# Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth — Harmonic synth & audio effect > Additive harmonic synthesizer for shaping overtone series and creating unique tones. (iPhone/iPad app by Beat Kitchen LLC.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/beat-kitchen-harmonic-synth/id6780983442 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Beat Kitchen LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/6778482300) - Category: Music, Education - Price: Free (on sale, was $6.99) - Rating: 4.80/5 from 12 App Store ratings · 4 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 16.0 · 58 MB - Released: 2026-06-23 - Data updated: 2026-08-31 - Monetization: free with in-app purchases - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/beat-kitchen-harmonic-synth/id6780983442/reviews.md ## What is Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth? BKS Harmonic is an additive synthesizer that builds sound from individual overtones — then gives you tools to shape, scan and filter them by musical harmony. Audio Unit v3 (AUv3): load it as a plugin inside AUM, GarageBand, Cubasis, Loopy Pro and any AUv3 host, or run it standalone. Automation and presets work as you would expect. FOLD INSTEAD OF FILTER The partials display shows every overtone in your sound. Sweep the fold slider and upper partials fold below the fundamental, redistributing the energy across harmonic layers. Not a filter. Not a waveshaper. AN ARPEGGIATOR FOR HARMONICS The Overtone Scan steps a spotlight through individual partials with triangle, saw or random patterns. Lock it to a scale and it only visits partials that belong to it. THE TIMBRE FOLLOWS THE HARMONY The Harmonic Gate reinforces partials whose pitch class matches your chord and suppresses the rest. Capture a chord, follow incoming MIDI, split the keyboard so your left hand drives the gate, or pick the notes by hand on the gate's own keys. SCULPT Draw the level and pan of every partial. Slide the whole curve up the grid as a formant, and lock individual partials in place while the rest moves. THE HARMONIC VOCODER Pass live input or a loaded sample through the synth as an effect. Your sound travels through a bank of tuned peaking bells rather than being replaced by filtered noise: open the Air and the source stays dry, tighten it and the bands resonate into it, reaching a comb at the narrowest settings. Key Track is the mode switch — on, the bands follow the keyboard and it plays as an instrument; off, it is a fixed filter you can sweep. Aimed at a sample, the bands track that sample's spectrum as it evolves. It shares one Blend control with the oscillators, level-matched, so you can crossfade between additive synthesis and vocoding without the loudness moving. MODULATION A full mod matrix with a cog on almost every control, so the synth's own engine can drive nearly any parameter in the interface — including the display itself. Sources include velocity, envelopes, LFOs, the number of notes you are holding, the number of oscillators sounding, the synth's own output level, and Atmo, a shape driven by 84 years of barometric weather data. The ranges run from sub-atomic frequencies to earth weather patterns — audio rate down to cycles that span years. BKS Harmonic now incorporates data from the popular Beat Kitchen Weather Sonification Project. Learn more on our website. THE SCOPE A stereoscope, oscilloscope, spectrum and a live per-partial display. Glow takes the trace from a hard line to a diffuse gas-tube bloom, Colour sets the hue for every view, and all five scope controls are modulation targets. ALSO Every control has a tooltip — hover or long-press anything to see what it does. Presets work offline and remember which modules you had open. A harmony wheel follows what you play. One purchase, every update: you get every new feature and every fix as the synth keeps growing. Made by Beat Kitchen, a music production and live teaching community for artists. ## Key features - Additive synthesis engine - Overtone series shaping - Live waveform and spectrum response - Modulation matrix with LFOs and envelopes - AUv3 support - On-device processing ## Recent user reviews (4 of 4) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/beat-kitchen-harmonic-synth/id6780983442/reviews.md ### 5/5 — Really nice and easy to create great sounds *2026-08-15* I rarely do reviews anymore since I buy so many. This one is worth the unlock. Really easy to tweak for some really interesting sounds. Well done! ### 5/5 — Lil Woodryc *2026-08-15* I could see this using this or like XXXTENTACION type beat ### 5/5 — I love it! *2026-08-10* Amazing, unique, frequent updates. Great for weird stuff but musical af. I love it. ### 5/5 — Absolute phantastic!! *2026-07-18* A fantastic developer! Never before has a developer responded so quickly to an error report and fixed the issue. We are dealing with a highly innovative and exciting sound design tool and a fantastic synthesizer that inspires creativity and delivers great-sounding results. Highly recommended!!! **Developer response:** UPDATE: found and fixed this issue. Let me know if you run into anything else. ======= Hi there! Glad you are enjoying the synth! I’m embarrassed to say this is the first time I noticed/heard about the problem. But the good news is I can reproduce it and I’m pretty sure I can get a fix out in the next day or so. — I don’t seem to get any notifications here so if you find other problems, consider dropping me a report through the app or on our website where it will land in my inbox more quickly. Either way, thanks for the feedback! ## Frequently asked questions about Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth ### What is Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth? Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth is an additive synthesizer that allows users to shape the overtone series directly to create unique sounds. It offers real-time manipulation of harmonics, LFOs, and envelopes for dynamic tone sculpting. ### How does Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth work? Instead of filtering a fixed waveform, you open, fold, and re-excite the harmonics directly. You can sculpt partials by hand and route LFOs, envelopes, and velocity through a modulation matrix to influence the sound. ### Is Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth free to use? Yes, Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth is free to download and use. It also offers in-app purchases for additional features or content. ### What devices does Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth support? Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth is available for iPhone and iPad devices. ### How often is Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth updated? The latest version, 1.4.2, was released on July 19, 2026. The developer plans to add more significant features in the future. ### What is the age rating for Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth? Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth has an age rating of 4+, making it suitable for a wide range of users. ### Does Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth require an account or upload data? No, Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth runs entirely on the device. It does not require an account and does not upload any user data. ### What is the user sentiment for Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth? Based on the available data, Beat Kitchen Harmonic Synth has a perfect rating of 5.0 stars from 3 ratings, indicating very positive user sentiment. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.6.8 — 2026-08-28 The Harmonic Vocoder - The resonator has been rebuilt as a vocoder. Your sound passes THROUGH a bank of tuned peaking bells rather than being replaced by filtered noise. Wide Air leaves the source dry; tighten it and the bands resonate into it, reaching a comb at the narrowest settings. - Key Track is the mode switch. On, the bands follow the keyboard and it plays as an instrument — chords, transposition, the Harmonic Gate, all of it. Off, it is a fixed filter you can sweep. - Point it at a loaded sample and the bands track that sample's spectrum as it evolves, so the resonance follows the sound instead of freezing a single moment of it. - It sits on the same Blend control as the oscillators, level-matched, so you can crossfade between additive synthesis and vocoding without the loudness moving. - Every synth control now reaches it: Transpose, Detune, Re-Excite, the Overtone Scan, Extended Fold and the Harmonic Gate all shape the vocoder exactly as they shape the oscillators. Input Monitor - A headphone button on the Live control passes the incoming side-chain straight to the output, so you can hear and see your input on the scope with no notes held. Green when signal is arriving, amber when a bus is connected but silent, red when nothing is connected. Set up a side-chain without guessing. The scope - Scope Glow: a hard line through to a diffuse gas-tube bloom. - Scope Colour: sets the hue, and the line, dot, trail, oscilloscope and spectrum all follow it. - All five scope controls are modulation targets, each with its own mod cog. Route Velocity to Scope Colour and the trace shifts colour with how hard you play. Modulation - Mod targets throughout the synth. Almost every control now carries a cog, so the synth's own engine can drive nearly anything in the interface — including the scope itself. - Out Level is a new modulation source: the synth's own output, fast to rise and slow to fall, so loud notes read as a pulse you can route anywhere. - Extreme ranges, from sub-atomic frequencies to earth weather patterns: LFO rates run from audio rate down to cycles that span years. BKS Harmonic now incorporates data from the popular Beat Kitchen Weather Sonification Project. Learn more on our website. Also new - Click the keys in the Harmonic Gate to choose which notes it gates against. No MIDI keyboard needed, and the selection saves with the preset. - Resynth Speed: lock a sample's playback speed to pitch, tape-style, or keep the two independent. Performance - The interface no longer freezes while monitoring live input. Worst frame: 3.6 seconds to 19ms. - Playing a note no longer overruns the host's deadline — the cause of dropouts and sync errors. - A third of the audio thread was spent comparing parameter names. That work is gone. - The scope draws as one figure — line, glow and trail from a single geometry, in curves rather than thousands of segments — so it stays smooth and locked together as pitch moves. Fixed - Blend no longer silences the synth when Sculpt is off (critical in 1.6.7). - Loading a sample no longer guts the resonator. - Folding no longer jumps an octave; lower octaves fade in. - The resonators are cleaner: steeper bands, less noise between harmonics, less bubbling. - The Harmonic Gate is consistent from note to note, and attenuates bands instead of deleting them. - A chord no longer makes the oscillators louder than the resonators. - Notes no longer click, or start loud and drop. - A deep transpose no longer makes the resonators disappear. - The oscillator meter no longer reads as maxed out when nothing is limiting. ### 1.6.7 — 2026-08-25 New - Source 2 Pan: a stereo control that positions and widens Source 2 across the field (a rotation, not just a level balance), so left and right can carry distinct signal. - Stereoscope figures now hold: the Lissajous scope reads the signal before the DC blocker, so a held level parks the figure at a fixed point instead of snapping back to centre. The FFT and oscilloscope are unchanged. - Sculpt "Polarity Tri" reset: flips every other partial to 180 degrees (the triangle sign pattern) in one tap. Improved - One visual language for every waveform: the LFO shapes, Source 2 waves and sources, the Audio-In poly-LFO shapes, and the Sculpt Air sources now all use the same glyph set. - Source 2 shows a preview of the active source, with the source chooser unfolding over it. - Cleaner layout on landscape iPad: module controls no longer stretch edge to edge. - Saving a preset: the name field now shows a cursor, and you can name a new folder as you create it. - Sculpt: double-click a pan bar to centre it. - The version now sits as a line inside the Settings module instead of overlapping it. - Overtone Scan wave buttons show their waveform. Fixed - Blank screen on open: the plugin no longer comes up blank in some AUv3 hosts until you tap — it paints immediately on show. - Additional smaller fixes throughout. ### 1.6.5 — 2026-08-14 New: - BKS Harmonic loads as an audio effect in hosts like AUM and Loopy Pro and processes incoming audio through the full engine. - A Partials view in the scope shows the per-partial output as you play. - Scope views are selected from a drop-down. - Presets download once and stay available offline. Fixed: - Switching to HD no longer leaves the partials above 24 at full volume on older presets. - HD and Extended Fold work independently again. - Formant sweeps are smoother, and the Morph slider no longer pops at the triangle detent. ### 1.6.4 — 2026-08-11 BKS Harmonic can now run as an audio effect — load it on audio or instrument tracks in AUM, Loopy Pro, and Logic. New Formant control: sweep the partials into vowel-like shapes and lock the ones you want in place. A reworked Sculpt panel — the action buttons moved into their own row for an unobstructed drawing surface, with clearer pan editing (a center-detent bar and Center / Saw / Tri pan presets), a Copy-to A/B picker, and smoother touch editing. MPE support for per-note expression. Fixes: resolved a bug where editing Sculpt could collapse the stereo image to mono (panning now stays as you set it), and smoothed Formant sweeps (removed a faint clicking). ### 1.6.0 — 2026-08-09 In our most ambitious update yet, BKS Harmonic now operates as a real-time audio effect, allowing you to mutate overtones and focus on hidden harmony inside anything you feed into its sidechain input. Fold, Sculpt, Overtone Scan, and Freeze all work on what you feed it, in full stereo. Also new: • Formant slides the whole overtone series up or down as a clean offset, with a finer response down low and a smoother attack so fast moves don't pop. The Overtone Scan follows it. • Paint the stereo field. Sculpt sets each partial's left-to-right position with the same gesture that draws the spectrum, and it saves with the patch. Width runs from mono up to a wide side-only image. • Morph between any two shapes. Copy a shape into a morph slot and cross-fade between pairs that don't sit next to each other. • Audition your samples — tap the play button on the Audio-In filename to hear the raw trimmed file without taking the patch apart. • Tap a partial to mute it. Overtone Scan skips muted partials, which makes the scan handy for shaping arps. • Smaller things: one-tap phase and pan resets, finer touch editing, and presets that save their sample with them. Fixes: the Bend Range slider works again (it was stuck at ±7), and a stray 293 Hz sub-tone is gone. Existing patches pick up the new panning on their own, and owners get the update free. Thanks to our testers (incl. Gav of Gavinski's Tutorials, Rolf, Fliiva, Josephine, Alee, Jon, Standish, and Christian). ## More apps by Beat Kitchen LLC - [Beat Kitchen Harmony Wheel](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/beat-kitchen-harmony-wheel/id6773461297) - [chorDLE — Ear Training Game](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chordle-ear-training-game/id6790047832) All apps by Beat Kitchen LLC: https://appshunter.io/developer/6778482300 ## Related topics [sound maker synth](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/sound-maker-synth) --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-31.*