Dastgah Lab

Persian modal music sandbox

$7.99 · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.

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Explore the seven dastgahs of Persian classical music, compose phrases with microtonal tar, santur and ney, and build rhythms with real tombak and daf. Dastgah Lab is a hands-on workshop for the modal system of Persian classical music: the seven dastgahs of the Radif, their gushehs, and the microtonal pitches that give them their character. EXPLORE Pick a dastgah and see its scale on a contemplative arc. Tap or drag a finger across the notes to hear them, with each degree marked by its role: tonic (moteghayyer), shahed, ist and characteristic tones. Hear ornaments such as tahrir, chak-chak, grace notes and glissandi. COMPOSE Build phrases note by note on a piano roll, choose the instrument for each note or for the whole phrase, and add ornaments and dynamics. Send your phrase straight to the Sequencer. SEQUENCER A melodic view and a rhythmic view, with subdivisions down to 1/16, per-step velocity and ornaments. A Generator creates melodies and grooves that stay inside the chosen dastgah. A vertical mixer lets you balance and mute each layer, with a drone underneath. Start from more than 25 ready-made templates: traditional rhythms, accompaniments and melodies. INSTRUMENTS Tar and santur are modelled as plucked and struck strings, and the ney sustains for as long as you hold the note. Tombak and daf use real recorded strokes (dom, bak, riz, flam and more). THEORY Short illustrated articles on dastgahs, gushehs, tuning and rhythm, with tappable audio examples. AUv3 PLUG-IN Use Dastgah Lab inside GarageBand, AUM and other hosts as a tempo-synced sequence generator that outputs MIDI to your own instruments. NO ACCOUNT, NO ADS, NO TRACKING Everything runs on your device. Scale intervals are working approximations for study and composition, following Hormoz Farhat's "The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music". Tuning varies between performers and schools.

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    Information

    Seller
    Martin Adler
    Size
    6.4 MB
    Category
    Music
    Compatibility
    Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
    • iPhone
      Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
    • iPad
      Requires iPadOS 17.0 or later.
    • Mac
      Requires macOS 14.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
    • Apple Vision
      Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
    Languages
    English
    Age Rating
    4+
    Copyright
    © 2026 Martin Adler
  • Privacy Policy

    • Supports

    • Family Sharing

      Up to six family members can use this app with Family Sharing enabled.

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