5 essential iOS synth apps
As Apple’s iOS devices have become more and more powerful, the quality of mobile synths has kept pace, to the point that now plenty of iPhone and iPad music makers can now give their desktop counterparts a run for their money. Want to design cutting-edge synth patches on the go? Look no further than these must-have apps...
KV331 SYNTH MASTER ONE
1The little sibling of KV331’s classic SynthMaster, SynthMaster One uses a similar semi-modular wavetable format albeit with a simpler, easier-to-use interface. Compared to its desktop counterpart, the iOS version has just 16 voices of polyphony rather than 32, and the number of presets has been reduced to 500 from 800. Other than that, though, this is pretty much all the power of a desktop plugin in mobile format.
WALDORF NAVE
2One of the rare synths to begin life as an iOS instrument then make the jump to desktop, rather than the other way around, Nave is starting to show its age but it remains an essential app. Nave combines wavetable and virtual analogue synthesis and comes stuffed with wavetables from Waldorf’s back-catalogue of synths, including the Wave, Microwave and Blofeld, plus plenty of sounds of its own.
MOOG MODEL D
3The world is hardly short on Minimoog emulations, and even in the iOS realm there’s several to choose from. There’s no doubt that Moog’s official emulation is one of the most impressive and authentic though. The very fact that you can have this sort of convincing analogue emulation running on a phone – with four-note polyphony – is real testament to how far mobile synths have come.
KORG iWAVE STATION
4Korg’s Gadget workstation is an essential bundle for iOS music makers, but their standalone synths shouldn’t be overlooked either. This Wavestation recreation is our favourite. Effectively, this is an entire port of the original ’90s classic, with all of the original sounds and expansion cards included. The wave-sequencing view is a step-up from the original, and vector synthesis works great with a touchscreen.
ARTURIA iSEM
5Several of Arturia’s V Collection synths have made the jump over to iOS, and they’re all pretty strong. The iProphet is great, and iMini gives Moog’s Model D a run for its money. Our favourite is probably this Oberheim emulation though, which does an excellent job of capturing the rich, unwieldy sound of its analogue inspiration.