Earlier this week, apeSoft released iVCS3 for iPad – a software recreation of the classic EMS VCS3.
This video, via thesoundtestroom, offers an unofficial tour and demo of iVCS3 for iPad.
iVCS3 is available in the App Store for US $14.99.
If you’ve used iVCS3 yourself, let us know what you think of it!
Worth getting an iPad just for this. Sounds amazing.
Not really a tour or a demo. More of a random finger stabbing. I just bought this myself. I think I will read the manual and try and understand it as I like it already and the filter sounds very nice.
It’s not a real emulation unless it goes out of tune as you are plugging in more pins into the pin matrix! That was one of the more frustrating things about the original Putney. I’m not sure if I’ll bite on this one…I already have too many synths on my iPad as it is. IDK though, a $15 VCS3…that’s pretty hard NOT to buy!
Again, the price was apparently bumped up $4 bucks since this post was written. It’s now $18.99.
again: in the austrian app store it is still €13.99, like it was since this app was released. could it be that you’re looking in the New Zealand app store(?), because there it is NZD18.99.
Nope. Right here in the U.S.
I have owned an EMS Synthi AKS since the 70’s
Have just installed the iVCS3 on my iPad
First impressions:
Great looking and very useable touch interface, all the knobs can be individually midi (or accelerometer tilt) assigned, so should be easily hooked up to a hardware controller, which is cool.
Sound wise not so sure, frequency quantisation clearly audible when you sweep the oscillators or filter with the joystick or LFO. So a sawtooth control voltage gives a glitchy sound when it jumps, not snappy like the real thing. Perhaps OK for keyboard type patches but not so good for bubble sweeps which is where the original really excels.
That aside for £10 you can’t really complain and great fun for long journeys etc. Will post an update when I get into it a bit more, got a nice train journey up to London tomorrow to see System 7 and Rovo play…
Yeah, it’s very cool that this app exists. Big ups to the developer for making it happen. However, to my ears, in all these demos the sound has a slight dullness that makes me feel I’m better off just messing with the actual modular setup I own.
The modular thing seems in general, to be more about a gear fetish, and less about making actual music or usable sounds (not criticizing, just observing). So, it will be interesting if this app will even satisfy retro-hardware-junkies, or be a sound creation tool that less obsessed hardware users will even want to slog through. Just wondering because it seems so ironic to make ‘virtual modular’ synths, when really, it seems as if there is no point other than chasing the retro trend.
I think your premise is off. Modular fascination is not strictly gear lust. I’m sure it is for many… but I imagine there are quite a lot of folks whose primary goal is just wandering around through sound design. For me it started with Native Instruments Reaktor, a software modular, and loving every minute of the hours I lost in there.
That is precisely how I approach this app as well. It’s just a dive into sound, rather than some artistic statement or purpose.
Developers, if you read this blog, use the built in camera in the iPAD for snap shots of presets on a real VSC3 then see all the setting copied on the iVCS3
Just for the heck of it.
I have had many years of experience with the VCS3 and AKS. I was even a West Coast rep for EMSA (Electronic Music Studios of America – the US distributor for EMS) back in the 70s. I finally sold my beloved but aged and decayed old AKS last year and I have been waiting for months since first hearing about this app to see what it is like. I am excited to see that it is finally out. Sadly this “demo” was more like watching someone who has no idea what he is doing just randomly poking his fingers at things then spinning the knobs and then trying to figure out what happened as a result of his bumbling around.
My iPad 4 is still in stuck in iOS 6.0 and I was disappointed to see that 6.1 is the minimum version when I tried to buy the app this morning. But it looks like a good and mostly faithful reproduction of the original and I am willing to bet that it is far better than this video shows. I am hesitant to upgrade to iOS7. But I might do it just to get back to the good old days.
What’s the big deal with iOS7? It’s not the phone but iPad, and you have a fast iPad which should run the OS comfortably.
I have owned 2 VCS3’s and a Synthi AKS. When I bought this app I went to my YouTube channel and loaded up a vid I did of my, since sold, Synthi. I then decided to replicate the patch on the iVCS3. While it is not exactly 100% the same its pretty close at getting the sound. The only other software EMS emulation I have thought were close was in Reaktor.
I like the fact that you can change the reverbs and the sampler option looks interesting.
I too found the stepping in the oscillators a tiny bit annoying but its a very minor gripe.
Best thing is I contacted Alessandro of Ape and gave him a list of things that I thought could improve this version.
Well worth the money and its one of the only apps I spent more than 5 minutes with and then forgot. I have been on this now for 6 hours and even went to my local park to play the iVCS3 to create bird and mosquito sounds. I then turned around and had 4 couples sitting listening to what I was doing, the park is usually empty.
I guess they enjoyed it 🙂
Is there a way to share and load “home made” presets? Could someone make some chap chapo-like presets? Thx for help : )