My Top 5 iPad Synths of 2020!

How Do They Sound? My Top 5 iPad Synths 2020 - No Talking
The iPad has become in essential tool in making music. Especially the iPad Pro with it's near Macbook pro power, you can run full featured soft synths on it and produce astounding sounds.
Here on this video, I demo the preset sounds of my top 5 iPad synth apps this year. Some of these apps are old but I just discovered them this year and they quickly became part of my toolset.
I am currently making an album with all these apps alongside my analog synths: ARP Odyssey, Moog Grandmother, Behringer Neutron, and my digital hardware tools: Roland MC 707 and TR-8s.
Here are what I think are the top 5 best synthesizer apps for iPad.
1. Waldorf Nave Wavetable Synthesizer
2. Moog Minimoog Model D for iOS
3. Korg iM1
4. Audiokit Synth One
5. Apple Alchemy for Garageband for iPad
Do you have a favorite synth app? Please share it in teh comments and don't forget to subscribe for more!
#iPadmusic #makingmusicwithiPad #synthappsforiPad

[@robertsteinberger5667]

My top 1 is sunrizer XS, I love that app.

[@defmodnetwork]

100% the supersaws are great

[@OCEANSINSPACE]

Hails to NAVE! Still killing it after all these years.

[@defmodnetwork]

Yeah I hope they update this soon with new sounds!

[@amb13nt59]

Nave, Model D and Synth One are amazing apps!

[@defmodnetwork]

Thanks! I use these in all my production work.

[@hsn10]

Synth one is garbage.

[@spacefreedom]

@@hsn10 why

[@felipefs106]

Moog minimoog really like it, also Zeeon sounds great

[@defmodnetwork]

Felipe Fernández Sobarzo oh I haven’t tried zeeon yetZ let me check that! Thanks for the tip

[@perrypelican9476]

Hard to believe that nave isn't supported anymore

[@defmodnetwork]

Agreed. It’s really the best. for me, even better than VSTs.

[@perrypelican9476]

@@defmodnetwork What do you mean better than VSTs

[@defmodnetwork]

@@perrypelican9476 I meant desktop plug ins.

[@sleekitwan]

A good swift romp around some soundscapes, thanks. A lot of the synths are pretty good, they can be better for some things than others, some reviewers in the app store warn about how some are great for sound sculpting, sound design, ‘rolling your own’, and may be a bit deep for some users. I am not proficient at that stuff, and use presets quite a lot, so a less ‘amazing’ synth but with well-crafted presets that give a luscious sound, will perhaps get my vote. Two in that camp - apart from Apple’s very capable ‘Alchemy’ you mentioned of course - are ‘Synthmaster One’ and ‘Magellan 2’. But I do feel unfair, mentioning one or two when really ‘Factory’ is also great although I don’t dust it off much, and I took to ‘La Grange’ for some reason as well. AudioKit One and the other one they make, are great, but bring me to the limits of my iOS GarageBand quickly. The number of instances that the iPad will tolerate, in one single song/project inside GB iOS, is pretty important if you want to try multiple synth tracks running together, dare I say ‘orchestrated’. To do more complicated songs or pieces - and I am no expert - means you might well have one or two synth tracks literally lying unused for most of the time, then burst into life for a short section. That is going to crash GB pretty quickly, five instances of really well-written synth apps, using the AUv3 method, inside GB or Cubasis 3, is about all I can manage, and still be able to add an effect or two. A lot of people reading this, will know better than I do, that you will need to ‘freeze’ complex tracks or instruments inside Cubasis, or a similar but longer-winded procedure in GB iOS, involving converting MIDI tracks to their equivalent audio version, to do more complicated work. Then, things get quite complex if you want to make any changes! Nonetheless, until I can grab me some Apple Silicon this is my preferred option, than my PC with Cubase and Studio One on it. For whatever reason, I was very unproductive on the PC side, but cost helps enable you to at least explore a lot of things, on an iPad or iPhone even, by way of plugin apps and FX etc. Thank you again for sharing the Moog etc, they are lovely sounds, from brittle and glassy to warm and mellow.

[@defmodnetwork]

Thank you for your insights here. This is an awesome take. yes, a lot of these synths are memory hogs so I would suggest the most powerful iPad pros if possible. And now that the new mac OS can take iOS apps, that opens up great possibilities.

[@sumchi3690]

Very good points..thankyou

[@serdar213]

Hello. Wow! You widened my Horizon. Basically, I am a guitar player and very far away from this world. I Have a Korg X5D and I want to utilize my ipad for a rhythm done with arpeggiator to cover The Song No Easy Way out By Robert Tepper. what do you suggest me ?

[@defmodnetwork]

Hello! Thanks for watching. The best bet would be GarageBand for iPad. That app is a full pledged DAW perfect for electronic backing tracks. Since the X5D doesn’t have USB, you can either get a midi to USB adapter or a midi interface for iPad like iconnect. Good luck on your project and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel. Thank you

[@rogerisold]

cool stuff. can you record those sounds into a daw like garageband?

[@defmodnetwork]

Yes. Two ways: you can use a usb 3 hub with headphone jack out and connect that to your interface. Or connect your iPad into your Mac Gia usb and use it as a usb interface sound source. Thanks!

[@kidinPJs]

or even better- you add a clean audio track and hit the button that looks like a guitar amp cable and then hit “inter app audio” then you can open your synth apps in garageband and record directly on the ipad

[@jumpingflash]

Great choices! Btw what USB adapter are u using ? Does it charge the iPad as well? Looking for a non apple one... thanx!

[@VictorIbelles]

The best USB to lightning adapter is the Apple one, don’t waste your time searching for another one There’s an Apple adapter that lets you charge at the same time too If you have an iPad Pro there’s some other options on usb to usb C The one in the video is a Belkin I think

[@defmodnetwork]

I am using a USB-c hub I got from Amazon. Yes, it also charges the iPad. Thanks!

[@niallnom]

@@defmodnetwork So that dock can do midi over USB and at the same time provide a stable headphone out port? Concern over this is stopping me upgrading over my iPad Air 2 which has a headphone port

[@sleekitwan]

I have a bag full of now-defunct non-Apple adaptors, I’m afraid. Just because it works when you get it, does not mean it will continue to work. It’s not that they ‘break’ or burn-out. It’s that Apple keep working at tracking down these replica adaptors, one after the other, they must be looking at fleabay etc. Easily, the cost of my ‘guesses’ at which ones work, only to find they subsequently cease working, add up to the more expensive route than buying pukka Apple product. I’m always tight for cash - and I bought THREE USB-Camera adapter proper Apple connectors. There are about 8 or 9 replica ones, in a tub somewhere. They first allowed everything - charging and data transfer - then they stopped data transfer and could only charge, then they even stopped doing that. Lastly, the maker of one of these brands of fake/replica adaptors/adapters, told me in response to my complaint, that I needed to specify exactly WHICH Apple product the adapter was for. His fake/replica ones, somehow could only work at all, by being ‘tuned’ for a particular Apple device. I had bought an iPhone one he said, that’s why it didn’t work with my iPad Pro 2, and indeed, this turned out to be correct. It’s the chip in them, Apple Lightning cables are effectively ‘dongles’ or as some say ‘Don’t go’s’. Yes, they’re a rip. But they hardly ever go wrong, unless you lend them to someone else, I have found! And don’t do that - they might hand you back a replica one. I put a couple of miniature tie-wraps on anything like this, they can ‘walk’, at least it marks them. Even loaning out the lightning-to-3.5mm adapter is like handing someone a tenner. My daughter went a trip with some friends, and one of those was a casualty, it never returned!

[@VictorIbelles]

@@sleekitwan I’m glad that changed with iPad Pro usb c I bought a generic usb to usb c and it works flawlessly

[@hArtyTruffle]

Did you have to download any software to be able to control the apps from your midi controller or is that straight out of the box? I have the same synths as you on my iPad but am a noob and struggling with connecting my midi controllers to these and some other apps.

[@defmodnetwork]

Thanks for watching! Since I have an iPad Pro with USB-C, I have a USB-C to regular USB hub which I use to connect my controller. Most USB-Midi controllers should work without extra software since they are class compliant. One thing to note though is that you should always set your controller up in the app midi settings. Make sure that the midi channel you are using in the app is the same one in your controller. Most apps have this turned off by default so you need to set it up. Channel 1 is usually the default channel for controllers. Hope this helps! Again thanks for watching and please subscribe if you haven't yet! Happy playing!

[@hArtyTruffle]

DefMod Network thanks, that helps a lot! Subbed 👍🏼

[@defmodnetwork]

@@hArtyTruffle Thank you!

[@hArtyTruffle]

DefMod Network thankYOU👊🏼

[@michalipski930]

What is your midi keyboard?

[@defmodnetwork]

Hi Michal, I use the Novation 49SL MKlll. Great controller with built in sequencer.