RTMS VAPolyEnsemble is a new AUv3 Synthesizer plugin for iOS and macOS, specially designed for fat, unison sounds from scratch.
Ryo Togawa, aka RTMS, offers a variety of high-quality synthesizers in the App Store. For newcomers, it can be somewhat confusing that they are mostly similar in structure and design, but differ in small details.
His latest instrument is also a variation of his previous one. RTMS has released VAPolyEnsemble, a new synth that excels at unison sounds.
RTMS VAPolyEnsemble
VAPolyEnsemble is a new standalone and AUv3 Synthesizer plugin for iOS and macOS. In terms of design, VAPolyEnsemble looks like the other RTMS synthesizers. The difference lies in the details.
At its core is an 8-voice polyphonic analog modeling engine that features a unison oscillator, producing seven detuned saw, pulse, or triangle waves per voice. This gives you up to 54 waves in an 8-voice sound.
The unison oscillator is fully tweakable with control over the level, detune amount, and a high-pass filter. Alongside this, you have a traditional VCO with various controls, including pulse-width modulation (PWM) and frequency modulation (FM).
From here, it goes into a modeled cascaded OTA-based -24dB/-12dB lowpass filter with cutoff, resonance, and key follow control. Plus, there is a -12dB highpass filter. The synthesis signal path ends in a stereo VCA with amplitude and pan modulation.
On the modulation side, it has two ADSR envelopes and three multi-wave LFOs with a handy delay function. The latter can modulate the filter, PW, amp, pan, and more.
Refinements
To refine your sounds, it comes with a multi-FX section with usual suspects: reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, EQ, and compressor.
Like the previous RTMS apps, VAPolyEnsemble also features a 3-channel analog-style step sequencer with a 16-bar pattern per clip, a piano roll editor, and parameter automation.
A handy audio recorder is also available in the standalone app, capturing your audio in linear PCM format. VAPolyEnsemble supports Ableton Link, MIDI 2.0, foot pedal (CC#11, CC#64), and iCloud Drive. On the latter, you can save your project files.
First Impression
So we have one more Synthesizer from Ryo Togawa. On paper, it’s a solid synth with a great sound. If you’re familiar with RTMS’ synths and have used a few of them, you’ll notice that each app shares the same foundation with slightly different features.
This time it’s Unison. The question is whether you need a dedicated synth for it, or if you can integrate it into an existing one. Ryo has the choice. I hope RTMS will release completely new synths in the future that don’t resemble his previous ones; otherwise, it will all end in an endless loop.
RTMS VAPolyEnsemble is available now for an introductory price of $ 5.99 (down from $ 14.99) until August 16th, 2026. It runs as a standalone and AUv3 plugin on iOS (iPhone and iPad) and macOS (native Apple Silicon).
More information here: RTMS
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