PATCH & SIGNAL CHAIN LOG
SynthPatch
Patches and signal chains, organized
A synth with no patch memory forgets everything the moment you move a fader. SynthPatch keeps a photo of the front panel against the sound it made, plus where the patch lives, what it is for, and how the studio was wired at the time.
$4.99 once, no subscription.
Android.
THE PROBLEM
Hand-drawn patch sheets are slow and inaccurate. A phone photo of the panel is instant, and it captures everything at once: every knob angle, every switch, every patch cable actually in the jack.
THE RECORD
Register the instrument once, then everything else hangs off it. The library is a flat list of patches you can search by name, tag or synth, and filter by category, synth or minimum star rating.
A SYNTH
Sound type comes from a fixed list — analog mono, analog poly, digital, FM, wavetable, modular system, sampler, drum machine. The colour tag is what makes a mixed library scannable: every patch carries a dot in its synth's colour.
A PATCH
Categories are fixed so the filter stays useful: Bass, Lead, Pad, Pluck, Drum, FX, Sequence, Drone, Other. Tags are yours — 808, warm, Vangelis-style, whatever you will actually search for six months from now.
THE SIGNAL CHAIN
Name a setup, drag the devices into the order the sound travels, and label what runs between them. Add a photo of the patchbay and the snapshot is complete. It is dated when you save it, so last month's rig is still there after you rebuild.
Devices in a chain
What runs between them
Each connection carries its own type and an optional cable label, and each type has its own colour on screen. A device in the chain can point at a synth you have registered, or be typed in loose for a pedal you have not.
GETTING IT BACK OUT
One JSON file with every synth, patch and snapshot, and the photo and audio bytes embedded inside it rather than referenced. It survives a reinstall or a new phone. Goes out through the normal share sheet.
Free
Patch, synth, category, rating, tags, stored at, notes — one row each, for a spreadsheet or an insurance list. Photos stay in the app; this is the index.
Free
One printable book per synth: a cover with the instrument, its type, its year and the patch count, then every patch grouped by category with its front-panel photo. It belongs on the studio wall.
Unlock
PRICING
Every install opens with fourteen days of the whole app, with no card. After that the free tier keeps working within its caps, and $4.99 removes them for good.
The caps only ever stop something new being added. Nothing already logged is hidden, locked or deleted, and you can still edit it, back it up and export the CSV.
Because on most analogue synths the panel is the patch. There is no memory to save to, so a photo of the knobs is the only complete record of a sound you found at two in the morning.
No. SynthPatch never connects to hardware. It stores the MIDI channel and your own routing notes as text, next to the photos.
Yes. Synths, patches, photos, audio notes and chain snapshots are all held on the phone. A connection is only used to serve the banner ad before you unlock.
One synth, ten patches and one signal-chain snapshot, plus the whole app free for fourteen days on install. Past the caps, new entries need the unlock, and everything already logged stays editable.
Yes, and without paying. The backup file is JSON with the photo and audio bytes embedded, so it survives a reinstall, and there is a CSV grid of every patch. The printable PDF patch book is the one export behind the unlock.
No. $4.99 once, and nothing renews.
Register the synth, take one photo of the panel, give it a name. That is the whole workflow, and it takes about twenty seconds.