AudioKit has unveiled Super 606, a new drum machine app for iPhone and iPad inspired by the sound and workflow of classic 606-style hardware.
Rather than relying on a collection of samples, Super 606 generates its drum sounds using a newly developed synthesis engine. AudioKit Pro’s Matthew Fecher says this allows individual hits to vary in the way they do on analogue hardware, while giving users more control over the character of each sound.
The app can run standalone or as an AUv3 instrument inside hosts including GarageBand, Logic Pro for iPad and AUM. It combines a hardware-inspired step sequencer with pattern generation, MIDI import and export, multi-output routing and a suite of built-in effects.
Synth-generated drum engine
Super 606 centres around a set of synthesized kick, snare, tom, clap, hi-hat and cymbal sounds. Its controls should look and feel familiar to anyone who has used a 606-style drum machine, but AudioKit has expanded the available range beyond a straight clone of the original hardware.
The XL Kick mode, for example, offers a larger and more melodic “608” kick sound. The app’s Analog control introduces variations including changes to the start position and analogue-style pitch drift, helping repeated hits feel less mechanically identical.
The app also includes a synthesized clap inspired by the analogue RD-6. This adds a sound that was absent from the original 606 design while keeping it within the same sonic family. In my testing I found all of the generated sounds to be fantastic and accurate to their (unofficial) hardware ‘inspirations’.
At the heart of Super 606 is an eight-pattern A to H sequencer. Patterns can be chained into longer sequences, with four grid options covering 16th notes, 32nd notes, eighth-note triplets and 16th-note triplets.
Patterns can be entered using the step sequencer or recorded from the app’s drum pads. Ratchets are available through 2x, 3x and 4x substeps, while the flam controls include all nine 606-style variations and a more traditional flam that places the additional hit ahead of the beat. You can really add a lot of rythmic personality to your beats very quickly.
Instant patterns, presets and fills
For faster starting points, Super 606 includes a Magic Pattern Generator capable of producing a new beat with a single tap. AudioKit describes the resulting patterns as usable foundations rather than completely random collections of hits and I found this to be pretty accurate in my testing.
The Magic Preset Maker goes further by generating a coordinated drum sound, effects setup, groove and tempo. A separate Smart Fills control analyses the current pattern and creates a fill designed to fit it.
These features run locally. AudioKit says they do not require prompts, upload user data or use cloud-based generation. Definitely more ‘machine learning’ than ‘AI slop’.
Sounds and sequences are managed independently, so changing a drum preset does not require changing the programmed beat. Sequence and tempo locks make it easier to audition different sounds while keeping the existing groove in place.
Sequences can be organised into custom banks, marked as favourites, searched and shared. The app can also import MIDI files or its own Super 606 sequence format into those banks.
Super 606 includes five main effects designed for shaping complete patterns or individual parts:
- Delay modelled on a hardware-style 606 delay, with per-drum routing
- Heat, an overdrive tuned for drum machine material while keeping hats and cymbals musical
- Reverb with a low-cut control and per-drum routing
- A Moog-inspired filter
- Mangle, a crusher effect with a low-end bypass
Selected drums can be sent to the delay or reverb without applying the effect across the entire kit, which should make it easier to create treatments such as a reverberant clap or delayed snare while keeping the kick and hats dry. A really nice touch that definitely streamlines more advanced workflows.
AudioKit is making the drum synthesis code open source
Alongside the app, AudioKit is releasing the source code behind several of its synthesized drum sounds. The open-source project includes the Super 606 XL “608” kick, 606-inspired snare, analogue toms, clap and metallic hi-hats.
This is more than a stripped-down demonstration project. AudioKit is effectively publishing the synthesis techniques behind some of Super 606’s defining sounds, giving developers and technically curious musicians a chance to inspect, learn from and build upon the code. Very cool and a properly useful ‘peek behind the curtain’ for any budding music App creators.
The project is available from AudioKit’s 606-Inspired Synth Drums repository on GitHub.
Super 606 retains the immediacy of a traditional step-programmed drum machine, then expands that framework with deeper timing controls, synthesized sound variation, instant pattern tools and a flexible mobile production workflow.
AudioKit are onto another winner here I feel. Super 606 once again straddles that balance between being fun and intuitive to use while providing a ‘pro’ sound and depth that AudioKit apps have become renowned for. Definitely worth checking out, especially at that introductory price tag.
Super 606 is available from the iOS and iPadOS App Store for an intro price of $4.99/£4.99 here.