Make chiptune on your iPhone with the new SAGA Synth app

AudioKit Pro has launched SAGA Synth, an iPhone app for making chiptune music.

Crafted using five vintage hardware Yamaha YM2616 FM synthesis sound chips (most notably used in Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis console) and samples from the first-edition MEGAfm hardware synthesizer, SAGA Synth is loaded with over 350 presets.

According to AudioKit Pro, SAGA Synth is "the first of the next generation of AudioKit Pro apps, written from the ground up with a focus on playability and amazing sound."

The retro 16-bit video game synth includes a free-running step sequencer and can also be used as an iOS plug-in for GarageBand, Cubasis, Beatmaker 3, and other DAWs, as well as with a MIDI keyboard or iOS MIDI host.

SAGA Synth, which requires iOS 14 and above, costs an introductory price of $2.99 until 31st January (which then increases to $14.99) and can be picked up from the App Store here. Find out more info via Audiokit here.

Last year, Avicr released a new app, the SynthNes, designed for turning old Nintendo Entertainment Systems consoles into a functioning synthesiser. The app effectively allows users to control the system's five audio channels with a MIDI instrument of their choosing.

Revisit DJ Mag's feature about the different ways producers are weaving their love of gaming into music.