It looks like Camel Audio’s Alchemy synth may live on within Apple’s GarageBand and eventually Logic Pro.
Apple Insider reports that Apple has updated its site with previews of an upcoming GarageBand release that features new synth sounds with the ‘Transform Pad Smart Control’. The Tranform Pad will look familiar to users of Alchemy Mobile:
Examples of the new synth in action are available on Apple’s GarageBand page.
Camel Audio closed shop abruptly earlier in the year. Apple does not typically comment on acquisitions, but records point to them acquiring Camel Audio.
Check out the screen shots and audio demos and let us know what you think!
via Angelo
Called it. Et tu, eMagic.
This is excellent news because I have invested close to $1000 in Alchemy Complete and bought extra sound library’s but I need the “Iceland” library. Now I get to buy it here in the future! Sweet!
I’m glad to see this news. The two disappointing things about having Alchemy in Logic Pro and Garageband are Logic Pro and Garageband. 😉
Seriously, I wish Apple would take all the soft synths in GB, LP, and MS and give them all a serious update. Improve the sounds, improve the GUI’s and add some new features. Alchemy is a nice addition for sure, but those other synths are kind of long in the tooth without any improvements in years. But for gosh sakes, don’t dumb anything down– there’s plenty of user friendly sounds out there. Keep some of these synths as full-featured and MIDI controllable as possible for us control-freaks.
I actually prefer stability vs the annual upgrade money grabs that a lot of companies are going to.
Also, the Logic Pro price still kills anything out there.
it will also live on through torrents for years and years
As a long time Logic and Alchemy user I hope it gets resurrected. Hopefully Logic will allow resizing plug in windows so that you can actually see what you are tweaking. When you do resize them please make sure the GUI actually looks like something from 2015 rather than 1995. If they can’t do a better interface than the vector control on ES2 after all these years……..
Alchemy is a fit with what gaps there are in Logic’s synth array, too old and too simple mainly. Please work out a better way of showing what is modulating what. Perhaps tabs for edit rather than buttons. I was sent an email to back up my Alchemy files the other day. First email in ages. I wondered if something new was going to happen.
You can resize all plugin windows in Logic X. Just give it a try.
Now that porting is complete Apple will do as they usually do and dismiss all the “coders” who created it, leaving them with nothing, and those who need anything beyond the poor timing of Logic and Garageband SOL.
Remind me why I should shed a tear for someone that sold their company to Apple in order to make a ton of money?
A ton of money? Who said that… Ever talked to a indie plugin dev let alone to Alchemy? How much do you think these guys make?
The guys who make the products don’t own the company. They are not the same guys who hand over the product to the multinational corporation for gutting and “simplification”.
Great news for Logic users, but I’m confident even an unscathed version of Alchemy inside Logic won’t help them sell any new copies. At least not until they allow logic to run as a rewire slave.
I hope not. Last thing we want is more bloated rompling.
This will be nothing like Alchemy. This is like Microsoft stripping everything out of Flight Sim X and creating an arcade simulator with just one small island to fly over and 3 aircraft.
“Apple says the update will give GarageBand “100 EDM? and Hip Hop?inspired synth sounds.”
You can forget any of the sound sets from alchemy. Garageband was built for hipsters by hipsters who need hip replacements.
“GarageBand was built for hipsters by hipsters who need hip replacements”- classic line! Resisting poor follow on references to hip hop.
Hipsters needing hip replacements. Too rich. It was funny when Kat Dennings said it on “2 Broke Girls” and it’s funny here too.
I had considered working a hip hop reference in there too but I got lazy.
People will always complain. I have Logic and personally welcome the addition of ANY new synth. They need to step it up and this is a step in the right direction.
I have no experience of Logic, only garageband on iPad. It does look and feel like it was made by grandpa and it’s clear they aren’t hip. They would benefit from partnering with a proper synth coding team. Thinking about it, the best description I can think of for Garageband would be: What would a DAW look like if made by Disney studios? All that’s missing is Mickey’s face on the control panel. I don’t think Garageband is bad, it’s just not very up to date in style or execution. Stripping down and incorporating Alchemy won’t make things any better because Alchemy Garage will be a hollow shell of its former self.
Logic has proven to be the best platform for me, so I am crossing my fingers hard to see Alchemy appear, especially with the same GUI I am used to. I’d like to keep the libraries I bought, but it remains to be seen how or IF Apple would pay the sound developers, such that ALL of that ka-pow comes to the table. It’d be a drag to see those superior sounds evaporate and the new sounds be so EDM, the synth loses ground. Its a new deal, so let’s see how it unfolds.
I want to defend Logic’s in-house synths a little. The ES2 GUI *does* feel too crowded at times, but its still a killer VA *because* it has some reach, like the multimode filter and vector options. Sculpture also sports a cramped GUI, but its a totally useable physical modeler that often surprises me. Most of all, I LIKE the basic nature of the EXS24 sampler. If I need multiple Bezier envelope curves, I’ll buy Serum, but 5- and 6-stage envelopes are plenty for most of my doings. The EXS and Alchemy paired are huge. Some seem unaware of it, but the EXS will accept Soundfonts and does a bit of conversion trickery that also allows for Akai and a few other formats. I’ve taken the time to buy sets from various places and sampled hardware into it, too. That work = a pretty hefty library, all under one roof at a click. So get what works for YOU, not me, but once you put the time into a synth or sampler, the arguments get a bit fuzzy as they show more of their strengths. If the ES2 is “long in the tooth,” so is the ARP Odyssey, yet its making an amusing resurgence because it makes you SQUEEE musically, not because its GUI massages your naughty giblets. You have to spend some time with its quirky modulation scheme or it’ll make you its BITCH! 😛
camels owner has f’d over PC owners.. he totally did us over and I hope he realises none of us are happy after spending and SUPPORTING with camel.. would I have bought it all IF I knew they were gonna be so sly ? nope…
no notice to buy libs if you haven’t got them etc.
I think it was sly how the whole deal went thru.. and showed sod all care for end users.. again apple do an “emagic” again.. hence why I’ll never buy a mac..
I think it was underhand how it was done, and if the ex owner and apple think not.. then that says a LOT about their “ethics”
Yay – The Camel lives!
Lets hope Apple do the right thing with this and make it available as an AU for Mac and one of the first for their newly announced AU release for iOS!
Gotta dream right?
Not holding my breath though… maybe one day though 🙂