I just got a Microbrute. Anything I should know from an iOS perspective?

oat_phipps

@StormJH1 said:

I may end up with the MicroBrute again some day, though if I go in that direction, the Korg Minilogue for another $200 may make a lot more sense. But the question from an iOS perspective, for me anyway, is whether the experience and sound quality of the hardware synths is "better enough" to justify the extra work to run it through an interface and recapture the audio with an iOS DAW. Is doing all of that qualitatively better than simply finding a good iOS synth and recording using AudioBus and a MIDI Keyboard? Probably not. But I totally admit that there's something much more enjoyable working with hardware knobs versus tweaking in iOS - similar to how I tend to prefer actual guitar amps and pedals over the iOS apps (despite the latter offering far more value and tonal flexibility).

My story is similar to yours. iOS opened up my curiosity for synthesizers and the basics of programming them. So about 6 months ago, I was in the market for a cheap synthesizer. Although bummed to find out the prohibitive costs of a poly synth (the Minilogue was not on the map), I had all but settled on a Microbrute, figuring I could at least get good synth bass out of it.

Then I stumbled upon an '81 Moog Rogue at a local (podunk town) music store that had just been sitting there for 34 years. Worked perfectly. Bought it for a cool $450. Despite it being the 'budget' Moog, it still has that classic sound.

So 6 months later, I can't compare any iOS synth to it for actual recording purposes. It is truly limited in comparison to all of the great iOS synths, but NOTHING compares to the 'real' sound of it. Having the weight of a real piece of hardware and knobs to tweak and a real keyboard just makes me feel more connected to the instrument. MIDI ccing all the knobs on my controller just isn't the same.

A bit of a selfish, tangential post, but I will say good choice with the MicroBrute, and I do recommend the BruteLFO iPhone app. It's the almost-perfect low-cost synth for playing and programming education.

Seangarland

@oat_phipps said:

@StormJH1 said:

I may end up with the MicroBrute again some day, though if I go in that direction, the Korg Minilogue for another $200 may make a lot more sense. But the question from an iOS perspective, for me anyway, is whether the experience and sound quality of the hardware synths is "better enough" to justify the extra work to run it through an interface and recapture the audio with an iOS DAW. Is doing all of that qualitatively better than simply finding a good iOS synth and recording using AudioBus and a MIDI Keyboard? Probably not. But I totally admit that there's something much more enjoyable working with hardware knobs versus tweaking in iOS - similar to how I tend to prefer actual guitar amps and pedals over the iOS apps (despite the latter offering far more value and tonal flexibility).

My story is similar to yours. iOS opened up my curiosity for synthesizers and the basics of programming them. So about 6 months ago, I was in the market for a cheap synthesizer. Although bummed to find out the prohibitive costs of a poly synth (the Minilogue was not on the map), I had all but settled on a Microbrute, figuring I could at least get good synth bass out of it.

Then I stumbled upon an '81 Moog Rogue at a local (podunk town) music store that had just been sitting there for 34 years. Worked perfectly. Bought it for a cool $450. Despite it being the 'budget' Moog, it still has that classic sound.

So 6 months later, I can't compare any iOS synth to it for actual recording purposes. It is truly limited in comparison to all of the great iOS synths, but NOTHING compares to the 'real' sound of it. Having the weight of a real piece of hardware and knobs to tweak and a real keyboard just makes me feel more connected to the instrument. MIDI ccing all the knobs on my controller just isn't the same.

A bit of a selfish, tangential post, but I will say good choice with the MicroBrute, and I do recommend the BruteLFO iPhone app. It's the almost-perfect low-cost synth for playing and programming education.

Same here. I got into this mess through iOS apps. But, I value the best of both worlds approach. For instance, I'll obviously never own a real VCS3, but the iVCS3 app is an amazing recreation, and is worth 5x what I paid for it. On the flip side, if KORG released a Volca Sample iOS app, I wouldn't be interested because I love twiddling the knobs on the real thing, and that tactile experience is what makes it such a great device.

dokwok2

@Seangarland said:
I got into this mess through iOS apps.

Me too.