iPad Music Review: Sunsine Audio Expansion Packs

Since the early days of commercial availability for synthesizers, stock presets have been the sounds intimately associated with certain instruments, a fact that remains today.  For most musicians, the available presets were the “sound” of the synthesizer, and the preset choices that shipped with the keyboard were the ones that you used.  There have always been more advanced electronic musicians that delve deeply into synthesis, making their own patches – they’ve been the exception though, not the rule.  The purchase of additional patches have always been a practical quick fix for musicians without the knowledge or motivation to create original patches, expanding their sonic palette and diversifying their music.  Fortunately, a number of iOS synths come loaded with a number of quality preset sounds, but users can still reach a sonic end point and purchasing additional sounds presents a good solution.  For a good number of iOS synth users, expansion packs full of patches presents a practical, convenient, and realistic way to maintain a unique quality in their music.

New Sonic Options From Sunsine Audio
Despite the practical application of synth patch expansion packs, the market is wide open at this point, and Sunsine Audio is currently leading the way with a wide array of offerings.  They’ve developed a small collection of expansion packs that offer patches for both the most popular synths in the App Store, such as Animoog and Sunrizer Synth, and some lesser known apps, like Cassini Synth and DXi FM Synthesizer.  Each expansion pack comes totally stuffed with amazing patches, ranging anywhere from 60 to over 100 patches.  They’re easy to install into your apps, and if you’re not sure how to do that, they come with instructions.  Sunsine fairly keeps their prices reasonable, ranging from $2.49 to $4.99; placing them squarely within the iOS ecosystem.  All of the expansion packs are royalty free, meaning that you can freely integrate them into your music without any additional concerns.  In addition to providing an outstanding product, Sunsine Audio delivers wonderful customer service – whether you’re dealing with these folks on Twitter or directly through e-mail, they get back to you on every issue.  When you’re looking to expand upon your sonic choices within your favorite iOS synths, the Sunsine expansion packs are a great place to look.

Expansion Packs For A Number Of Apps
Sunsine Audio offers a number of expansion packs; some are specifically for iOS apps, while others are applicable to both iOS and desktop software.  There are two sets of expansion packs created for BeepStreet’s iPad app Sunrizer Synth or iPhone app SunrizerXS Synth, Sinerise Vol. 1 & Sinerise Vol. 2.  They’re both jam packed with fantastic patches – Sinerise Vol. 1 contains 64 presets while Sinerise Vol. 2 has 128 presets.  Sunsine’s expansion pack for Animoog, Animation Vol. 1, contains a set of 130 diverse sounds.  The Sunsine expansion pack for the DXi FM Synthesizer brings 64 original patches into the mix, focusing upon the unique qualities of FM synthesis.  Casino, the Sunsine expansion pack for the Cassini Synth, comes loaded with 59 presets and 1 arpeggiator file, giving you a total of 60 sonic options.  In addition to these great packages, Sunsine carries additional expansion packs for Native Instruments’ Massive, Crystal Synth, Arctic Keys, and GlitchBreaks, as well as collections of loops and chiptune sounds.  If you want to try before you buy, Sunsine offers a free sample collection of patches for each pack, so that you can get an idea of what the collection holds. When you’re looking to push your sonic palette into new territory on your iPad and iPhone, Sunsine delivers a wealth of options that will keep your creativity shooting into high gear.

Reasonable Pricing For Professional Products
The pricing on Sunsine expansion packs really keys into both the iOS ecosystem and the needs of the musicians working in that setting, providing a high quality product for a reasonable price.  Most of the iOS expansion packs cost $2.49 – Sinerise Vol. 1, Casino, and To DX With Love fall into this category.  If you’re considering that Casino has 60 presets while Sinerise Vol. 1 and To DX With Love both have 64 presets, you’re looking at anywhere from $0.03 to $0.04 per preset – that’s a fairly amazing deal.  Both Animation Vol. 1 and Sinerise Vol. 2 carry a $4.99 price point; these packs cost a little more, but they give you more sounds.  When you break it down, the price really isn’t that different – Animation Vol. 1 holds 130 sounds at $0.03 per patch while Sinerise Vol. 2 sits at $0.04 per sound.  If you know that you’d like to expand your sonic pallet quickly in a big way, Sunsine even offers a bundle with the Animation Vol. 1, Sinerise Vol. 1, and Crystal Vol. 1 for $7.99, once again putting a value of $0.03 per patch on their products.  These are prices that fit into the iOS music world nicely; providing professional products at an accessible cost has been a key appeal of iOS music apps, and Sunsine Audio captures this model.

Putting Sunsine Audio Expansion Packs To The Test
I was fortunate to spend a bit of time with five of the Sunsine expansion packs, giving me an opportunity to put them to the test.  I was impressed with the variety of patches available, quickly expanding your sonic options in each app.  Some of the sounds within each expansion pack resemble things that we’ve heard before, delivering sounds that are either common in electronic music or close to the factory presets.  There’s a number of sonic gems in each pack that make the purchase valuable, adding even more value to the app.  Each set of patches drew upon the strengths of the particular app – the Sunrizer Synth patches include some lush pads and strong leads, the Animoog pack has some great grainy sounds, while the DXi presets lean towards the device’s 80s roots.  Without a doubt, each Sunsine expansion pack contains a significant amount of value that will inspire you to create new music and explore different sonic territories.

There’s a number of reasons for checking out Sunsine presets, but these expansion packs are really about sound – words don’t quite do them justice.  With that thought in mind, I’ve created a song based exclusively upon Sunsine Audio’s preset packs so that you can hear the patches in action.  ”Feeling The Sunsine” is a song in five parts, providing ample opportunity to introduce a wide variety of sounds from the Sunsine preset packs.  I utilized patches from five expansion packs in this song – Sinerise Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 for Sunrizer Synth, Animation for Animoog, Casino for Cassini Synth, and To DX With Love for the DXi FM Synthesizer.  The combined power of these five expansion packs delivers hundreds of new sounds, so you obviously won’t hear each one of them.  I did make a conscious attempt to include a healthy number of patches from each pack though, allowing you to become familiar with what each pack offers.  In order to help you distinguish the patches within the song, I’ve also included detailed notes for each section of the song that outline the specific patches and describe how they where used.   With the exception of the drum beats, everything in “Feeling The Sunsine” utilizes Sunsine patches in their original state – while I did assemble all of the music material in NanoStudio, I didn’t manipulate any of the patches.  This is an honest opportunity to hear the potential behind five of the Sunsine Audio expansion packs, and make an informed decision about integrating them into your workflow.

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Picking Some Sunsine Audio Patches
Before providing the detailed analysis of “Feeling The Sunsine,” I wanted to pull the patch and pack names out of context and give you an idea which presets were applied in the song.  In addition to these Sunsine presets, I did utilize a few drum beats created in Stochastik Drum Machine, as well as a shaker sample pulled from Freesound.  Beyond that, everything comes directly from the Sunsine patches listed below.  While I did want to highlight the Sunsine expansion packs, I wanted to present them in a musical way; with that in mind, my patch choices reflected the needs of the song.  This certainly isn’t a “Best Of” list for the expansion packs, it’s simply a collection of sounds that fit best in the song.  You’ll find plenty of great stuff beyond my choices, which would most likely fit into other music nicely.  

Master List Of Patches Used In “Feeling The Sunsine”
Sinerise Vol. 1 (Sunrizer Synth)
synbap
classic acid
crispy poly
morehuman

Sinerise Vol. 2 (Sunrizer Synth)
Analog Kick
WarBuzz Arp
Closed High Hat
Snare
Watermelon

Animation Vol. 1 (Animoog)
bip bap
psychorgan
starcrash
unilead
unibass

To DXi With Love (DXi FM Synthesizer)
Leadstar
Toy Orch
pluck

Casino (Cassini Synth)
Digital Fantasy
Massive Pulse
Wrecked Angle

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Detailed Analysis
The detailed analysis is constructed with an eye on directing your attention to the Sunsine Audio patches, so most of the attention below emphasizes that goal.  I’ve organized the analysis around the song’s five sections, providing a brief introduction to each section.  Past the introduction, the analysis proceeds in outline form, spilling the details on the patches with corresponding time marks.  Hopefully the SoundCloud stream will give you a chance to listen a few times or isolate specific sections so that you can make notes on the Sunsine sounds.  Although I don’t really address composition ideas in this breakdown, I’m always happy to discuss music with folks – if you’ve got questions or comments about the musical end of things, leave a comment on the SoundCloud timeline or shoot me an e-mail through the iOS Music And You contact page.  Take your time to check out the sounds in “Feeling The Sunsine”; the Sunsine Audio expansion packs offer iOS musicians some great sonic options that can take your music in new directions.
 
Feelin’ The Sunsine: Section #1
The first section of the song features a number of patches, making layered entrances.  As each additional sound enters, the previous ones continue, leading towards the construction of a very thick tone.

The song starts with a rhythmic lick played on the Sunrizer Synth, using the synbap patch from the Sinerise Vol. 1 pack.  

It is soon joined by a shaker sample, which is one of the song’s few sounds that come from outside the Sunsine presets.  

Long tones fill out the texture beneath the link, both coming from the Sinerise Vol. 1 pack, using the morehuman and classic acid patches.

The crispy poly arp patch from Sinerise Vol. 1 Sunrizer Synth pack is the next sound to make an appearance.  As with all the arpeggiated figures in the song, I re-wrote the arpeggiated pattern to suit my needs.  I’ve also automated the panning to alternate between left and right on every measure. 

At the 34 second mark, the bass enters, delivering the sound which drives the low end throughout the full song.  For this patch, I sampled the Animoog bip bap patch from the Animation Vol 1 preset pack on C4 and used that sample for the basis of an Eden patch.  There was no sound manipulation here, but the initial sample does get transposed across the keyboard, creating a minor warp to the sound.

Eight measures later, a second arpeggiated pattern from the Sinerise Vol 2 pack enters, based upon the WarBuzz Arp patch.  Once again, I created my own arpeggiated pattern and automated the panning to flip between left and right.  Notice that the WarBuzz Arp pattern sits in the opposite side of the panning as the arpeggiated pattern based upon the crispy poly arp, which entered earlier.

Two more sounds enter next in quick succession.  The first patch plays a chordal pattern, utilizing the Animoog starcrash patch from Animation Vol 1.  Initially, this patch was a bit thin, so each attack layers three chordal attacks simultaneously to produce more sound.  The second paths is Analog Kick from the Sinerise Vol 2 Sunrizer Synth pack.  I wanted a more epic sound to the drum so I did layer it three times over and apply a heavy reverb.

With the background texture complete at this point, a melody enters, using Animoog patches from the Animation Vol 1 pack.  The initial statement of the melody is played through the unilead patch.  When the melody returns with a third phrase, the unilead patch is double with the unibass patch in a higher register.

At the same that we first hear the harmonized melody, I add a couple of more percussion sounds from the Sunrizer Synth Sinerise Vol 2 pack, the Closed High Hat and Snare.

When we hit the 2:03 mark, I add an ascending melody in the background, utilizing the psychorgan Animoog patch from Animation Vol 1.  After eight bars, the final sound comes into this piece of the song – the DXi patch Leadstar.

Acting as a transition, there’s a drum build-up at 2:38, using the Snare and Analog Kick Sunrizer Synth patches from Sinerise Vol 2.

Feelin’ The Sunsine: Section #2
The second section of the song occurs during 2:45 – 4:48, and it plays upon a lot of material introduced in the first section.  A big change occurs with the addition of a drum beat, providing some heavy rhythmic motion.  This is one of the sounds that doesn’t come from the Sunsine packs; I created the drum beat with Stochastik Drum Machine.

Most notable in this section is the disappearance of parts based on sounds introduced in the first section – the Analog Kick, Snare, and Closed High Hat sounds have gone away, as well as the Animoog psychorgan and DXi Leadstar patches.

At 2:57, a frantic melody enters the picture, using the DXi patch Toy Orch.  Once again, I sampled this sound and used it to create an Eden patch.  There wasn’t any sonic manipulation here, but the sample is transposed across a very wide range.

The Animoog psychorgan and DXi Leadstar patches return at 3:26, playing patterns that bare a close similarity to the parts introduced in the first section.

The melody returns using the DXi Toy Orch patch, this time alongside a countermelody created with the Cassini Synth patch Massive Pulse.  I sampled the sound and placed it in an Eden synth again; once again, nothing fancy – what you hear is the actual sound.

Another drum build-up starts at 4:41, once again transitioning into the next section with the Sunrizer Synth Snare and Analog Kick sounds from the Sinerise Vol 2 pack.

Feelin’ The Sunsine: Section #3
The third section of the song lasts from 4:48 to 8:00, and it introduces a major change in both structure and key center.  We transition to a major key, but we also get a whole new set of sonic goodies.  You’ll hear this right from the get go with a change to a very thin texture.

Although I’ve got different chords playing at the start of the third section, I’m still using the Animoog preset starcrash from Animation Vol 1.

The bass sound returns, still utilizing the Animoog bip bap patch; you’ll also hear the return of the Sunrizer Closed High Hat patch from the Sinerise Vol. 2 pack.

At 5:15, another arpeggiated pattern enters, this time utilizing the Sunrizer watermelon patch from Sinerise Vol. 2.  Once again, I’ve created my own arpeggiator pattern within the Sunrizer app.  You’ll also hear the drumbeat, which doesn’t come from the Sunsine expansion packs – it’s a drum beat that I made in Stochastik Drum Machine.

The next entrance is a supportive melody using long notes, put together in Cassini Synth, using the Wrecked Angle patch from the Casino pack.

At 5:43, another melody enters, based upon the same Cassini Massive Pulse patch that was introduced in the second section.

The DXi leadstar patch from the To DX With Love pack enters next, providing single note attacks that move across the panning spectrum.

The main melody returns at 6:38, and this time, the Cassini Massive Pulse patch is joined by a countermelody played by the DXi Toy Orch patch introduced in the second section.

Two more additional rhythmic figures enter at 7:05, creating a stronger forward motion.  The first pattern is played on the Cassini patch digital fantasy, while the second line comes from the DXi preset pluck.

The melody takes us to the end of this section, once again signaled by a drum build-up using the Snare and Analog Kick Sunrizer Synth patches from Sinerise Vol 2.

Feelin’ The Sunsine: Section #4
The fourth section of the song runs from 8:00 to 10:45, largely recalling the themes and rhythm section parts introduced in the first section.  While this section revisits a number of the same musical ideas, the patches are a mixture of sounds from all three previous sections.  It’s an attempt to come back to re-contextualize familiar ideas with a variety of sonic colors.  

The original riff played on the Sunrizer synbap patch from the Sinerise Vol. 1 pack introduces the section, joined by a slowly fading ascending melody, played on the Cassini Massive Pulse and the DXi Toy Orch patches.

The long tones from the Sunrizer morehuman and classic acid patches return, this time pushed forward by an arpeggiated pattern played on the Sunrizer watermelon patch.

At 8:34, a variety of sounds enter, bringing in material from all different sections of the song.  The bass, still using the Animoog bip bap patch returns, playing a different bass line.  The Sunrizer WarBuzz arpeggiator pattern originally heard in the first section returns here, as well as the DXi Pluck patch from the third section of the song.

The chords return text, using the  Animoog starcrash patch, accompanied by the Sunrizer Analog Kick with a heavy dose of reverb.

This section kicks into high gear with the main melody, played again on the Animoog unilead patch and later harmonized with the unibass.  This time, there’s a countermelody played by two patches – the DXi Toy Orch and the Cassini Massive Pulse.

After the first statement of the melody, the texture thickens once again with several additional sounds.  Both the Closed High Hat and the Snare from the Sinerise Vol 2 pack complement the percussion section.  The Animoog psychorgan provides some melodic motion and the Cassini Digital Fantasy give the song a bit more rhythmic motion.

All three melodic instruments return to drive the song towards the last part of this section.  Before moving to the last portion of the song, we get one more drum build-up using the Snare and Analog Kick Sunrizer Synth patches from Sinerise Vol 2.

Feelin’ The Sunsine: Section #5
The last section of the song runs from 10:45 to 13:02, and it plays upon material originally introduced in the third section of the song.  Just like its inspiration, this section largely utilizes musical material introduced in the previous section with slight changes.

The last section begins with the inclusion of a sound not from the Sunsine preset packs – a drum beat created in Stochastik Drum Machine.

The melody originally introduced in the third section returns, played again by the DXi Toy Orch patch.  This time around, the melody is complimented with a new countermelody, played by the Animoog unilead patch.

The second statement of the melody is harmonized by the Cassini Massive Pulse patch, once again with a countermelody from the Animoog unilead patch.

The song end with a rum build-up, landing on a major chord, played by most of the sound in use during the last section.

If you like what you hear in the Sunsine Audio patches, check out their offerings at the Sunsine Audio site.  They offer some awesome sounds at a great price, so don’t hesitate!

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Are you looking for more sonic expansion in your music? Have you checked out the Sunsine Audio expansion packs? What do you think about the choices that they offer you and your music? We’d love to hear about your experiences – LEAVE A COMMENT below and let us know about your experiences with the Digitech iStomp.

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iPad Music Hardware & App Review: Digitech iStomp
iPad Music App Review: Loop Twister
iPad Music App Review: Stochastik Drum Machine
iPad Music App Review: Animoog Update 1.02

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Tagged as: animation, animoog, apple, audio, casino, cassini synth, dxi, expansion pack, ios music, ipad, iphone, ipod, mobile music, sinerise, sunrizer synth, sunsine, to dx with love