight styles to make focused entities more obvious.
• Fixes for visionOS 2 behavioral and API changes.
More:
If this is a little too rich for your blood, fret not – Moog’s excellent software for the platforms you’re more likely to own is also on sale at the moment:
Moog software at Plugin Boutique
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