Fingerlab BloopMachine is a glitchy TB-303 take for iOS and Mac

Fingerlab, the French developer behind the DM10 drum machine and the Musyc2 music playground, has released BloopMachine. It is a monophonic synth and sequencer for iOS and macOS, built around the sound of the TB-303 but pushed toward glitch and generative patterns.

According to Fingerlab, the instrument draws on the sound worlds of Aphex Twin, Autechre and Morton Subotnick. The company describes it as squelchy, alive and gloriously unpredictable.

A wavetable core with a dice

Unlike the original bass machine, BloopMachine has a wavetable oscillator feeding a resonant filter. Sliders cover oscillator shape, octave, decay, tone, phase and more.

Each section has a dice button that mutates its parameters on the spot. A generative bend function with chance and control is included. The whole synth engine can also be mutated as a single block.

Sequencer and effects

The step sequencer runs up to 32 steps and handles note, gate, octave and velocity data. It can also automate every parameter of the synth engine, which turns a simple bassline into an ever-shifting pattern.

Songs are built from 48 patterns, and a Song mode chains them on a timeline. Favourite settings can be saved as presets, and the result can be captured with real-time audio recording.

The multi-effects section has a ring modulator, distortion, chorus, delay and reverb. These parameters can be sequenced and mutated as well.

BloopMachine is a free download. The full version adds the complete effects section, all 48 patterns, Song mode, preset saving, audio export and undo, and costs $6.99 as an in-app purchase.

It runs standalone and as an AUv3 plugin on iOS and macOS, with native Apple Silicon support on the Mac.

Source: Fingerlab