MusicRadar Verdict
The iDS-10 could certainly serve as an effective sketchpad on the daily commute.
Pros
- +
A neat app at pocket money price.
Cons
- -
Not the most powerful tool out there.
MusicRadar's got your back
In 2008, Korg started a minor mobile music revolution with the DS-10 synth workstation for Nintendo DS, and now it's available - in considerably slicker, beefed-up form - for iPhone.
iDS-10 comprises two virtual analogue monosynths, a Voice synth and a drum machine, plus pattern (up to 64 steps) and song (up to 32 patterns) sequencing, and a Kaoss Pad that can be used for note input (with scale snapping) and real-time parameter control.
The analogue synths are based on the MS-10 and feature two oscillators, a multimode filter, an ADSR envelope, a handful of effects and a nifty patch-point modulation setup (albeit with only six targets).
The Voice synth lets you record or type in words for processing via a vocoder-esque engine - it's not intended for generating realistic voices - and the Drum Machine gives a surprising amount of control over its synthesised kick, snare, hats, tom and percussion sounds.
Although for serious music production on iPhone there are significantly more powerful options on the App Store costing less, iDS-10 sounds good, is a lot of fun to mess around with.
Computer Music magazine is the world’s best selling publication dedicated solely to making great music with your Mac or PC computer. Each issue it brings its lucky readers the best in cutting-edge tutorials, need-to-know, expert software reviews and even all the tools you actually need to make great music today, courtesy of our legendary CM Plugin Suite.
“How daring to have a long intro before he’s even singing. It’s like psychedelic Mozart”: With The Rose Of Laura Nyro, Elton John and Brandi Carlile are paying tribute to both a 'forgotten' songwriter and the lost art of the long song intro
“The verse tricks you into thinking that it’s in a certain key and has this ‘simplistic’ musical language, but then it flips”: Charli XCX’s Brat collaborator Jon Shave on how they created Sympathy Is A Knife
“It shows enough promise to become the controller to rule them all”: Melbourne Instruments Roto-Control review