Thor Polysonic Synthesizer For iPad – Not Just Marketing BS!

Tim Webb put together this tutorial on Propellerhead’s new Thor for iPad

“There are already many excellent Thor tutorials for the Reason rack,” notes Webb, “but I think this does a good job of addressing the specific uses and needs of iPad users.” Along the way, he tries out some polysonic action and determines that “it’s not just marketing BS!”

See Webb’s site for more of his thoughts on Thor.

15 thoughts on “Thor Polysonic Synthesizer For iPad – Not Just Marketing BS!

  1. This app is a monster. But I’ve had some audio issues on my old tyme Ipad 2. But other then that nothing.Thanks propellerheads. And thanks Tim for the vid.

    1. You’re welcome! Yea I make it a habit to shut down everything else, even on the iPad 3, to keep the performance solid. But as you see here, it isn’t too crazy since I was able to run Display Recorder on the iPad at the same time to capture video.

  2. After a really disappointing ride with the sound quality on the Waldorf Nave presets, Thor seems really quite good, the concept of different oscillator and filter blocks is cool, does anyone know of a vst host equivalent? I’ve never used reason but I understood is was a rack based system that doesn’t simply allow for filter style routings in a nice layout like this and costs

    1. Wow, I have read tons of compliments regarding the presets in Nave on the App Store reviews and other places. And my own experience with the presets in Thor is that many of them sound weak and lifeless, not until I programmed my own sounds did the power and capabiltiies come through.

      For instance, check out some of the “signature” sounds and even Gordon Reid’s bank… I’ve heard better presets on a Casio home-keyboard, I’m sorry to say! 🙂

  3. Just gone back through the Nave and Thor presets, no sign of any Gordon Reid banks, the Nave presets evolve a bit more and the Thor presets are tighter sounds a tiny bit reminiscent (but only 5%) of the King Korg; whereas the Nave presets sound poor, I’m listening to one called Mega Bass at the moment and with 5 minutes messing about it sounds a bit less like a stock preset from a free vst. One or two of the aural imbalance presets aren’t bad but not enough to make me think that it’s work 1/10 of a copy of ElectraX or Sylenth 1. Those raving about the presets must be the same crew that are think sunrizer should be made into a vst, they can’t have ever played with a soft synth, still there must be a ton of hardware synth guys scoffing at me for using vsts

  4. “still there must be a ton of hardware synth guys scoffing at me for using vsts”

    So let ’em. WAV files are the best friend either one has met. Its so easy to import and export sounds now that building a library you like is mostly a matter of housekeeping. Workstations will run for half of forever and software WILL become obsolete, but I’d lose a lot if I gave up either direction. Having 5 or 6 instruments you know well beats having 30 that only get light dabbling time. Thor looks pretty solid to me, since it offers several forms of synthesis. That’s a sign of a synth that deserves exploration as a mainstay.

  5. I have a wooden spoon and a trashcan lid. Does great in the airshaft at 3a.m. Lots of compliments from the neighbors. They keep paying me with furniture and shoes. Wish someone would throw a matching pair.

  6. Where is the best place for a non-reason user to find patches for Thor, I’m looking for mostly retro analog and warm organic patches for instrumental hiphop?

  7. It’s perfect for Analog Modular heads who want to try out patch ideas when their away from their rig at home. Out of all the iPad synths, Thor comes closest to that vintage sound, and I can patch it into my euro rack when I need a unique digital oscillator.

    It’s vast enough to recreate the Moog High/Lowpass filter coupler method, Oberheim style SVF, Yamaha FM, wavetable (not as good as Nave of course), Casio type phase modulation, Roland super saws (but with other waveforms and options), Noise with more options iv’e seen in any synth, Comb filters and format filter which is a dream with a touch screen interface. 16 step sequencer with 6 tracks, 2 LFO’s, 4 envelopes, audio rate modulation, and modulation scaled by other modulation sources.

    Propellerhead software is born for the iPad touch screen.

  8. Maybe I’m clueless on this but can someone explain to me how to stop whatever is being said on EVERY single sound on Thor? Some kind of vocal loop. I’ve been messing around trying to get rid of it for thirty minutes… I want to be able to hear the synth sounds not this awful talking patch over every
    Thing. Maybe this is some kind of glitch? Tips would be appreciated.

    1. You probably have another app running that listenes to MIDI and plays audio in the background! Check your running apps, and turn off MIDI in on any audio apps that you have running.

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