Apps revolutionised music, bringing creative tools to people who didn’t have the space or money for physical hardware. Animoog Z takes things further: combining a 3D display with editable waveforms and a dynamic touchplate-style keyboard, this innovative, 16-voice polyphonic synthesizer couldn’t even exist in the real world! And it works as a stand-alone app or as a plug-in for GarageBand and Logic.

What we love: how anyone can use Animoog Z to create. Complete beginner? Select a preset and press a few keys to immerse yourself in electronic-music bliss. More of a pro? Dozens of familiar knobs and dials let you create and customise exciting new sounds. As you play, the app’s virtual display shows interactive 3D interpretations of your creations.

Quick tip: Experiment with the on-screen keyboard by clicking on different areas of a key to get various expressions of the current sound – clicking and holding a key and dragging up or down to change the sound as it plays; and using the Hold button to keep multiple notes playing. You can also use your Mac’s keyboard like a piano or connect a USB musical keyboard (enable it in Preferences > MIDI > Input).

Meet the creator: Engineer Cyril Lance and sound designer Drew Neumann imagined Animoog as a physical synthesizer that would display comets orbiting 3D paths; Moog released a 2D version in 2011 as the original Animoog for iPad. A decade later, more powerful hardware allowed the team to bring the idea into the third dimension, marrying classic Moog sounds with dazzling visuals and a unique, expressive keyboard.