Pollisynth iPhone app is a mixed-media trip

After using it for days, I’m still not sure if Pollisynth would appeal more to musicians or photographers looking to get something more from their work. That’s not a bad thing, it just means that this photo-music app is fascinatingly hard to pin down.

The gist of Pollisynth is that it uses photos to create unique synth patches based on the color composition of the photo. With a handful of pictures uploaded to Facebook as a sort of built-in library, the crafty musician (or photographer!) can have an array of different sounds at their disposal.

Users can share their photos and thus, their custom sounds, easily via Facebook, SMS or email. Pollisynth then becomes a sort of digital repository for anyone creative enough to take advantage. But even people who don’t want to share their photos/sounds can enjoy the app on a solo basis. It’s pretty fun to just load a picture in and see what the app says it sounds like.

Anyone looking to do some serious photo editing or create full-blown songs out of Pollisynth is likely to be disappointed. The app’s aim is pretty specific in trying to open your mind up to the idea of images and sound being connected. That mission may not make for the most useful app, but it certainly makes for an interesting experience.

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