Best synths for iPad and tips for iOS musicians?

Master_Ascendant

@Littlewoodg Ohhh cool! ... Yeah, Idk. I got Gadget today.. I'm thinking of getting StudioMux but I'm not sure if Audiobus 3 will do something similar. ... I doubt it. I think I'll be getting Z3TA+ here in the future. I just have to get over that fear that it won't be supported in the near future and that I won't be able to use it anymore. I'll be salivating over that Z3TA for sure though.

[Deleted User]

@Master_Ascendant said:
I'm looking for tips on what synthesizer app I should buy and anything about or on music or being an iOS artist/ musician. I just got Cubasis, I have Magellan & iMPC Pro but I'm not sure what else I should get. I've really been looking at getting Z3TA+ but Cakewalk never seems to update their stuff. Any sugestions/ tips? I only have an iPad 2 but am looking forward to getting an iPad Pro second generation whenever they come out.

Ohhh and I'm looking forward to getting Audiobus 3. How about yourselves? Thank you everyone!!!

AudioBus 3 will not be compatible with your iPad 2 - it needs iOS 10.

Littlewoodg

@Master_Ascendant said:
@Littlewoodg Ohhh cool! ... Yeah, Idk. I got Gadget today.. I'm thinking of getting StudioMux but I'm not sure if Audiobus 3 will do something similar. ... I doubt it. I think I'll be getting Z3TA+ here in the future. I just have to get over that fear that it won't be supported in the near future and that I won't be able to use it anymore. I'll be salivating over that Z3TA for sure though.

There is that ? of continuing support, though on the immediate front Z3ta+ is not on the chopping block with Apples upcoming shift away from 32bit apps, it's already 64bit.

Master_Ascendant

@yug

Darn. Thank you, I figured as much.

Jaymon

@JohnnyGoodyear said:
There's a little known gem called Bebot, something like that. Very spiffy. Would enhance any man's wardrobe. There is a popular music song of the same name and this seems to be related to the Tagalog word. I believe the Bebot synth is from elsewhere and is robotic in nature, as synths will be. If I had to send a son of mine out into the world and wished him to have an amulet against ill-fortune (and if music apps were also in some way amulets) I would choose Bebot. I recommend it without reservation. Less than two dollars. And lucky.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bebot-robot-synth/id300309944?mt=8

telecharge

@Master_Ascendant If you dig Massive, it uses wavetable synthesis, so TozBourne and Littlewoodg gave some quality recommendations in that department, and of course, Gadget is a great all-arounder for different types of synthesis. Here's a link that might be helpful.

https://audiob.us/apps/search/wavetable

You can get a free feature-limited version of the PPG WaveGenerator app here.

PPG FREE - https://itunes.apple.com/app/id573843628

Here's another nice freebie (not wavetable) from Steinberg -- developer of Cubasis. No Audiobus, but works with IAA.

Nanologue - https://itunes.apple.com/app/id734323766

You might like the NLog line, too.

https://audiob.us/apps/search/nlog

Obviously, there are many great synth choices. Happy Hunting!

Master_Ascendant

@telecharge Cool, thank you!

[Deleted User]

Also check out iceGears synths. There are quite outstanding. Mersenne, Redshrike, Lorentz, Laplace, Argon, Cassini etc....

theconnactic

FabFilter Twin 2 and FabFilter One. Both are quite powerful and come free with Auria Pro.

Other sugestions would be iPolysixx and iMS-20, and perhaps Yonac Magellan and Model 15.

Master_Ascendant

Ohhh wow, I didn't know about that with Auria. I'm going to get it next time it goes on sale for sure. Thanks @theconnactic & thanks @Arpseechord.

[Deleted User]

@Master_Ascendant said:
Ohhh wow, I didn't know about that with Auria. I'm going to get it next time it goes on sale for sure. Thanks @theconnactic & thanks @Arpseechord.

Glad to help
IMini by Arturia is also a great investment and try Yamaha Synth Book( its a free download and is quite awesome!)

JohnnyGoodyear

We'll see you in a year. Get busy And if you get lonely (just you and all those synths) think about taking a stroll by The Song of the Month Club.

Master_Ascendant

@JohnnyGoodyear Hahahaha, I'll do that, thanks! And thank you @Arpseechord. I had never seen or heard of Synth book. Looks like fun.

[Deleted User]

@Master_Ascendant said:
Ohhh wow, I didn't know about that with Auria. I'm going to get it next time it goes on sale for sure. Thanks @theconnactic & thanks @Arpseechord.

You'll definitely need a much faster device for that

We are in the same boat: an iPad 2 and planning to upgrade soon. Currently, my favourite synth is Thor: very versatile, nice UI and very light on system resources. The other 2 I often use are Sunrizer and Korg iM1(can be used inside Gadget). Micrologue from Cubasis is also very nice. Sometimes I use Lorentz and Cassini from IceGear, synthQ and iMS-20.

There are dozens of other great sounding and looking synths (i.e. Animoog, iSem, iMini, DRC, Virsyn's synths and many more) but I decided to concentrate on those 3 mentioned above because they work really well on an iPad 2 and because I don't want to waste my time anymore on trying to learn every app I have and just want to get more stuff done.

Other apps I think are worth getting are ThumbJam and bismark bs-16i (soundfont player).

RedSkyLullaby

Layr is new one that is really good synth especially if you are in to sound design like you mentioned. Thor, nave, animoog are long standing ones that most people rate

Master_Ascendant

@yug said:

@Master_Ascendant said:
Ohhh wow, I didn't know about that with Auria. I'm going to get it next time it goes on sale for sure. Thanks @theconnactic & thanks @Arpseechord.

You'll definitely need a much faster device for that

We are in the same boat: an iPad 2 and planning to upgrade soon. Currently, my favourite synth is Thor: very versatile, nice UI and very light on system resources. The other 2 I often use are Sunrizer and Korg iM1(can be used inside Gadget). Micrologue from Cubasis is also very nice. Sometimes I use Lorentz and Cassini from IceGear, synthQ and iMS-20.

There are dozens of other great sounding and looking synths (i.e. Animoog, iSem, iMini, DRC, Virsyn's synths and many more) but I decided to concentrate on those 3 mentioned above because they work really well on an iPad 2 and because I don't want to waste my time anymore on trying to learn every app I have and just want to get more stuff done.

Other apps I think are worth getting are ThumbJam and bismark bs-16i (soundfont player).

Wow, cool! Yeah.. I don't want to waste my time either. That's why I came here. I feel so thankful to have stuff like this these days. You get good advice.. meet super cool people etc. very cool. Thanks!

Master_Ascendant

@RedSkyLullaby said:
Layr is new one that is really good synth especially if you are in to sound design like you mentioned. Thor, nave, animoog are long standing ones that most people rate

Sweet, Thanks. I'll take a look once I get a newer iPad for Layr. I'm sure I'll be getting the Animoog & Thor when I can. I'm still thinking about Nave though. It looks awesome. I feel like a lot of these are must haves in time for sure.

RedSkyLullaby

@Master_Ascendant said:

@RedSkyLullaby said:
Layr is new one that is really good synth especially if you are in to sound design like you mentioned. Thor, nave, animoog are long standing ones that most people rate

Sweet, Thanks. I'll take a look once I get a newer iPad for Layr. I'm sure I'll be getting the Animoog & Thor when I can. I'm still thinking about Nave though. It looks awesome. I feel like a lot of these are must haves in time for sure.

Nave, sunrizer, thor and magellan all work well on older ipads

Master_Ascendant

@RedSkyLullaby said:

@Master_Ascendant said:

@RedSkyLullaby said:
Layr is new one that is really good synth especially if you are in to sound design like you mentioned. Thor, nave, animoog are long standing ones that most people rate

Sweet, Thanks. I'll take a look once I get a newer iPad for Layr. I'm sure I'll be getting the Animoog & Thor when I can. I'm still thinking about Nave though. It looks awesome. I feel like a lot of these are must haves in time for sure.

Nave, sunrizer, thor and magellan all work well on older ipads

Awesome!!!!!!! Thanks RedSkull

[Deleted User]

By the way, Sunrizer is currently 50% off its regular price so don't wait until it's too late

UPDATE. Oops! Sorry, it's back to normal price. Though the app store description says it's 50% off

Master_Ascendant

@yug said:
By the way, Sunrizer is currently 50% off its regular price so don't wait until it's too late

UPDATE. Oops! Sorry, it's back to normal price. Though the app store description says it's 50% off

Yeah.. I just noticed that too. Bummer. Thanks @yug.

[Deleted User]

@Master_Ascendant said:

@yug said:
By the way, Sunrizer is currently 50% off its regular price so don't wait until it's too late

UPDATE. Oops! Sorry, it's back to normal price. Though the app store description says it's 50% off

Yeah.. I just noticed that too. Bummer. Thanks @yug.

Yep, too late I wanted to buy its iPhone version so that I'll be able run 2 Sunrizers at the same time but the sale is over. Well, the iPhone version is cheaper so I'll probably buy it at full price

Master_Ascendant

@Enkerli said:

@NoiseHorse said:
Best synth is like favorite flavor, most have presets and ways to adjust them (and save your new sounds) so it's a matter of which flavor of sounds appeal to your ears and what you want it to look like.

Agreed! Problem with that, though, is that it can be hard to figure out what a synth can do for you personally until you try it. Demos can help you get a first impression, but it’s really difficult to tell if you’ll have a good time creating the sounds you want to create.

At any rate, my personal list includes three apps which have been mentioned (Animoog, ThumbJam, and Gadget). With regards to the latter, been particularly pleased with iWavestation (but it clearly isn’t to everyone’s taste). Rediscovered Sunrizer, not too long ago, especially after getting more acquainted with subtractive synthesis in general. Same with NLog Pro. Rather pleased with the recent TF8, especially for its arpeggiator.

Kind of surprised nobody mentioned Model 15 (never tried it but people usually rave about it). Or the other synth powerhouses, like iVCS3.

One approach could be to try and have apps to cover all the major sound production methods (sampling and all the approaches to synthesis: Virtual Analog, FM, granular, physical modelling, additive…). In a way, that’s what Logic Pro X and/or MainStage can give you on macOS. Not so easy to cover everything on iOS. It’s one of my reason to enjoy Animoog and iWavestation so much. They sound so very different from all the analog synths (and few FM synths) out there!

Another approach could be to focus on all the other details besides the sounds those apps produce. It’s probably easier to get into synths with Sunrizer than with Gadget, for instance. And apps like GeoShred or Seaboard 5D help a lot in terms of expressiveness. ThumbJam is just a very neat way to get into iOS musicking, as it combines a long list of features with a very appropriate way to play on a (pressure-sensitive) touchscreen, and some rather serviceable sounds. In this sense, we could bring in AC Sabre which works rather well as a controller for synths on iOS or on the desktop.

Besides, part of the advice should probably be to not dismiss GarageBand until trying it. It can be surprisingly useful as a way to get into iOS musicking, even if it’s just for some SIN (Self-Indulgent Noodling).

That is so awesome, thank you @Enkerli.

Master_Ascendant

Ok... So. ... I've got [Cubasis, Garageband, ModStep (I won in a contest ), Final Touch, AudioShare, AudioBus, Gadget, Magellan, iMPC Pro, Oval Synth, TF7, Figure, Amos, DFX, Harmony Voice & MidiMux] ... I have a couple other apps e.g. Medly, Beatwave, Soundtrap, MusicMakerJam etc. but I haven't really gotten into them yet. I'm thinking of getting StudioMux but I'm not sure. It looks pretty cool.. to use your iPad & apps as a VST and be able to control your apps via your computer/midi devices is pretty cool. Idk. Anybody have any experience with it?

I have $25 to spend on whatever I'm just looking for the best thing to get. lol.

Thank you everyone for all the help. It's super cool!

I super wish Cakewalk would give Z3TA+ some love.

pierre

samplr, sector, egoist, effectrix, aum, fugue machine, thumbjam should be on your wishlist

[Deleted User]

Best tip! You have already some stuff. Stop collecting, start creating before you get lost. I was way more creative with less tools.
Learn your apps inside out.
But if you want, i say get Animoog and Mitosynth

Master_Ascendant

@pierre said:
samplr, sector, egoist, effectrix, aum, fugue machine, thumbjam should be on your wishlist

@Cib said:
Best tip! You have already some stuff. Stop collecting, start creating before you get lost. I was way more creative with less tools.
Learn your apps inside out.
But if you want, i say get Animoog and Mitosynth

Cool, thanks. Yeah. I do want Animoog for sure. Just going to try to wait for it to go on sale again before I do. I think it maybe one of the best. And @pierre I've been keeping my eye on the Sugar bytes stuff for a while now. It looks good.

telecharge

@Master_Ascendant said:
I super wish Cakewalk would give Z3TA+ some love.

I wouldn't hold your breath. They appear to have given up on iOS, so I can't recommend rewarding bad behavior.

If you're that enamored with Z3TA+, then maybe you should get Z3TA+ 2 for the desktop. I have it, and it gets regular updates. It happens to be on sale at the moment, too, but at $59 USD is still expensive compared to iOS.

http://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/4-Synth/562-Z3TA-2

@Cib said:
Best tip! You have already some stuff. Stop collecting, start creating before you get lost. I was way more creative with less tools.

Haha, or this...

db909

i don't see iKaossilator anywhere on that list.

Master_Ascendant

Awesome. Yeah.. I guess I kind of have some money burning a hole in my pocket. lol