MODALapp requires Android version 6 and Kernel version 3.18 or above.
Google introduced official MIDI support in Android 6 (Marshmallow) and Kernel 3.18 - MODALapp relies on this feature to communicate with our devices.
Connecting a MODAL device to an Android device:
In order to connect a Modal device to an Android device, you will need an OTG (On-The-Go) adapter compatible with your devices’ USB port (Micro / USB C). Once the device is connected, you will need to ascertain whether your device has an “Enable OTG” or “Mount USB” setting. This varies between Android device manufacturers in terms of wording and location in the settings menu, but you may need to activate this setting or similar in order to enable USB Host connections. On some devices this setting will reset after 10 minutes of inactivity and need to be enabled again.
Note: In this setup, USB powered Modal devices such as CRAFTsynth 2.0 and SKULPTsynthesiser will be powered by your Android device; this may cause the battery to drain faster than usual. Battery drain can be reduced by using a powered USB hub between the Modal device and the Android device.
If your Android device is running version 6 or above but MODALapp isn't appearing in the Google Play Store:
The Android OS contains two key parts - the Android OS front end and the core Linux Kernel. USB MIDI support was introduced from Android 6 onwards but only for a Kernel version of 3.18 and above.
We have seen several devices where the Android version is 6 or above but the Kernel version is lower than the 3.18 required for USB OTG MIDI. The Play Store will detect this and prevent installation of MODALapp on devices with an incompatible Kernel. This article explains more details about this: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/51651/which-android-runs-which-linux-kernel
The way to check this is to go to ‘System Settings’ > ‘About Phone’, then click on the ‘Android Version’ Entry. Check the ‘Kernel Version’ number, if it is 3.18 or above then your device is running Android 6 or above and MODALapp should be available.