Aa many of us are staying home due to ‘you know what’, why not make something useful out of it – like making music. And it appears that many leading music production suppliers think the same. Earlier this week both Korg and Moog enabled free download of two popular iOS apps, now it is time for all you modular geeks out there. Cherry Audio offers a free download of their modular suite – Voltage Modular Nucleus. Also Eventide and Optigan are on the bandwagon.
“Dear Synthesists,
We’ve all been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, and, like you, we’re all staying at home and making sure our families and loved ones are safe. We want to do our part to help.
Starting immediately, and for the foreseeable future, we’re making Voltage Modular Nucleus FREE for everybody. It’s a complete modular synthesis package, with 22 modules and over 130 presets, for OSX and Windows.
Stay home, stay safe, make some music, and learn to master modular synthesis. We’ll all get through this together.
– Cherry Audio”
Redeem your copy here: https://cherryaudio.com/free
Eventide is another company who has decided to enable free downloads. “For a limited time, Eventide is giving away a free copy of RotaryMod for iOS. Rotary Mod is a rotating cabinet effect that simulates a Leslie speaker. Just like the original sound derived from the uber-famous Hammond organ’s Leslie speaker cabinet, the plug-in produces a pulse-like vibrato effect depending on the speed of rotation. Rotary offers precise control to dial in the exact amount of movement you need. This classic, swirly effect has been used on countless hit records to drastically transform guitars, bass, synths and even vocals.”
More info here: https://www.eventideaudio.com/products/effects/modulation/rotary-mod
Keen on organs? Then this one may be for you:
The Optigan, short for Optical Organ, was a chord organ from the early 70’s. It is remembered today for its unique system of sound reproduction using optical discs. These LP-sized film discs were optically encoded with 57 concentric tracks, which contained loops of musical combos playing chord patterns in different styles. Each disc contained a specific style of music (Bossa Nova, Big Band etc) which the user could control by pressing the chord buttons. Changing the discs was as simple as putting a new record on your turntable. Think of it as the 1971 version of GarageBand.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ioptigan/id1143470101#?platform=ipad
Despite this novel technology, the scratchy sound of the Optigan left a lot to be desired. iOptigan truthfully recreates that lo-fi sound. For more information about the original Optigan, please visit optigan.com!
And as mentioned and has been communicated earlier this week also KORG and Moog are giving away free stuff that is clearly worth checking out before they go away.
The Minimoog Model D is simply a must-have. It’s one of the best crafted apps on iOS – and impressively competes with other hardware and software as one of the best ways to add a Minimoog to your rig, hands down. It does things the real thing can’t, like 4-note polyphony – and it adds an arpeggiator, loop recorder with overdub, stereo ping-pong delay with sync, and stereo modulation effect. But the core of it sounds and looks authentic.
Moog Music Minimoog Model D on the App Store
Feature list:
• All 64-bit iOS devices
• AUv3 Audio Unit Extensions (Including GarageBand)
• Note-per-channel MIDI controllers (MPE)
• Ableton Link
• Inter-App Audio and Audiobus
• 7 and 14-Bit MIDI
• MIDI Program Changes
• Bluetooth LE MIDI controllers
• Share over AirDrop, Mail or other iOS applications
KAOSSilator is a simple X/Y synth. Pick a sound, map a scale/tuning, make gestures with your finger, and record them with a phrase recorder. And it’s one of the few apps that runs on both iOS and Android.
KORG iKAOSSilator on the App Store [iOS]
KORG KAOSSilator for Android [Google Play Store]