Octal press kit

About Octal

In Octal, eight buttons each play a chord that fits the song, so every press sounds good. A bead under the other thumb bends and shapes the sound as you play, and a wheel of eight beads swaps between instruments: synths, drums, bass, and modelled strings, bars and flutes. Press record, play a few bars, and they loop. Layer another instrument on top, and in a few minutes there is a track.

Shut, iPhone Duo holds the whole instrument on its outer screen. Open it, and Octal becomes a loop station: the chord pad stays under your thumbs on one half, and the other half shows every track and instrument. Only on iPhone Duo can Octal show the track view and the synth pad at the same time.

Octal is made by one person. It is built in UIKit around Liquid Glass, with its own C++ synth engine.

Features

• Eight buttons, endless possibilities. Every button plays a chord that fits; nine scales change the mood.
• A track in minutes. Record a loop, layer up to eight instruments, and rewind through every take.
• Sing it, then play it. Record any sound with the microphone and play it back in key, or sing through the chords with the vocoder.
• Strings, bars and breath. Nylon guitar, upright bass, marimba, kalimba and flute, played by models of the real instruments.
• Made for iPhone Duo. The whole instrument on the outer screen; a loop station on the inner one.
• Out to your DAW (full version). A MIDI file and a stem for every instrument, MIDI out, and sounds of your own from the bead lab.

Facts

App

Octal: Pocket Synth

Developer

Goodhart

Released

October 15, 2026; iPhone Duo from its release on October 23

App Store

Octal: Pocket Synth

Platform

iPhone, iOS 26 or later; designed for iPhone Duo

Price

Free; the full version is a one-time $9.99 purchase. No subscription, no ads

Category

Music

Privacy

Collects no data

Press contact

[email protected]