You may already be familiar with AudioKit's Synth One, a free iPad app built on the company's open-source audio framework that thoroughly impressed us when it was released in 2018. The app has gone on to receive millions of downloads.
This week, the generous folks at AudioKit have released the follow-up to Synth One, another synth app for iOS that's being offered up completely free of charge. Drawing on vintage Roland synths for inspiration, Synth One J6 is a virtual analogue synth that the company says has been three years in development.
With a deliberately stripped-back design and uncomplicated knob-per-function interface, J6 is built on a simple two-oscillator architecture. Its three LFOs can be assigned to more than 60 possible destinations, and there's an arpeggiator and step sequencer onboard, along with an array of effects that includes a Juno-style chorus, delay, bitcrusher, tape emulation and a reverb based on the much-loved Valhalla plugins.
The synth's two assignable XY pads can be used to control both effects and modulation in real-time, and it offers full MIDI support and MIDI Learn functionality, so there's real potential here for performance.
In developing Synth One J6, AudioKit recorded Juno-106 and Jupiter-8 oscillators and analysed the results with "ethical AI algorithms", developing oscillators that capture the analogue imperfections of Roland's iconic vintage synths.
The company are so confident in the app that they blind-tested it against Roland's $200 Juno-60 plugin, asking listeners which sounded closer to the original hardware - and claim that it beat Roland's software emulation three-to-one.
AudioKit created Synth One J6 to offer students in music education both a free instrument and a learning resource with which to further their understanding of synthesis and sound design.
"We built Synth One J6 for people who are often left out," reads a statement on AudioKit's website. "Many students and aspiring artists have mobile devices through schools or other programs, but those devices cannot install paid apps. We wanted to change that. With Synth One J6, anyone can explore, learn, and create music right away."
Synth One J6 is available as an iOS app and an AUv3 plugin, so you'll be able to run it in GarageBand and Logic for iPad.
Find out more on AudioKit's website or download it from the App Store.
