Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Best synths for iPad and tips for iOS musicians?
I'm looking for tips on what synthesizer app I should buy and anything about or on music or being an iOS artist/ musician. I just got Cubasis, I have Magellan & iMPC Pro but I'm not sure what else I should get. I've really been looking at getting Z3TA+ but Cakewalk never seems to update their stuff. Any sugestions/ tips? I only have an iPad 2 but am looking forward to getting an iPad Pro second generation whenever they come out. 
Ohhh and I'm looking forward to getting Audiobus 3. How about yourselves? Thank you everyone!!!
Comments
Well my favorite synth is Animoog. I'm sure others will agree that it is great
Agree that Animoog is tops.
Others to consider: iSem (which is its own app and also an Audio Unit), Thor, Nave, Crystal SynthXT...well I could go on and on and on...
Cool, I think I'm going to wait for Animoog to go on sale. It looks like it just was in February.
I'll definitely get it when it does though. Thanks! 
Korg iMS-20 is also a treat. People around here tend to complain that it needs an update but I'm a big fan of the sound and it should run nice on your iPad 2.
Sweet, thanks everyone! :P
There are so many good synths that are very different. So without having some idea of what sort of synth you are looking for, its hard to give recommendation of THE synth for you.
Poison-202 Vintage MIDI Synthesizer by Dmitrij Pavlov
https://appsto.re/dk/ULpteb.i
Very versatile, easy to use and fantastic sounds.
And don't forget
Caustic by Rejean Poirier
https://appsto.re/dk/xImpU.i
Great starter pack. Outstanding tutorials by the dev on youtube.
Yeah.. I could see that. I myself don't really know what it is I'm looking for. I'm super new to synthesis. I'm kind of into sound design if that helps at all. I was kind of looking for something kind of like NI massive. That's kind of why I was thinking Z3TA+. I think I'll get it now and check into some of these others in and into the future.
Best synth is like favorite flavor, most have presets and ways to adjust them (and save your new sounds) so it's a matter of which flavor of sounds appeal to your ears and what you want it to look like. I would look up demos of various synths on the Soundtestroom and see what you like, Doug is the preeminent demonstrator of all iOS apps period.
@Master_Ascendant You are in for the synth ride of a lifetime, the only better deal for synth exploration is all the free PC vsts on the web - welcome to the candy store.
There's top tier, $5 bucks and under, oddities, etc etc. enjoy
Dont forget Thumbjam, not a synth per sAy but its one of the best sample based instruments on ios. Also grab Oval Synth while its free, dunno if they will charge for that eventually
Awesome, thank you both! Yeah, I think this is a lot of fun. iOS and stuff takes music to anther level for sure! :P
Beware that Z3ta+ has not been updated for sometime now and may in fact become abandonware as far as anyone here has been able to say so far. I do really like it a whole lot but fear it is about to become obsolete without an update.
@Tritonman Thank you... I have feared this. That really sucks. Thank you for telling me.
There's a little known gem called Bebot, something like that. Very spiffy. Would enhance any man's wardrobe. There is a popular music song of the same name and this seems to be related to the Tagalog word. I believe the Bebot synth is from elsewhere and is robotic in nature, as synths will be. If I had to send a son of mine out into the world and wished him to have an amulet against ill-fortune (and if music apps were also in some way amulets) I would choose Bebot. I recommend it without reservation. Less than two dollars. And lucky.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bebot-robot-synth/id300309944?mt=8
Do yourself a favour and get Gadget. Tones of stuff for relatively not very much.
Yeah... I was thinking about it.
I wasn't sure if it was worth it but I'm sure it is. Thanks!
Knowing what I know today I would go 'all in' with Korg Gadget (and the rest of Korg apps that 'enable' new Gadgets). The recent Cubasis 2.1 update is pretty sweet and Gadget would serve very well as 'loop/sound-generator'. AudioShare would be another app to have in the collection for file management.
One synth that is often overlooked is the MicroLogue that is built-in into Cubasis.
For basic sampling the Cubasis Mini-Sampler covers most needs.
Poison-202 has also been mentioned and it being AUv3 (multiple instances in Cubasis) makes it pretty good deal too. To keep things 'organised' I'd put priority on synths with AUv3 support.
For a dedicated 'sampler' I'd hold my horses for now...
If you don't know already, two of the best places for iOS music making tips are:
Jakob Haq's haQ attaQ show:
https://youtube.com/channel/UCZFPiLpzd4cKOsBS9CIu3xg
And Doug Wood's TheSoundTestRoom:
https://youtube.com/user/thesoundtestroom
Literally hundreds of videos covering pretty much every app and every major aspect of making music on iPads
There's a limited version free to try: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/korg-gadget-le/id1092332319?mt=8
+1 for Gadget (and pretty much anything Korg)
I also like Beathawk a lot.
Both are currently on sale. You'll eventually want the IAPs for the full experience too.
Z3TA was main main workhorse while playing keys for the church worship team. Amazing sound coming thru the mains via my UCA 220. I literally bypassed the motif xs6 and only used the iPad which blew away all the other musicians who thought my iPad was just a toy!!
Well once they heard it boom!!! Wow!! Dude that patch!!
Non stop compliments! So I'm going to really miss this synth. But, with an iPad 2 that's hard to get this CPU hungry synths to play without crackling all over. I'm using an Air 1 with latest IOS.
To me the closest analog thick and luscious sound to the mighty Z3TA would be Korg Oddisey and LayR.
I would highly recommend both.
Wow.. so cool! Thank you guys! This is super cool! And thank you @Lady_App_titude, I love those guys.. they are amazing! So cool! Once I can afford it I want to become one of their Patrons for sure! Thank you guys for helping me out. I really appreciate it! I realize it kind of goes on forever. lol. This really narrows it down. I really hope Cakewalk updates their app for sure but I'm not holding my breath. I am however holding my breath over AudioBus 3.0! I hope it works on the old hardware like 2.0 does but I wouldn't hold it against them if it doesn't.
Even my iPhone SE is faster than my Air 1, but i can't get the my CFO to agree on another purchase.
But, might be selling something soon. I think i might hold off til the new ones come out in the fall.
I would. If you can.
1a. Visit this forum frequently and click on whatever thread picks your curiosity. There are some hidden gems of a topic that resurfaces on occasion.
1b. Stop visiting this forum so frequently. Make some music already!
2a. When new apps are about to come out or do come out, there will be much hype. Save yourself lots of money, and wait for videos, soundcloud links, and user feedback.
2b. Make your own mistakes. Make impulsive app purchases.
Welcome!
Agreed! Problem with that, though, is that it can be hard to figure out what a synth can do for you personally until you try it. Demos can help you get a first impression, but it’s really difficult to tell if you’ll have a good time creating the sounds you want to create.
At any rate, my personal list includes three apps which have been mentioned (Animoog, ThumbJam, and Gadget). With regards to the latter, been particularly pleased with iWavestation (but it clearly isn’t to everyone’s taste). Rediscovered Sunrizer, not too long ago, especially after getting more acquainted with subtractive synthesis in general. Same with NLog Pro. Rather pleased with the recent TF8, especially for its arpeggiator.
Kind of surprised nobody mentioned Model 15 (never tried it but people usually rave about it). Or the other synth powerhouses, like iVCS3.
One approach could be to try and have apps to cover all the major sound production methods (sampling and all the approaches to synthesis: Virtual Analog, FM, granular, physical modelling, additive…). In a way, that’s what Logic Pro X and/or MainStage can give you on macOS. Not so easy to cover everything on iOS. It’s one of my reason to enjoy Animoog and iWavestation so much. They sound so very different from all the analog synths (and few FM synths) out there!
Another approach could be to focus on all the other details besides the sounds those apps produce. It’s probably easier to get into synths with Sunrizer than with Gadget, for instance. And apps like GeoShred or Seaboard 5D help a lot in terms of expressiveness. ThumbJam is just a very neat way to get into iOS musicking, as it combines a long list of features with a very appropriate way to play on a (pressure-sensitive) touchscreen, and some rather serviceable sounds. In this sense, we could bring in AC Sabre which works rather well as a controller for synths on iOS or on the desktop.
Besides, part of the advice should probably be to not dismiss GarageBand until trying it. It can be surprisingly useful as a way to get into iOS musicking, even if it’s just for some SIN (Self-Indulgent Noodling).
Animoog
Fugue Machine
Samplr
All you ever need.
I think Loop Tunes is awesome as well.
Cool.
@Master_Ascendant
Z3ta+ is a must have, in my book. As is. Same with Animoog. Other sound design wonders include Mitosynth, WaveGenerator and WaveMapper, on the additive tip: Cube, Addictive Pro...
This makes a fun read: http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/23-of-the-best-ipad-iphone-ios-synth-apps-571053 (musicradar's 23 best iOS synths 2016) Virsyn stuff is well represented, and should be. It's a list compiled in Jan. 2016 so it's actually best of 2015, so they're missing DRC, Model 15, LayR, Phonem, and a few other top shelf items mentioned above. And then there's the under $10 stuff. As someone said above Crystal Synth XT is top, (and also under $10.)