SoundFonts 4+
Polyphonic soundfont synth
Brad Howes
Designed for iPad
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- $7.99
Screenshots
Description
This is a straightforward yet powerful app that acts as a polyphonic audio synthesizer with a virtually unlimited collection of sounds. Under the hood, It uses an AVAudioUnitSampler to generate the audio output when you touch one or more keys. The sounds that are available come from soundfont (SF2) files, such as those available online for free (and of variable quality).
The app also exists as an AUv3 plug-in (included) so you can use it in your favorite music generation application such as GarageBand, Logic, or AUM. It also includes two AUv3 effects units – reverb and delay - which you can use separately as well..
The app supports MIDI input -- just connect a MIDI keyboard/controller to your iOS device and you should be good to go! There is also support for MIDI over Bluetooth. You can also control some app settings using MIDI controls, including the active favorite preset and the audio effects.
To use, simply select a SoundFont name in the left list, then a patch name on the right and start playing. Some additional hints to get going:
• Add a SoundFont (SF2) file that you have downloaded onto your iCloud Drive. Press the "+" button and then locate the file to add. You can always change the display name of the SoundFont by swiping right. And you can remove a SoundFont that you no longer want by swiping left on its name.
• Bring up reverb and delay effects by touching the wavy "signal" button.
• Swipe right on a patch name to make it a favorite. Favorited patches have a star next to their name. You can edit the name of the favorite by again swiping right and selecting the edit action. You can remove a favorite by swiping left and selecting the remove action.
• Touch the labels at either end of the black bar to change the range of the keyboard. You can go as low as "C0" and as high as "C9". You can also change the range by swiping left/right on the black bar. Note that this ability does not exist in the AUv3 extension -- use the native application keyboard controls to achieve the same results. You can also toggle the keyboard sliding feature by touching the small arrow between the note labels.
• Switch between the soundfont patches listing and the favorites view by double-tapping on the patch name in the black bar above the keyboard. You can also swipe left/right with two fingers in the patches and favorites views to switch to the other view.
• In the view of favorites, you can edit a favorite button by double-tapping on it. You can rearrange the favorite buttons with a tap-and-hold gesture.
Finally, you can check out the source code! Go to the Support URL to find out more.
What’s New
Version 2.30.0
* Fixed alert title that was missing localization entry
* Fixed improper note playing when keyboard is movable
* Improved restoration of AUv3 component. Tested in GarageBand, AUM, and Cubasis 3 with 3 and 4 SoundFonts instances in a file.
Ratings and Reviews
A Godsend, but-
This app is literally legendary. The only DAW i can afford to write music on is garageband, and with its limited selection of samplers, doesn’t support soundfonts very much. (i’ve always wanted to recreate Bonetrousle from Undertale, with this app i was able to). The ability to create your own presets with selected effects is amazing.
There are only a few problems.
When using the AUv3 with garageband, it is VERY touchy. It may automatically assign to a different instruments, or may completely revert to a sine wave, which results in the UI removing the text. (this happens when merging, or copy and pasting tracks) And this might be on me, but the pitch bend feature doesn’t seem to function (with garageband at least). i would record a section that includes pitch bend, then move it to the sound font track, and it would play the note all the way through. I looked in the settings, and turned the range to 24+ semitones, and still, nothing. If you guys have a solution, feel free to reply!
love you guys!
Developer Response ,
Update: In the latest release, I've revamped how the AUv3 component works with host apps such as GarageBand. I hope this fixes the issues you were encountering.
Extremely useful, HUGE glitch
Ever since I bought this app, it has been a permanent asset in my music-making hobbies, but there's a huge glitch that makes it very difficult for me to confidently use.
The LMMS I use is GarageBand, and Soundfonts functions consistently within it without many issues, other than the occasional bug where all of my soundfonts seem to disappear, but that is easily fixed by rebooting GarageBand, though I do have to choose my soundfonts again, which can be a little annoying. That's not the main issue though, the real problem is exporting it from GarageBand into an audio file (in this instance, a WAV).
When I was first using Soundfonts, the song would export perfectly. Around 3 or so songs in, though, it simply wouldn't export properly. Instead, it would export the song with all of the instruments nonfunctional, and, upon further inspection, made the instruments nonfunctional within GarageBand itself, requiring me to reboot the app, choose the soundfonts again, and try the export again. This, though, did not fix the problem, and doing the export again broke the song and broke every soundfont once more.
I have no clue what could possibly be causing this, but it's a pretty awful glitch, considering it makes sharing the songs I make with Soundfonts impossible to share with others. I really hope this can be fixed, since all things considered, this app has been extremely useful for getting better instruments in GarageBand.
Great app, but I have a problem
First of all, the app is great! The sounds are great, the features, everything! I do have one problem though, any time I try to use it in GarageBand, it randomly just stops working. And when I try to make a new sound with SoundFonts, none of the actual sounds are there, and when I try to upload a sound, it tells me that the app quit and I need to reinstall it. Other than that, 10/10!
App Privacy
The developer, Brad Howes, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Brad Howes
- Size
- 196 MB
- Category
- Entertainment
- Compatibility
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- iPhone
- Requires iOS 14.0 or later.
- iPad
- Requires iPadOS 14.0 or later.
- iPod touch
- Requires iOS 14.0 or later.
- Mac
- Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
- Apple Vision
- Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- Languages
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English
- Age Rating
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2022 Brad Howes
- Price
- $7.99
Supports
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Family Sharing
Up to six family members can use this app with Family Sharing enabled.