It’s worth the wait, and the wait is over. Gadget 3 arrives with audio recording and more. Gadget for Mac arrives and Korg puts loads of apps on sale all at once!
Firstly, here’s what’s new in Gadget:
Two new gadgets provide long-awaited audio recording.
“Recife” – A new powerful drum gadget with 16 pads.
Supports exporting plug-in data with Ableton Live Export.
Supports audio document manager “AudioShare”.
Other improvements have been made to enhance stability.
A bunch of gadgets inside Gadget are 50% off too, as is Gadget itself, so if you haven’t got it as yet, now is a good time as it’s half price at $19.99:
KORG Gadget for Mac is available directly from their site here, it isn’t on the Mac App store, so don’t go looking for it there. Gadget for Mac is on an introductory price of $199. It’ll go up to normal price on the 30th of April.
If that wasn’t enough, Korg have put the following apps on sale too:
I always think it’s difficult to tell you which were the best apps in any year, and 2016 is no different at all. What works for me as a great app won’t work for other people and vice-versa, so it all seems a little pointless. However, what I can tell you is which apps were important to me this year. I think that might be more interesting (or maybe not), and it’s certainly easier to do from my perspective.
So without further messing around, here are the apps that I used a lot, or found intriguing, or for whatever other reason, mattered.
Without a doubt Auxy is an app that I can’t do without, at least not currently anyway. I really love it. It works for me and just fits with how I think and work right now. I’m not saying that this will always be the case, but for now me and Auxy, we’re good. I also really like the sound packs that they’ve been releasing. I got them both and love them.
Moog’s Model 15 is on my list for a totally different reason than Auxy is. Model 15 is here because it’s one of those apps that I keep fiddling with and getting into and then leaving for a bit, then coming back to. I don’t know if you do that, but I certainly do. I like Model 15 and I’d really like to do something useful with it, but so far I haven’t. Who knows, maybe in 2017 I will.
NOIZ you’ll know from Studio Amplify. It’s a great app for making stuff even if you’ve no idea how to make stuff, and I’m all for that. Of course the nice chaps from Studio Amplify now have KRFT in beta and I’ve been playing with that recently. It is going to be awesome. I mentioned it not so long ago here, and I’m hoping to be able to tell you lots more soon enough.
I think that these apps are going to have a really bright future and are going to help users to make things in ways that they hadn’t thought about before.
I’m a fan of Mr HumbleTune’s apps, music, and design style. I think it’s great, and for good reason. His apps are amazing, and, pretty much everywhere too. I really like two of them though, nils, and frekvens. They really let you mangle sound, but in a good way, in a way that doesn’t hurt. I’m sure that other people find themselves coming back to the same FX apps over and over, and frekvens is one of those for me.
5. All things Korg
I can’t help myself but say that I do love Korg’s apps. They’ve done well this year. We’ve had good updates and new apps like ODYSSEi and iWAVESTATION. My personal favs are Gadget and iDS-10 though. Again I find myself coming back to these time and time again. I bet some of you do too.
I think that Sabre has been a bit overlooked and that’s a shame. The AC Sabre is an amazing gestural performance tool for the iPhone and hasn’t really had the attention it should have had. I’d like to do a bit more with it myself next year as I think I’ve only barely scratched the surface of what it can do for me.
I posted on ROTOR and the tangible controllers yesterday, but it also deserves a mention here. I like modular apps but ROTOR (and Reactable mobile before it) seem to provide a more accessible route into modular than a lot of other apps in that genre. Now that ROTOR has the tangible controllers with it I’m hoping to get a bit more time to devote to it soon.
Unusual apps and alternative interfaces are very important to me. So Fluxpad is assured a place in my list. It gives you a different way to interface with sound and that in itself is important. I like that Fluxpad is playful and easy to use and yet at the same time a highly capable and flexible app for manipulating samples.
There had to be a DAW in the list and it’s Cubasis 2.0. It’s been a big help to me on a project that I’m working on so it’s in my list. However, there was stiff competition from n-Track Studio 8 which arrived quite recently. It will be interesting to see how some of the big, and one or two little, DAWs survive in 2017.
I love drum apps. Patterning is another app that just fits with my workflow. It’s just intuitive and fluid and it makes perfect sense to me. I can’t say that about all drum apps I’m afraid, but Patterning is probably one of the few go to drum apps that stays on my iPad. I’d love there to be an iPhone version too.
You might find this one a little strange, but more will become apparent soon. For now I’ll tell you that I love Wotja’s ability to create an ambient soundscape from a few words. It’s simple to tailor and tweak to do exactly what you want too.
I’ve also found myself coming back to Mixtikl recently and really getting into that app again. I think that these generative technologies are so deep that it can be easy to get lost. However, I think it’s worth it to dive in and explore and I’d like to do more of that in 2017 with all of Intermorphic’s tools.
Last and by no means least is Skram from Liine. I’m a fan of apps that make the process of creating music simpler and more immediate. To me that’s really important. I thought Skram was great when it first came out and the latest update has made it even more usable. I hope that it keeps going and brings more and more people into making music, and I’d also really like to see an iPhone version of it too.
So that’s 12 apps (more if I’m honest) that mattered to me and continue to do so. I hope you found that interesting. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments.
Another out of the blue launch from Korg, and a very welcome one for that matter. But I can’t put it better than they do …
“The legendary ARP sound, exquisitely reproduced in software. ARP ODYSSEi – A mobile analog synthesizer for iOS.”
The ARP Odyssey of 1972 has earned an unshakable position as a classic analog synthesizer. In 2015, KORG produced the ARP ODYSSEY, a complete reproduction of the original. The ARP genes that shook the worldwide music scene are being passed on, and its history continues.
The next platform for the ARP ODYSSEY is iOS. We want the unforgettable ARP sound to be easily available on a device that as many as possible of today’s players can obtain; this resulted in the “ARP ODYSSEi” app for iPad / iPhone. Based on the revived ARP ODYSSEY, we used KORG’s proprietary CMT circuit modeling technology to reproduce the analog feeling and sound of the original as closely as possible. We’ve also given it numerous enhancements that are possible only with software, such as long-awaited polyphony and built-in effects.
The real analog ARP ODYSSEY, and now the uniquely evolved ARP ODYSSEi, brings the universal fascination and inimitable sound to every device.
Due to differences in CPU speed of iPads / iPhones, iPad 3rd gen/2/iPad mini/iPhone 4s are not supported, only iPad Air/iPhone 5s or later is recommended.
Features
Faithfully models the circuit of the ARP ODYSSEY: The circuitry has been reproduced using KORG’s proprietary CMT (Component Modeling Technology), developed over the years starting with the KORG Legacy Collection.
New functions to create all-new ARP sounds: Added a voice assign mode that allows you to play chords, an arpeggiator that can be programmed in detail like a step sequencer, and effects that can transform the sound in diverse ways.
Get all three of the sought-after revisions: In addition to the standard design of the Rev3 with its black panel and orange silk-screening, you can optionally obtain the white-paneled Rev1 and the black-paneled gold silk-screened Rev2 designs, together with fifty new preset sounds that take advantage of the distinctive filters of those models.
Produce music together with KORG Gadget: ARP ODYSSEi can be used in conjunction with the “KORG Gadget” music production DAW app that has won numerous awards around the world. If both apps are installed, it can be used as the “Lexington” gadget inside the KORG Gadget app.
Special Sale for a limited time to celebrate the debut of ARP ODYSSEi, the app is 33% OFF until Nov 30. It’s priced at $19.99 / $14.99
PalmSounds 