Ok, got my iPad and enjoying Figure, since it’s free! I can see myself blowing a lot of cash on synths here if I’m not careful! Looking for a first flexible synth to start messing about with, am thinking either:
Thor
Nave
Animoog
I am ruling the likes of Gadget out for now for not being deep enough. I want to be able to learn synthesis and grow into my synth. Thor looking the most appropriate for me. I have hardware synths but editing them can be a pain sometimes (micron & microkorg). Editing must be straightforward!
I’m not a heavey iOS user but did buy Sunrizer.its capable of a variety of good sounds.
But a large shout out for Xynthesizr -the only software I use.Synth is basic,but just right for its job.It’s the sequencer I use through iCM4 to trigger hardware.Very nice.
I think Animoog is still basically the king of iOS apps. It’s actually amazing just as far as synths go, period. Nave has an interesting concept and cool interface, but for some reason it doesn’t totally satisfy me in the end. The Arturia stuff is definitely top notch, and I have an affinity for Lorentz, which is fairly simple but sounds really great. I have no experience with Thor, but it looks comprehensive.
BTW if your synth programming experience is coming from Micron and Microkorg, everything will be straightforward. Those two are notoriously the worst for that.
It’s been a few months since I sold my Octatrack and looked towards the iPad for my MIDI sequencing. I bought and dismissed a number of apps and to be honest thought I may have cocked up big style. But alas, Modstep has sauntered in and swept me off my feet. Awesome app and works very nicely with the OP1.
It's been a few months since I sold my Octatrack and looked towards the iPad for my MIDI sequencing. I bought and dismissed a number of apps and to be honest thought I may have cocked up big style. But alas, Modstep has sauntered in and swept me off my feet. Awesome app and works very nicely with the OP1.
Holy crap, Modstep is available?! DOPE. I’ve been waiting for that forever. Thanks for the heads-up!
All my time is currently being taken with Analog Kit, it's basically Reaktor for the iPad. Sooooo much fun!
AnalogKit looks really cool, especially being able to share modules. I just saw Audulus; how does that compare? Definitely more expensive and lacks the sharing, but I’m curious if that price buys you more flexibility?
Depends what you want to get out of it. I have both, much prefer the AK interface, there is too much zooming required in Audulus in my opinion. Audulus looks the biz though. There is a community vibe with modulus too, I haven’t worked out how the sharing works yet though.
Are any of the music apps adopting Split View, recently introduced in iOS9?
I decided I’m gonna get an iPad, just for the instruments, though I’ll probably end up using it a lot for general use too. I’m not certain on which screen size to get, but I’m leaning towards the iPad Pro to have more screen space to work with. If music apps are adopting Split View, I’d love having an Ableton Live controller on one half of the split and an instrument on the other. That would be so useful and so much fun.
Not sure as split view isn’t adopted fully on the iPad mini 2 which is what I have. It is not generally used on iOS music making apps from what I can gather.
Are any of the music apps adopting Split View, recently introduced in iOS9?
I decided I'm gonna get an iPad, just for the instruments, though I'll probably end up using it a lot for general use too. I'm not certain on which screen size to get, but I'm leaning towards the iPad Pro to have more screen space to work with. If music apps are adopting Split View, I'd love having an Ableton Live controller on one half of the split and an instrument on the other. That would be so useful and so much fun.
I recently picked up the pro and would recommend it. I find that having the extra real estate is great, and as more apps adopt the split screen, it’ll only get better. also it “feels” like an actual piece of hardware instead of another toy/gadget. just my thoughts.
I recently picked up the pro and would recommend it. I find that having the extra real estate is great, and as more apps adopt the split screen, it'll only get better. also it "feels" like an actual piece of hardware instead of another toy/gadget. just my thoughts.
Do the instruments you use on it generally display more information or do some of them merely display the same thing but magnified?
After I said I was leaning toward the Pro, I checked MacRumors' Buyer's Guide as I normally do before making an Apple purchase, and it turns out there's a rumored Apple event on March 15, which is additionally rumored to announce a new iPad Air. If that new Air has Force Touch, or whatever the peculiar name is they chose for it, which is on the latest iPhone, I may go for it instead. Effectively having aftertouch will be so incredible as instruments make use of it. There's already a synth by Roli that makes use of it, partly emulating their highly expressive hardware synth/controllers. Plus, it's super powerful to have Force Touch in general use; it's like having a contextual right-click or tooltip on mouse hover.
So I'll wait a month to see what happens. In the mean time, I'm daydreaming about Patterning and Photophore a lot.
I understand what you’re saying about the potential of force-touch in providing aftertouch.
But…
I normally love Apple stuff, however, I couldn’t wait to return the new force-touch trackpad to Apple. It was a horrendous experience.
It was a total pain in the neck when using software like Logic Pro X etc. I found myself disabling the force-touch functionality all the time.
The reason was that it was very difficult to avoid ‘heavy’ clicking by accident. So constantly moderating how heavily you use the trackpad made my wrist tired and sore in no time at all.
I despise force touch. And that’s putting it mildly.
The reason was that it was very difficult to avoid 'heavy' clicking by accident. So constantly moderating how heavily you use the trackpad made my wrist tired and sore in no time at all.
Interestingly, I also dislike Force Touch on my MacBook Pro, but for the opposite reason: it takes too much pressure to activate it. So I disabled it, choosing to have the prior option of a three-finger tap to activate the same feature instead. It’s surprising that the trackpad accessory behaves so differently from the trackpad in the MacBook.
So as precaution, if the new iPad Air comes with Force Touch, perhaps I’ll try it in stores first, so I don’t bring up a contextual menu every time I tap in beats.
