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General Sound Quality of Most iOS Apps
I've noticed that there are just a handful of iOS apps and plugins that create very good quality audio that's on par with the desktop. Most don't. Most have a thin, coarse, sometimes noisy or crunchy low-res sound.
I'm not going to disparage any particular apps, but I've noticed that the Fab Filter plugins in Auria Pro are absolutely exceptional. There's a pristine quality to all of them unmatched in most other iOS apps. I'd also include Moog's Animoog and Model 15 among the highest sound quality apps out there.
What's strange is that Animoog is actually a very old iOS app. And while reading reviews of the Fab Filters, etc. it seems like they're nearly a decade old too. How is it that so few seem to be able to create a high quality of sound? I mean, it seems like the newest apps would be taking advantage of the latest advances in processing and coding.. and leave some of these legacy apps in the dust.
Code is code right? They're all writing for a level playing field of hardware. So, why do only a few manage to achieve such a high level of sound quality, while most can only manage a mediocre of perceived lower fidelity of sound?
Comments
You forgot to mention a few other high quality app with high quality sound:
There's a few more...
And, I agree on everything Fabfilter is doing for Auria and Auria Pro!
Yes, I don't have some of those... but there are several nice ones for sure. And some of this likely has to do with personal taste as well. It's that don't understand why a few legacy apps are still out performing the newest iOS entries, by a long shot. I was apprehensive to even buy Fab Filter stuff (despite all of the universal accolades) because I figured if they're legacy, they're likely not written to make the best use of the current state-of-the-art computing hardware. And yet, they STILL run circles around the majority of new apps.
Look at Animoog. I got that when it first came out. The earliest date I see in the app store is 2011, but it seems like it was longer ago than that I bought it. I think I even might've got it for a $1. I wasn't in to audio apps at that point at all, but it looked interesting. I think it sounds as good today as it did when it launched. That's at least 6 years ago. Wouldn't you assume that there'd be so many advances and improvements to how audio code is written for iOS in such a long period of time, that the newest apps would blow Animoog out of the water? Truth is... they really don't. For iOS synths, Animoog is STILL considered the gold standard. Curious isn't it?
Very good topic!
I don't think the OP intends to list all good-sounding apps, but rather wants to open a discussion about why it is some apps have an exceptionally high audio quality while others do not, irrespective of release date.
(And if I misinterpreted your point, @skiphunt, my apologies.)
Yes.. thanks for clarifying. Exactly.
Great thread. I'm in complete agreement with the OP and would like to be enlightened.
I run everything below a certain frequency through a Markbass Black Line 250 head. Makes everything sound fucking huge... especially Viking Synth, Ruismaker & everything by Sugar Bytes (best of iOS). How's everyone's NYE going? Have another drink boys!
I've heard a number of very smart people describe digital audio as one of the hardest things you can do on a computer.
If you enjoy feeling inferior have a read of The Art of VA Filter Design by Vadim Zavalishin of Native Instruments fame.
There is no reason the current generation of iOS devices can't produce quality results, Moog and Korg have proven this, but I think most of the industry heavyweights are still focused on desktop machines.
Great read! Thanks for the link. ;-)
I would say it has to do with economics. It's not "easy" to create apps that good. You need people who are not only fantastic programmers, but fantastic programmers who understand audio. I work in an amazing development shop, right on the cutting edge of AR/VR, and we still have problems finding and hiring the best of the best. To make it worse, the economics on iOS are not good for apps that require you to have a team of people, and a lot of time - you just don't make that much money. And those devs I'm talking about are in the six figure range for the really good people. Rim does it with Auria as a one man shop, because he's freaking amazing, and works insane hours. I hope he's making a decent living. I don't know how Fabfilter and Cubasis do it, I wonder if those products are actually making money for the companies who own them. Fabfilter may be be using a development methodology that allows them to transfer their code to iOS - they'd have to be using something like QT and doing the background work in C++. It's a tough business to be in.
Estimates from Priori Data:
I'd say a few apps are making some decent ca$h...
While a good example, it's also very atypical:
In short they escape the niche economics wormhole that has most other developers trapped.
That's just a wrong estimation - the 'sound quality' perceived is a very simple thing:
it's not depending on the operating system at all.
The 2 main factors are aliasing and (of course) the individual algorithms a developer creates
Afaik oversampling (processing at 96khz or higher) to defeat aliasing is available since day one of IOS, but significantly increases CPU load.
Apps can even choose the rate if they detect the device doesn't have enough juice.
Animoog on an iPad One sounds more grainy than on a current Air-2.
The thing is easy to detect: set the filter resonance to it's top resonance and turn the frequency up. Does it screetch ? That's aliasing.
Very good in this context (aside from earlier mentions): all PPG synths, TF-7, Apesoft stuff, Mitosynth, Holderness effects, AD480 reverb, Positive Grid.
DRC is an example where a non-aliasing sound engine meets a particular great implentation (algorithm) of the filter, which is THE essential part of a VA synth.
Hmmm, just lots of poor developers on ios
I don't think so... it was short enough - and neither the OS libs nor the apps show much of 'infancy'.
If you refer to an imaginary time scale based on PC developement: things don't work that way. In all this time I didn't find one single VST synth worth mentioning, but some 15 year old DSP stuff (Creamware Scope) is still competitive today.
PPG WaveGenerater is almost exactly 4 years old and hard to top in sound quality.
IOS music made giant steps in comparison to PC/Mac native programming
Rubbish
There are lots of great VST plugins, the fact you think there isn't is funny.
The fact that you are hinting that DSP stuff in some way makes a difference too, well that just shows your complete lack of understanding of anything, a synth created for DSP/x86/Arm is just binary at the end of the day.
And IOS hascertainly not made any giant steps compared to X86 hahaha
And if Animoog sounds different on different iPads without changing any settings, that is caused by D/A because a 1 is a1and a 0 is a 0, unless you live in some special fantasy land.
I think that I would add a lot of Virsyn stuff as high quality sound, especially the reverb AudioReverb as an AU in Auria Pro...
Everything sounds fine to me.
+1
I've had some decent gear over the years. Now I just have an iPad. Do most the apps sound great through my monitor speakers? Yes they do. That's all I care about. I've had some quite expensive hardware that sounded no better for my purposes.
Well my experience isnt much, just had ableton and logic outside ios, but i do have very sensitive ears and all my ios synths sound good to me!
Hmmm... not quite sure how this spiraled out of control into a defensive thread about how good iOS apps are.
Some are quite good. Doesn't seem to be about how much they cost either, because I've purchased $2 apps that sound incredible.
And, I was very careful not to disparage any app at all by only listing some of those most can agree are at the top of the heap.
I'm not a sound software engineer. If I were, I'd likely not have posed the question to begin with.
The question occurred to me because I've resisted buying the Fab Filters plug-ins for Auria Pro for a long time. Mostly due to their cost. I'd read many touting how great they are, but in the past I'd written that off as stuff from sound geeks with way more knowledge than me, touting the state-of-the-art that most likely would be lost on me.
Until recently when I decided to download the Fab Filter desktop plugins and play with them myself. Yes, they did sound very good and it didn't take a sound engineer's expertise to clearly hear and see the benefits they offer. Then, I figured, "Well, that's just because they're desktop apps and likely that doesn't translate over to the little iPad's capability, etc."
Then, I took a chance and bought one. (Timeless 2) I was surprised that it sounded just as good and functioned exactly the same as it's desktop counterpart. Just as pristine, rich, lush, and clean. Then I bought more.
Started thinking about how few iOS apps that compare to that level of quality and wondered why that is. Model 15 and Animoog live up to the hype too. Then I figured, "Well, they likely have the latest state-of-the-art, most up to date, resources, etc. as an advantage." But no... these Fab Filter plugins were written several years ago, as was Animoog.
I'm still not going to cite specific apps that also sound impressive, because I was trying to avoid the "defensive" reactions.
However, what is clear is that the apps that achieve a pristine, rich, lush, clean, precise sound, with just the right amount of analog character blended in for warmth... are fairly rare. Many sound nice enough, but sound like they're coming from below standard hardware. I assumed that it was because the iOS hardware wasn't up to the task. But apps from Moog, Korg, and Fab Filter have proven the limitations aren't due to hardware.
Many iOS sound apps sound like the developer enhanced some old chiptune video game sounds warped them up into something new, but still sounding like the sound's origin is coming from a little plastic game box.
Maybe it's just a matter of taste? Maybe I'm not accounting for the "art" of software engineering, and that to hit those higher levels of sound quality, takes real coding engineer masters.
It's like guitar players I suppose. Most of them have access to roughly the same basic level of gear. Most of them can play admirably and create a sound that's appealing. But, the ones who can pick up any guitar and make it wail, and weep at a level that drops you in your tracks and demands you pay attention... well, those cats are fairly rare.
You're right. Even on iOS I do play guitar better than either of our cats. Thanks @skiphunt, I feel much better now.
There are "cork sniffers" in every crowd... If it sounds good to you, then use it.
Congrats and you're welcome.
"cork sniffer"? Uh.. ok. Yeah, you're right. All the iOS apps are just brilliant and all sound great to everybody. I was totally wrong and it doesn't matter. Just enjoy whatever... No need for discourse on any imaginary perception of quality. Waste to time to even compare, contrast and even bother with bringing it up in an attempt to further understand the art that goes into sound app development. My bad. Cheers.
I think it's the reverb. The good sounding ones, you can't actually take the reverb down to zero.
@skiphunt I was not insinuating that you are a cork sniffer. It's a term used by guitarists to describe those who are more worried about "purity" of tone than actually playing.
My statement stands though. It's all subjective. When the Kinks cut into their speakers they were purposely making it sound "bad" and it launched a whole new sound that became "good". The Velvet Underground spawned a thousand bands with their special blend of noise and murk. Guided by Voices made a revered cult classic on a four track recorder in which the tape bleed through is part of the charm. The list goes on and on...
Ok... I'm not a guitarist, or a "cork sniffer" Boxed wine all the way baby!
But, let me drill down even more specific. I bought the Fab Filter ProQ2 plugin. Before I bought it, I compared about 4 or 5 different iOS apps I have that can handle EQ very well. Some better than others. And some seemed to degrade the source fidelity a bit while still doing a decent job shaping the sound.
Then, I compared the best I could do with these 4-5 other iOS EQ apps, and then compared the best I could do with ProQ2 having no experience with the plugin at all other than watching a 3min demo and playing a little in Logic Pro before I bought the one in Auria Pro. No comparison. The precision of control, the interface, the overall fidelity improvement while not hearing any evidence of degradation at all.
It just made me wonder how some apps seem to manage to clear a much higher bar than the others. I figured, it's all just 1's and 0's. And the hardware is pretty much all similar, so it's a level playing field. Seems like fidelity would be fairly consistent between most apps, but to my ears.. it isn't.
What I'm obviously leaving out of the equation is sound engineering experience, expertise, and skill. To use Fab Filter, or Korg, or Moog as example... they are teams of experts with decades of experience and expertise to draw on from the git go. But, the indie developer has to go it alone and wear all hats as has been mentioned, then get something to market with almost no support.