Leisuresonic Produces One Fine Electronic Synth With Aptly-Named "Synthtronica"
May 24, 2011
Leisuresonic's Synthtronica is something of a music-creating iPad anomaly. The synthesizer is extremely full-featured, but it doesn't resemble anything you've likely seen before. There's no familiar keyboard metaphor or standard-looking interface, and the terminology used to describe the app's elements is foreign to most of the musically inclined. Before diving into the myriad features on board, then, the following video should be of some service:
Described by creator Christopher Penrose as a "programmable polyphonic spectral synthesizer," Synthtronica really is a marvelous technical achievement. The app is pretty hefty at 218 MB, but that's because it's packed to the gills with 92 hand-crafted presets (called "formants"), more than 70 scale choices, and editor capabilities across every aspect. With support for imported audio (mp3, m4a, AIFF, WAV, etc.), the possibilities are endless.
Still, if you're not an experienced musician, you might be overwhelmed by the package. I had some difficulty understanding all the features until my friend -- a professional musician and synthesizer expert -- explained everything. (Thankfully, the app offers a helpful contextual menu system that addresses almost every function.) He came away very impressed by the fidelity and clarity of the included samples, and determined that Synthtronica must have been crafted with the sensibility of an '80s era synth enthusiast (or "synthusiast"). It won't replace your old Roland, he says, but it's one of the finest examples so far of the iPad's musical potential.
The highlight of Leisuresonic's effort (beyond the overall technical prowess exhibited throughout the app in general) is its dynamic 11-point multitouch filter, which lets you fluidly modify formants in real time. Any sound can be saved and added to the menu, and you can share your creations between compatible iOS apps. Exported recordings are distributed as 16- or 24-bit AIFF or WAV audio files, and MIDI support is forthcoming in a future update.
One note, though, to all those who saw Jordan Rudess' recent demo: Synthtronica is not an active vocoder. Instead, you record speech via the iPad's microphone and the app creates a formant from it. That said, the implementation works very well and is a strong selling point.
At $4.99 in iTunes, Synthtronica should be on your short list of iOS music apps. For me, quality-wise, it's right there with ThumbJam, Pro Keys, and GarageBand.
