If classic FM Synths are your thing, then prepare for a treat. Those lovely people at AudioKit Pro have created a completely free & open-source multi-sampled iPad instrument inspired by classic 80’s FM Synthesizers. This has been a true labor of love for this team. The team got their hands on a DX7 II and fell in love with the sound, and I have to say, why wouldn’t you? They’ve spent months lovingly crafting and sampling the sounds, and it’s a great app. Now it’s finally available in the app store, and what’s more it’s for FREE.

Here’s a bit more detail:

  • Classic presets, faithfully recorded from the original retro 80s Synthesizers (which may have been used by someone very famous:
  • DX7, DX7II, TX81z sounds
  • Over 50+ presets included, completely free!
  • FX: Reverb, Ping-pong dealy, Auto Pan, Bit Crush, Stereo Fatten, and more!
  • MIDI in (Play with a MIDI Keyboard or AudioBus 3)
  • Filter: Low-pass Cutoff, Rez, and Filter LFO
  • AudioBus 3 & Inter-App Audio (IAA) integration.
  • Use these amazing sounds w/ AUM, BeatMaker 3, GarageBand, and other apps
  • All knobs have MIDI Learn

FM Player is available for iPad and is free on the app store now:

If that wasn’t enough AudioKit Pro have released AudioKit ROM Player. This is a completely free and full-featured professional sample playback instrument example. The AudioKit ROM Player code can be modified to play EXS24, Wave, or Sound Fonts. replace the included sounds and graphics with your own creations and upload your own app to the app store! You’re free to use this code however you’d like. It’s free and open-source! Meaning, you don’t have to pay AudioKit anything at all.

This is kind of huge. There have been lots of different ways to create iOS apps without writing code, but now you can actually make an iOS app using samples of your own and deliver it. It’s big, really big, in my opinion, and I’m going to be very interested to see what does get produced with it.

If you use the code, please let us know what you’ve made, we’d love to hear from you! So, go check it out …

You can find more details at the AudioKit site, and you can get the code at GitHub.