When I was very young (6? 7?), my dad bought me a Casio SK-1. Twenty years later, I’m still a synth geek (obligatory link here). I absolutely love synthesizers and electronic music, and I can trace it all back to that first Casio SK-1 where I could press a button, sample whatever was making noise in the room (usually me), and then play it back to my heart’s content.

Now, on the iPad, I am able to relive my glory days as a budding synth aficionado. Retronyms’ Synth app for iPad lets you sample several seconds of audio from the built-in microphone and play away. It also sports a number of built-in sound presets along with some cool delay and distortion effects. I was quite impressed by how playable this is — you really can play melodies and even chords directly on the screen. My only complaint is that the sound quality of some of the sounds leaves something to be desired. But really — at 99 cents, I’m not going to complain.

This is a must-have app for anyone who loves synths. If nothing else, you’ll waste spend several hours having the time of your life. So grab a copy, press the yellow button, sing into the mic, and make some noise!