Pea Hicks of optigan.com and Stefan Stenzel of Waldorf present… iOptigan!
Now available in the iOS app store!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ioptigan/id1143470101?ls=1&mt=8
https://www.ioptigan.com
http://www.optigan.com
PLEASE NOTE: if you’re listening to this demo on a mobile device, you may have trouble hearing the keyboard part in the right channel, due to a YouTube quirk. For best results, please listen on a regular PC.
ALSO NOTE: The audio you hear at the beginning is actual live audio from the Optigan you see in the video, recorded direct at the time of the video recording. When the video cuts to iOptigan, that is a live recording from iOptigan, recorded direct at the time of the video recording.
The Optigan, short for Optical Organ, was a chord organ from the early 1970’s. It is remembered today for its unique system of sound reproduction using optical discs. These LP-sized film discs were optically encoded with 57 concentric tracks, which contained loops of musical combos playing chord patterns in different styles. Each disc contained a specific style of music (Bossa Nova, Big Band etc) which the user could control by pressing the chord buttons. Changing the discs was as simple as putting a new record on your turntable. Think of it as the 1972 version of GarageBand.
Despite this novel technology, the scratchy sound of the Optigan left a lot to be desired.
The iOptigan we present here truthfully recreates that lo-fi sound.
25 of the original 40 discs are included, the remaining 15 can be purchased individually or all together in the Complete Pak.
Specifications and Features:
• Disc loading rigth-side-up or upside-down
• Spring Reverb (virtual)
• Optical Metronome
• Audio Demo for each Disc
• MIDI in/out
• MIDI chord detection
• MIDI File Import
• Sequencer with Record and Playback
• Sharing for songs as Audio and MIDI File
• iTunes File Sharing
• Inter-App Audio
• Smart background audio
• Help overlay
• Headphone optimised stereo (optional)
• Radio Mode for Chord Buttons or Keyboard
• Comfortable speed control in semitones or BPM
This is a demo of iOptigan running on an iPad Air. The music is “Compressor / Expander” by Optiganally Yours, which is an old song that appeared on the album “Spotlight On Optiganally Yours.” The disc used is “Cha Cha Cha!”
