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The original Rebirth RB-338 was great. Released in 1996, I remember it being one of the first software synthesizers on the PC that seemed serious and sounded cool. An iPhone version has been around for a while but the iPad version was just released for $14.99 and I couldn’t resist trying it out.

The multi-touch is what makes the difference of course. While the screen is a tiny bit smaller than would be optimal – it’s hard to select drums without accidentally engaging a button or knob – being able to manipulate multiple controls at once without using a mouse is undeniably fun. You can actually feel like you’re jamming to a certain extent.

Ultimately though I feel disappointed and am not sure it was worth the $15. We’ll see if I go back to it. Without any sort of MIDI support (sending or sync or export) this is just another bleep-toy that won’t really integrate with my existing audio tools.

The 303 sounds are also pretty dated sounding to me (or at least not as fat as modern soft-synths), but the drums are still thick and fun. There’s also some ugly digital clipping if you start driving it too hard which is less present in modern plugins.

So, much like the original Rebirth, I’m still waiting for an iPad music app that seems serious and sounds cool.

My synth programming knowledge is spotty at best. I usually roll through presets and tweak the knobs a bit and call it a day. So I’m really enjoying this Synthesis Made Simple series over at Waveformless. I couldn’t find a post on there with a chronological list of the articles, so I’ve made one here:

• Welcome to Synthesis Made Simple
• Synthesis Made Simple: Part 1 – Overview
• Synthesis Made Simple: Part 2 – Oscillators – Meet the Waveforms
• Synthesis Made Simple: Part 3 – Oscillators – Combination Style
• Synthesis Made Simple: Part 4 – Bring the Noise – Noise Generators
• Synthesis Made Simple Part 5: Intro to Filters
• Synthesis Made Simple: Part 6 – Types of Filter
• Synthesis Made Simple Part 7: An Introduction to Modulation
• Synthesis Made Simple Part 8: The Envelope, Please
• Synthesis Made Simple: Part 9 – Your Friend the LFO
• Synthesis Made Simple Part 10: Using Modulation Practically
• Synthesis Made Simple Part 11: Putting it All Together
• Synthesis Made Simple Part 12: Where Do You Go From Here?