Glenn Vassallo has released Marco Synth & Bruno Drum Synth, each available for $4.99.
Marco Synth
If you’ve been looking for a synthesizer app that balances deep sound design with instant creative inspiration, Marco Synth by Glenn Vassallo is a standout addition to the iOS music ecosystem.
Designed for both standalone production and seamless integration into your favorite mobile DAW via AUv3, Marco Synth bridges the gap between deep parameter tweaking and effortless workflow. Whether you want to build complex patches from scratch or quickly spark new ideas during a jam session, Marco is built to keep you in the flow.
What makes Marco Synth particularly special is its architectural flexibility:
- Dual Hard Sync: While most hardware and software synths limit you to a single hard-sync pair, Marco gives you two parallel hard-sync voices that can be detuned against each other. The result is a aggressive, rich, and cutting tonal palette that’s rare to find in modern mobile synths without building massive modular patches.
- Per-Oscillator Signal Chains: Instead of forcing all four oscillators through a single master filter and envelope, every oscillator in Marco boasts its own waveform, filter, envelopes, LFOs, and glide. You can route one oscillator through a steep 24dB low-pass filter while another runs through a notch filter with entirely different modulation—or flip a switch to operate in traditional shared-filter mode whenever you prefer.
Sound design can sometimes stall momentum, but Marco’s built-in intelligent randomizer and Tweak System solve that problem. Rather than generating random, unusable noise, the algorithm understands synth archetypes (Bass, Lead, Pad, Keys, FX, and Drone).
You can set the randomizer’s intensity from Mild to Wild, lock specific parameter groups, apply one of 35 pre-designed “recipes,” and step backward through up to 100 undo steps to recover any sound that caught your ear.
Features include:
- 4 Independent Oscillators: Individual waveforms, filters, envelopes, LFOs, and modulation parameters per oscillator, plus support for classic shared-filter synthesis.
- Dual Hard Sync Architecture: Two parallel, detunable hard sync pairs with one-button preset cycling for aggressive, complex timbres.
- Intelligent Randomizer: Category-aware patch generation across Bass, Lead, Pad, Keys, FX, and Drone categories with Mild and Wild intensity controls.
- 35 Preset Sound Recipes: Instant preset stamps to springboard patch design across multiple genre archetypes.
- Tweak System with 100-Step History: Selective randomization that protects designated parameters while letting you roll through past variations fearlessly.
- AUv3 & Standalone Support: Runs as a standalone app on iOS/iPadOS or as an Audio Unit plugin inside DAWs like Logic Pro, AUM, Cubasis, and BeatMaker.
Bruno Drum Synth
If you’ve ever spent hours tweaking knobs just to get a snare that punches through the mix or a kick that hits with the right low-end rumble, sound design can feel like a chore. Enter Bruno Drum Synth, an iOS app and AUv3 plugin created by developer Glenn Vassallo that streamlines drum and pluck synthesis without stripping away deep customization.
Bruno bridges the gap between fast, spontaneous inspiration and granular audio design. Rather than relying purely on static samples, it gives you four distinct synthesis engines per voice. By layering analog warm tones, FM grit, wavefolding, and resonant filters, you can construct massive, custom percussive sounds from scratch—or let the app’s smart tools kickstart your creativity.
What sets Bruno apart is its clever workflow. If you get stuck, the smart randomizer generates tailored patches for specific drum types (like Kicks, Snares, or Hi-Hats) rather than useless noise. You can control how far the randomizer strays—from subtle tweaks to wild variations—and use a 100-step history tree to backtrack whenever inspiration strikes. Whether you’re making quick beat adjustments or diving deep into sound design, Bruno keeps the focus on making music.
Features include:
- Multi-Engine Layering: Stack up to four synthesis engines per voice—combining Analog, FM, Fold, and Resonant synthesis for punchy, mix-ready tones.
- 6 Voice Types: Purpose-built workflows tailored for Kicks, Snares, Hats, Claps, Toms, and Plucks.
- Intelligent Sound Randomizer: Roll the dice on targeted drum categories with adjustable intensity settings ranging from “Mild” to “Wild.”
- 100-Step History Tracking: Experiment freely without losing a great sound; easily walk back through previous tweaks step-by-step.
- Dedicated Sound Tweaking System: Adjust specific parameter groups or engine layers to evolve existing patches without resetting your patch from scratch.
- AUv3 & Standalone Support: Runs as a standalone app or seamlessly integrates into iOS DAWs like GarageBand, AUM, and Loopy Pro as an AUv3 plugin.
For more information on each, click here:
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