I am a proud owner of the hardware Korg Arp Odyssey reissue. It really is a great synth. You can get lost for hours making patches that, unfortunately, you’ll probably never make again. Easy come, easy go, it seems. I was very interested to hear what the new iOS app, ODYSSEi sounded like, with some features being an upgrade over the original (like 8 voices and built in effects). ODYSSEi was definitely worth the 20 dollar introduction price, if just for curiosities sake alone.
In general, its tough for a software version to touch the sound of the real deal. The weight and presence in a mix is simply never the same. And this particular hardware has an iconic, unique sound that rivals many of the best synths. When I heard this new iOS app worked with Korg’s Midi iOS DAW Gadget, I became a lot more excited about it.
Gadget quickly became a favorite mobile music making app for us here at Expanding Sound, with it’s easy interface and great tones. The exporting of your performance to Ableton Live sets is a pretty key feature for making high quality jams on the go. I assumed that with this new apps capabilities and great tone in the teaser video I saw, it would be fairly draining on your iPads processing power. So how did the Korg ODYSSEi hold up on an iPad mini 3? Check out our video and see! I whipped up a quick little sequence, for the purposes of testing the sounds and limitations that went along with the app. Make sure you bear in mind that processing power for all iPads is different, for example, an iPad Pro Would be able to run a lot more ODYSSEi gadgets. My old iPad with retina display can’t even download it. So if you’re in the market for a new iOS app, or even a new iPad, it’s good to think about how much power you’d require to fit your needs!
