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EG pulse vs. Nano studio 2 Slate
i own EG pulse and eying NS2, just wondering if i’d still use Pulse if i get Nanostudio, for people who own both, are they redundant ? in what ways to they differ ? for what tasks are they both interchangeable ? thanks.
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They're very different. Pulse is really meant to be used in an AU host. Slate only works in NS.
Pulse counts time stretching, pitch automation, fills, auto/transient sample slicing and a classic step sequencer view in its plus column.
Slate counts velocity layering (three samples per pad), 32 slots, more/better effects (including per pad effects like bit reduction, several filter types, distortion, etc), full envelopes (for pitch and amp), etc in its plus column. Slate uses the NS sequencer. It's way more powerful than Pulse's step sequencer but apples and oranges. If you want a step sequencer instead of a piano roll style sequencer, it doesn't matter how powerful the NS piano roll is, you know?
So, yeah, very different, very capable beasts. Meant to be used in different ways.
Good news: you can run Pulse within Nanostudio.
I don't own EG Pulse but I'm a big fan of Slate inside NS2. It's super quick to set up instruments and it's also the best and easiest way to sequence drums that I've come across so far on iOS.
The only thing Slate is really lacking is that there is no round-robin. The velocity layers are also limited to three, but that doesn't bother me so much. If Slate ever gets round-robin it will be my perfect drum machine.
All depends whether you want to work in NS2, or something like AUM.
Slate's great, as is the sampler in BM3, but I don't like working in either of their parent environments, AUM is the place for me, so Pulse is my choice.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe Slate has a roll function, nor can you take a single sample and split it across multiple pads. You can do both of these in EG Pulse.
No roll/beat repeat in slate.
You can't automatically split a single sample across multiple pads (aka slicing) but you can edit a single sample and load the edits onto separate pads.
Apples and oranges, again, but maybe worth noting: if you do want to work within NS, it comes with a little bonus called Obsidian.
Obsidian can load, love, marry and murder samples. On that note, you can create an Empty slate kit (no samples) and point the pads at various Obsidian (and/or Slate) instances.
lol, I asked this a few days ago in the Pulse thread but nadda.
Anywho... NS2 can get a bit picky with some AU UIs when the CPU gets a bit high, moreso than other apps I have found. meaning when the CPU is taxed I get a lot of crackles in some AU windows. How is Pulse in NS2 in this regard? Is it one of the problem AUs that quickly become crackle pop fests when the UI is open on a taxed CPU?
😆Best chuckle of the day right there 😆
... a little bonus called Obsidian.
Masterful bit of understatement
... Obsidian is really the only reason NS2 is on most ipads I'd suspect - superb bit of kit. Wish NS would cut it loose ... deserves better. One of the best synths out there. But it's in there.
Thanks for that crystal clear explanation of the differences between Slate and Pulse.
Slate isn’t very good imho, but of course I am comparing it to hardware and other software drum samplers I own.
Marvellous brevity. And that's before you even got to the murdering
main difference between Pulse and Slate is actually in intention of their creators. Of course i don't see into head of Pulse creator, so i guess just based on result - this part is just my opinion. I know, on other side, directly from first hand what was intention with Slate
Pulse is obviously ispired and goes in direction of MPC samplers. With features crucial for this kind of machine.
On other side, Slate was from begining designed as lightweight NI Battery alternative ... Advanced drums sampler, self-contained drum machine for creating complete drum kit. that's it.
Don't think so. In my experience most people who bought NS mainly because of
Obsidian are not using it :-) People who
actually use NS (just check creations thread on NS forum) are using NS mainly because they like it's sequencer, audio routing capabilities and workflow. They use a lot AUs, not just Obsidian.
Yes of course there are are also people who are using for most things just Obsidian, Slate and buils in FXs (which are amazing same way like Obsidian) - which was Matts original intention - but i wouldn't say it's majority...
Obsidian is a poor synth, best UI on iOS bar non, fastest sound design on iOS bar non, pound for pound best features on iOS bar non, sound quality meh, a lot of bass sounds will pop and click (Dendy has passed on the examples) and much of the feature set is just terrible quality (Dendy informed that it is due to lack of oversampling and showed that rendering out at double samplerate helps a lot, he is pushing for oversampling)
Obsidian could and may become a great synth, but right now, if it was an IAP I would have uninstalled it and NS2 is my main sequencer (On iOS)
I dont know anybody who uses NS2 for Obsidian.
Slate on the other hand, yes as default it is a bit meh, poor built in fx etc, but once you make a Slate container and then add a Slate instance per pad to that, you have a competent drum sampler that has multiout, now you can use the best available mixer and routing on iOS, plus some absolutely superb built in FX, buses, sidechaining and that is before you even think of full AU inserting and sends per pad too.
Once you build your own multiout Slate it is hard to compete with in terms of drum sampling (OK BM3 blows it away if it wasn't a crashy bug fest, just because it has the sample editing in realtime and huge modulation control) and the mixer and routing in NS2 can't be competed with at all right now.
The only downside is no track templates in NS2, so once you create a multiout Slate, you can't save it as a template and then just load it, also no track hiding in the arranger, so you end you with a bunch of empty tracks, these are the actual workflow type updates that NS2 is desperate for, sadly only the shiny shiny will make some people happy.
I think NS2's main strengths are the sequencing and grouping + mixing.
Obsidian can't compete with the likes of Zeeon when it comes to making warm but gritty synth sounds, but as an Alchemy-style sample mangling synth it's pretty much in a field of its own on iOS. You can do amazing sound design with samples in Obsidian that even BM3 can't match.
I guess the trouble when you talk about sampling is that there are so many different applications.
Sample-slicing and beat-making: BM3
Sample synthesis and re-synthesis: Obsidian.
Would be interested in what you have found, I haven't found anything in Obsidians sample support that isn't bettered by BM3.
sample start, loop start, loop end and modulation automation for example
Especially sample start automation opens whole new area for experimenting
spectral looping is another totlly unique thing on ios
obsidian filters (especilly those analog modelled - 12A,24A) are waaay much better than BM3 sampler filter.. Obsidian ovedrive models are waaay much better too (btw insert fx has even optional oversampling) ... Envelopes - lot better, with more features ... Same for LFOs
Btw based on my tests, dilter ovedrive in BM3 isn't really part of filter model, it's just plain ovedrive applied after (or before - can't remember now) filter.. in Obsidian ovedrive is a part of filter algorythm, and it adds LOT more interesting color to sound, it really adds analog warmth, in some areas it sounds very close to Korf MS20 filter to my ears
Yes there are some downsides because of speed optimalisations (no oversampling on filters and FM oscillator) . There is that thing (probably bug) with clicking on low frequency sounds caused by short tail on end of wave..... BUT - those downsides are affecting just specific range of sounds, not everything...
Wavetables have digital artefacts too, and PD, I thought I sent you the examples of those too ?
Yes, as i said.. there are downsides there are boundaries. For example i would appreciate higher LFO rate - which would need higher internal control rate which would make Obsidian lot more CPU hungry.. I'm getting what you are saying, and agree that there are limits if you reach some areas of sound design (neuro bass design, screetches, more extreme FM synth patches, stuff which needs synth engine without compromises to save CPU). Those are areas where is good idea to simly use some different synh (in my case i found solution - miRack is giving me everythimg what i miss in Obsidian)
But then there is huge area of sounds where you are not dealing with such issues, but you can benefit from efficiency.
Yeah I just haven't found Obsidian to be that beneficial in terms of efficiency either to be honest, but all my tracks are finished on desktop, iOS simply isn't capable enough to complete the stuff I work on (Me personally, not anybody else, I am sure you have written your magnum opus 42 minute ambient works return to paradise masterpiece, before anybody decides to whine)
So I don't really want 100 synth instances, I prefer 4 that are really good quality.
Although, if EG nails keys mode on Segments, I am convinced that and NS2 are track completion 100%.
@Turntablist Have you done any sound design with Obsidian that you can share?
I can't really confirm what you've described, or at least there are workarounds.
He is really good in sound design
I respect him as sound designer very much, i heard amazing stuff he made in Obsidian;)
I sent issues to Dendy, that is good enough, he is the man when it comes to NS2, any workarounds he has already told me them.
For the record, Im not saying don't use Obsidian, if it works it works, If I am working on old style techno etc, then yeah I can definitely drop some Obsidian, but for a lot of modern bass music stuff, it has issues.
For instance I am doing a bunch of Juno 2 style What Thes at the moment, they are pretty killer in Obsidian and quite fast to make, for a Gabber project, but with those you aren't boosting highs and high mids to the extreme and so on.
Also note you should really avoid any kind of distortion post Obsidian, keep it in Obsidian, then it all stays nice, doing it with effects can cause some strangeness (Which is sometimes actually really good hahaha)
This. I already preoreder it, i can see how handy it will be for loops i make in other apps...
Yeah did you see my post on it running in the effect slot on an empty track too ?
So you can record live and trigger immediately, no need for the instrument version.
Also it is really cool hidden behind slate pads via routing.
Like I say, keys mode updates and it will be the ultimate add on for NS2 in my eyes.
you have beta version ? Wondering if it is possible to trigger start/stop recording using note or CC - that would be perfect
No not yet, Recording is just a button, turn it on, turn it off, I suspect that is an area he will try to hit heavily via updates, MIDI start, threshold start, synced start/stop etc etc.
It's a number of things - mainly having the whole synthesis engine alongside the sampler. So for example you can have a wavetable that evolves into a sample (or vice-versa) to create those Alchemy style sounds.
I've also made some textures by modulating sample start to create interesting glitchy sound beds to ambient samples. And I use the spectral looping a lot to create more ethereal sounds.
Another thing I love about Obsidian is the automap feature. If you want to create weird hybrid instruments you can sample other synths and quickly bring them into Obsidian. Say you want to have a mallet blended with a female soprano: use Synthjacker to sample BeatHawk and Sopranotron, import into Obsidian and with automap you have the whole thing done in a few minutes. With a Synthjacker template set up for Obsidian you can create instruments in less than five minutes.
I made a pack of ambient sounds for Obsidian here:
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/36991/flotation-mutations-25-ambient-presets-for-ns2-obsidian-updated-with-smaller-file-size
Ahhh OK, yeah I don't really know anything about Ambient sound design, furthest I go is a pad haha.