It’s not everyday that a mobile app comes along and matches it’s desktop rivals pound for pound,so when it does happen producers and fledgling beat-makers better sit up and take notice.
Caustic 3 is one of those programs.
Created by Single Cell software,which is a ‘sole-proprietorship’ company led by lone Developer Rejean Poirier. Caustic has reached a stage of laptop-quality matureness at version 3,an achievement that almost single-handedly brought the Android platform up to par with iOS (Check the AppStore reviews below) due to it’s exclusivity to Android- even though the latest iteration of the program was finally released to iOS shortly after it was introduced in the Google Play store.
Caustic consists of 12 (twelve) instruments called “Machines”- the PCMSynth Sampler,Beatbox, Subsynth, Bassline, Padsynth, 8-bit Synth, Organ, Vocoder, and FMSynth. It also has an FX rack which includes 20 effects ,a virtual Mixer,a detailed Master rack, and your traditional song sequencer.
For those familiar with Propellerhead’s Reason, it’s quite apparent when you open Caustic for the first time that it’s been influenced by by the former- both in design and functionality.
The only thing that prevents Caustic from being the best all-around mobile DAW is a lack of true audio tracks, although it DOES record audio-The Vocoder and PCMSynth combined are perfect for one-shots and short phrases, verses and choruses not so much. What Caustic lacks in audio recordng tools it makes up for with a active user community and more support from Sound Designers than any other DAW on any mobile platform.
While the keyboards on each instrument are only useful for previewing sounds,and you can play them directly unto the sequencer-they each have their own piano roll views directly under them for easy pattern programming due to the complexity of the workflow for recording a performance on the sequencer.That and the lack of audio tracks appear to be Caustic’s only weak points.
If you want a music production app that enables you to easily make your own sound, all while including an excellent preset library AND great support from third party sound designers-look no further than Caustic 3.
