Korg has released the iMS-20 for the iPad. The app claims to be a complete recreation of the Korg MS-20 analog synth with an analog sequencer, a drum machine, a mixer, and their Kaoss Pad technology.

iMS-20 consists of a recreation of the Korg MS-20 analog synth with the patching capability, plus a 16-step analog sequencer based on the Korg SQ-10, a six-part drum machine which can create drum parts by simply tapping the buttons, and a seven-channel mixer with 14 types of effects. In addition, iMS-20 offers dual Kaoss Pads allowing you to generate music by simply stroking the pad and moving your fingers over it.

Features:
Components:
» MS-20 monophonic synthesizer: 1 unit
» Analog sequencer: 1 unit
» 6-part drum machine: 1 unit
» Mixer: 1 unit
» Song/Pattern composer: 1 unit

MS-20 monophonic synthesizer:
» Analog modeling synthesizer (MS-20 modeled by “CMT” Component Modeling Technology)
» 2VCO / 2VCF / 1VCA / 2EG / Patch Panel
» Additional functions: Modulation Key/Tempo Sync
» Insert effect (selectable from 14 effect types as below)

Analog Sequencer:
» 16-step analog sequencer
» Control notes, volume, pan, parameters, and voltages via knobs
» Configurable steps (1-16) and sequence mode (6 types)
» Trigger out per channel or step position

6-part drum machine:
» 6-part/16-step drum machine
» Create sounds by sampling a single note from a built-in MS-20
» Controllable notes, volume and pan by knobs
» Configurable steps (1-16) and sequence mode (6 types) per a part

Mixer:
» 7-channel mixer
» Double needle meter indicates VU level
» Master effect (selectable from 14 effect types as below)

Song/Pattern composer:
» Compose a song or select a pattern, built-in mixer
» 16 patterns and 256 bars per a song
» Tempo setting (20-300 BPM) and Swing function

Effect type:
» 14 types: Short Delay, BPM Sync Delay, Reverb 1, Reverb 2, Chorus/Flanger, Equalizer, Compressor, Tube Simulator (Valve Force), Low-Pass Filter, High-Pass Filter, Band-Pass Filter, Talking Modulator, Decimator, Grain Shifter

Controllers:
» Keyboard: Recording function, Variable width (22, 26, or 29 keys)
» Kaoss Pad: 2 units, Recording function
»Performance pad: Key/Scale (31 types) settings
»Parameter control pad: X-Y axis parameter settings

Other:
» Audio export function (Bouncing a song or pattern, and Real-time recording a performance: 16-bit/44.1 kHz stereo WAV format)
» Publish and share songs online with the SoundCloud audio platform
» Various template patterns by music genre are included
» Various template sounds by sound category are included

Korg’s iMS-20 is a dedicated iPad app ( iOS 3.2 or later) and cannot be used with the iPhone or the iPod touch. It is available now for $16 bucks via iTunes.

The Future: Hooray! Korg finally stepped up with this solid iPad App by squeezing some more mileage out of their venerable MS line. Fact it, this is really just a retooled version of their Nintendo DS-10 Plus for the iPad.
OK, so they still haven’t truly broken new ground, but at least they’re trying to take off the panties.

This latest upgrade of Native Instruments’ (NI) Komplete series continues the tradition of delivering all of the company’s virtual-instrument and effects software in a single, attractively priced bundle. Komplete 6 includes the synths Absynth 5, FM8, and Massive; sample-based instruments Battery 3 and Kontakt 4; the all-purpose effects rack Guitar Rig 4 Pro; and the be-all and end-all of synth, sampler, and effects construction kits, Reaktor 5. The bundle price is lower than the cost of either Reaktor or Kontakt together with any one of the other products, or as Native Instruments likes to put it, “kompletely insane.” Individual product updates are free, and regular low-cost upgrades make it painless to stay up to date with Native Instruments’ newest software.

This year brings a 50-percent price reduction and some significant changes to the lineup. Virtual instruments Akoustik Piano, Elektrik Piano, B4 II, and Pro 53 have been discontinued, although Elektrik Piano is included as a Kontakt 4 instrument. (You can purchase Kontakt 4 versions of the sampled pianos in Akoustik Piano separately or as a bundle.) The legacy versions of the discontinued instruments still work on all current systems, including Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. I used a 2.66GHz quad-core Mac Pro running OS X Leopard 1.5.8 for this review.

Komplete 6 brings three major upgrades to the table: Absynth 5, Kontakt 4, and Guitar Rig 4 Pro. I’ll give special attention to the first two, and EM editor Mike Levine will cover Guitar Rig 4 Pro in detail in the sidebar of the same name.

All seven products in Komplete 6 are provided in standalone, as well as AU, VST, and RTAS plug-in formats for Mac OS X and Windows. The accompanying sound library offers upward of 7,000 presets and includes 60GB of sample content. The synths share the categorized sound browser introduced in NI Kore 2, whereas Kontakt, Battery, Guitar Rig Pro, and Reaktor offer browsing tailored to their individual operation. Kore 2 users have access to all of the Komplete 6 presets from within Kore, but it can take some work to keep these two databases in sync.

Synthesis
Softsynths FM8, Massive, and Absynth come close to covering the bases in synthesis techniques. Both FM 8 and Absynth are also provided as effects plug-ins for processing external audio. FM8 is an enhanced version of Native Instruments’ first emulation of the Yamaha DX7, the FM7. You can dive down to the operator level on the Expert page to design your own FM8 sound from the ground up, DX7 style. Alternatively, you can pick one of the 960 factory presets and control its essentials from the Master page, add Effects on the effects page, throw in some arpeggiation, and tweak it further, as well as morph it with three other sounds on the Easy/Morph page. You’ll find a full review of FM8 in the September 2007 EM. Massive, reviewed in the May 2007 EM, is the newest NI synth. It is a subtractive synth that features anti-aliased wavetable oscillators with an adaptable scheme for morphing through the waveforms in the wavetable. You can continuously adjust the feed to the second of its two filters between the source mix and the output of the first filter. The signal path offers many other options, including a variety of feedback routings, branch points, and effects permutations. The audio-rate Modulation Oscillator and drag-and-drop effects routing for envelopes, LFOs, and step sequencers provide lots of motion. Although designed especially for basses and leads, Massive is capable of far more, as its library of more than 600 presets makes clear. Absynth, released in 2000 by developer Brian Clevinger’s Rhizomatic Software, garnered an immediate cult following as the go-to synth for strangeness, especially in long, evolving sounds. I’ve been a fan since I reviewed Absynth 1, and it’s gotten better and better during its four generations as an NI product. Version 5 expands the sound library; adds effects, a new filter, and filter feedback; and introduces a powerful mutation paradigm for designing new sounds without lifting the hood.

Billed as semi-modular, Absynth’s signal path has 12 module slots arrayed in three vertical oscillator channels of three slots each, with a 3-slot horizontal master-effects channel at the bottom. The top oscillator-channel slots provide the source audio, with options as diverse as a single or dual oscillators, modulation (FM, ring, fractal), standard and granular sample playback, and external audio input. The proceeding two slots hold processors chosen from 19 modulator, filter, and waveshaper effects. The first two master-channel slots have access to the same selection of processors, whereas the third slot holds one of Absynth’s infamous collection of special effects: Pipe, Multicomb, Multitap, Echoes, Resonators, or Aetherizer (new in Absynth 5). You can bypass slots to save CPU; the simplest patch (the default new sound) comprises a single oscillator.

The Aetherizer is a granular feedback-delay effect, and the new Cloud filter is based on the same technology. In short, they granulize the input with varying grain sizes and timing, pitch-shift the grains, and route them both back through the process and to the output, which is equipped with bandpass, lowpass, and comb filters, as well as its own feedback delay. The resulting grain cloud may slightly aerate or completely decimate your sound.

Absynth’s Mutator takes the notion of one-click sound design to a new level. You select attributes in the browser (producing a list of matching presets), choose which module slots to effect, and set amount sliders for mutation and randomization, and then you click the Mutate button. The current preset is morphed based on the sounds in the matching presets list. Absynth lets you retry the mutation until you’re satisfied, and it keeps a history of your mutations. Mutation is not as precise as tweaking a preset, but it’s a fast way to get usable variations.

Sampling
It seems that every virtual-instrument manufacturer has its own approach to drums-and-percussion software, and Battery is a formidable contender. It is a cell-based, percussion-oriented sample player (no slick kit graphic, room miking setups, or built-in sequencer) in which you configure a color-coded pad matrix to trigger the cells, and then load each cell with as many as 128 samples for layering, crossfading, or velocity switching. Each cell has its own trigger-mode, grouping, articulation, echo, and humanize controls, as well as separate tabs for playback, sample mapping, waveform and loop editing, modulation, and effects processing. The 12GB sample library is categorized in the browser by both type (acoustic, electronic, percussion, etc.) and source (previous Battery generations, artist kits, user libraries, and so on). Battery 3 is an excellent (and cost-effective) tool for managing both percussion and sound effects. Check out the details in the online version of the Komplete 4 review.

Kontakt is one of a few go-to software samplers on the market—virtually all major sample libraries include Kontakt versions. Kontakt 4 is the second significant upgrade since EM reviewed Komplete 4 and Kontakt 3 in August 2007 and March 2008, respectively. Kontakt 3.5, a free update reviewed online in September 2009, can access 32GB of RAM using its built-in memory manager; fully integrates Kontakt Player, letting you access KP instruments directly from its browser; implements MIDI Learn for all knobs and sliders; and offers true multiprocessor support in standalone mode.

Kontakt 4 ups the ante with 10GB of additional sample content, including the new Choir collection, solo strings from VSL, a concert organ, and a Mellotron. The convolution reverb comes with 300 additional IR samples. Instrument control panels are larger, providing access to more controls, and the Kontakt Script Language (KSL) offers more options to create those panels. Furthermore, the GUI is redesigned to accommodate more sophisticated control panels from third-party instrument developers. Database management is much improved with an attribute-based browser and pre-tagged library (a vast improvement over the previous Quick Load system). And proving it’s the little things that count, you can now stretch the GUI at will rather than select just three preset sizes (yes!).

The most significant new feature is Authentic Expression Technology (AET), which lets you impose the spectral characteristics of one sound on another and morph between them in real time. Not only does that let you creatively manipulate the harmonic flavor of a sound, it also allows for more transparent velocity transitions than crossfading offers. You’ll find “Master Classes” on Kontakt effects processing and AET in the April 2010 issue and on the KSL in the February 2008 issue.

And Beyond
Reaktor is the unsung hero in Native Instruments’ stable. Creating instruments and effects in Reaktor is difficult and time consuming, but it comes loaded with dozens of factory softsynths and effects (called Ensembles), and they’re no harder to learn and use than other Komplete 6 elements. Many NI products evolve from Reaktor projects. The Kore instruments The Finger and Reaktor Spark are just two examples, and the underlying Reaktor Ensembles, which are included with the Kore versions, have more features.

The factory offerings are highly evolved, professional Ensembles with full documentation. They include synths, sample manglers, groove boxes, sequencers, and devices that defy description (see Fig. 3 and Web Clip 3). Those are augmented by a huge user library of free downloads and a diverse selection of third-party products (see this month’s “Download of the Month” for one example). If you have Komplete, don’t overlook Reaktor; you’ll find sounds and processes you’ll not see in standalone products, including the other products in Komplete.

Komplete 6 brings enough improvements to make upgrading a must, and the upgrade price is the same from any previous version. If you have none of the included products, or have older versions of some, getting on the Komplete bandwagon is well-worth considering. No matter what kind of music you make, Komplete 6 is an outstanding collection of sound-production tools.