Ova Synth User Manual

Ova Synth is an ambient polyphonic synthesizer for iPhone and iPad. You play a field of hexagonal notes with your fingers, or you let physics balls bounce through the field and play it for you. Where you touch a note changes its sound: the level, the stereo position, the pitch, the waveform and the brightness. Ova Synth runs as a standalone app and as an AUv3 instrument in your host app.

Overview

With Ova Synth you can:

• Play notes in a scale on a hexagonal field, with up to 10 notes at the same time.
• Shape each note with the position of your finger inside its hexagon.
• Add up to 10 bouncing balls that play the field on their own.
• Choose the key, the scale (110 scales), the octave range and one of 15 hexagonal note layouts.
• Shape the sound with a band-limited wavetable oscillator, a global ladder filter, long envelopes and a large stereo reverb.
• Play it from a MIDI or MPE controller, and send your touches out as MIDI notes and CCs.
• Save your sounds as presets, synced with iCloud.

Ova means "meadows" in Turkish. The app is made for slow, wide, evolving sounds: pads, drones, generative textures and long reverb tails.

Interface Overview

The screen has three parts:

Part	What it does
Field	The hexagonal notes. Touch them to play. The balls bounce here.
Knob strip	The sound and ball controls, in color groups. Scroll it sideways to see all knobs.
Toolbar	Presets, Key, Scale, Layout, Min and Max octave, Shuffle and Settings.

Knob groups

Color	Knobs
Orange	Wave, Detune
Purple	Cutoff, Resonance
Green	Attack, Release
Blue	Size, Decay, Depth (reverb)
Red	Level Mod, Pan Mod, Detune Mod, Wave Mod, Bright Mod
Magenta	Count, Speed, Variety, Size, Chance (balls)
Yellow	Grid
Orange	Master

Drag a knob up or down to change it (you can change the drag direction in Settings). The value shows in the middle of the knob. The Wave knob shows the current waveform instead of a number.

Toolbar

Control	What it does
Presets	Opens the preset browser.
Key	Opens the key picker: the root note and its accidental (♭, ♮, ♯).
Scale	Opens the scale picker, with a search field and a Favorites tab.
Layout	The hexagonal note layout. Tap to pick from a list, or drag to step through the layouts.
Min / Max	The lowest and the highest octave of the field (−1 to 8). Tap or drag.
Shuffle	Puts the notes of the field in a random order. Tap again to go back to the layout order.
Settings (gear)	Opens the settings.

On a narrow screen, the toolbar hides the items with the lowest priority first.

Getting Started

1. Touch a hexagon. A note plays while your finger stays on it, and it fades out with the Release time when you lift your finger.
2. Touch near the center of a hexagon, then near its edge. The center is louder and rings longer.
3. Slide your finger inside the hexagon. The pan, the pitch and the waveform follow your finger.
4. Slide across the field. Each hexagon you enter starts a note, and each hexagon you leave releases its note.
5. Turn the Count knob up. The balls start to bounce and play the notes they touch.
6. Open Presets and try the factory presets.

The tutorial in the standalone app shows each control on the live screen. Open it from Settings → Support → Tutorial.

The Field

Notes and layout

Each hexagon is one note. The Key, Scale, Min and Max octave and Layout set which notes are on the field and where they are. The Grid knob sets the size of the hexagons: a small grid packs more notes on the screen, a large grid has fewer, larger notes.

When a layout goes past the Max octave, the notes wrap back to the Min octave, so the field stays in your range.

Touch

A note starts when a finger (or a ball) enters a hexagon. It stays on while at least one finger or ball is inside, and it releases when the last one leaves. Each hexagon is its own voice: two hexagons with the same pitch play two voices.

While a note is on, Ova Synth reads four values from your finger, relative to the center of its hexagon:

Value	Range	Default sound target
Distance	center 0 … edge 1	Level (Level Mod), brightness (Bright Mod), release length
X	left … right of the center	Stereo pan (Pan Mod)
Y	top … bottom of the center	Pitch (Detune Mod)
Angle	the direction from the center	Waveform (Wave Mod)

The hexagon glows while it plays. The glow is stronger near the center.

Visual feedback

• A playing hexagon glows.
• A note that comes in from MIDI lights the hexagons with the same pitch.
• In the chromatic layouts (all layouts except Sequential), the notes that are not in your scale are dimmed. You can still play them.

Expression and Modulation

The red knobs set how much each touch value changes the sound. At 0% a value has no effect.

Knob	Host name	What it does
Level Mod	Level Mod	Center is louder, edge is quieter. At 100%, the center is two times louder than a neutral touch and the edge is silent. Default 30%.
Pan Mod	Pan Mod	Left of the center pans left, right of the center pans right. At 100%, the edge of the hexagon pans fully. Default 50%.
Detune Mod	Detune Mod	The vertical position bends the pitch: above the center is lower, below the center is higher. At 100%, the edge reaches the full detune range (see Detune). Default 1%.
Wave Mod	Wave Mod	The angle of your finger moves the waveform forward from the Wave knob. The effect is zero to the right of the center and full to the left. Default 10%.
Bright Mod	Bright Mod	The edge of the hexagon has fewer harmonics, and the center is the brightest. At 100%, the edge removes up to four octaves of harmonics. Default 0%.

The red knobs use a fine curve: most of the knob travel is for small amounts, which are the most musical.

Velocity

• Touch and balls: the velocity is 100% at the center of a hexagon and 50% at its edge. The touch level comes from Level Mod, not from the velocity. The velocity sets the release length (a center hit rings up to 25% longer) and the MIDI out velocity.
• MIDI input: the velocity sets the level (soft notes are quieter, with a curve) and the release length (from 75% to 125% of the Release time).

Physics Balls

The balls bounce around the field and play each hexagon they touch, the same as a finger. The note plays while the ball is in the hexagon and releases when it leaves. The ball's position in the hexagon modulates the note, the same as a touch.

Knob	Host name	What it does
Count	Ball Count	The number of balls, 0 to 10. 0 stops the balls. Default 3.
Speed	Ball Speed	How fast the balls move. Default 5%.
Variety	Ball Speed Variety	Gives each ball a different speed around the Speed value. Default 0%.
Size	Ball Size	The size of the balls. Large balls touch more hexagons. Default 15%.
Chance	Ball Chance	The chance that a ball plays a hexagon when it enters it. At 50%, about half of the hits play. Default 100%.

You can also throw a ball: touch it and flick it in a direction.

Tips:

• Use a few slow balls and a long release for a slow, breathing texture.
• Lower Chance to make sparse patterns from many balls.
• The balls work best with the Sequential layout, where all notes are in the scale.

Sound Engine

field and MIDI notes → 10 voices → ladder filter → reverb → master → soft clip → out
each voice: wavetable oscillator → AR envelope → stereo pan

Oscillator

Knob	Host name	Range	What it does
Wave	Waveform	0–100%	Morphs smoothly through 9 waveforms. Default 50%.
Detune	Detune	±12 semitones	Shifts the pitch of all voices, in cents. Default 0.

The 9 waveforms, in the order of the Wave knob:

1. Sine: pure and soft.
2. Half Sine: the fundamental with even harmonics, warm.
3. Triangle: a soft, slightly brighter tone.
4. Even Harmonics: hollow and organ-like.
5. Saw: bright and full.
6. Square: hollow and woody.
7. Vowel: a sung "ah" sound.
8. Folded: a folded sine, with a metallic edge.
9. Noise Blend: a sine with air.

All waveforms have the same loudness, so a morph does not jump in level. The oscillator is band-limited: high notes stay clean, with no aliasing. Each voice also drifts slowly by a few cents, like an analog oscillator.

Detune tips:

• Tap the Detune title to type a value.
• Double-tap the Detune title to reset it to 0.
• Settings → Detune → Detune semitone range (±1, ±6 or ±12 semitones) sets the largest detune, for the knob and the Detune Mod together. Default ±12.

Filter

One global 4-pole ladder filter processes the sum of all voices.

Knob	Host name	Range	What it does
Cutoff	Cutoff	20 Hz – 20 kHz	The filter frequency. Lower values are darker. Default 1 kHz.
Resonance	Resonance	0–99%	A peak at the cutoff. Near the top, the filter starts to sing (self-oscillation). Default 10%.

Cutoff and resonance changes glide, so a fast sweep does not click.

Envelope

Each voice has an attack–release envelope. A note fades in with Attack while it is held, and fades out with Release after you lift your finger.

Knob	Host name	Range	Default
Attack	Attack	1 ms – 10 s	100 ms
Release	Release	0.1 s – 30 s	2 s

• The release starts from the current level. A short tap during a long attack fades out smoothly, with no click.
• At the Release time, the note is about 43 dB quieter. The quiet tail then fades out fully.
• A note keeps the Attack and Release times that were set when it started and when it was released.

Voices

Ova Synth plays up to 10 voices. When all voices are in use, a new note takes:

1. a free voice, or
2. the quietest voice that is fading out, or
3. the oldest voice.

A taken voice continues from its current level, so you do not hear a click.

Reverb

A large stereo reverb (an 8-line feedback delay network) is on the output of the filter.

Knob	Host name	What it does
Size	Reverb Size	The size of the space and the length of the tail: about 1 s at 0%, 5 s at 50% and 30 s at 100%. Default 50%.
Decay	Reverb Damp	The brightness of the tail. Higher values make a darker, softer tail. Default 30%.
Depth	Reverb Depth	The balance of the dry sound and the reverb. Default 20%.

Size changes glide, so you can turn it while notes play.

Output

Knob	Host name	Range	What it does
Master	Master Level	−inf to +6 dB	The output level. Default about −2 dB.

A soft clip on the output keeps loud chords from hard clipping.

Keys, Scales and Layouts

Key

The key picker has two wheels: the root note (C to B) and the accidental (♭, ♮, ♯).

Scale

The scale picker has 110 scales, with a search field. Tap the star on a scale to add it to the Favorites tab. Your custom scales from BrainBud show in the list too. The favorites and the custom scales are shared with the other Bud apps on your device.

BrainBud: a MIDI program change 69 from BrainBud loads the key and the scale that BrainBud shares.

Octave range

Min and Max set the lowest and the highest octave of the field, from −1 to 8. Default 2 to 4.

Layouts

The Layout sets how the notes go across the hexagonal grid. Sequential uses only the notes of your scale. The other 14 layouts are chromatic and isomorphic: an interval has the same shape everywhere on the grid, so a chord shape works in all keys.

Layout	To the right	Up	Good for
Sequential	next scale note	—	Scale playing, balls, beginners
Harmonic Table	+4 (major third)	+7 (fifth)	Chords as triangles
Wicki-Hayden	+2 (whole tone)	+7 (fifth)	Melody and harmony, transposing
Gerhard	+1 (semitone)	+3 (minor third)	Compact chromatic harmony
Jankó	+2 (whole tone)	+1 (semitone)	Chromatic runs, small hand spans
Park	+2 (whole tone)	+3 (minor third)	Clear scale shapes, learning
Euler/Tonnetz	+4 (major third)	+3 (minor third)	Triads, voice leading
Array Mbira	+2 (whole tone)	+5 (fourth)	Jazz and fourths
Inverted Array Mbira	+5 (fourth)	+2 (whole tone)	Circle of fourths
Bosanquet	+1 (semitone)	+7 (fifth)	Historic generalized keyboard
Dual Fifths	+5 (fourth)	+7 (fifth)	Quartal and quintal harmony
Inverted Tonnetz	+3 (minor third)	+4 (major third)	Another view of the Tonnetz
Transclado	+1 (semitone)	+5 (fourth)	Compact chromatic with fourths
Thirds & Fourths	+3 (minor third)	+5 (fourth)	Sus chords, modal harmony
Major Thirds Chromatic	+1 (semitone)	+4 (major third)	Augmented and symmetric scales

The values are in semitones. In the chromatic layouts, the notes that are not in the scale are dimmed. The balls play all notes, so a chromatic layout with balls can sound dissonant.

Presets

Tap Presets to open the preset browser. It has two tabs:

• Factory Presets: 23 sounds that come with the app.
• User Presets: your sounds.

Tap a preset to load it. A preset stores all sound, modulation, ball and field settings: the key, the scale, the octaves, the layout, the grid size and the shuffle. A preset does not change your MIDI settings (channels, MPE and CC numbers).

Factory presets

Default, Aetherial, Crystal Caves, Deep Space, Orbital Dance, Chaos Theory, Minimalist Drone, Pentatonic Rain, Dorian Dreams, Chromatic Fog, Harmonic Geometry, Jazz Circles, Chromatic Cascade, Melodic Flow, Neo-Riemannian, Quartal Harmony, Compact Chords, Educational Patterns, Inverted Space, Circle of Fourths, Bosanquet Classic, Transclado Experiment, Thirds & Fourths Fusion.

The factory presets are tuned for the current sound engine. The layout presets (from Harmonic Geometry on) show the different layouts.

User presets

• Save: in the User Presets tab, save the current sound and type a name.
• Swipe a user preset to see Delete, Rename and Overwrite (overwrite replaces the preset with the current sound and keeps its name).

When iCloud is on, your user presets are in iCloud and sync between your devices. When iCloud is not available, the presets stay on the device. The app and the AUv3 plugin use the same user presets. The preset files use the .ova extension. Presets from older versions of Ova Synth load correctly.

MIDI and MPE

MIDI input

Message	What it does
Note On / Note Off	Plays a voice at that pitch. The velocity sets the level and the release length.
Pitch Bend	Bends the notes of that channel: ±2 semitones, or ±48 semitones in MPE mode.
Channel Pressure	More pressure is like a touch nearer the center (louder, brighter with Bright Mod).
CC 74	The angle: moves the waveform (Wave Mod).
CC 88	The X position: the pan (Pan Mod).
CC 64	Sustain pedal.
CC 120, CC 123	Releases all notes.
Program Change 69	Loads the BrainBud key and scale.

• MIDI Input Channel: Omni (all channels, the default) or one channel from 1 to 16.
• MPE mode: Ova Synth listens on all channels. Each note has its own pitch bend, pressure and CC 74, so an MPE controller can shape each note on its own.
• A MIDI note and a touch on the same pitch are two voices. One does not stop the other.
• Pressure, CC 74 and CC 88 change the notes on the channel of the message.

MIDI notes play the synth directly, at their own pitch. They do not have to be on the field.

MIDI output

The field (your touches and the balls) sends MIDI out:

Event	Message
A note starts	Note On. The velocity is 63 at the edge of a hexagon and 127 at its center.
A note moves	Four CCs: Distance, X, Y and Angle (each 0–127).
A note ends	Note Off.

• The default CC numbers are Distance 1, X 2, Y 3, Angle 4. Change them in Settings → MIDI CC.
• MIDI Output Channel: 1 to 16. Default 1.
• MPE mode: each note gets its own channel (2 to 16), and its four CCs go on that channel. The notes and their expression stay separate in an MPE synth.
• Only the field sends MIDI out. Notes from MIDI input do not go to the MIDI output.

Panic

MIDI Panic (in Settings) stops all voices, sends a Note Off for each held MIDI out note, and sends CC 123 (all notes off).

Standalone App

MIDI ports

The standalone app has two virtual MIDI ports: Ova Synth In and Ova Synth Out. Other apps can send MIDI to Ova Synth and receive its MIDI through them.

In Settings:

• MIDI In: turn on the inputs you want to play Ova Synth from, and the virtual input.
• MIDI Out: turn on the outputs you want to send to, and the virtual output.
• Bluetooth MIDI: connect a Bluetooth MIDI device.
• MIDI Panic: stop all notes.

The app remembers the ports you turn on.

Audio

The standalone app plays at the sample rate of your audio output.

AUv3 Plugin

Ova Synth is an AUv3 instrument. In your host, find it as Ova Synth by Cem Olcay.

• Automation: all 28 parameters are automatable, with the host names in the tables of this manual (for example Cutoff, Reverb Size, Ball Count, Key, Scale and Grid Layout).
• Factory presets: the 23 factory presets show in the host's preset list. The preset browser in the plugin shows them too, with your user presets.
• State: the host saves the full state of Ova Synth with your project, with your MIDI settings. Projects that you saved with older versions of Ova Synth load with their settings.
• MIDI input: play Ova Synth from the host's MIDI tracks or from a controller routed by the host. The timing is sample-accurate.
• MIDI output: Ova Synth has a MIDI output named Ova Synth. Route it in your host to record the field or to play another instrument.
• More instances: each instance has its own sound, field and balls.
• Plugin window: the plugin view resizes to the host window.

The balls move only while the plugin window is open. When you close the window, the balls stop, but held notes and MIDI notes continue. The tutorial is available in the standalone app only.

Settings

Tap the gear in the toolbar.

Section	Rows
MIDI In / MIDI Out (standalone app)	MIDI ports, the virtual ports, Bluetooth MIDI, MIDI Panic
MIDI Channel	MPE Mode; MIDI Input Channel (Omni, 1–16) and MIDI Output Channel (1–16) when MPE is off; MIDI Panic
MIDI CC	Distance, X Position, Y Position and Angle CC Number (1–127)
Scale	Scale, Key, Min Octave, Max Octave
Hex Layout	Algorithm
Detune	Detune semitone range: ±1, ±6 or ±12 semitones
Knob	Knob Control Style: Vertical, Horizontal, Vertical Coarse - Horizontal Fine, Vertical Fine - Horizontal Coarse, Vertical Coarse - Horizontal Coarse, Rotary
Support	Tutorial, Manual, Review, Other Apps, Feedback

Tips and Starting Points

• Slow pad: Attack 2–4 s, Release 8–15 s, Size 60–80%, Depth 40–60%, Cutoff 1–3 kHz. Play slow chords near the center of the hexagons.
• Generative garden: 3–5 balls, Speed 5–10%, Variety 30–50%, Chance 50–70%, Sequential layout, a pentatonic scale.
• Expressive lead: Level Mod 40%, Bright Mod 50%, Wave Mod 20–40%. Move your finger from the edge to the center while a note plays.
• Wide stereo: Pan Mod 80–100%. Touch on the left or the right side of the hexagons.
• Drone: Count 0, Release 20–30 s, Size 100%, Resonance 50–70%. Hold two or three low notes.
• Detuned shimmer: Detune Mod 5–10% with a ±1 semitone detune range gives a slow, chorus-like movement.

Troubleshooting

No sound

• Turn up Master and check the volume of your device.
• Turn up Cutoff. At a very low cutoff the filter removes most of the sound.
• If Level Mod is high, touch nearer the center of the hexagons. At 100%, the edge is silent.
• In a host, check that the track is armed or monitored.

No sound from a MIDI controller

• Check the MIDI Input Channel. Omni accepts all channels.
• In the standalone app, turn on the controller's port in Settings → MIDI In.
• In a host, route the controller or the MIDI track to Ova Synth.

No MIDI output

• Only the field sends MIDI out. Notes from MIDI input are not sent.
• In the standalone app, turn on the output in Settings → MIDI Out, or use the Ova Synth Out virtual port.
• In a host, route the Ova Synth MIDI output to a track or an instrument.
• Check that the receiving instrument listens on the MIDI Output Channel (or on all channels in MPE mode).

Stuck notes

• Use Settings → MIDI Panic.
• A note with a long Release can sound like a stuck note. Lower Release or Size.

The balls do not play

• Turn up Count and Speed, and check that Chance is not 0%.
• In a host, open the plugin window. The balls stop when the window is closed.

Notes stop while I change the Grid

• Changing the Grid knob rebuilds the field and releases the playing notes. This is normal.

Wrong or dissonant notes

• Check the Key, the Scale and the Layout. The chromatic layouts have all 12 notes. Use Sequential for scale notes only.

A preset changed my scale or layout

• A preset stores the key, the scale, the octaves and the layout. Change them after you load the preset, then save it as a user preset.

User presets do not show on my other device

• Check that iCloud Drive is on for Ova Synth on both devices. The sync can take some time.

The plugin does not show in my host

• Open the standalone app once after you install or update it, then rescan the plugins in your host.

Links

• Ova Synth Website
• Ova Synth on the App Store
• All Cem Olcay Apps

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Fun fact: Ova means meadows in Turkish :)