The mighty 606 drum machine recreated in the form of a brilliant plugin for the iPhone and iPad that you can get here https://audiokitpro.com/super606/
AudioKit is very interesting as their libraries are built to be used by other developers too. So if I wanted to have a bash at creating an instrument myself, this is the toolkit to use.
There have been a phenomenal number of new plugins coming out recently for the iPads AUv3 system and I love it. Trouble is if I bought all of them, those released this year, it would set me back around £1000 or so. Still cheaper than building a modular synth but when most of these little plugins cost £5 and all sound great, really good, good enough to make albums with, I’d easily spend that… but we’ve got bills to pay!
Fred Again… he recorded an album entirely on the iPad did he not?
In the above video we’ve got a few plugins on the go and I’ve listed most of them below, as I know some people have asked me, where can I get these from? You never share the links!! Fair comment!!! Let’s put that right.
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/vibe-looper/id6758245125
Vibe looper is a new one to me and it’s performant power is quite incredible. I use it here to great effect. Before recording the video I recorded the other instruments into a loop for a bar or two. I then faded them all out, as I wanted to showcase the looper at the start of this sketch, bringing in the original instruments later with the 606 drum machine.
https://audiokitpro.com/super606/
Based on Roland’s TR-606, which came out between 1981 and 1984 made famous by Sisters of Mercy, Aphex Twin and one of my favourites, Massive Attack, so a popular Trip Hop machine!
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/piano-motifs/id1506065573
The driving sequencer for this jam is Piano Motif that drives all three instruments apart from the drum machine which is sequenced separately. It’s a clever tool for generating melodic ideas in any signature, key and so on.
https://www.audiodamage.com/products/tessera
Occasional resonator effect that I bring in and out during the performance. Think of placing a sound source on a variety of surfaces, the sound that generates is what we call the resonance. Great effect from a top developer.
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/super-j8-synth-auv3/id6756800933
The Jupiter 8 emulator! Roland once again! I’ve got a number of Roland instruments around the house including our piano.
This is an image from the Internet, not my house nor are those my hands. To buy one of these, I’d need about 20k!!! They are highly sought after.
https://www.audiodamage.com/products/ad066-ad202
More Roland!!!! This one is based on the synth that came out in around 1980, the MC-202
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/analogyxs/id6745030342
A very good new synth from Rob Jackson, who’s released a load of plugins in this series.
There may be others I’ve not listed but there are the main ones. Some are also available for Mac, Windows etc.
Hope you’ve also enjoyed a little trip into the history of synthesisers?!!!
