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Synthwave! Forged in the fires of iOS

The release of Gunship’s most excellent 2nd album today (“Dark All Day”) has got me all fired up about synthwave :p In turn that’s got me wondering if many folk are making synthwave on iOS? And what apps work best for this genre? Thinking of having a crack at it... most suitable apps in my arsenal are probably Cubasis classic machines, Synthmaster One and Audio Reverb (plenty of reverb ;) ) but there’s always room for more...

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Comments

  • I’ll add Zeeon and Brice’s Synthwave IAP, Gadget has a lot to offer for synthwave, im1 has some great drums too.

  • Patterning also has a few great cloud kits that work really well.

  • I often end up with music that has an Eighties horror movie vibe or many of the sci-fi films from that era.

    I never finish any, but I can’t help but realise the influence. My pieces of music start off trying to be pop music and often end up going all synthwave lol

  • Any synth you like works, really, if you know have a basic level of programming knowledge. I don't mean to come across as condescending, it's just you can coax those classic-type sounds out of almost any synth as long as it sounds good to you.

  • Fair point @oat_phipps but as you say that’s assuming you have that basic level of programming knowledge (I don’t - I’m first and foremost a guitar player). There’s also the drum machines, FX etc... and actually there’s a surprising amount of saxophone in synthwave so I wondered if Sensual Sax might be worth picking up

  • Zeeon, iMono/Poly, iM1, KQ Dixie, FM Player, Sensual Sax, all are great right out of the box for synthwave endeavors.

  • edited October 2018

    Yes, I've created synthwavy type creations in Gadget. Maybe not exactly like that (and the Gunship album was good - I just discovered that band this morning with that release... I personally like some other bands better in the genre but this is a keeper).

    Recife, London, Wolfsburg, Wavestation/Milpitas, Helsinki and Lisbon - plus the ubiquitous Mr Montpellier (Mono/Poly) all contribute. Lex can, too. I like the Montpellier and Lex lushness contrasting or filling in the gaps between the sharp, modern and digital Milpitas and Lisbon.

  • edited October 2018

    @zeroG said:
    Fair point @oat_phipps but as you say that’s assuming you have that basic level of programming knowledge (I don’t - I’m first and foremost a guitar player). There’s also the drum machines, FX etc... and actually there’s a surprising amount of saxophone in synthwave so I wondered if Sensual Sax might be worth picking up

    Fair enough, same here on the guitar playing. It wasn't until iOS I got into learning synths. brice's list is good. Above all, make sure to have Zeeon with the Synthwave IAP presets programmed by the very same brice above. They're an extra $2 but so worth it.

    And yes, Sensual Sax is definitely worth it for this.

    Edit: I'm adding this because it's free and was the 80s synth on nearly everything. It's a sampled DX7 not a true synth, but it's completely free and you will probably recognize most of the sounds fondly.

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audiokit-fm-player-dx-synth-ep/id1307785646?mt=8

  • Sounds like Zeeon + IAP could be calling @brice @Keenan @oat_phipps :) bit surprised no ones endorsed Synthmaster One for this. Just remembered Micrologue has some very cool 80s type sounds also

  • It’s expensive (iOS relative) unless you hit a sale, but Syntronik is so worth it. Has really nice sounds that while not true synths, allow enough wiggle room to make enough eighties sounds to please an old crusty Numan fan ;)

    Phasemaker makes lovely DX7 like sounds easily, but if you really don’t want to program get KQ Dixie and use the web presets!

    SynthMaster One does modern, but also has much of Korgish sound of the Eighties covered in an AU package with lots of presets.

    Zeeon and ModelD are must have synths and with the AudioBus Forum Sound packs, you don’t even need to program them :p

    For the more esoteric stuff - Lorentz, Kronecker, Ripplemaker, Unique and Quanta would round up my faves >:)

    Only one I missed out and that’s WaveMapper! After all you need some PPG goodness to do any Synthwavey stuff :D

    With BM3s sampler and the above, that’s a good 90% of the synth sounds I use on iOS.

    Add to those a dose of Sensual Sax, Jubal Flute, Neo Soul Keys, String Ensemble, Galileo2 and whatever piano and nothing else matters....

  • @zeroG said:
    Sounds like Zeeon + IAP could be calling @brice @Keenan @oat_phipps :) bit surprised no ones endorsed Synthmaster One for this. Just remembered Micrologue has some very cool 80s type sounds also

    Brices synthwave IAP for me is the best soundpack to ever hit iOS (and there are a lot of great ones out there). Get it and some Linn drum emulation, and your synthwave tracks will almost write themselves ;)

  • @zeroG said:
    Sounds like Zeeon + IAP could be calling @brice @Keenan @oat_phipps :) bit surprised no ones endorsed Synthmaster One for this. Just remembered Micrologue has some very cool 80s type sounds also

    SynthMaster One is a great addition, I use it a lot! Also thanks for introducing me to Gunship, their music videos are so good!

  • What is this genre? What is any genre come to that. I don’t understand genres really. In music, there’s pop, which l like, or there’s classical, which I don’t like – or there’s jazz, if it isn’t actually music. Beyond that, I don’t get the proliferation of genres. There’s more genres than songs, it seems.

  • @u0421793 said:
    What is this genre? What is any genre come to that. I don’t understand genres really. In music, there’s pop, which l like, or there’s classical, which I don’t like – or there’s jazz, if it isn’t actually music. Beyond that, I don’t get the proliferation of genres. There’s more genres than songs, it seems.

    @u0421793 said:
    What is this genre? What is any genre come to that. I don’t understand genres really. In music, there’s pop, which l like, or there’s classical, which I don’t like – or there’s jazz, if it isn’t actually music. Beyond that, I don’t get the proliferation of genres. There’s more genres than songs, it seems.

    Genres define the style

    People have different tastes and like different styles

    Hence genre names

  • What genre would you say this is?

  • @Keenan said:

    SynthMaster One is a great addition, I use it a lot! Also thanks for introducing me to Gunship, their music videos are so good!

    I'll also advocate for SynthMaster One (and SM Player for that matter) as it has become my go-to synth on iOS.

    I was just dwelling on what genre my own work fits into these days... Maybe it could be this...some millennial friend of mine recently suggested vaporwave, but I dunno and most of what I've encountered there has kinda sucked. Either it's the wrong fit, my music sucks, or I'm poised to take over that genre! :smiley:

    Gunship had so much potential until...too much saxophone! Oh, how I generally despise saxophone...heh.

  • There should be a sort of web service where you give it a song and it tells you the genre.

  • @u0421793 said:
    What genre would you say this is?

    I would call this Electro Pop personally. Congrats on the release!

  • This is Off-Topic of iOS but this is my latest video from this morning, I too love Synthwave, along with Prog, probably my too favourite genres of music.

  • @u0421793 said:
    There should be a sort of web service where you give it a song and it tells you the genre.

    Voila!

  • @oddSTAR said:

    Gunship had so much potential until...too much saxophone! Oh, how I generally despise saxophone...heh.

    There was a lot of screeching saxophone in the 80s so I can see why they’re putting it in. Trouble is... it sucked even then.

  • @gusgranite said:

    @u0421793 said:
    What genre would you say this is?

    I would call this Electro Pop personally. Congrats on the release!

    Thanks, every part of the project went exactly as designed. Even down to the entire album having five listeners, ever. That was part of the spec, honestly.

    I classified it as pop when I was selecting from the bewildering list of genres, subgenres, sub sub genres and variant species, in the Distrokid menus, because it isn’t classical, and isn’t jazz, so must be pop. I played with a variety of fanciful genre names they had on offer, but didn’t really know what any of them actually meant or whether they applied to me, so I backed out and just said pop (which must be said with an Inspector Clouseau accent (as opposed to an Inspector Sands voice – although that’d be a good band name, Inspector Sands)).

    I’ve now read up on synthwave, and the even more interesting darkwave, and since last night I’m now an expert on it all. I think what I’ll do, then, henceforth, is reclassify my own stuff as a science-influenced synth wave / electro pop (Inspector Clouseau accent, remember?) hybrid, to be called something like sciencesynthpopwave, or even more succinctively, sciencesynth. The science thing is important, as that’s what I’m singing about, and the music is all composed to support the science-ness of it all (not just this album, but everything I’ve ever done, and probably will do). It’s all about the science. Except it is using synths, and is informed by the 80s soundscapes. So, science-synth. That’s what I’m coining. You’re welcome.

    (Where’s the science in the song Your Yes No Junction? It was written about electroluminescence, that’s what.)

  • I didn't know this was a genre until today, but I've heard it all over, like on the show stranger things. Since I'm a child of the 80s, I think this would be a way to let out my Miami Vice/Jan Hammer influences. I normally skip 80s sounds because I'm still trying to be 90s/2000s haha....ok, new goal to add to my bucketlist.....who is at the top of this genre?

  • @bedheadproducer said:
    who is at the top of this genre?

    Here is a short list of my favourites:

    Lazerhawk
    Makeup and Vanity Set
    Waveshaper
    Carpenter Brut
    Perturbator
    Com Truise
    Home

    There are some popular vocal oriented Synthwave acts as well (The Midnight, Scandroid, Gunship, etc.), but personally I find vocals ruin the appeal of the music for me. I also tend to stay away from the subgenre of artists that are literally recreating 80s Musak (Think FM pianos, saxophones, etc.).

  • I'll leave this here for you fans since my good friends made this. It's more guitar-driven but definitely qualifies. The album is called 'Algorithm Nation' and features all the trimmings of the genre. It's on all the streamers.

  • @zeroG That's a bloody good starting point you posted there. :)

    @bedheadproducer said:
    I didn't know this was a genre until today, but I've heard it all over, like on the show stranger things. Since I'm a child of the 80s, I think this would be a way to let out my Miami Vice/Jan Hammer influences. I normally skip 80s sounds because I'm still trying to be 90s/2000s haha....

    Don't worry mate. Give it a few good more years, and eventually today's youth will catch back up to us 90s kids. ;) :lol:

  • @oat_phipps said:
    I'll leave this here for you fans since my good friends made this. It's more guitar-driven but definitely qualifies. The album is called 'Algorithm Nation' and features all the trimmings of the genre. It's on all the streamers.

    Brilliant! I've followed Swimware on Spotify now?

  • lots of weird stuff from ‘that’ era on this compilation

    ENTERTAINING the INVALID by V/A - Matt Wand

    though rumour has it that three quarters of the tracks might have been done on an ipad... not inconceivable afaik?

  • After recently going to the hugely immersive Stranger Things Secret Cinema experience in London (mind-blowing) and with Maxthor’s next album I imminent I’m right back in the 80s retro groove... and wondering about any good new Synthwave anyone has discovered? Here’s what I am loving most just now;

    Gunship
    Maxthor
    Dynatron
    Volkor-X
    LeBrock
    Crockett
    Timecop1983
    Mitch Murder
    Carpenter Brut
    Perturbator
    FM-84

    Also found this interesting article that explains a lot about the genre: https://ironskullet.com/2019/06/12/why-synthwave-isnt-synthpop-and-why-it-matters/

  • I been big time listening to synthwave/darksynth for 6 months. As @zeroG said ironskullet.com is a very good source for synthwave music.

    Also the French website https://synthspiria.com/

    My favorite artists are
    Pylot
    Electric Dragon
    Gunship
    Meteor
    Street cleaner
    Hollywood burns
    We are magnoia
    Nina
    Dan Terminus
    Fixions
    VolkorX
    Dance with the dead

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