Cakewalk Bringing Z3TA+ Synthesizer To iPad (Sneak Preview)

2014 NAMM Show: Cakewalk has announced that it plans to bring their flagship synth Z3TA+ 2, previously available for Mac & Windows, to iOS. It will feature the same audio engine, but an interface adapted for multitouch interaction. 

Features:

  • Over 500 on-board, expertly crafted presets
  • Support for Inter-App Audio, Background Audio, and AudioBus
  • Classic waveshaping Z3TA+2 synth engine with 6 Oscillators, 6 LFOs, filters and more
  • Modulation Matrix including 16 Sources, Curves, Controls, and Destinations
  • Advanced modular effects including Distortion, Modulation, Compression, Delay, Reverb and Limiter
  • External MIDI control and a user-friendly onboard Keyboard
  • Performance section with Tap Tempo and assignably XY Pad, Mod Wheels, and User Controlled In-Key Pitch Bend
  • Designed for iPad 2 or above, iPad Air, and iPad Mini

Details on pricing and availability to come.

12 thoughts on “Cakewalk Bringing Z3TA+ Synthesizer To iPad (Sneak Preview)”

  1. Awesome! I’ve heard nothing but good things about the VST. Still, I hope this app has a robust built-in sequencer. I have no doubt it will be able to be externally controlled. But, I think software being self-contained on an iPad is a huge positive. Otherwise, they’re harder to integrate. Hopefully, something like an Arturia BeatStep will open these apps up more for me.

    1. “I think software being self-contained on an iPad is a huge positive. Otherwise, they’re harder to integrate.”

      I love apps, but I find the VST version much easier to integrate with my studio. Using many apps at once and sending different midi tracks to them from a computer is sill too much labor compared to using a VST.

      That said I can’t wait to see how they will take advantage of the touch screen (Mugician style playing board would be great).

      1. I don’t know why the downvotes? This dude has a major point regarding the clumsiness of integrating these impressive app in the less than impressive functionality available thus far. Why not have these things show up as VST/AU external instruments much like some hardware synths can do (my Korg Microstation comes to mind) Has this thought occurred to anybody in the industry? I mean, go ahead, charge me the money to have it be the same as a computer-based VST/AU…maybe that’s why all the iPad apps are so less expensive than their VST/AU counterparts? Less functional integration into a production conventional setup. I say make the iPad versions fully integrated as VST/AU external instruments and charge fair value for it!

      2. To the naysayers, I would love you to tell me how I its possible to have a minimally 10 tracks setup with mixed audio (guitars and drums) and midi tracks (synths and samplers) sending to different channels controlling different apps and applying different effects to each apps? This is fairly simple stuff we need to do in recording studios. Also what if I would like to use two instances of Zeta?

        I’m not saying apps are bad, I like apps, but its not true that they are easier integrate into a studio as easily than plugins. I would love to play with apps as I described above.

      3. Exactly. Desktop DAW’s can save every VST’s states exactly where you left off in a project. Even with Audiobus 2, I’m not sure this is possible. That’s why I’m not terribly concerned with the price disparity between VST’s and their app counterparts. If you’re going to produce music on the iPad _completely_ in the box, I think apps like Korg’s Gadget are the way to go.

      4. You are mistaking the map for the territory. You are right, of course that an iPad app doesn’t integrate into a desktop DAW like a VST would. But that is completely not the point of the device. It’s as senseless as saying “I can’t eat my soup with this fork”. Wrong tool for the job. VSTs do what VSTs do. An iPad app offers a completely different range of opportunities, the key of which being mobility. You can still record it’s output into a DAW, just like you would any guitar, saxophone, hardware synth, etc. Or you can compose bits on an iPad and transfer them digitally to a desktop DAW. Or you could never record it into a daw, and just use it for live or controller purposes. And more. There are many, many ways to use an iPad app, but discounting them because they are “not a VST” is very much the wrong way to approach them. You can have both. They are not in competition with each other.

        1. Why do you say I’m discounting them? I said I love them, I just wish they’d be easier to integrate.

          Don’t you think it would be awesome if you could load apps in a DAW and vice-versa? Or if apps like Auria and Cubasis could load apps into tracks?

          Imagine the possibilities if Apple merges OSX and IOS someday.

          1. Merging the two OS’ in the future…sounds good. Why not? That’s right what others are saying too. The lack of preset/settings memory in the iOS synths are a serious problem. Is there a technical hurdle in being able to simply plug the iPad into a USB port and I being seen as a VST/AU midi and audio? If so, I find that hard to believe it can’t be overcome.

            1. Apple always used the fact IOS is based on OSX as a key selling point, and when you develop IOS apps you build and test them inside OSX.

              If it would be a technical problems, Apple wouldn’t need to resort to legal manners to stop people from doing it before them. I’m pretty sure a lot of companies making DAW would support apps just like plugins if Apple would let them do it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *