Audulus 4, the open-ended modular music app for macOS and iOS, is available now and just got a wonderful free add-on – a Buchla-inspired “A4 Ridiculously Complex Waveform Generator.” Check out round-trip Mac-to-mobile patching with a truly modern UI.
![Audulus 4, iOS and Mac modular, gets major update and Buchla-style complex oscillator 1 audulus](https://cdm.link/app/uploads/2022/12/audulus-1024x772.jpg)
Audulus is an unsung gem for Apple platforms – gorgeous, fluid, with multiple voices and full modulation of any parameter which ironically is something the skeuomorphic desktop apps generally can’t do. You can live-patch without pops, and all your patches live on iCloud so you can pick up patching between desktop and mobile – a win right there.
After a hiatus from major updates for a few years, this month it’s roared back to life with powerful new features in Audulus 4:
And holy crap:
– Full multitouch on iPadOS: Turn on performance mode and interact with multiple controls at once. Create multitouch performance surfaces.
– Custom UI for math expressions.
– Knob colors and icons.
– New UI nodes like sliders and X-Y pads.
– Modules can now be recursively exposed. Build front-panels out of other front panels.
– Improved search experience in the module browser.
– MIDI output via a MIDI Send node.
– You can pinch to zoom while dragging a connection or moving a module.
– AUv3 versions on both iPadOS and macOS.
– Canvas Node: Build custom user interfaces using the Lua programming language.
– GLSL Shader node: Make advanced shadertoy-style graphics.
Uh – what?
Wait, shaders, too?
Well, that explains what they’ve been up to. “Audulus 4 represents a massive step forward for Audulus, which required a tremendous re-working of the code,” Audulus developer Taylor Holliday says in a statement. “The user interface is now more pro while still being immediate and approachable.”
If you just want to play around with it, there’s also now a free version with the ability to run community-generated patches:
It’s then US$19.99 thereafter, but that buys you both desktop and mobile versions in a single license – nice!
Of course, those of us modular lovers just can’t get enough. And that seems to be the way the creator feels. This is a labor of love by someone named stschoen on the very active Audulus forum. (It’s a free download there.) They appear to be wearing a Stetson hat, too – power flex. And they were inspired by the excellent Software version of the excellent Buchla 259e which was inspired byt he original Buchla 259, so like I said – the more, the merrier.
We’re talking the heart of West Coast synthesis here – the “complex” oscillator is basically a single multifunctional oscillator with gobs of modulation to make beautifully messy waveforms with lots of harmonic complexity to please the ears.
And it’s a loose version, not an exact recreation – one that feels at home in the Audulus environment, with its own personality.
![Audulus 4, iOS and Mac modular, gets major update and Buchla-style complex oscillator 2](https://cdm.link/app/uploads/2022/12/complex.png)
This was inspired by Softube Modular’s virtual recreation of the Buchla 259e Twisted Waveform Generator. The original 259e hardware was a digital version of the all analog Buchla 259 Complex Waveform Generator and was wavetable based. Since Audulus doesn’t lend itself well to wavetable synthesis I decided to take a blended approach. This is not an attempt to clone either Buchla unit, but a complex oscillator in the same general style.
A4 Ridiculously Complex Waveform Generator
You know what else this needs? How about a Low Pass Gate to complete the West Coast vibe? Solved:
Polyphony? Yes.
You can copy-and paste these into Audiobus, too – nice:
There’s a ton of tutorials on their YouTube channel and plenty more where that came from in the forum.
Previously – Ashley Elsdon for CDM:
More on the app:
And the forum: