Reactable Rotor: new app coming soon

Maarten

More info here: http://reactable.com/rotor/

[Deleted User]

Interested in the app; not sure about the "tangible controllers". They look fiddly and I'll probably lose them. They do look lovely, though.

OscarSouth

Nice idea, although I'm not convinced of the practicality

lukesleepwalker

Neato. I'm wondering how the knobs stay in one place on the iPad screen? Or maybe they don't? (I use Reactable mobile so I'm familiar with the GUI--but like @OscarSouth I just don't see how "floating" knobs could be practical in live scenario?)

OscarSouth

@lukesleepwalker said:
Neato. I'm wondering how the knobs stay in one place on the iPad screen? Or maybe they don't? (I use Reactable mobile so I'm familiar with the GUI--but like @OscarSouth I just don't see how "floating" knobs could be practical in live scenario?)

Typo, now corrected (I forgot to write 'not')

Redo1

Looks really cool. Very interested to see it working. Not on my ipad mini(retina) I wouldn't imagine though.

aaronpc

I'd be interested in the knobs if I could use them on my old iPad 1 as a controller/mixer for other devices. Otherwise...

Richtowns

Reminds me of this kickstarter.
http://www.tunadjgear.com
The knobs look cool but I notice now they are only compatible with a few apps but Touchables, iElectribe and flux:fx are on the list

db909

We don't need no knobs up in here

Ivan_Dj

Send a messege to Andrés, Rotor support, and he replied the controllers will be available next week at discounted launch price of 39€ (2 units) Regular price about 50€

jwmmakerofmusic

Meh, pass. Fugue Machine, Blocs Wave, Audulus 3, Gadget, Soundscaper, Nave.....I have plenty of idea generators, lol. Yes, I bought Reactable years ago and found it quite unintuitive, Music Studio and its many IAPs being my main goto idea scratch pad back in the day. (Gadget ruined Music Studio for me, lol.)

Adding fancy knobs to an updated version of Reactable named "Rotor" sounds cool, but besides the "cool" factor, what's really the appeal?

u0421793

Can we make our own knobs?

Littlewoodg

Curious about what the knobs will bring to the party, the GUI is already quite fluid and inspiring in performance...not sure if I'm 39€ worth of curious (but probably am...was a big fan of Reactable, even more so Rotor)

lukesleepwalker

I liked Reactable OK but I really like Rotor. The key detection is very cool. Will wait on the knobs--there are some of the blocks that are just a little fiddly on the touch screen.

ExAsperis99

Have it but still haven't totally figured this out. And by totally, I mean not at all. Can the user make the melodies at all? Or do you just drop in a sequencer and it comes out whatever it's going to pump out? What I have going sounds kind of neat, but… Are there any great video tutorials anywhere?

Littlewoodg

@ExAsperis99 said:
Have it but still haven't totally figured this out. And by totally, I mean not at all. Can the user make the melodies at all? Or do you just drop in a sequencer and it comes out whatever it's going to pump out? What I have going sounds kind of neat, but… Are there any great video tutorials anywhere?

Can't recommend any tutorials as of yet, but melody can definitely be made. You can sequence an unlimited # of bars using the synths, or the wave based and soundfont instruments, (that's what the manual says, unlimited bars, and I've added 300+ just to see and I didn't hit a limit). or you can record midi into the seq live using the onscreen keys or a midi keyboard, play along with the spinning wavs and other doo-hickeys you set up, and then let your performance loop, then erase and re-do on the fly

u0421793

Has anyone found a way of having one sequencer control another sequencer?

Ivan_Dj

@u0421793 said:
Has anyone found a way of having one sequencer control another sequencer?

Is a good question. I was reading the manual last night and I don't think is possible.

Carnbot

Hmm, that's pretty expensive for the controllers. It would be great to have a 3D printer at times like this.

skiphunt

Yeah... uh... no. Won't be getting the controllers if this is the price point they settle on. I might've paid $10 for a set. $15 max. $40? Nope.

supadom

@lukesleepwalker said:
I liked Reactable OK but I really like Rotor. The key detection is very cool. Will wait on the knobs--there are some of the blocks that are just a little fiddly on the touch screen.

I was ready to put it in the cloud until I've read your comment. Will give it another go.

Littlewoodg

@supadom said:

@lukesleepwalker said:
I liked Reactable OK but I really like Rotor. The key detection is very cool. Will wait on the knobs--there are some of the blocks that are just a little fiddly on the touch screen.

I was ready to put it in the cloud until I've read your comment. Will give it another go.

Beat matching and key detection (with both do-able on the fly) along with the rest make for a great live tool, I found it's addictive

supadom

@Littlewoodg said:

@supadom said:

@lukesleepwalker said:
I liked Reactable OK but I really like Rotor. The key detection is very cool. Will wait on the knobs--there are some of the blocks that are just a little fiddly on the touch screen.

I was ready to put it in the cloud until I've read your comment. Will give it another go.

Beat matching and key detection (with both do-able on the fly) along with the rest make for a great live tool, I found it's addictive

Yeah, but it is so fucking fiddly!

Littlewoodg

@supadom said:

@Littlewoodg said:

@supadom said:

@lukesleepwalker said:
I liked Reactable OK but I really like Rotor. The key detection is very cool. Will wait on the knobs--there are some of the blocks that are just a little fiddly on the touch screen.

I was ready to put it in the cloud until I've read your comment. Will give it another go.

Beat matching and key detection (with both do-able on the fly) along with the rest make for a great live tool, I found it's addictive

Yeah, but it is so fucking fiddly!

Its gesture intensive for sure...especially because the changes (changing clips on the rotors, riding the faders for vol and filter etc) are what makes the live magic happen. For me it was worth the practice.

JohnnyGoodyear

gesture intensive

Mr. Eric Blair salutes you Sir!

lukesleepwalker

@Littlewoodg said:
Its gesture intensive for sure...especially because the changes (changing clips on the rotors, riding the faders for vol and filter etc) are what makes the live magic happen. For me it was worth the practice.

Some of the gestures are fiddly for sure and it kinda drives me crazy in spots. But like you, I've gotten pretty used to it with practice in most cases. And I love the gesture of muting a block by swiping across the connection. Just line up a bunch and you can turn stuff on/off with one swipe rather than having to hit multiple mute buttons.

Littlewoodg

@lukesleepwalker said:

@Littlewoodg said:
Its gesture intensive for sure...especially because the changes (changing clips on the rotors, riding the faders for vol and filter etc) are what makes the live magic happen. For me it was worth the practice.

Some of the gestures are fiddly for sure and it kinda drives me crazy in spots. But like you, I've gotten pretty used to it with practice in most cases. And I love the gesture of muting a block by swiping across the connection. Just line up a bunch and you can turn stuff on/off with one swipe rather than having to hit multiple mute buttons.

That is a cool one. Or two (or more) next together, some on, some off, drag across and instant hard cut from one to the other, and back. The fiddly ness is probably smoothed out with the pucks but:

I noticed that if you put two fingers close together right on top of the rotor, that makes the rotor larger and changes within, like transitions from clip to clip, or faders control is a little easier to take care of

supadom

@lukesleepwalker

Just line up a bunch and you can turn stuff on/off with one swipe rather than having to hit multiple mute buttons.

Isn't that where mr sidecar comes in?

musikmachine

@Littlewoodg said:

@lukesleepwalker said:

@Littlewoodg said:
Its gesture intensive for sure...especially because the changes (changing clips on the rotors, riding the faders for vol and filter etc) are what makes the live magic happen. For me it was worth the practice.

Some of the gestures are fiddly for sure and it kinda drives me crazy in spots. But like you, I've gotten pretty used to it with practice in most cases. And I love the gesture of muting a block by swiping across the connection. Just line up a bunch and you can turn stuff on/off with one swipe rather than having to hit multiple mute buttons.

That is a cool one. Or two (or more) next together, some on, some off, drag across and instant hard cut from one to the other, and back. The fiddly ness is probably smoothed out with the pucks but:

I noticed that if you put two fingers close together right on top of the rotor, that makes the rotor larger and changes within, like transitions from clip to clip, or faders control is a little easier to take care of

I wish they'd shown that in the vid cause it looks really fiddly as mentioned abouve. So what's the idea; you load up your own loops and the add sounds with the built in synths and build up live performances? Can you actually step sequence drums?

Littlewoodg

@musikmachine
Yes there's a polyphonic piano roll sequencer, (and another monophonic rotary one) and the app ships with 8 solid sf2 drum kits, or you can build kits from .wav and save these as sampler instruments. (Also you can build and save melodic sampler instruments)

You mentioned vids, have you looked at the inapp manual with the embedded videos? It's a very deep manual, and they have it on their site (so you can peruse before you buy the thing): http://reactable.com/rotor/manual/
(It's probably the best manual I've seen for any iOS app, ever)

Ivan_Dj

@Littlewoodg said:

@lukesleepwalker said:

@Littlewoodg said:
Its gesture intensive for sure...especially because the changes (changing clips on the rotors, riding the faders for vol and filter etc) are what makes the live magic happen. For me it was worth the practice.

Some of the gestures are fiddly for sure and it kinda drives me crazy in spots. But like you, I've gotten pretty used to it with practice in most cases. And I love the gesture of muting a block by swiping across the connection. Just line up a bunch and you can turn stuff on/off with one swipe rather than having to hit multiple mute buttons.

That is a cool one. Or two (or more) next together, some on, some off, drag across and instant hard cut from one to the other, and back. The fiddly ness is probably smoothed out with the pucks but:

I noticed that if you put two fingers close together right on top of the rotor, that makes the rotor larger and changes within, like transitions from clip to clip, or faders control is a little easier to take care of

@Littlewoodg said:

@lukesleepwalker said:

@Littlewoodg said:
Its gesture intensive for sure...especially because the changes (changing clips on the rotors, riding the faders for vol and filter etc) are what makes the live magic happen. For me it was worth the practice.

Some of the gestures are fiddly for sure and it kinda drives me crazy in spots. But like you, I've gotten pretty used to it with practice in most cases. And I love the gesture of muting a block by swiping across the connection. Just line up a bunch and you can turn stuff on/off with one swipe rather than having to hit multiple mute buttons.

That is a cool one. Or two (or more) next together, some on, some off, drag across and instant hard cut from one to the other, and back. The fiddly ness is probably smoothed out with the pucks but:

I noticed that if you put two fingers close together right on top of the rotor, that makes the rotor larger and changes within, like transitions from clip to clip, or faders control is a little easier to take care of

That's good! Also works great double tap the center of the rotor and drag up/down.