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Mean, Nasty, Dark, and Dirty.
Sure, nearly any app can be made to squeak out a few noises on the darker end of the spectrum, but what are the apps that can really thrive in the dark and grimy side of sound?
Please share your thoughts on apps that get gritty, noisy, filthy, dark, distorted. Tell us what they are, what they do, and how they might be best employed in service of the "The Dark Side".
A couple apps I find very well suited to darker/dirtier sounds are:
VirSyn microTERA - great little wave-shaping synth that sits itself nicely into a broad range of distortion driven tones. It's got bite!
Sugar Bytes WOW - excellent filter box with a massive amount of modulation options and routing to yield warped, squashed, crushed, over-driven, and all manner of mangled sound. Love this thing.
Comments
Alchemy- Biolabs dark space (buy for desktop and then add to your app) plus some of the Steamworks sounds
Super manetron- nothing says spooky and dark like a mellotron with the right instruments
Magellan- Spawn can get some real gritty sounds
oh and Modular- I do not hear people mention this much on this forum. it has so much potential
I have mentioned before, I love putting a mic next to my homemade washtub bass and then filtering the sounds I play through apps for great horror/sci fi effects. Honestly the washtub bass has such a large resonator that the sounds you create can be turned into so many things.
It's also a matter of the scales you use. Like if you want spooky mystery music use the gypsy minor scale or even hungarian. Certain scales and modes just sound dark.
There are a number of people that qualify if you want to expand beyond apps.
my first recommendation would be to use microphones, guitar amps, analog gear, etc.
in the digital realm, it's a bit difficult. One reason is that most (if not all) virtual synthesisers fail when you try to modulate a VCO or VCF with high frequencies. But that's just one thing. You can make very nasty sounds with virtual synths, just don't expect too much.
One thing virtual synths can do well is additive synthesis. Also specialised FM synths. Wavetable synthesis. And of course samplers and sample mangling apps. This can sound really raw, nasty, and brutal.
Thanks for the nod @funjunkie27 but generally only in bed.
It doesn't do dark and dirty very well but Nanostudio's Eden synth does mean and nasty extremely well. Part of it is due to hyper optimization resulting in aliasing but that little bastard can get nasty.
Dark and dirty on iOS for me usually means Samplr or Magellan via jamup.
Lol @syrupcore and tmi!
I would add that CrystalSynth is capable of some pretty dark sounds.
Moog Filtatron - IMO it permanently resides in the world of squelches, screams, and mutilated sound. As a processing effect it can completely destroy the source audio, and as a source itself it can generate some seriously gnarly noise. Get's heavy use here.
CRUD.
@Brain said:
What can you tell us about this one?
ArcticPro Synth is hard as nails and FabFilter Saturn and PSP MicroWarmer plugins in Auria will toughen up any mix. Actually we have lots of contenders, iSEM can get pretty wild. Last night I ran Gadget through AB into WOW and my headphones were screaming!!
Crud is a dubstep bass rompler with 'limited' editing facilities. The basses can go a bit mean, but I like utter filth so wasn't going to mention that one.
To be honest a bunch of post processing makes anything end up filthy so I'm on with WOW and Fabfilter Saturn / Volcano .. also Animoog spits out some dirt too when I'm at the controls. I'm thinking of getting microTera just because it appears in this thread now
I like nasty, dark and dirty
addictive is also really good a abrasive and nasty. Not exactly dark though, naturally anyway.
@OmnilimbO said:
It has a pretty decent bank of sounds that are named after all manner of pathological maladies & other negative aspects of life; some of them loop, lots of 'bit-crushing', some seem to be similar to each other; the kind of stuff you'd have to be creative with. Not bad for what it is.
Giant Isopod is pretty fierce.
@Paul16 said:
Tell us a bit about what it will dish out.
BitWiz in the effects slot will rip and destroy
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bitwiz-audio-synth/id522046655?mt=8
microTERA from Virsyn is currently on sale for $4.99 (= to 50% off). Again, great for dirty synth work. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microtera/id819266128?mt=8 It's a steal at this price.
Thanks @TedBPhx, will have to give it another look. Always found it to look a little intimidating.
@OmnilimbO - yeah I got it cause of your recommendation in this thread. Thanks
I had a mean, nasty dark and dirty night last night 
No love for Novation Launchkey? I use it a lot for dark and dirty. Very good indeed for mad distorted sounds.
Just grabbed a couple of simple little synths I think fit well here. Both have a generally warm yet dark and so what grimy sound.
DR-OM : great little set of 3 DIY hack boxes that are great for strange drone and dark ambient work. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dr-om/id555409573?mt=8
76 Synthesizer : currently on sale for 50% off (until 23rd), is a GORGEOUS little 3 oscillator synth that I'm having a lot of fun with and finding great for warm gritty basses and odd effects. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/76-synthesizer/id471645148?mt=8
Also on sale is the WOW Filterbox from SugarBytes. I keep talking about this one... It's just super awesome, very flexible, and useful in so many ways. From filtering, subtle saturation, dirty distortion effects, to complete annihilation. I absolutely love this app. Use it all the time. Everything Sugarbytes is currently $9.99, so grab it on the cheap. Audiobus compatible and if you have Auria you will get to use WOW as a native plugin as well. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wow-filterbox/id666864434?mt=8
@OmnilimbO said:
Thanks for this - there's a separate thread about SugarBytes sale apps, and WOW is the one that keeps appealing to me. Turnado, also, but that seems more modulation oriented.
What types of apps do you use WOW with - synths & samplers? I was looking for an app that could modify guitar sounds using AudioBus's effects slot, but there's a lot of practical reasons I don't believe that would actually work.
Re: @StormJH1 ^
Honestly I put WOW on pretty much anything and everything... from drums to bass to synths and samples. WOW is one of the best tools on my iPad, and it really is incredibly versatile. With all it's filter types, distortion modes and deep deep modulation capabilities, there is a vast range of effects to be had. No doubt, it is perfectly suited to guitar as well... there are even a few audio samples on its product page being applied to guitar. http://www.sugar-bytes.de/content/products/WOW2/index.php?lang=en Regarding AudioBus, WOW can sit in the Input slot as well as the Effects slot. I often follow WOW with a delay and or reverb, and good lord does it sound juicy. Definitely give it a look.
This keyboard solo gets pretty dark/dirty/nasty with nothing but an overdriven Rhodes patch on a Nord Electro 2 played through a silver Fender Princeton - volume cranked pretty hard! Doesn't take much...
^ Hah... um, I don't think that's an iPad app, sir.
@OmnilimbO said:
Do you have any audio for the guitar into WOW ? I am curious to know how that sounds.
I don't. Know which to pick up today WOW or Effectrix...already have Turnado.
I was looking forward for more syncopated sequences and modulation so applied to input guitar.....I really wish camel port their CamelSpace plugin to ipad..
@OmnilimbO said:
I was using a Nord Electro 2 patch on that gig. I use NeoSoul Keys now with the exact same effect. In fact, I'm certain it sounds even dirtier. Ring mod comes from whatever Fx app I'm currently feeling at the time. Point being that you can get "dirty/dark/nasty" with just about anything... It's all about the person behind the wheel, not the vehicle itself.
@thepinkelephant Sorry, I do not. I have never played guitar through WOW... I don't have a guitar. But, you can hear a few examples of WOW on guitar if you click that link and listen to the audio demos.
VOSIS makes wonderfully dark and dirty sounds.
Another vote for Alchemy, some really dark sounds in some of those packs, and they're playable for adding variations. I used it for the nasty synth sound that starts halfway through this track:
http://tarekith.com/mp3s/Tarekith-LinesOfSpace.m4a
Been playing around with iDensity and iPulsaret, both a bit of granular shaping that yields superb results. Loads of awesome textures coming out of these... especially when put through a new very unique and totally awesome delay app coming soon from the same makers. Top shelf twisted sound.
I don't think the following apps have been mentioned which support Audiobus , especially check out the effect Nils, different but every bit as goods the sugar byte effects and it's only 1.99
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nils/id579955189?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=4
and for the sickest noises
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id822205903?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=4
every app junkie needs these apps go get them.
Oh and BeepBoop is not like a regular synth just press a note and start twisting the knobs and be amazed at what comes out of the speakers.