Fast, fun and inspiring. An ideal app for iOS

Just got my iPhone 4S and having previously owned an iPad2 was happy to see some of my apps carry over. But the small screen real-estate really limits what you can do. But this app is perfect in its minimalism and creative approach.

Ive purchased quite a few music apps for the iPhone. Many have tried to bring conventional workstation metaphors over with varied success. GarageBand is a great example of this, great sounds, solid recording abilities, but I realized it worked better connected to a MIDI keyboard (except the virtual guitar which is stellar). At that point, I might as well just use Digital Performer / Logic / GarageBand on a computer. I still think GarageBand is exceptional, but I prefer the immediacy of this app.

In other cases Ive bought stuff like FL Studio, NanoStudio and Beatmaker and just felt underwhelmed. To much menu diving and uninspiring sounds. Some powerful features, but perhaps better done on a desktop computer.

Ive never used the hardware versions of Kaossilator, but having used many hardware and computer sequencers, I can say iKaossilator is one of simplest. Its actually easier than Garageband and more immediate. But being simple doesnt mean it cant crank out serious grooves, rhythms, and melodies. It may be limited in polyphony (amount of notes that can be played at one time), but there is nothing in the way of creating the core melodies that could be the backbone to a more complete work. iKaossilator can support a wide range of scales and key settings as well as quantization and time signatures. Sound quality is fantastic, with nice clear and punchy sounds that appear to be a mixture of samples and synthesis. A nice well-rounded soundest that some may tire of, but really the fundamentals are here, and there are an infinite amount of ways to combine them.

I havent delved too deep, so I dont know if songs created with this can be exported as Audio or MIDI data. That would extend its professional use.

Overall, simply amazing fun.

Malfunkt about KORG iKaossilator, v1.0.0