Synth One just launched. It’s a new synth app for the iPad, but it’s also a big deal. Why? Because it is free, open-source, and built by volunteer musicians and programmers. Stay with me here. Synth One isn’t out typical hideous open-source bloatfest of an app. It’s beautifully designed, sounds great, is easy to use, and is above all fun.
Synth One
Synth One is way too big an app to go through it all here, if only because this is a news story, and I haven’t had a chance to properly test the app yet. But despite the huge array of options and features, upon first launch, Synth One is totally approachable. You can just dive in and start playing.
And yet, when you start tweaking, the app opens itself bit by bit, revealing
To learn more about the making of Synth One, check out this video, which sounds like it was narrated by the teacher from South Park.
The specs include the following: An “analog”/FM poly synth, 300 built-in presets (most of which are awesome), an easy to use arpeggiator, full MIDI keyboard support, effects (reverb, delay, and more), and a whole lot of super in-depth tweaks and settings. It’s also a very small download, coming in at just under 50MB.
The developer of Synth One is AudioKit pro, who is also behind another great synth app, FM Player. This is one of my favorite synths, also because it’s so easy for a beginner to get great sounds right away.
Synth one probably isn’t the only synth app you need, nor is it necessarily the best. But is is definitely the first one you should try.
Price: Free
Download: Synth One from the App Store (iOS)
