Blocs Wave - New User Libraries & Flatten Mode

[Deleted User]

@gonekrazy3000 said:

@Fruitbat1919 said:

@gonekrazy3000 said:

@Launchpadforios said:
A sneak peak of next weeks release for User Library Management and our new 'Flatten' feature.

that looks fantastic. i'm assuming flatten will turn the sliced track into a new pad ? I hope we can name the bank something other than just "imported" since i literally have thousands of loops myself.

either way. just having the loops in the app already is a vast improvement to me. good job you guys!

Yep good guess on flatten me thinks. I have been doing this with AudioShare already, but imagine the time save. I will end up on a never ending loop of cutting loops

tell me about it. just the user library alone will mean im gonna lose tons of hrs cutting loops. currently ive been making tons of projects holding just 8 loops......

Yes my projects are building up quickly after my recent loss and reload of my whole iPad. Would love a quick way to back up projects to Dropbox, I would be more upset now at losing some of the weird but great chops happening. Blocs really is the best ideas generator I have on iOS

gonekrazy3000

@Fruitbat1919 said:

@gonekrazy3000 said:

@Reid said:
Please. Do. Not. Ruin. This. Magnificent. App.

Keep. It. Simple.

If somebody wants a looper, there are hundreds, if not thousands of options, between hardware, iOS and computer software. They all have their strengths.

But of all those things, there has never been anything like Blocs Wave before. I have five trillion loops, Ableton, Acid, Logic, etc. I rarely make music with loops. I use DAWS and play my own stuff. But I have been all over this thing since I got it.

Blocs Wave is potentially the world's greatest mashup machine. All it needs are more IAPs and the ability to make your own user banks. You take the whole world history of music-every instrument and style, from Disco to Ravel to Samba to Prokofiev to Philip Glass to Ska to South Africa to Indian to whatever. And then when you push the button you can combine them in random ways, creating musical combinations that nobody could ever have imagined before this app existed.

It's the randomness. The infinity of combinations. You can buy a loop set for $130 and get one fricking style.

This has the zen perfection of design of Brian Eno or Haiku. It is beautiful because it is simple. And it will continue to be robust if it stays simple and uses low system resources.

If you like, you can play into it directly Does it have all the professional features that other apps do? No. And please @Launchpadforios don't ever load it up with them. Don't feel you have to obey every idea that's expressed here. Don't kill the goose.

I want to be able to put in a zillion loops into this. Maybe many will be my loops. I do not want it to have loaded up with so many features that it is not able to process this one vital thing that makes Blocs Wave unique.

This is an idea machine for me. If I find something I like I can put it in a DAW and take it to the next level. But it doesn't work the other way--my other apps can't do this.

This is not to say that there shouldn't be any improvements. There are simple ideas that will make it do what it already does better. In fact the best ideas will be the ones that make it simpler to use, rather than more complex. The randomizer in the slicer is a perfect example. Totally in keeping with the overall design.

For petes sake. No-ones asking them to add hundreds of layers. or to add entirely new features. its mostly quality of life stuff like being able to move active loops left and right (which ironically is your feature request) and to trigger them either directly with a tap or midi. Noones asking AU support. or mastering tools. or to add an appregiator and interal synths. or to add midi support to trigger Iaa apps.

so please. stop being such a drama queen.

I can see the keeping it simple ideal, but Novation have done a great job so far at keeping the UI clean while adding features. I do not doubt they hold the simplicity of use as a prime ideal they keep in mind before they add features. I trust their judgement to be honest. They seem to understand the fine balance between features and UI in their products quite well

to be fair. they can keep it as simple as it currently is. just add either clip triggers via touch or miidi and add 8 IAA or audiobus outs so that people who want super complex can do it in AUM. they dont need to add literally anything else. not even effects. this way both camps stay happy. tweakers and basic users alike

gonekrazy3000

@Fruitbat1919 said:

@gonekrazy3000 said:

@Fruitbat1919 said:

@gonekrazy3000 said:

@Launchpadforios said:
A sneak peak of next weeks release for User Library Management and our new 'Flatten' feature.

that looks fantastic. i'm assuming flatten will turn the sliced track into a new pad ? I hope we can name the bank something other than just "imported" since i literally have thousands of loops myself.

either way. just having the loops in the app already is a vast improvement to me. good job you guys!

Yep good guess on flatten me thinks. I have been doing this with AudioShare already, but imagine the time save. I will end up on a never ending loop of cutting loops

tell me about it. just the user library alone will mean im gonna lose tons of hrs cutting loops. currently ive been making tons of projects holding just 8 loops......

Yes my projects are building up quickly after my recent loss and reload of my whole iPad. Would love a quick way to back up projects to Dropbox, I would be more upset now at losing some of the weird but great chops happening. Blocs really is the best ideas generator I have on iOS

i export slices to audioshare. which i then transfer to my pc so i have slice backups. blocs can export to it directly.

[Deleted User]

@gonekrazy3000 said:

@Fruitbat1919 said:

@gonekrazy3000 said:

@Fruitbat1919 said:

@gonekrazy3000 said:

@Launchpadforios said:
A sneak peak of next weeks release for User Library Management and our new 'Flatten' feature.

that looks fantastic. i'm assuming flatten will turn the sliced track into a new pad ? I hope we can name the bank something other than just "imported" since i literally have thousands of loops myself.

either way. just having the loops in the app already is a vast improvement to me. good job you guys!

Yep good guess on flatten me thinks. I have been doing this with AudioShare already, but imagine the time save. I will end up on a never ending loop of cutting loops

tell me about it. just the user library alone will mean im gonna lose tons of hrs cutting loops. currently ive been making tons of projects holding just 8 loops......

Yes my projects are building up quickly after my recent loss and reload of my whole iPad. Would love a quick way to back up projects to Dropbox, I would be more upset now at losing some of the weird but great chops happening. Blocs really is the best ideas generator I have on iOS

i export slices to audioshare. which i then transfer to my pc so i have slice backups. blocs can export to it directly.

Yep but exports each as a new wave, not the originals with cut points. I sometimes play the bars of each cut and arrange them as needed. Setting it all up again for each project with the new loops is possible, but would take lots of time.

A bank save for projects would help if a loss occurred

db909

Update looks awesome. I like that this app is not trying to be anything more than a fun simple way to experiment with mashing up loops. And by the way, I have to compliment the quality of the loop packs, drums especially. Would like to see a few more fully cooked melodies to chop but whatever, that's why you can record your own.

fjcblanco

I just nailed the surface and have to say this app is amazing. I'm agreed with Reid, probably because as a mini-amateur this is more than enough for me. But, in the other hand, I understand the dev's perspective.

The app has grow up a lot in a short time. Probably is too son for Blocs Wave Pro, but who knows?

Thanks to the dev. 5 stars app.

Reid

@gonekrazy3000 I am a drama queen. I like to think of myself as passionate.

I agree I went on too long.

kobamoto

@Launchpadforios said:
A sneak peak of next weeks release for User Library Management and our new 'Flatten' feature.

that flatten feature is a wonderful sight to behold, thank you for going in this direction, btw how's the panning coming?

just a sidenote for folks quoting other options, I wish you'd list those other options because I don't know of anything else like this in ios?

kobamoto

@db909 said:
Update looks awesome. I like that this app is not trying to be anything more than a fun simple way to experiment with mashing up loops. And by the way, I have to compliment the quality of the loop packs, drums especially. Would like to see a few more fully cooked melodies to chop but whatever, that's why you can record your own.

respectfully db909, the dev never said the app was meant to be 'a fun simple way to experiment with mashing up loops', they said quite the opposite, and it was meant to be a serious sample slicing beatmaking solution.... just wanted to put that out there for clarity so there aren't any misunderstandings like there were with the direction of the Auxy app.
there's nothing from preventing this app from being mucho grande fun as well as the quite capable sample slicing, mangling, and beatmaking app it was meant to be.

djjuniorpops

@Launchpadforios thanks for the sneak of the new update and thanks for listening .

null____void

Found out that Modstep doesn't like some of the longer filenames that Blocs can produce, had to shorten them down to sequence all the bits in Modstep, though I am still adapting (slowly) to the clip-launching approach. This is mostly done with the Slicer, definitely all the stuff from iDensity and Mitosynth is sliced, I'm digging thru the dusty sample folders looking for stuff to cut up. Feel kinda dirty using pre-fab loops for the backing but I can't cease from liking those bass loops & they're better than what I would spend three days trying to top...

Halftone

@rhcball said:
Found out that Modstep doesn't like some of the longer filenames that Blocs can produce, had to shorten them down to sequence all the bits in Modstep, though I am still adapting (slowly) to the clip-launching approach. This is mostly done with the Slicer, definitely all the stuff from iDensity and Mitosynth is sliced, I'm digging thru the dusty sample folders looking for stuff to cut up. Feel kinda dirty using pre-fab loops for the backing but I can't cease from liking those bass loops & they're better than what I would spend three days trying to top...

Good stuff!!

catamaran

@rhcball said:
Found out that Modstep doesn't like some of the longer filenames that Blocs can produce, had to shorten them down to sequence all the bits in Modstep, though I am still adapting (slowly) to the clip-launching approach. This is mostly done with the Slicer, definitely all the stuff from iDensity and Mitosynth is sliced, I'm digging thru the dusty sample folders looking for stuff to cut up. Feel kinda dirty using pre-fab loops for the backing but I can't cease from liking those bass loops & they're better than what I would spend three days trying to top...

ah thats whats going on! filenames being too long. wondered why blocs samples in modstep went dead. thank you!

null____void

@catamaran said:
ah thats whats going on! filenames being too long. wondered why blocs samples in modstep went dead. thank you!

Yep. spent half an hour investigating, glad it was of some use to more than myself.

AmpifyxNovation

@rhcball said:

Like!

null____void

I have to wake up in 2 hours, I should probably stop abusively slicing an already-Turnado'd Siri...

JohnnyGoodyear

@rhcball said:
I have to wake up in 2 hours, I should probably stop abusively slicing an already-Turnado'd Siri...

Dunno what this means but I like the sound of it...

samboom

Could I suggest that the clear icon is given a dual purpose in slice recording mode.
While the recording icon is lit - pressing/holding the erase icon - this will record segments of silence as opposed to sliced audio material into the clip segment - his will help clean up any rogue audio that often seems to slip in when recording sliced audio material. If the finger is lifted at any time silence will no longer be recorded.

Then to reintroduce the original functionality of the erase icon - adjust it so that a press and drag down gesture ( as per the gesture to de/activate the eight clip tabs in the main interface) deletes the sliced audio recording segment it is entirity.

Otherwise BW with its most recent update has become fully awesome!@!

The only other similar suggestion would be to somehow use the clip volume slider on the right while in slice record mode to change the level of the slice recordings - this would allow a rudimentary formation of volume envelopes to be written into the samples and indeed would be another way to strip in silence into the slice recordings.

I do agree with other postings though that part of what makes BW so awesome is the simplicity of its interface.

mireko_2

I really love this app. One thing that would push it over the edge in terms of creativity would be pitch on slice. I guess this will be complicated because of the timestretch/pitch shift stuff but if pulled off will be incredible

AmpifyxNovation

One of our guys (Cain) in the office just did this. Hope you like it.
Blocs Wave | recreate OneMoreTime from the original using slice mode

JohnnyGoodyear

LET'S DO THE SHOW RIGHT HERE!

Jose_Bee

So simple but effective use of the sample

o_imseng

Love Blocs Wave. Very cool.

db909

@kobamoto said:

@db909 said:
Update looks awesome. I like that this app is not trying to be anything more than a fun simple way to experiment with mashing up loops. And by the way, I have to compliment the quality of the loop packs, drums especially. Would like to see a few more fully cooked melodies to chop but whatever, that's why you can record your own.

respectfully db909, the dev never said the app was meant to be 'a fun simple way to experiment with mashing up loops', they said quite the opposite, and it was meant to be a serious sample slicing beatmaking solution.... just wanted to put that out there for clarity so there aren't any misunderstandings like there were with the direction of the Auxy app.
there's nothing from preventing this app from being mucho grande fun as well as the quite capable sample slicing, mangling, and beatmaking app it was meant to be.

Well whatever, I bought it, am enjoying it, like the direction it's going in, and all is well.

fjcblanco

I don't know if its possible to have different keys at the same time. I mean: Bass is 'C' , Melodic 'F'.

For sure, you can record a loop in 'F', export it, and import it saying is ''C', but that would be a pain for a lot of loops.

kobamoto

@db909 said:

@kobamoto said:

@db909 said:
Update looks awesome. I like that this app is not trying to be anything more than a fun simple way to experiment with mashing up loops. And by the way, I have to compliment the quality of the loop packs, drums especially. Would like to see a few more fully cooked melodies to chop but whatever, that's why you can record your own.

respectfully db909, the dev never said the app was meant to be 'a fun simple way to experiment with mashing up loops', they said quite the opposite, and it was meant to be a serious sample slicing beatmaking solution.... just wanted to put that out there for clarity so there aren't any misunderstandings like there were with the direction of the Auxy app.
there's nothing from preventing this app from being mucho grande fun as well as the quite capable sample slicing, mangling, and beatmaking app it was meant to be.

Well whatever, I bought it, am enjoying it, like the direction it's going in, and all is well.

^^ best post, sorry db, it was looking like folks were starting to compliment the batter in the mixing bowl before the cake was done. If you've been following the launchpad app and blocs from the beginning you'll know that it was a bit of a miracle getting to this point. Every single slicer on iOS is unfinished right now so I guess I'm a little prone to panicking about the state of sampling on the platform.

db909

First slicer I've used. It's pretty much introduced me to the concept, so another plus for blocs showing me new things.

parallaxobject

@fjcblanco said:
I don't know if its possible to have different keys at the same time. I mean: Bass is 'C' , Melodic 'F'.

For sure, you can record a loop in 'F', export it, and import it saying is ''C', but that would be a pain for a lot of loops.

I haven't experimented enough with the key-shifting, but perhaps you can change how the loops play together in/out of key by changing (i.e. mislabeling) the key-labeling for a loop in the attributes tab(?)

parallaxobject

@mireko_2 said:
I really love this app. One thing that would push it over the edge in terms of creativity would be pitch on slice. I guess this will be complicated because of the timestretch/pitch shift stuff but if pulled off will be incredible

And reverse per slice

fjcblanco

Yes. But as far I know, the change affect to all of them at the same time. I'd like 'transpose' every bloc individually.