In this month’s iOS music application roundup: Oberheim’s SEM comes to the iPad, Retronyms creates an audio copy/paste app, Audulus Modular updates to 2.4, Gaz Williams reviews Samplr 1.3, iStomp drops its price to $50, and more…
Arturia SEM for iPad
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The forward thinking folks at Arturia have recently released the highly praised iSem application for the iPad. Compared to the $999 price tag for a hardware version or even $100 for the plug-in version, we think this synth is fantastic for $9.99.
“The Oberheim SEM was one of the world’s first self-contained synthesizer modules. It was primarily developed as a convenient solution for musicians who wanted to set up sequences without tying up their main synths. The SEM also worked very well as an expander to fatten up the tone of other synthesizers like the Minimoog™ or the ARP Odyssey. Arturia‘s re-creation for the iPad, iSEM, tips its hat to the familiar interface of the classic 1974 Oberheim SEM, but there’s more than meets the eye. They’ve added a few new features and some of the extra functionality that people have come to expect from Arturia products.” Read more of this review at Gear Junkies.
Audio Copy in iOS7
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“AudioCopy and AudioPaste, the popular technologies for seamlessly “copying” sounds between different iOS apps, requires the use of an updated API in order to function in iOS 7… And in the “one step forward” category – not “one step back” – the folks at Retronyms are releasing a free app that makes working with copied sound a lot cooler. AudioCopy is a free iOS 7-only app that allows you to see all your copied sounds on a big grid, a common pasteboard. You may wish you had this on your desktop machine. It’s reminiscent, in fact, of the original pasteboard that shipped with the very first Macs.” – Peter Kirn at CDM
Read more at Create Digital Music and read more about software developer Retronymns (Tabletop, iMPC) here.
Audulus 2.4
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“Developer Taylor Holliday has released Audulus 2.4 for iPad and Mac – an update to the software modular that lets you sync your patches wirelessly via the cloud.” Read more at Synthtopia.
Audulus for iPad is available via the App Store for $14.99. For more information, visit the Audulus website.
Notate Me Notation Software
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Notate Me is a new music composition and notation app from Neuratron that features handwritten music recognition. While it is currently in public beta stage, it looks to be a powerful application for writing music on your iOS device.
Virtual ANS
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Virtual ANS is a software simulator of the unique Russian synthesizer ANS – photoelectronic microtonal/spectral musical instrument created by Russian engineer Evgeny Murzin from 1938 to 1958. The app is cross-platform and available for iOS, Android, Windows, Linux and OSX.
More info: http://warmplace.ru/soft/ans
Peter Kirn says, “What’s unique about mining the ANS as a model for a software synth is, you can’t really be sure what result you’ll get. Unlike the endless virtual analog models, the timbres and melodic gestures of the ANS are unpredictable. It will seem most familiar to those who used the pioneering U&I graphical tool MetaSynth – but it’s MetaSynth that’s indebted to the ANS, not the other way around. I’ve been playing around with ANS on my iPhone and iPad, and it’s just remarkable. It’s most adept at sweeping, swooping cries, but you can couple it with a keyboard, and various tools for adding blurs and effects allow you a wide range of possibilities.” Read more at Create Digital Music.
Samplr 1.3
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Gaz Williams is a music technology blogger and part of the Sonic Talk podcast who recently tipped us to some nice updates to Samplr with version 1.3:
“My favourite iPad app Samplr has just had a great new update taking it to version 1.3. This app just keeps on getting better and better! Here is a video I filmed today to investigate the new mode. I only used my little Yamaha Guitalele (six string ukelele tuned like a guitar but a fifth up – bottom string is a B). You can see in the video that Samplr lets you do many creative things with the samples you make on it.Samplr allows you to make music and play with sound in a new and intuitive way by touching the waveform on the screen with your fingers. Explore the sounds melody and texture using the different play modes and create your music compositions with the gesture recorder.”‘
Read more of Gaz’s review on his blog and check out Samplr, currently a steal at $9.99.
Junglator – Jungle Remix Machine
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“Junglator is an interactive Jungle and Drum’N'Bass app. It works by following the expression of your fingertips to create flowing beats and rhythms. Auto-sync gives complete control and keeps everything in time allowing you to create fun and intricate mashups. You can combine multiple effects, from pitch control, filter sweeps, SFX and more to twist up the sound. Cue buildups, drops and breakdowns to create your own performance and control the music in a unique and exciting way. Rinse out your jams to the next level and create seamless mixes: the tracks are automatically kept in time, allowing you to concentrate on creating the perfect performance. Junglator will give you a DJ experience like no other.” - Apmplify.io
iStomp FX now $50
Use your iOS device as a stomp box for $50. Sound on Sound recently reported that DigiTech have re-priced their iStomp FX pedals to $50, making them much more affordable than the previous $150 price tag. “Alongside the price reduction of the unit itself, all 47 available e-pedals (with the exception of the Adrian Belew artist e-pedal) are now free,” Reports SOS.
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