12 synth engines, 4 drum engines, over 650 sounds, and an AUv3 plug-in and host. A synth, drum machine, sequencer and tape for iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo.
Tonaut is a synthesizer, drum machine, sequencer and eight-track tape recorder in one instrument, made to be played rather than programmed. Pick a sound, tap out a pattern and record it to tape, all on one panel that feels more like hardware than an app. It also plays inside your other music apps as an AUv3 plug-in, and now hosts AUv3 plug-ins too.
SOUNDS
• Twelve synth engines: virtual analog, six-operator FM, wavetable, pulse, modeled string, a seven-oscillator swarm, grains, a classic analog poly, a sampler, phase distortion, a vocoder and lo-fi digital
• Every engine has a 3D screen that moves as you play, or a classic view
• Over 650 sounds, including 147 sampled instruments. Edit any of them, save your own and star favorites
• Load DX7-style SysEx banks into the FM engine
• Four effects on every sound from seventeen types, a master effect, and an EQ on every lane and the master
DRUMS
• 55 kits on four drum engines: recorded kits, synthesized kits where every pad is its own drum, lo-fi kits and slice kits
• Knock, Cinder and Grit kits drawn in 3D
• A groove player: hold a pad and the kit plays one of sixteen grooves
• Make kits from your own recordings or audio files
AUv3 PLUG-IN AND HOST
• Play Tonaut inside AUM, Loopy Pro, GarageBand and other AUv3 hosts
• The full panel in a big window, or a compact card with all eight lanes, the tape and a keyboard
• Tonaut FX, for effect slots: record another app's audio onto Tonaut's tape
• In the app: your AUv3 synths and drum machines on any lane, AUv3 effects in the FX slots and on the master, saved with each project
SEQUENCER AND SONG MODE
• Eight lanes, each with its own sound and sixteen patterns of up to 128 steps
• Write step by step or record live, with chords, slides, ratchets and chance; STEP REC from the screen or MIDI
• Song Mode: sixteen scenes, each with a pattern for every lane, chained into a song with repeats
• Switch patterns or scenes live; copy, swap and transpose patterns
• An arpeggiator on every synth lane
IPHONE DUO
• Folded, one octave on the outer screen. Half folded, the screens above the keys. Open, the whole instrument. Folding never stops the music
KEYS AND CHORDS
• Pick a key and scale and its keys light up; LOCK keeps notes in key
• CHORDS plays a whole chord from one key, with the arpeggiator and the sequencer
• Chord pad: seven chords from your key and a stick that turns each into a 7th, 9th, sus, dim and more
PLAY IT LIVE
• A Perform page with TONE and SPACE for every lane
• An X/Y pad that bends pitch and moves the sound under one finger
• One-tap mutes, tap tempo, click and count-in
TAPE
• Eight tracks of 20 minutes each, or six of 30 minutes
• Record every lane to its own track, or several onto one
• Loop, reverse, stutter, brake and catch the last 30 seconds you played
• Start a take the moment the sound does
SAMPLING
• Sample with the microphone, a USB interface, or Tonaut itself
• Tap a file in your sample folders to hear it, then load it onto a pad or the sampler
MIDI
• Play from USB or Bluetooth MIDI keyboards, on one lane or each lane on its own channel
• MIDI learn: touch a control, turn a knob, and it's mapped
• Send any lane to your own synths and drum machines, with clock, or follow your drum machine's clock
• Ableton Link: in time with other Link apps on your Wi-Fi
SHARE AND EXPORT
• Share a loop from the tape as a vertical video or as audio
• Send a whole song, samples and all, as one file a friend opens in Tonaut
• Export a stereo mix, WAV stems or MIDI files of every lane, with optional iCloud sync
One purchase covers iPhone, iPad and iPhone Duo, each with its own layout, in six looks. No subscription, no account, and Tonaut collects no data. Your music stays yours.
REQUIREMENTS
• iPhone XS, XR or newer with iOS 17 or later. Not the iPhone SE (its screen is too small)
• iPad (6th generation), iPad mini (5th generation), iPad Air (3rd generation), iPad Pro (2017) or newer, iPadOS 17 or later