Developer Shoulda Woulda Coulda has updated Polychord – an instrument for the iPad – to version 2.
Here’s what’s new in Polychord 2.0:
- record and share songs with SoundCloud
- sleek new UI made in collaboration with Jonas Eriksson
- palettes, so you can save your settings
- palette f-keys, for fast switching between palettes
- Sine, Sawtooth, Triangle and Square Waves for each instrument. (We used an ‘analogue simulation’ technique for generating the synthesizer waves, which warms them up a bit.)
- Bitshift features for drums: full control over the reduction of bits / bitrate, allowing you to completely decimate the sound or just add a touch of noise.
- Basic low-pass filtering, resonance for each instrument
- Tremolo Depth controls
- Scale mode for the strum keys: rather than the strum keys playing the notes of the current chord, you can set them to numerous other scales.
- Arpeggiator based on time-signatures. Full control over the speed and count of the arpeggiator -allows you to mix a different time signature over the beat. Arpeggiator now has all of the same synth controls as the other instruments.
- The UI now highlights the last chord you pressed, rather than always highlighting the root-note.
- Octave control for every instrument
- Precise BPM control, with text input
- A global on/off switch for Auto Accompany
- File manager for renaming/deleting/loading palettes, songs, etc
- pitch bending on strum keys (sends out MIDI too)
- skins panel lets you switch back to the classic color scheme
Additional demo videos below.
Polychord 2.0 is $9.99 in the App Store.
Polychord Auto-Accompaniment
Instrument settings and exploring sounds
Changing keys and scales
The Arpeggiator
more ipad??? i will miss this site
any info on the polychord ????
Sooo… no C64-style arpeggiator?
such a morphwiz wannabe.
@kii – was under the same impression as you for a while, only to find that by welcoming advancements and changes into my creative workflow pays off bigtime.
though i would always prefer a proper synth review over any app or plugin.
Hey guys, just wanted to jump into the conversation. Thanks for the mention synthopia! @hanerlend: the C64 is legendary, and we have lots of respect for it. We realized that we don't have any videos showing some of the more low-fi capabilities of the app, so Greg quickly threw this together: http://snd.sc/kUunxx (it's all live, composed and recorded in about 3 takes. Everything is btishifted from within the app, and there's a random arpeggiator playing in the background. Mid-way through, the f-key palette is switched quickly over to a blues scale for a, quite terrible, solo.) Anyway, hope you guys give it a go — we know that synthopia is a community of people with love for vintage gear, and we've tried to put some of that warmth into that app as well!
Hey guys, just wanted to jump into the conversation. Thanks for the mention synthopia! @hanerlend: the C64 is legendary, and we have lots of respect for it. We realized that we don't have any videos showing some of the more low-fi capabilities of the app, so Greg quickly threw this together: http://snd.sc/kUunxx (it's all live, composed and recorded in about 3 takes. Everything is btishifted from within the app, and there's a random arpeggiator playing in the background. Mid-way through, the f-key palette is switched quickly over to a blues scale for a, quite terrible, solo.) Anyway, hope you guys give it a go — we know that synthopia is a community of people with love for vintage gear, and we've tried to put some of that warmth into that app as well!
Hey guys, just wanted to jump into the conversation. Thanks for the mention synthopia! @hanerlend: the C64 is legendary, and we have lots of respect for it. We realized that we don't have any videos showing some of the more low-fi capabilities of the app, so Greg quickly threw this together: http://snd.sc/kUunxx (it's all live, composed and recorded in about 3 takes. Everything is btishifted from within the app, and there's a random arpeggiator playing in the background. Mid-way through, the f-key palette is switched quickly over to a blues scale for a, quite terrible, solo.) Anyway, hope you guys give it a go — we know that synthopia is a community of people with love for vintage gear, and we've tried to put some of that warmth into that app as well!
Hey guys, just wanted to jump into the conversation. Thanks for the mention synthopia! @hanerlend: the C64 is legendary, and we have lots of respect for it. We realized that we don't have any videos showing some of the more low-fi capabilities of the app, so Greg quickly threw this together: http://snd.sc/kUunxx (it's all live, composed and recorded in about 3 takes. Everything is btishifted from within the app, and there's a random arpeggiator playing in the background. Mid-way through, the f-key palette is switched quickly over to a blues scale for a, quite terrible, solo.) Anyway, hope you guys give it a go — we know that synthopia is a community of people with love for vintage gear, and we've tried to put some of that warmth into that app as well!
Hey guys, just wanted to jump into the conversation. Thanks for the mention synthopia! @hanerlend: the C64 is legendary, and we have lots of respect for it. We realized that we don't have any videos showing some of the more low-fi capabilities of the app, so Greg quickly threw this together: http://snd.sc/kUunxx (it's all live, composed and recorded in about 3 takes. Everything is btishifted from within the app, and there's a random arpeggiator playing in the background. Mid-way through, the f-key palette is switched quickly over to a blues scale for a, quite terrible, solo.) Anyway, hope you guys give it a go — we know that synthopia is a community of people with love for vintage gear, and we've tried to put some of that warmth into that app as well!
Hey guys, just wanted to jump into the conversation. Thanks for the mention synthopia! @hanerlend: the C64 is legendary, and we have lots of respect for it. We realized that we don't have any videos showing some of the more low-fi capabilities of the app, so Greg quickly threw this together: http://snd.sc/kUunxx (it's all live, composed and recorded in about 3 takes. Everything is btishifted from within the app, and there's a random arpeggiator playing in the background. Mid-way through, the f-key palette is switched quickly over to a blues scale for a, quite terrible, solo.) Anyway, hope you guys give it a go — we know that synthopia is a community of people with love for vintage gear, and we've tried to put some of that warmth into that app as well!
I'm into the iPad app stuff, but I think even die-hard software synth people would love to see more hardware announcements.
The reality, though, is that there's a lot more development happening in software now, because you can do interesting and innovative apps a lot cheaper than you could build a new synth.
@polychordapp – that was some nice Nintendo-sounds there. Still miss the typical C64 arpeggios, though. Like Last Ninja http://bit.ly/bNmVqM or the Bubble Bobble title theme at 0:38 http://bit.ly/2wHTgY. You know, the one that uses pitch bend instead of a new note, with the effect being only the first not has an attack, the filter is not reset etc. Also the possibility to choose which way the arpeggio should go would be nice. IE would you play an E chord EGHEGHEGH or HGEHGEHGEor EGHGEGHGEGHGE
@polychordapp – that was some nice Nintendo-sounds there. Still miss the typical C64 arpeggios, though. Like Last Ninja http://bit.ly/bNmVqM or the Bubble Bobble title theme at 0:38 http://bit.ly/2wHTgY. You know, the one that uses pitch bend instead of a new note, with the effect being only the first not has an attack, the filter is not reset etc. Also the possibility to choose which way the arpeggio should go would be nice. IE would you play an E chord EGHEGHEGH or HGEHGEHGEor EGHGEGHGEGHGE
@polychordapp – that was some nice Nintendo-sounds there. Still miss the typical C64 arpeggios, though. Like Last Ninja http://bit.ly/bNmVqM or the Bubble Bobble title theme at 0:38 http://bit.ly/2wHTgY. You know, the one that uses pitch bend instead of a new note, with the effect being only the first not has an attack, the filter is not reset etc. Also the possibility to choose which way the arpeggio should go would be nice. IE would you play an E chord EGHEGHEGH or HGEHGEHGEor EGHGEGHGEGHGE
@polychordapp – that was some nice Nintendo-sounds there. Still miss the typical C64 arpeggios, though. Like Last Ninja http://bit.ly/bNmVqM or the Bubble Bobble title theme at 0:38 http://bit.ly/2wHTgY. You know, the one that uses pitch bend instead of a new note, with the effect being only the first not has an attack, the filter is not reset etc. Also the possibility to choose which way the arpeggio should go would be nice. IE would you play an E chord EGHEGHEGH or HGEHGEHGEor EGHGEGHGEGHGE
@polychordapp – that was some nice Nintendo-sounds there. Still miss the typical C64 arpeggios, though. Like Last Ninja http://bit.ly/bNmVqM or the Bubble Bobble title theme at 0:38 http://bit.ly/2wHTgY. You know, the one that uses pitch bend instead of a new note, with the effect being only the first not has an attack, the filter is not reset etc. Also the possibility to choose which way the arpeggio should go would be nice. IE would you play an E chord EGHEGHEGH or HGEHGEHGEor EGHGEGHGEGHGE
@polychordapp – that was some nice Nintendo-sounds there. Still miss the typical C64 arpeggios, though. Like Last Ninja http://bit.ly/bNmVqM or the Bubble Bobble title theme at 0:38 http://bit.ly/2wHTgY. You know, the one that uses pitch bend instead of a new note, with the effect being only the first not has an attack, the filter is not reset etc. Also the possibility to choose which way the arpeggio should go would be nice. IE would you play an E chord EGHEGHEGH or HGEHGEHGEor EGHGEGHGEGHGE
Oh, and one more thing. It would be nice if you could hide the sound-shaping bar to make place for three additional "wheels", so that you had all the 12 semitones available.
@hanerlend: Right — a monophonic option with portamento would definitely be a cool addition. I'm not sure if I'm understanding you correctly about the direction, because there are currently: up, down, up down, and random. But I assume you're talking about something else?
Re hiding the controls: this is definitely something we want to incorporate, and simply didn't have the time to get it into the current release.
Thanks for the feedback! We really like seeing/hearing what everyone wants in there and weigh everyones comments when we're planning updates.
Re: bubble bobble theme: such a classic!
Also, last ninja theme is pretty epic
The ninja track is most definitely a serious track by all means!!
yet – in my opinion the double dragon theme song delivers the best gossbump nostalgia of all, especially when played through my Sidstations "asid" app 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie5w31DtIw8&fe…
couldnt find a proper sid sounding tune but thats the one i meant (Billy & Jimmy's Theme)
that solo…
🙂
The ninja track is most definitely a serious track by all means!!
yet – in my opinion the double dragon theme song delivers the best gossbump nostalgia of all, especially when played through my Sidstations "asid" app 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie5w31DtIw8&fe…
couldnt find a proper sid sounding tune but thats the one i meant (Billy & Jimmy's Theme)
that solo…
🙂
The ninja track is most definitely a serious track by all means!!
yet – in my opinion the double dragon theme song delivers the best gossbump nostalgia of all, especially when played through my Sidstations "asid" app 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie5w31DtIw8&fe…
couldnt find a proper sid sounding tune but thats the one i meant (Billy & Jimmy's Theme)
that solo…
🙂
The ninja track is most definitely a serious track by all means!!
yet – in my opinion the double dragon theme song delivers the best gossbump nostalgia of all, especially when played through my Sidstations "asid" app 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie5w31DtIw8&fe…
couldnt find a proper sid sounding tune but thats the one i meant (Billy & Jimmy's Theme)
that solo…
🙂
The ninja track is most definitely a serious track by all means!!
yet – in my opinion the double dragon theme song delivers the best gossbump nostalgia of all, especially when played through my Sidstations "asid" app 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie5w31DtIw8&fe…
couldnt find a proper sid sounding tune but thats the one i meant (Billy & Jimmy's Theme)
that solo…
🙂