In the year or so since its release, Audiobus has essentially revolutionized the iPad music scene; even influencing Apple to add Inter App Audio in iOS 7. This week saw the first major update to Audiobus, and the new features make this the app a must for any musician involved in beatmaking and recording on […]
Review: microTera — Waveshaping the iPad Synth World
April 3, 2014 by
VirSyn’s microTera is an excellent iPad synth app that offers its own take on the world of iPad sound creation. Essentially a smaller version of the miniTera desktop softsynth, which I used on Church of Hed’s Rivers of Asphalt album (“Painted Desert and Mountain Sky“), microTera features an intuitive interface with a unique and powerful […]
Korg Gadget — Reviewing the Drum Modules
March 26, 2014 by
Korg’s “studio-in-a-tablet” app, Gadget, continues to amaze with its intuitive interface and versatile collection of sound-producing “gadgets.” We previously gave Gadget a positive review, and also took a closer look at one half of its synth collection followed by the other half. What follows in this article is a more detailed analysis of Gadget’s three […]
Review: Stroke Machine Attacks the iPad Drum Machine Scene
March 19, 2014 by
When I reviewed Waldorf’s excellent Nave iPad synth app, I remarked that the company needs to release an iOS version of its very cool Attack drum machine plug-in. Stroke Machine, created by former Waldorf man, Wolfram Franke, is just that app. A very detailed and powerful beatmaker with a host of interesting features — including […]
Review: Z3TA+ is a Cakewalk among iPad Synth Apps
March 12, 2014 by
First earning fame as a plug-in for Cakewalk’s Sonar DAW software, Z3TA+ recently saw its debut on the iOS platform. This incredibly deep synthesizer immediately becomes one the most powerful music apps on the iPad. Featuring a robust synth architecture and a ton of useful features, Z3TA+ is a must get for the iOS musician. […]
Korg Gadget: Reviewing the Synths — Part 1
March 6, 2014 by
Korg’s recent release of Gadget gives iPad musicians something similar to Propellerhead Reason on a tablet computer. Last week’s Gadget update added support for Audiobus. With 15 different gadgets — each essentially the equivalent of a separate iPad synth app — the amount of sonic possibilities can get overwhelming. With that in mind, let’s take […]
Review: Korg Gadget gives Reason to iPad Beatmaking
February 25, 2014 by
Korg’s new Gadget app for the iPad is a fully-fledged beatmaking environment featuring up to 15 different synth and drum machine modules usable simultaneously. Essentially this is Reason on a tablet. The app’s sound quality is great, and Gadget also sports a robust feature set that makes it a breeze to create music. Korg Gadget […]
Review: The Arturia iSEM puts Oberheim on the iPad
February 11, 2014 by
Originally known for their excellent software plug-ins spanning a variety of analog synthesizers from the 70s, Arturia has recently branched out into hardware synths, controllers, and drum machines in addition to the first iOS versions of their software products. Their iSEM app for the iPad is great rendition of Oberheim’s first commercial synthesizer, the SEM. […]
Waldorf Nave gets an Update — and Other News
February 3, 2014 by
Over the weekend, Waldorf released an update of Nave, their powerful synth for the iOS platform. (Check out our Nave review here.) The update adds polyphonic aftertouch if your MIDI controller or keyboard supports it. Additionally, 64-bit support for Apple’s newer iPad Air and iPad mini Retina tablets is now standard, along with the ability […]
Welcome to TabMuse
January 31, 2014 by
We had hoped to publish TabMuse by the end of year, but over Thanksgiving weekend I sat down and watched the excellent synth documentary, I Dream of Wires. This was the four-hour hardcore edition and after seeing the history of the synthesizer (most of which I already knew) combined with a current view of the […]
