ZOA — Living MIDI Sequencer App Reviews

The special feature of Zoa, compared to other generative sequencers, is that there are two layers. The upper layer is the Life, which selects a complex sequence of notes to use, and which evolves slowly. The lower layer is the playheads which dance different patterns through the selected notes. These create plenty of motion even if the Life pattern only updates every few bars. You can configure the playheads appropriate to different instrumental styles. I was able to create a credible-sounding j

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 enjoyed the app. Great soft music coming out. Also great to use on USB MIDI devices when testing! Very nice!

Please expand the grid to something more interesting; a 256x256 grid would be ideal. One would wish to explore “GOL Species” but realistically more than 80% of these won’t even fit on the available (limited in size) grid. Please do update this, it’s such a great idea limited by an arbitrarily small limitation (the grid size).

Wow. This app is so cool. I tried it out with Iconica Sketch and what a gas. My first tries would have had Bach & Beethoven rolling over in their graves, but after a while got the hang of it and can make some pretty amazing pieces with it. Cudos to Ryan. Great creation.

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!!!

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

Great tool to find a creative spark. Perfect for generative and/or ambient genre and can be used in other genres. Great developer… try his other stuff too.

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.

I really enjoy using this app to sequence up to 4 different apps inside a host, like AUM. It can send all the midi to one place or up to 4 individual places. I love semi-generative apps where you can set certain parameters, and let the app create some interesting things. This app is pretty intuitive, and easy to pick up right away. It’s not only fun, but it is capable of creating unique musical sequences that can repeat or evolve over time. Developer is responsive and open to suggestions as well

User defined scales, PLEASE,

This would be amazing if Midi Receive could also change other things like scale, range and the life settings. Please add CC controllable parameters. Thanks

Works very smoothly, brilliant design (like all of his apps - you can tell they are designed and deved by a musician who is going to use them himself). Buy all of his apps on iOS - they're all top notch.

Just like the Conway’s life sim, it eventually settles down to one or more simple oscillations and either stops or does the same, monotonous pattern/s. Not all that ‘musical.