(Disclosure: Yonac Inc. provided a promotional copy of this app.)
The iPad is a great platform for musicians, at least those of the electronic or guitar-playing variety. But what if you fit into both of those categories? Then maybe Shredder by Yonac Inc. is for you. Shredder is a full featured guitar-driven synthesizer, meaning that it tracks what notes you play on the guitar and uses them to drive a modeled analog synth engine. Doing this without an iPad usually involves a special pickup on the guitar plus a synthesizer that works with it, but Shredder does it just by listening to your input.
While this is not a full review, I tried Shredder using an iRig and so far it seems to track well. (No, I am not going to record a demo… I’m not that good of a guitarist yet!) A large number of presets are provided to show off the synth engine’s range or act as a jumping off point for your own tweaks. And if you have another favorite synth you’d like to control, iOS or external, Shredder supports virtual and physical MIDI out. It even has a couple of modeled stompboxes and a way to record and play back your playing.
Apps like this are one of the reasons I recently ditched my Android tablet for an iPad. I’m not the most serious or skilled guitarist out there and there is no way I could justify the hundreds of dollars a typical guitar synth rig would cost, but the iPad can do it for, basically, pocket change? Yes please. (Although we got a promo copy, I am pretty sure I would have bought it anyway.)
Shredder is currently on sale in the App Store for $5.99; after the holidays it will go up to its regular price of $14.99.
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>> While this is not a full review, I tried Shredder using an iRig and so far it seems to track well. (No, I am not going to record a demo… I’m not that good of a guitarist yet!) <<
Isn't it possible to find someone who is a good guitarist record a demo before posting a review like this? I really want the opinion of a good guitarist. If you play slowly, of course the thing is going to track great.
It's VERY odd that a lot of "unsolicited" reviews of this software are showing up at the same times in the forums without any demos.
It’s not a review, it’s a news item. Reviews always, without exception, have “Review” in the title, while news items do not have it, and have the “News” tag. Reviews are also longer and have a box of pros/cons and product information. That’s how it works around here.
I guess my mistake was mentioning that the product seems functional, and trying to personalize the post a bit, instead of simply reposting the press release?
I believe the very first line of the post says I got a promo copy, so yes, it isn’t “unsolicited”. (Mind you, I would have posted about it anyway, and bought a copy had I found out about it before they offered a code this morning.) The product was released *yesterday*, and I don’t doubt that the devs are giving out a lot of free copies to promote it. But it’s also the first app in its category on the iPad, it’s cheap, and it’s making available a once somewhat esoteric and expensive capability to a much wider cross-section of musicians as a result, so I also don’t doubt that a fair number of people are simply excited about it. Given how new it is I’m also not surprised there aren’t any demos out there yet, but I’m sure Youtube will have some before too long…
For $5.99 I’m going to get it!
Thanks!!!!
I just bought this today, the tracking is a little off but if you tweak your gain and input sensitivity you can keep the messed up bits at a minimum, I will record a demo video tonight and post it to youtube
Test comment
I see yer test comment Julie 🙂