Synth for iPad: Breaking Records!

At the end of last week we decided to try an experiment with one of our oldest & most popular iPad apps, the polyphonic synthesizer app called... Synth! In the two years since Synth first appeared in the iPad App Store (on launch day of the original iPad!) a lot has changed in the world of iOS apps & music, but one thing that hasn't changed is that people love playing keyboard instruments on the iPad.

For $0.99, we thought Synth was already a pretty great value. There are plenty of more complicated and expensive synthesizer apps available on iPad these days, and most of them are worth every penny of their retail price. In the past year or so we've been devoting most of our time to Tabletop, but we've still taken time to make sure that apps like Synth, Dopplerpad & Recorder are updated to take advantage of all the iOS updates & new devices from Apple. By making Synth free now, we wanted to find out just how many people out there with iPads might be curious about trying out the app, but didn't want to spend a dollar on something that might not be exactly what they were looking for.

It turns out that the answer to that question is: "A lot!" In the few days since we made the change, Synth has rocketed to the top of the "Free iPad Music Apps" category in dozens of countries around the world. It's currently ranked #1 in almost 30 countries, including France, Germany, Ireland and Canada and is even the #1 app across *all* categories in several countries!

Needless to say, we're pleasantly surprised & really glad that so many people around the world are trying out Synth and expressing themselves musically with their iPad! If you haven't tried Synth yet, now is a great time to give it a shot, since in addition to being free we're also including a free skin pack to customize the look of your keyboard, and we've reduced the price for the patch editor that you can use to customize the sound of all the Synth presets to just $0.99.

And for those of you who *have* tried Synth, let us know what you think about it here in the comments or on our Facebook & Twitter pages. What's your favorite & least favorite part of the app? Have you recommended it to any of your friends with iPads? What new features would you like to see. Let us know & we'll keep on working to make the best music & audio apps on iPad even better!

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WWDC Keynote Roundup

This week is Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, and yesterday's keynote featured previews of the upcoming OSX Lion and iOS 5 updates and the new iCloud service.  After the jump is a summary of what you can expect to see in these fall releases.

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iPad 2 Announced Today

As expected, today's Apple announcement revealed the iPad 2.  The new device will be released in the United States next Friday, March 11 and will be available internationally a couple weeks later on March 25.

New features include front and rear-facing cameras with HD video recording, slimmer size (thinner than the iPhone 4), A5 chip (making it run twice as fast while retaining the 10hr battery life), gyroscope, and the option of black or white.  3G models will run on both AT&T and Verizon's networks, with the same price point of $499 for the 16GB wifi-only iPad.  There's a couple new accessories as well: an HDMI output cable and a smart cover that wakes up the iPad or puts it to sleep when you open or close it.

Complementing the release of the iPad 2 is the release of iOS 4.3, also set to come out 3.11.  It'll have better Safari performance, AirPlay improvements, and the option to make an iPhone 4 a personal hotspot.  Of particular interest to iPad owners will be the availability of two very useful Mac apps - iMovie and GarageBand, both of which you can get for $4.99.  Oh, and PhotoBooth will be another new app addition.  Random House has also partnered with Apple to bring some 17,000 new ebooks to the store.

That pretty much wraps up the news, details can be found all over the internets, and here are the CNET, Engadget, and Guardian articles to start you off.

So Much New Stuff from Apple

If you tuned in to Apple's September 1 keynote, you'll already be aware of all these announcements.  But in case you missed it, here's the recap of all the new happenings.

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