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Comments
I’d have to go with Tera Pro as well. Great sounds and TONS of flexibility, but the UI just does not click with me and I get frustrated easy with it.
I love the smaller version that’s basically a preset player with a couple controls. I use that all the time 🤷♂️
Woodsynth as traditional ( hey @woodman hope you’re well man )
Or
Drambo obviously - it’s a DAW like ecosystem for midi based music/synthesis
Going a little OT...there are some pretty decent simple synths in FLSM. Also, NS2's Obsidian is a powerhouse synthesiser that's more complex than FLSM's synths, but still very user friendly.
As far as AUv3s go, I'd argue that Bleass' synths are powerful but also very user-friendly, or at least easy to wrap one's head around. Can't forget to mention Zeeon and Sunrizer by the talented Beepstreet, aka the creator of Drambo.
But yeah, I do like exploring a complex synth when I'm fresh out of musical ideas, just to see what sounds I can make it produce.
Agreed. The level of complexity is in your own hands.
My vote goes to ID700.
What’s FLSM? I read the whole thing thinking it was FRMS and was about to post agreeing with you that it presents itself very simply but is actually a deceptively deep and complex synth, but then realised you’d used a different combination of letters although two of them are the same but in a different order, so it must be similar
FLSM = FL Studio Mobile
Usuable: Tera Pro
Unusuable: Woodsynth
The interface drives me crazy. Which is a shame cause I think it’s one of the best sounding synths in iOS.
As rs2000 said.
Also I'll be learning FRMS soon. 😃
Still think best in combination of sound quality / complexity / UI friendly interface on iOS is Butter Synth ...
Also recently released Buzz Zone deserves intense attention - at first look simplistic UI with just few knobs, basically one-screen interface, hides really powerful excellently sounding synth engine with a tons of possibilities
I’ll use the term “complicated app” in a sense of how a musician would react the first time with the app. Imho.
The Tera Pro idea of connecting modules is brilliant and simple on paper, but the UI does not help you much to comprehend what’s the deal. So it’s complicated for a reason.
Drambo is also as complicated as *#@%, and it’s a miracle how people even work with it. It has the worst UNDO functionality in the history of music apps. (Even Paul doesn’t dare to go that far.)
Some of the FourPockets apps are impossible to use without memorizing the whole manual and coping with skewed logic.
And because of some divine punishment from life before, I use and love all those apps! Personally, after some time, I don’t even consider them complicated any more.
I understand term "complicated app" in a kind of similiar sense .. for me it doesn't speak abou complexity but just about how well is UI made .. even super complex deep synth may be easy to use if it has well designed user friendly interface..
And even relatively simple synth by it's structure, modulation capaibilities, can be super complicated to use in case it has horrible UI (SM2, almost all iLPX bundled synths).
So complicated app == app with badly designed UI.
Drambo is is super ultra deep app but it's UI is excellentny polished (even through i see space for minor improvements here and there), so i wouldn't say it's "complicated" .. same miRack ..
It’s the most optimal viewpoint, otherwise, it would be the IQ flexing games.
I’m glad you like dRambo, In my eyes, the UI is a mess and needs restructuring from the ground up. And I still think that dRambo is the most brilliant representation of anything modular on the iOS market.
Also – any app that exposes Pure Data
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Data
Aren’t Yamaha’s DX/FM synths beyond human understanding?
Sun Vox, Mirack, modular in general is a tough nut to crack, Buttersynth
For me, iVCS3. To be fair, it is so unscrutable to me I can’t say if it is more complicated than other synths I can grok, like Animoog.
It is only recently I could grok Drambo. IMO, it IS a complicated tool. But it has a number of cryptic UI interactions to get past to reach an “a ha” moment and have hope of grasping it.
I suppose I’m saying unintuitive does not equal complicated. But they are often in the same territory.
Hardware: Iridium is king
macOS’s or windows: phaseplant 2
iOS: Tera pro or Drambo…
My opinion only.of course
But if arturia releases a polyfreak/super freak then sh’t might go nuts
Good point. Doing sound design like "I have this specific sound in mind so let's make it" is still close to impossible even with most of today's FM synths.
Now I'm curious. How would you restructure it to make it work great for you?
Well, FM synthesis as such isn't that complicated - problem is that original Yamaha DX range had horrible UI - to control 6op FM synth with just buttons, one data slider and small display is insanity.. Korg OPsix is great .. knobs make huge difference ..
No, it isn't nearly impossible. Most people (including me) just don't put in the time to really learn FM Synthesis. Those that do are able to design sounds from scratch.
So how would you approximate an acoustic instrument?
I've done a lot of sound design in DX/FM7, FM8, Nord Modular, Drambo, Digitone, NFM, thor etc. and I like them for what they're best at.
I agree that designing FM sounds from scratch is a matter of practice but even when trying to recreate a specific sound looking at its spectra and transient attack, unless it's a typical FM'ish sound, I don't think that this can be done in reasonable time without using tools like trial-and-error genetic algorithms or tools using large enough machine-learned databases like the one on https://github.com/Sound2Synth/Sound2Synth
I can't answer the how-to question...as I stated, I haven't put in the time to properly learn it. But I know sound designers that are as efficient with FM synths as subtractive synths [I've had a few jobs where I was fortunate enough to meet some experienced sound designers]. Old school subtractive synths have a far narrower range of possibilities. So, they are easier to learn and you can pretty quickly determine whether a sound is do-able with the technology.
FM synthesis is more demanding in the sense that you have to put in a bunch more time to get the basics down than simple subtractive synths. But it is by no means nearly impossible to learn. The guys that came up with those great Yamaha DX7 presets weren't randomly lucking out.
I’ve spent some time lately wondering why I like Drambo and why or how I have stuck with it.
This relationship didn’t seem logical to me when I began reflecting, because I don’t have modular experience. I also consider myself to be a slow, but deep learner. Also, I get overwhelmed easily by choices.
I’ve concluded that only being on a small iPhone for the past several years is the primary reason. I have preferred it over Bleass’s easy UI as well.
Secondly, I’ve always felt intimidated by the Mod section of even simple subtractive synths. Mod matrixes worse so. I guess when all that shit is laid out in front of me, I feel it all needs to be used. But with Drambo, I add modules with intent. Especially modulators. I only add them if I hear a reason to add them, and I choose the modulator that makes most sense.
And finally, reverse engineering my favorite patch storage racks seem hard, but less hard than understanding a static synth preset, for me anyway.
Interesting thread. I just want to say most complicated often equals most rewarding
I can make this great for every dRambonaut, not just for myself. Because I don’t want to change dRambo, I want to clean up the mess, and I have solutions for most of the issues. Also, I won't talk about this stuff in a public forum without developer consent. Maybe some closed beta-testing place.
+1
Interesting point, I agree. Yamaha did try to make this process more intuitive and relatively easy with FM-X smart morphing, afaik.
It's not actually that complicated, you're right, but the fact that its (at least visually and through the gui) a 1 to 1 recreation of one of the first synths does make it a bit inscrutable. I think I know half the things it can do but even with that half it makes it such a powerful synth. I find it amazing that every single knob can have a separate, independent LFO attached to it. The patch bay is more to my liking than cables too, once you get into it.
I just need to learn everything on the second page. Cos that really is a mystery
I’ve been following this discussion with interest, and it strikes me that much of the “complicated” boils down to interfaces rather than internal complexity. Not all of it, by any means, but reading through again it seems the interface issues might be a combination of what people are used to, and how different people think. So some people take to Drambo like a duck to water because of no patch cables etc, whereas I find MiRack easier to grasp (not that I’m an expert by any means) because I can make and see the connections with cables. Likewise iVCS3’s matrix I find harder to work with than just plugging cables in (and I’m with @sevenape re the second page - here be dragons!). Fixed format synths with modulation matrices etc I find really hard to use for the same reason that I struggle with Drambo.
tl:dr - there is complexity under the hood, and there are interfaces that suit different people differently, which can make even simple architectures hard to use. Trouble is we’re all different, and what suits one person won’t suit another. Luckily we have a huge range of available tools, so hopefully everyone can eventually find what suits them.