AudioKit Pro Retro Keys is a new virtual instrument plugin/standalone app that brings vintage electro pianos to your iOS device.
I rarely play electronic pianos, but they’re part of my arsenal when I need warm and soft melodies. Until now, I’ve mostly used them on the AstroLab hardware in the studio or in Ableton Live plugins.
For fans of mobile music production, the selection has been rather limited so far. But now there’s a new app that brings new sounds to iOS. AudioKit Pro has released Retro Keys, a new electro piano virtual instrument for your iPhone and iPad.
Audiokit Pro Retro Keys
Retro Keys is a new standalone and AUv3 virtual electro piano instrument plugin for iOS. The app has the familiar design of other Matthew Fecher apps, with multiple windows. It’s easy to understand and immediately invites you to tweak the patches.
Audiokit Pro Retro Keys features four vintage keyboards: Rhodes Stage 73, Wurlitzer 78, CP Electric Grand, and Retro piano. They use a combination of physical modeling and multi-samples, recorded to analog tape by a Grammy-nominated engineer.
They can be selected easily with one press in the dedicated instrument section. The basic sound can only be tweaked to a limited extent using two controls: fine-tune and volume. A pure physical modeling electric piano is here significantly more flexible.
According to the specs, the app only takes 150MB, which is very efficient. There are electronic piano plugins from bigger players who take up way more of your precious iOS space.
EPiano Processing
While the electric piano sound is rather fixed, you can further process it with various fully-tweakable vintage-inspired effects processors.
You have multimode tape noise, tape-style 8-track double-tracking, and Lo-Fi FX to add retro crunchiness to the epianos. Then, you have a built-in filter (tone), vinyl FX, vibrato, phaser, delay, and overdrive (heat).
In addition, you can infuse your sounds with motion and life using a built-in AR envelope and an assignable LFO. Plus, you have an auto-pan and, for the first time, assignable aftertouch support. Great to see, I hope this is now standard in all AudioKit apps.
Audiokit Pro Retro Keys also comes with a built-in recorder with simple export functionality. It also offers full MIDI support, including sustain pedal support.
The app ships with over 200+ prestes by Moby Pixel, Analog Matthew, Doug, and others. This should keep you busy for a long time. If you use the AUV3 version, you can always add other effect plugins and get even more out of the sounds.
First Impression
A lovely, fun electric piano app, currently available at a bargain price, that lets you bring great-sounding instruments to your mobile setup.
Depending on your setup, you can now leave your budget electric piano at home, because this app offers solid electric piano sounds for on the go without the heavy lifting
Audiokit Pro Retro Keys is available now for an introductory price of $4,99 instead of $19,99. It runs as a standalone app and AUv3 plugin on iOS (iPhone/iPad).
More information here: AudioKit Pro / Apple App Store
I think it sounds pretty, pretty good! Sounds like the real thing. Because it’s sampled from real instruments. There’s lots of videos online. See if it speaks to you 🎹