Factory - Modular Synthesizer 4+

Seen a few reviews where this is also their forgotten synth, and perhaps that’s given the Devs some time to refine it. Dominated by the big central matrix (double-tap to make an instance of something, slide up or down over it to increase or reduce the influence or magnitude of that). I think ‘modular’ is enjoying a resurgence, in the virtual synth music world? Don’t have to clutter hardware all over the place nor burn the planet, makes sense.

I cannot vouch for how ‘modular’ it is, but one notable point is that when operating the mod wheel, some patches have shedloads of nodes in that big matrix, swelling and shrinking in real-time. This I take it means multiple different oscillator functions etc can be hooked up to the mod wheel, and the resulting change, much more rich and varied. So, it rightly gets 5 stars from many, including me. And, Sugar Bytes are a well-respected and veteran developer, it so happens I have multiple of their offerings and they do take issues seriously.

A sound factory indeed, it’s up there with the best I think.

After two or three years, or however long it's been out anyway, I realised I'd never really had a look at this as it seemed a bit intimidating to someone still on a steep learning curve, so I only wound my way through the presets and fell short of delving in. Kicking myself now because it's loads easier than I thought (admittedly the learning curve is a lot gentler these days). I've always loved the way you could make it sound like quite a few other synths on the Appstore and then instantly nothing at all like any other synth on the Appstore just by connecting your modwheel to the dice or tweak dial thing, but it's loads more satisfying knowing what's actually going on and how it's all connected when you do. Working through the options on this thing are going to keep me occupied for days... so there is an upside to spraining my ankle yesterday I suppose.

This is truly a fantastic synth. Loads of presets and a great interface. I bought this and then didn’t use it much and then came back to it and pretty much use it in all my productions now. Some great and unusual sounds that set it apart from other synths. As will all synth apps it would be great buy or offer more presets to keep it fresh.