Dexed iOS FM Synthesizer Updated With 640,000 Unique Patches

Developer George Rosar has updated Dexed, an FM synthesizer for iOS, based on the classic Yamaha DX7.

The update adds 640,000 patches. Here’s what Rosar has to say about it:

Happy Birthday everyone! Over 20,000 Cartridges added each with 32 patches each. Make sure you have a at least a good 5 minutes of power before initializing, and do not force quit!

I spent the last 35 hours with advanced duplicate checking algorithms to iron out the duplicates in the library. There were a ton of duplicates. Also lots of time getting this stable in AUM, GarageBand and StandAlone.

There will be a loading screen if the new master collection library needs to be added, and it takes a long time to initialize, so be advised. The download size increased quite a bit, so this is a BIG update!

Dexed is available for US $3.99.

40 thoughts on “Dexed iOS FM Synthesizer Updated With 640,000 Unique Patches”

  1. As a working musician in the 80’s with my DX7 I love Dexed VST on my computer. I’d buy this IOS version in a split second if it worked on IOS 11. Bummer

    1. can’t put it on my iPads, ? but by accident awhile back I upgraded to iOS 12 on my iPhone so I just installed it, very nice app. Hmmm … if I just played each preset for a minute would it take like 400+ days to play all 640,000? Anyways cool app definitely worth $4

    2. KQ Dixie is an implementation of Dexed that works with iOS 9 and above. I like its GUI a lot more than the iOS version of Dexed as well.

      1. Yes, indeed. KQ Dixie not only works well on iOS 9, but is now multitimbral, too, with up to 16 parts running simultaneously.

        Wonderful app and the same low price as dexed.

        1. Purchased KQ Dixie. Quite a different look, very clean. I like it. Still like Dexed as well, even if I just use it as a vast library wave form generator to record into soundforge and tweak. Both are nice apps IMO, especially for the $$$.

      1. iOS 12.4 broke IAA. There was a change that impacts the way an app signifies its availability for Recording into. Fortunately Michael Tyson was able to patch the Audiobus database with a workaround, requiring users to manually “Tap to Launch” the recording app. A complete fix will require every recording app to submit a new update with the relevant changes.

        Nuff Said

  5. Sounds very impressive but I hope there’s some tag system or automatic classifier to group similar presets or help find them! Can you star favourites too?

  9. Wasn’t the original dexed released under the GPL?
    Did they get permission from the original dev to release an iOS version? (they’re not compatible)

  12. Is the iOS version open source or just the desktop/VST version?

    Also how much of the iOS revenue goes to the original developers (Pascal Gauthier et al.) ?

    1. Dexed has been developed and is distributed on license GPL v3. It means, within other things, that EVERY new project based on that project MUST be made with the same license GPL v3. One of the points in the license GPL v3 is that a product (and all its derivatives) MUST be open-source, published with the wholeness of the source-code and released for free if the initial project is free. There may be fees demanded exclusively for the services related to the distribution, the cost of some services (the rental of servers, the annual cost of a domain, the rental of a repository) to the exclusion of any other fee or of any benefit.

      So, the iOS version of Dexed MUST be open-source, MUST be published with the wholeness of the sources, MUST be provided with a copy of the license GPL v3, and MUST be free, the initial project having been released for free (only the additional services can be billed to the purchaser, so the $3.99 of this iOS edition seems a correct cost covering the usual expenses relative to the hosting on a server without any benefit).

      There can’t be any benefit on the activity around a product licensed on GPL v3.

      For more information:
      https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html

      Cheers,
      Jacques (aka BlackWinny, who took part to the beta tests of Dexed and who made the Dexed_Cart).

      1. Please please add the ability to change the resolution of the VST editor. I love Dexed, but it is completely unusable to me with my hi-res monitor, the knobs are too tiny. Can this be fixed?

      2. There are no restrictions on charging for GPL software, even if you base it on someone else’s work. The crux of the matter is that the GPL is incompatible with the App Store (i.e. you legally cannot release a work based on GPL software).

        So the only way this is legal is if the author of the iOS app got the original dexed code licensed to them under a second non-GPL license from the original author.

        1. The guy behind this iOS one George Rosar (github.com/8888clockradio) is not the guy behind Dexed (https://github.com/asb2m10).

          EFF say a big NO to GPL on App Store due to the App Store terms of service
          https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/59495

          You are correct that George Rosar would need an extra non GPL license to release Dexed like this. It is also true for the filter that it pulls in from OBXD:
          https://github.com/2DaT/Obxd/blob/master/license.txt

          and also the OPL3 implementation:
          https://github.com/stohrendorf/ppplay/blob/master/ppplay.cpp

          This seems like a very clear GPL violation on three counts, but then I am not a lawyer.

          1. Your stackexchange link is about the Mac App Store, not the iOS App Store, but it seems iOS App Store is just as bad if not worse for GPL.

            iOS seems by far the best available touch-screen/audio combination so it’s a shame if GPL software is unavailable on it.

            That said it’s bad taste to try to make a profit from something that’s GPL.

          2. Looking into this a little more, George Rosar seems to have put the iOS one on github under GPL. So presumably someone could just compile it and put it on the iOS store for free.

  13. AI opportunities ahead ! Create software to create an ML model of sound preferences. Let the synth infer any combination of any control value and output the sound and so it will automatically analyze any selected preferences. In the end, we need computers to do the ML work for us. … TL;DL (Too Long, Didn’t Listen)..

  14. I want to add that it is totally impossible that the 640,000 patches are unique patches as claimed by the title so probably also by the guy who made this iOS edition.

    Let’s imagine that the sound designers (themselves musicians or not, it’s not the point) began to create presets for the DX7 on the 1st January 1983. Today is 31st July 2019. The difference between these two dates is 13,360 days. If I divide 640,000 by 13,360 I get around 48 presets per day. If I had hired a guy since the 1st January 1983 until today he would have made 48 presets each day, doing nothing else! And including the Sundays, the holidays, etc.

    Absolutely amazing !

    Let’s make another count:

    I even can’t imagine the huge crowd of musicians or sound designers which would be needed to summarize to even MAKE all these 640,000 unique presets during the few years of the real fame of the 6-OP family directly compatible with the original DX7. The DX7 (including the version II) was sold only since 1983 up to 1989. Meaning: 6 years. If we reasonably imagine that on these 640,000 presets 1/4 of them have been created after 1989, it would remain 480,000 presets created during these 6 years, meaning… 80,000 presets per year!

    That’s totally impossible, even with… say… 80 sound designers it would mean that each one made 1,000 presets per year. Per year… during 6 years!

    Totally insane.

    Delirium tremens.

    1. Yes. 640,000 is a crazy number. Maybe a grip were algorithmically generated?

      Honestly, I wonder if there are even 640,000 possible unique settings on the machine itself given the fixed parameter ranges. Maybe but not sure how many would make it through what I might consider “advanced duplicate checking algorithms”.

      1. Well for each operator the EG level seems to have four parameters between 0 and 99. That’s 100 million possible settings just for EG level on one operator.

  15. I enjoy taking up a new library. Good ones offer angles from several different contributors, which can lead to a new set or two from modifying them to fit my personal goals. Its also a useful way to learn a synth in more depth. That doesn’t mean its not a pitfall to audition patches until it becomes a time-suck. When a set like this pops up, I immediately think “Somebody let a random patch generator run for a weekend and then posted the entire pile.” I do admire the effort, though, especially the non-neon GUI. You know more than a few FM lovers are understandably moist over it. Now all we need is an app that predicts how often you have to buy a new iPad.

    1. Having started out back in the days of Apple II’s and Opcode Vision .. the whole iPad/Daw/Synth thing is the most ‘plug and pray’ system I’ve ever used. Its amusing though and I enjoy playing around with it like a toy .. a very fragile toy

      1. sure but we don’t have to boot it from a 2.5 floppy anymore! 😉
        I hear what you’re saying but most apps these days on iOS are better behaved than this one (so far); I’ve run 4 instances of MIDI -> synth -> effect -> to Auria multitrack many times via AUM or AudioBus, synced any number of the excellent apps from “LumBeat” (Luis Martinez) to each other internally and recorded their outputs in real time, etc … I’m confidant it can be done but I believe this app still needs some polishing-up!
        But maybe I’m just tolerant because I started out on Creator, then was working tech support for Logic back at (yep!) version 2.0 …!
        All the best from Central Texas! DS

        1. @DS ….. well I only worked with Vision .. not Studio Vision, so you only needed a floppy really as a back up, the Mac’s hardrives froze up with stiction long before those hardrives were filled up with midi data lol.

  17. its all very well having loads and loads of patches to sort through but surely isn’t the real fun actually creating your own sounds? i have the current version on my desktop ( 0.9.4) and use it in standalone mode for creating a sound out of context and then fine tune in context within my Daw, as an aside , those of you who have got the ios version might come across a few issues( same with the latest mac os(catalina) flipping back to IOS kq dixie is a nice alternative if you don;t like the DeXed UI

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