Redshrike - AUv3 Plug-in Synth

Spoiler alert: This synth is AWESOME If you enjoy creating your own patches, *nothing* beats the Iceworks synths. Period. End of story. I could easily end this review there, but I won’t. This bird (a shrike is indeed a bird) can make some of the angriest sounds imaginable (making red the perfect color for it ) but also can chirp out some really spacy sounds as well. This is unlike any subtractive synth on IOS, in that it mixes a traditional analog filter with a fairly substantial FM section and the (in)famous Iceworks resonator. You can make some pretty cool bass sounds, some atmospheric synth patches that would make the late Richard Wright shed tears of joy, or squelch out some pleasantly harsh sounds that would make the folks in 80s Detroit beg for OCP to take over (if you get the reference, you with the No-Prize) In short, you NEED this synth …

I don't know if I should say this out loud, because iceWorks is a one-dev show, but what a responsive and hard-working show they are! I asked for custom tuning.. and within a couple of months, here it is! Redshrike is my favorite of all the iceGear/Works synths: like the others, it takes an approach that is relatively unique in iOS synths--physical modeling of resonant bodies--and takes it right up to its screamiest, dirtiest, scariest limits. Resonant modeling is under-explored as it is, and iceWorks is filling in a very large gap and doing it very well. Redshrike has a vast range: from sweet, quiet, percussive bell-like sounds to enough monstrous infinite sustain feedback saturation and crunch to make men faint, women cry, and the rest of us jump up and down in sheer joy. The early versions had some glitchy AU problems, but as far as I can tell those are all worked out now. I'm running iOS 9.3 on an iPad Mini 2, and Redshrike is reliable and just as loud as I need it to be. It runs great in AUM, as a standalone, and in Audiobus. And now we can play with just intonation, meantone scales, Pythagorian scales--any twelve-tone scale we want. Me, I'm never turning this thing off.

I’m just diving into this, but it’s a winner — it has its own character, distinct from either analog or FM synths. The resonator is unusual and I’m still trying to wrap my head around what it does. So many interesting bits like the pitched, digital and glitch noise styles; the deep filtering options in the delay; and the most customizable arpeggiator I’ve ever used. This is a steal at $8.