Syntronik

IK Multimedia’s pricing model is confusing at best. I’ve sorted out that Syntronik CS comes with only 4 instruments and a handful of patches. This version comes with 17 instruments and I think 50 patches. But if you’re going to do it, just download the CS version and pay the $99 for Deluxe and call it a day. That comes with everything they offer. Be aware though, if you have the desktop version, this is NOT an iPad version of that. It’s Syntronik 1 not 2, and if you do what I tried and manually match some of the patches from the desktop version, just know that they will either not sound anywhere near the original, or close but not exact. Some of the effects are missing, and since this is v1 and not v2, the entire advanced Edit panel is missing. One other annoyance is that I found several places where it was advertised that you could purchase single synths in the store. That is NOT the case. All links in the Synth manager just take you to the store where there are only 2 products. $79 or $99. The final annoyance was that once I spent the money on this version, it disn’t give me a discount on the higher tier versions, so if you plan to upgrade, it’ll still cost you full price. So again, try out the CS version and then just decide if you want to buy the $79 or $99 packages. Don’t bother with this one unless you plan to tinker a lot and make your own sounds.

Syntronik is awsome. Love that we can layer! What happened to Syntronik 2 for iOS?? Come on, I’d purchase.

2 years and no update for improvements

If you purchase full package this eats up 6.2GB of storage. While the effects are nice. The app is kinda clunky. Changing presets take forever as they have to load giant sample files for each preset. Needs trimming down. Sounds very nice but not spectacular. Sound tends to be a bit on the distorted side (not in a good way). I have noticed that with Most IKM apps on ISO. I have SampleTron and it also has a similar distortion with no effects. Hopefully they will make one that models the synths instead of a ROM Player with IR effects.

I was expecting at least the character of the synths to change from device to device but it’s really the same synth engine wrapped in different skins. It’s blatantly misleading. The proof is in the FM synths. They’re the same two oscillators as in the analogue ones. So again, the same synth each time, just wrapped in a different skin.

I love this suite of legendary and vintage synths. Very inspiring and very usable. Presets sound so good. Great interface. Perfect tweakability of synths. Essential yet deep. And the effects are fantastic. Ability to layer synths and is a nice touch. And it is universal an interface that works on an iPhone. The IAPs are worth it. Only synth app I need for recording and live performance.

***WILL UPDATE AS APP IS REVISED*** I was pretty skeptical of the concept but had to give this a chance because CS Box is such a great app. That said, this was a pleasant surprise in terms of sound quality! Then you are confronted with the fact that at $9.99 you only get two sounds per synth? The interface, leaves something to be desired and feels cluttered. CS Box has such a direct and intuitive interface. In particular, I wish the synth browsing section was cleaner. Wish List: • Get rid of In App Purchasing!* • MIDI implementation needs work • Please add MPE (Midi Polyphonic Expression) • Clean up interface • Allow for user samples to replace stock sounds! • Even better, create modules CS Box Style, so you could mix and match components from different synths (ie. Sounds from Wavestation, Filter from Oberheim, Chorus from Jupiter, etc) * I wish IK and developers would do away with in app purchases, unless the paradigm is free to demo and then you buy all the content as a whole. The price is exorbitant as is but will keep an eye out for this to go on sale!

Subpar synth sounds, nothing that stands out. Too expensive for the app and the price to add additional synths. No AUV3, basic midi, and very basic editing. Desperately need updating.

The app use to work beautifully, now it freezes seconds after starting. It has become unusable. I have tried it both on my iPad Pro and my iPhone XS and it does not work. Please please please fix it.

Simply loading a synth is confusing. Instead of just being able to pick a synth and load it, you first have to pick one of the banks, select a synth and select a preset. Then you have to tap the tiny pic of the synth to get to the controls. It’s not exactly conducive to just starting from scratch. And you have to register an account just to access the help file, which is sketchy. I already paid for the app, and this is completely unnecessary and frustrating if you just want to learn to use the thing. To get the keyboard up on an iPhone screen, you have to access a menu and tap the option for Extended, instead of simply swiping from the bottom like a lot of other apps do (or just have the keyboard always up and have the control panel for the synth scrollable). There are some other things that need to be addressed, but these are some of the major ones. I already wish that I hadn’t spent the $15.