Synthesizer with many voices or iOS synth

The Lounge Other Gear
1

Hey, everybody!

In most cases I am fine with the number of voices in the Digitone and Analog Four.
But sometimes, especially with chords, I need more voices …
Like, for example, a chord with four notes and then unison with four voices = 16 voices.

On the DAW-side I use Aturia Pigments.

But I don’t want to use my PC when jamming.
So I’m looking for a hardware box with (virtual) analogue synths and lots of voices.
Or alternatively an iOS synth like Pigments or Serum that I can control via MIDI.

Any suggestions?

Thanks a lot (and if you live on the hot side of the planet: Have some ice cream! :-))

2

Hey,
mc-707 is multitimbral and polyphoníc too, for a good price (for that amount of!)

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3

Roland JX-08? Sounds incredible IMHO.

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4

Micromonsta 2

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5

A quick experiment using my phone and AUM, I built a 22 voice synth and have only taxed the CPU by about 37%.

I’m guesstimating that with my iPad Pro I could get to well over 50-60 voices and still have plenty of CPU to spare for FX and other craziness.

Thanks, now I have something to experiment with when I get home from work - the Frankensynth!!

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6

A second Digitone? Only half joking.

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7
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8

Drambo. Get the wavetable addon too and build a huge multi-osc synth as you see fit.

https://www.beepstreet.com/ios/drambo

Check out patch storage for patches/projects - a great way to learn by inspecting other people’s creations.

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9

If you already have an iPad and an audio interface, iOS is a great option. Drambo, Synthmaster 2 and Twin 3 are my goto synths, but there are many more. You could also route your Digitone and A4 into iOS and do some mastering.

Depending on your “performance workflow” you may want to choose a different host for iOS synth plugins. If seamless transitions between your tracks is important, you may want to buy AUM or Loopy Pro to host AUv3 plugins and then use program change messages to switch between them when you switch tracks on your A4/Digitone. Drambo can also host AUv3 plugins but it has some limitations when it comes to performing with it as an AUv3 host that may matter to you.

Overall iOS can have a bit of a learning curve but also has a lot of great options and can function as halfway experience between laptop and hardware.

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10

If iOS doesn’t sound right, the SH-4d seems like an awesome option that would pair well with what you are doing.

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11

OK, wow! Thank you all so much for your feedback!
I think I’m going to do both! First I’m going to get some music apps on my iPad (Drambo looks great!) and spend some quality time on holiday!
Then after the summer I’ll look into getting more hardware. The SH-4d really looks like it has potential!

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12

I am thinking hard about a used Digitone Keys … maybe in autumn.

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