World Piano Notes & Drum Beats

What it does

A free download carrying sampled instruments, rhythm loops and drones drawn from Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Armenian, Balkan, Greek, Mediterranean, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Klezmer and Latin traditions. A set of instruments and beats comes with the app and the rest arrives as sound packs, sold one at a time or through a monthly or yearly subscription. Scales remap the on-screen keys and an attached MIDI keyboard, the root note is adjustable, and five effects sit behind one button. It loads as an AUv3 or through Inter-App Audio.

In the demo

Jade sets a rhythm, holds a drone with one hand and plays over both, balancing synth, rhythm and drone from the side strip. She browses the free sounds and then the packs she owns, changes scales and tuning mid-play, and ends with it in AUM under BlackHole and a shimmer.

Worth knowing

The listing is now called World Piano Notes & Drum Beats rather than World Synth, so the buy button lands on the newer name. General purpose pianos and synths sit in the same list as the regional material.