Cassini Polyphonic Synthesizer For iPhone

iceGear has introduced a new synth for iOS, Cassini Polyphonic Synthesizer. It offers a fairly sophisticated synthesis architecture, with 3 OSCs, 2 Filters, AMP, 9 EGs, 6 LFOs, 2 Delays and Arpeggiator.

Here are the details:

  • 3 Oscillators plus 1 Sub-Osc
    • Sawtooth, Pulse(PWM), Triangle, Sine, Noise, FM
    • Waveshape Modulation
    • Oscillator Sync
    • Ring Modulation
  • 2 Filters
    • LP24, LP18, LP12, LP6, BP, HP
  • AMP
    • Overdrive
    • 3 Band EQ
    • Auto Pan
  • 9 Envelope Generators
    • DAHDSR(Delay, Attack, Hold, Decay, Sustain, Release)
    • Velocity, Keyboard Tracking
  • 6 LFOs
    • Sawtooth, Pulse, Triangle, Random, 16 Step Sequence
    • Waveshape Modulation
    • Envelope(AD/AR)
  • Modulation Delay
    • Delay Time: 1-2000ms / Tempo Sync
    • Delay Time Modulation
  • Filtered Stereo Delay
    • Resonant Filter (LP, BP, HP)
    • Filter Modulation
  • Programable Polyphonic Arpeggiator
    • Scale/Chord Remapper
  • CoreMIDI
  • Recorder
    • Audio Copy (Compatible with INTUA BeatMaker, Apple GarageBand and so on.)
    • Export wav file via iTunes File Sharing
    • The recording time is limited to 3 minutes.

Cassini is designed for iPhone, iPod touch and is compatible with iPad. It’s available now for $2.99 in the App Store.


24 thoughts on “Cassini Polyphonic Synthesizer For iPhone

  1. I read this post wrong and just wasted $2.99. This thing scales like CRAP on the iPad. It’s 2012 folks; if Propellerhead’s Figure can scale correctly on the iPad – even as an iPhone app – why can’t this? It costs 3X as much. ARGH

    1. I was just playing with it on my iPad 3. It’s fine. The graphics are clean and simple enough that the artifacts really aren’t that bothersome to me.

  2. I may just not be enough of a synth guru: But who in gods name would need 9 envelope generators? Nice to know they’re there, though, i suppose.

    1. I think the “9 envelope generators” thing is a little misleading. It seems to me that it just means that nine different parameters are assigned their own envelope generators. It doesn’t seem that you can stack envelope generators to manipulate one parameter, for example. Still, this is pretty good compared to a lot of apps.

  3. Does it really matter if it looks hd? As long as everything is clear and visible is what matters, it sounds great from the video. I just cannot believe people who whine about spending a couple of pounds on a fully functional synth, how is that a waste of money? Likely they will make it universal anyway..

  4. The “iPad-compatible” thing has thrown me a couple of times, too.

    When I look for apps, check for iPad screen shots. If there aren’t any, it tells you right away that it’s running in compatibility mode.

    Of course, we could actually read the specs, too…..but that’s asking a lot.

  5. Sounds great, I like the arpeggiator options. Lots of new, fun things to play with here. Doesn’t seem to support the Akai SynthStatiion25 like their other apps, Xenon and Argon. Hopefully it’ll be an upcoming feature.

  6. I don’t have a coreMIDI interface.
    Does this have virtual Midi support so that I can use with other apps ?
    No specific mention of this on the site

  7. Stop press….I just got t, it’s fine. Ok graphics on the UI are pixelated a bit on iPad but I’d rather have an app that looks like a synth , plays like a synth and tweaks like a synth with the graphics a little grainy than a shiny hd imaged speculative thing like morph wiz to be honest.

    The presets are ok, but due to the amount of Lfos, filters and whatnot, this is a fully able and decent synth we have here. Kind of reminds me of those old Casio keyboards lol, but sounds great. It also has record and export options such as acp and iTunes file transfer so will likely satisfy even the nerds on eyedesigndissdot com

    So app freaks and synth heads alike should be happy with this considering the price and genuine practical use facilitated. I don’t think this is as good as grain science or animoog but that’s ok, as it’s yet another synth with different sounds so it’s all good.

  8. Another excellent sounding synth for iPhone, it does make me wonder why you’d want to spend a lot more money on a VA synth, when you can have lots and lots of ios synths for a lot less money ?

    They’re all just computers trying to be analogue at the end of the day.

    1. If you play one synth at a time, the iPad is fine. Trying to establish a conducive workflow with multiple apps is a pain, though. Having said that, a couple VSTs I’d _really_ like to see on the iPad:

      1) Sonic Charge Synplant – This screams for touch gestures.
      2) d16 Phoscyon – The best virtual 303 I’ve tried. Syncing that to iElectribe with WIST would be heaven on a tablet for me.

  9. Just spent more time with it, it’s great, it feels very real and sounds great too. I’m not a synth master nor can I afford a “real” one, but for £2 I can get this? Yes, for sure this is up there with sunrizer etc all. Highly reccomended, it will be a late nite tonite, the manual is useful too

  10. I thought that I’d just take a quick glanse under its hood, but it swallowed me as whole and I got lost inside of it for hours! Now I’m looking forward to long and boring week end trip to my mother in law!!! Omg, This is even better than Sunrizer!!!

  11. First impression:
    It does need a few updates to get working.
    Not clear what the scope should be. There are quite a few params to shape the sound, and you can create an arpeggio or play it with keys.
    But then what? Play along with a song? Record and export… Nothing there to organise the bleeps.

    Annoying weakness #1:
    Knobs are controlled by rotation.
    Programmers, NEVER make knobs that imitate rotation! It does not work.
    A knob is a (vertical) slider compressed into a square. Just pay attention.

    Minor UI comments:
    – There are controls that don’t work until you’re in a specific state. Hide them or grey out, whatever, but don’t confuse users. We’ll just get annoyed and blame you.

    – Responsivity is so-so. When holding a key, pitchbend and mod wheel often don’t take.

    – It’s not clear how much polyphony there is. Sometimes it seems monophonic, sometimes 2 or even 3 voices work. At least mono might be noted somehow.

    – When in mono state, if I hold key 1, then press and release key 2, I should get back to 1.

    Oh well, gotta play a bit more too see if gets logical.

  12. This is so impressive synth, that it makes me wonder why they sneaked upon us with it and released it quietly. I hope people get this, so they would continue its developement, as this is the best starting point for iPhone synth currently. On top of the absolutely ridiculous amount of features it has, its sounds have a lot of character. Its filters even have certain gnarliness that I especially like. I hope somebody makes an impressive review to help IceGear to promote this synth.

    1. I was happy they sneaked it out actually, unlike some devs that advertise their apps moths before they are released. It is excellent, easily in the top five best synths for iOS. It’s very deep, so much to tweak with, I got lost in it for ages last night. Once I’ve figured it out it will help me greatly. Good job I say

      1. Yeah, I don’t like teasers that much either, especially in those cases that doesn’t need to get hyped and only create false expectations, but this would have lived up any hype they could create. In personal point of view, I like the surprise more, and boy what a surprise this is!!! I’m only worried, that this don’t get the attention it deserves. Fortunately the minor improvements that it needs are easy to do and its already in great shape. Its already my top synth for iPhone.

  13. The guy complaining about scaling the app to the ipad… should really take a look on JB’ing… i heard there’s an app called Retinapad wich usually smoothes up the scaling.. in most cases it just looks perfect crisp for a scaled up app.. just like native normally…

    But then again, if you start dumbish-hate-crap about perfectly good apps before even try to get to know the tools you are working with you wouldn’t know this!!

  14. I’ve been a fan of IceGear’s Xenon for some time – I think it’s a good value and an excellent sounding instrument. So, I’ll probably be picking this up.

Leave a Reply to RandomJoe Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *