ID700 User Reviews

ID700
ID700
Jonathan Schatz

Top reviews

Well isn’t this amazing!

I found this by accident as I was searching for something that was Buchla. This is amazing and free. I can’t believe the sounds it creates which are other worldly and the whole plug-in itself lends to involvement and to happy experiences. Kudos to the developer.

MIDI can't select a channel

Sounds good but no matter what you set it on, it always responds to every MIDI channel, making it kinda useless as part of an ensemble.

Fluid and unique

Exceptional way to experiment with sound. Nothing else like it

The best FM synthesizer ever created

The title says it all. This thing does everything I ever wished my DX7 could do, and with a user interface that makes it as easy as editing an FM synthesizer with this level of functionality could possibly be. I really don’t have anything negative to say here. Been using this app for a few years now and I still feel as though I have barely scratched the surface of what is possible. Thank you for creating this, whoever you are.
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Top synth

Amazing to learn about sound design even as an amateur like myself and I know the more I continue to learn I’ll be able to go deeper . Beautiful sounds anything from simple and pretty to complex ambient soundscapes . A joy to play . Worth way more than its priced .

Great!

This is a really well done recreation of an amazing Buchla synth. It is a great way to explore an extremely rare and unique synth, but it is also a really amazing app in its own right, especially if you like exploring and tweaking sounds: nothing sounds like this. It is not a simple plug-and-play sound maker - its deep and complex - but the many very well done pre-sets let get into the sounds immediately. The manual is clear and thorough as well.
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One of the finest iOS synths ever made

For experimental patch creation, with usable and excellent results this is number 1 for me. One of the finest iOS synths ever developed.

Program Change Information 👍

This is a really fantastic synth app, I have come to rely on it more and more for it’s unique sounds and textures, but I like to use program change as much as possible to save using too many instances of the same AUv3 synth app, but I struggled to achieve this with ID700, the onboard manual gives no mention of this process. So I tapped on the App Support, selected ID700 and download the ID700 v1.18 Manual into my Adobe Reader, this contains Program Change information not available in the onboard manual. I have listed below some examples of Bank & Prog numbers that I successfully use in Cubasis3.

The following Bank/CC32 and Program numbers are used in Cubasis3.

ADAGIO (01), Preset “armOne” = Bank#0, CC32#0, Prg Number #1. (Prg #0 is De Fault). Moving forward to -

SOUND DESIGN (11), Preset “700 Waves” = Bank#0, CC32#0, Prg #127.

The following factory presets (next in line) now use CC32#1:

SOUND DESIGN (11), Preset “amp7e&r1n6” = Bank#0, CC32#1, Prg #0,

The last factory preset is:

Timbre (14) “WSBZ 700” = Bank#0, CC32#1, Prg #94.

Hope this information is useful to someone 😉
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Lacks fx, but otherwise seems pretty good

This synth is actually not all that hard to understand, provided you have eyes and some idea how additive synthesis, frequency modulation and subtractive filtering work. Oh, and amplitude. Don’t forget volume.

Basically, there are a load of multi stage envelopes for everything besides the waveforms, so once you understand how they work and how they will effect things, take it from there…

Only real sad thing is no traditional fx, but if you need them, you can add them in anyway. That’s what I like about soft synths.
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Coolest synth iOS app

This is my favorite iOS synth app is the most fun one I have to design new sounds. I use it with Moog semi-modular synths and it sounds amazing.

Not just a great tribute to a forgotten gem a superb instrument in its own right

Worth investing some time with the manual to understand the concepts but so many modulation possibilities. I’m thinking I’ll spend a long time with this and keep on finding new sounds, love it 👌

Works a treat with a touch screen on iPad too

Beautiful

This is one of the most inspiring and well designed instruments I’ve encountered. The UI is top notch with excellent response and fine control of all the “knobs” and sliders. I can spend blissful hours starting from an unit patch and tweaking envelopes and it scratches all the deep creative itchy spots in my brain. This app is a good reason to buy an iPad.
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Hats…

…off to Don Buchla and Jonathan Schatz.
This thing is simply astounding and the fact that this enormous power can be bought for so little makes me feel somewhat guilty.
Be prepared for pure unmitigated sonic joy.
Whatever your area of aural interest.

Not just another me-too synth app... this is a blast!

Update 20/21/21: The best just got better - the addition of a randomisation feature makes developing and tweaking new presets simple. A fantastic app!

So-called ‘West Coast’ sound synthesis, forever synonymous with legendary synth designer Don Buchla is associated with the wilder, experimental end of electronic music and soundscaping. Now, one of Buchla’s last-ever designs, of which only 14 real life units were apparently ever made, (a nugget gleaned from the excellent accompanying manual) is available as an app from a dev who worked on some of the real Buchla designs. And it is awesome, unique. Moving away from analog and toward the digital timbres later associated with Synclaviers, Fairlights, and DX style FM, it is hugely deep, but *very* amenable to random knob-stabbing, and it sounds like nothing else. Massively long envelopes mean you can easily create slowly evolving minutes-long soundscapes that might just make you think you’ve got stuck notes... ;) Just watch your levels, as these can also build to damaging levels if left unattended! The very responsive dev has promised to add in a limiter and a way to limit evolution times in a forthcoming update to address these possible downsides, but as-is this is a genuinely exciting and very different synth app that stands head and shoulders above and apart from the crowd of samey analog wannabees. Anyone into soundscaping and experimental composition will love this - but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist just to have fun with it. :)
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Excellent synth! 🥇

Love it! Very well thought out synth. Not as complicated as you might think on first glance. Lot’s of options, yes, but they all make sense easily. Lots of sound possibilities. I mostly prefer sounds that can be played on a keyboard, and there’s plenty of possibilities for this. I have most of the top synths, and this one definitely doesn’t duplicate anything and stands out on it’s own.

Saw couple of reviews on font size and NanoStudio support. Fonts look good now, and for NanoStudio to see the AUv3, after installing the app I just restarted the iPad and it showed up (All new plugins need this now). No crashes or glitches in standalone or plugin mode after several hours of continuous use.

Definitely recommend this synth. Although you might need the Apple Pencil to use the Harmonics, they’re just too tiny for fingers at the moment.

In summary, very unique sounding synth that doesn’t match anything else out there. Looks great, works great too. It is a musical instrument that I’m very happy to have in my creative arsenal! I have most top synths, but only some have become my go-to when actually creating music. This one is definitely one of them!

Some requests:
Please change the knobs to behave like sliders as opposed to the rotation gestures. It just doesn’t work right. Some apps give an option to change between the two but I don’t think anyone would complain if you just change the gesture to fader-style only ;)

—-EDIT2—
The sliders are all not functioning properly. It seems they *combine* left/right and up/down movement and it’s causing havoc. Left/right makes most sense. Also when you touch them to start moving it takes the value from where you touched it which is undesirable because it prevents adjustment, in other words you essentially start from scratch every time you tap on any slider. The round knobs are fine and working well. The horizontal sliders are all affected though. If it’s a one-shot deal, then if you could make the sliders work, round knobs are few, so not a big deal if they behave differently. Thanks!

-Edit3-
Great job guys!
Everything is perfect now!
All functions and knobs are very smooth!
Thanks for listening! :)

And another suggestion is, please make the Harmonics expandable. It’s the central point of the whole sound engine so it needs good precision and ease of use. I have a 12.9” iPad, and it really needs the use of Pencil to get it right (the width of my finger covers two harmonics fully).
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Inspiring instrument!

A lot of iOS/iPadOS instruments I’ve purchased feel a bit like toys. This one immediately joins the ranks of the few that feel like, and have, the utility of real instruments. Some really fantastic sounds can be achieved and experimentation really pays off.
Excellent work on the presets, by the way. They really do a good job of conveying the possibilities of this synth.
I agree with some of the other comments about the interface: it would be nice to see even more use made of the touch interface wherever possible, and the smaller text and size of the items in the preset lists can negatively affect read/tapability. I also found some of the rotary knobs to be a little fiddly, but I’m getting the hang of them. Might be nice to be able to double-tap to zero things too. However, none of these things is standing in the way of my enjoying this wonderful instrument. It’s really something already, and it’s just been released! I’ll be looking forward to whatever refinements come over time. In the meantime, I’ll just be busy making music with it. 🍻

Update: This is still a fantastic synth and I’ve been super impressed with how much work the developer has done since its release to improve on the finer details and address concerns people posted in these reviews. I’m always happy to see a new update. Thanks and keep up the good work!
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Just amazing

So nice to have this classic remade in a form so we who dont have access to major museums can use it. Gosh bless Buchla

Monster

Can’t leave this one alone just awesome sound design capabilities. Everything from lush ambience to nasty bass and any crazy sounds you can imagine in between.

My favorite iOS synth

Sounds amazing , deep synthesis but surprisingly intuitive to edit . Offers a new dimension of FM that is very inspiring , I hope to be using it for years to come. Thanks for this !

A really unique & special synthesiser! 🐇 🕳

Don Buchla’s creations are still enshrouded in mystery (even to this day) due to their inherent complexity to tame (compared to vanilla subtractive) and subsequent broad and diverse sonic characteristics (which are unique to his individual approach) and the ID700 brings this beautiful slice of technological history into the year 2021 (and it sounds astounding)! It’s so much fun to explore, and there’s so many possibilities for generating unique sonic textures, colours and forms that evolve, slide and glide that naturally I fell in love with it immediately! I really like the GUI and design too, as it’s very unique, logical and intuitive. If you love synthesis you basically owe it to yourself to dive into this rabbit hole (follow the white rabbit) and learn it’s weirding ways ASAP!
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