iceGear Instruments has introduced Nambu, a new 6-operator FM soft synthesizer that’s not designed to mimic the FM synths of 40 years ago.

Nambu is a semi-modular FM synthesizer that they say “incorporates modern ideas, not designed to recreate the sound and workflow of a vintage FM synthesizer.”

It’s not compatible with vintage FM synthesizers and you can’t import old DX7 patches. It doesn’t even come with a lot of patches – the synth is designed for people who want to do new things with FM.

Features:

• 6 Operator Types
  • FM Operator
  • Noise Operator + AM
  • Oscillator Operator (Analog synthesizer style oscillator) + AM
  • Texture Operator + AM
  • Filter Operator
  • Resonator Operator
• Operator Matrix Mixer
  • The Matrix mixer creates an operator network that is not limited to traditional “Algorithm” methods.
• Modulation sources
  • 4x LFOs
  • 4x Envelopes
  • 2x Step sequencer
  • 2x Keyboard scaling
  • 2x Velocities
  • 2x Macros
• Effects
  • Chorus
  • Delay
  • Reverb
• Program Arpeggiator
  • You can easily create your own pattern.
• Universal App
  • It is compatible with iPad and iPhone.
• Audio Unit Extensions (AUv3)
  • You can use this AUv3 Plug-In in a host application that supports Audio Unit Extensions (AUv3).
• Audiobus
  • You can stream live audio directly to an Audiobus compatible application. See https://audiob.us for more information.
• Ableton Link
  • Link is a technology that keeps devices in time over a local network. See https://www.ableton.com/link/ for more information.
• MIDI input
  • Core MIDI, Virtual MIDI, Inter-App Audio MIDI Input
  • MIDI clock synchronization
  • MIDI controller mapping
• Preset sharing
  • You can share your presets with other users. You can add presets created by other users to your preset library using the iOS Share Extension feature.

Here are the official intro videos:

Pricing and Availability

Nambu is available now for $14.99 USD.