SWAM Solo Strings for iPad Public Beta Open

Gavinski

@Charlesalbert said:
To my old ears Swamm instruments on Geoshread are better implemented then in SWAMM apps itself. Have all swamm products on mac and I enjoyed them but this suits of intruments for IPAD (strings)me, as now, is barely uplayable. I can not record any decent sounds out of it using nor roli keyboard,nor velocity keyboard or onboard dedicated keyboard.

I will continue using them on mac, recording sending audio stems to Ipad to use in AUM.

I am also finding these strings sounding a bit weird played on seaboard. There is maybe something not set up right in the seaboard in app preset? The brass sound amazing through the seaboard. This is probably a beta glitch, I remember similar probs at the start of the brass beta and they got fixed

espiegel123

@Gavinski said:

@Charlesalbert said:
To my old ears Swamm instruments on Geoshread are better implemented then in SWAMM apps itself. Have all swamm products on mac and I enjoyed them but this suits of intruments for IPAD (strings)me, as now, is barely uplayable. I can not record any decent sounds out of it using nor roli keyboard,nor velocity keyboard or onboard dedicated keyboard.

I will continue using them on mac, recording sending audio stems to Ipad to use in AUM.

I am also finding these strings sounding a bit weird played on seaboard. There is maybe something not set up right in the seaboard in app preset? The brass sound amazing through the seaboard. This is probably a beta glitch, I remember similar probs at the start of the brass beta and they got fixed

Check it the pitch bend options. At least with the onscreen keyboard there is very little wiggle room before you are out of tune.

Gavinski

@espiegel123 said:

@Gavinski said:

@Charlesalbert said:
To my old ears Swamm instruments on Geoshread are better implemented then in SWAMM apps itself. Have all swamm products on mac and I enjoyed them but this suits of intruments for IPAD (strings)me, as now, is barely uplayable. I can not record any decent sounds out of it using nor roli keyboard,nor velocity keyboard or onboard dedicated keyboard.

I will continue using them on mac, recording sending audio stems to Ipad to use in AUM.

I am also finding these strings sounding a bit weird played on seaboard. There is maybe something not set up right in the seaboard in app preset? The brass sound amazing through the seaboard. This is probably a beta glitch, I remember similar probs at the start of the brass beta and they got fixed

Check it the pitch bend options. At least with the onscreen keyboard there is very little wiggle room before you are out of tune.

I already adjusted using block dashboard Ed. But there also just seems to be something not that expressive about the way it sounds. Need more experimentation to see what is missing.

Gavinski

@Gavinski said:

@espiegel123 said:

@Gavinski said:

@Charlesalbert said:
To my old ears Swamm instruments on Geoshread are better implemented then in SWAMM apps itself. Have all swamm products on mac and I enjoyed them but this suits of intruments for IPAD (strings)me, as now, is barely uplayable. I can not record any decent sounds out of it using nor roli keyboard,nor velocity keyboard or onboard dedicated keyboard.

I will continue using them on mac, recording sending audio stems to Ipad to use in AUM.

I am also finding these strings sounding a bit weird played on seaboard. There is maybe something not set up right in the seaboard in app preset? The brass sound amazing through the seaboard. This is probably a beta glitch, I remember similar probs at the start of the brass beta and they got fixed

Check it the pitch bend options. At least with the onscreen keyboard there is very little wiggle room before you are out of tune.

I already adjusted using block dashboard Ed. But there also just seems to be something not that expressive about the way it sounds. Need more experimentation to see what is missing.

Have u been getting them sounding good with the morph?

Poppadocrock

@Gavinski said:

@Poppadocrock said:
Now it’s viewable on my iPad as well. I think I overreacted LOL

It's only visible when you're an 8 or less on the stoned-ometer 😜

Lol. You know me too well. Lol.

Poppadocrock

@ChrisG said:
I filled out the form the other day when it went up but never received any email, anyone else that didn’t receive one (wondering if the queue just filled up really fast)?

Mine came very promptly, maybe 10 mins Max.

espiegel123

@Gavinski said:

@Gavinski said:

@espiegel123 said:

@Gavinski said:

@Charlesalbert said:
To my old ears Swamm instruments on Geoshread are better implemented then in SWAMM apps itself. Have all swamm products on mac and I enjoyed them but this suits of intruments for IPAD (strings)me, as now, is barely uplayable. I can not record any decent sounds out of it using nor roli keyboard,nor velocity keyboard or onboard dedicated keyboard.

I will continue using them on mac, recording sending audio stems to Ipad to use in AUM.

I am also finding these strings sounding a bit weird played on seaboard. There is maybe something not set up right in the seaboard in app preset? The brass sound amazing through the seaboard. This is probably a beta glitch, I remember similar probs at the start of the brass beta and they got fixed

Check it the pitch bend options. At least with the onscreen keyboard there is very little wiggle room before you are out of tune.

I already adjusted using block dashboard Ed. But there also just seems to be something not that expressive about the way it sounds. Need more experimentation to see what is missing.

Have u been getting them sounding good with the morph?

Yes.

espiegel123

@Gavinski said:

@espiegel123 said:

@Gavinski said:

@Charlesalbert said:
To my old ears Swamm instruments on Geoshread are better implemented then in SWAMM apps itself. Have all swamm products on mac and I enjoyed them but this suits of intruments for IPAD (strings)me, as now, is barely uplayable. I can not record any decent sounds out of it using nor roli keyboard,nor velocity keyboard or onboard dedicated keyboard.

I will continue using them on mac, recording sending audio stems to Ipad to use in AUM.

I am also finding these strings sounding a bit weird played on seaboard. There is maybe something not set up right in the seaboard in app preset? The brass sound amazing through the seaboard. This is probably a beta glitch, I remember similar probs at the start of the brass beta and they got fixed

Check it the pitch bend options. At least with the onscreen keyboard there is very little wiggle room before you are out of tune.

I already adjusted using block dashboard Ed. But there also just seems to be something not that expressive about the way it sounds. Need more experimentation to see what is missing.

I found that adjusting the pitch bend range in the SWAM app was important for the way that I play. So perhaps try adjusting in the instrument and not just the controller.

espiegel123

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

@NeuM said:

@sujoybose77 said:

@NeuM said:

@espiegel123 said:

@NeuM said:
I’m on this beta as well. I might be wrong, but it seems like they accelerated the beta testing for iOS SWAM strings. I was under the impression they had no announced date or timeline for iPad release, only desktop. So far I like what I’m hearing and I’ll definitely be buying the Violin and Cello.

I would imagine this beta will be shorter than the brass one since they used that Beta cycle to figure out a lot of iOS framework issues like preset handling and stuff.

You are probably right about that abbreviated timeline.

I do love the iOS SWAM Trumpet and Sax apps I got for iPad, however there is still no obvious way for these instruments to utilize MPE function with the built-in GarageBand keyboard (unless there is something I’ve overlooked... and I have turned on the GB MPE setting in the Settings). And I have great difficulty trying to play any of the SWAM instruments using their own keyboard, as it is not resizable. I have a feeling the developer only expects musicians to use an external keyboard, but that is not always the case. I’ve been using the built-in GB keyboard almost exclusively for nearly 10 years at this point.

Buy Velocity Keyboard app.. Its awesome for playing such SWAM MPE instruments. Other alternative is Geoshred..

I do have GeoShred, so that is a possibility. GeoShred has no velocity sensitivity, which prevents me from making it my first choice. So I might have to give Velocity Keyboard a shot.

You don’t need velocity for a string sound. GS will work better than Velocity KB for these patches due to finger expression.

Velocity is, in my opinion, pretty important for strings. Expression and velocity have different impacts on the sound and both are important -- to my ear anyway. On my physical controller, I have mapped aftertouch to Expression and it adds expressiveness. Velocity determines the volume/timbre at note onset and aftertouch lets you control the bow dynamics via Expression.

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@espiegel123 said:

@Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

@NeuM said:

@sujoybose77 said:

@NeuM said:

@espiegel123 said:

@NeuM said:
I’m on this beta as well. I might be wrong, but it seems like they accelerated the beta testing for iOS SWAM strings. I was under the impression they had no announced date or timeline for iPad release, only desktop. So far I like what I’m hearing and I’ll definitely be buying the Violin and Cello.

I would imagine this beta will be shorter than the brass one since they used that Beta cycle to figure out a lot of iOS framework issues like preset handling and stuff.

You are probably right about that abbreviated timeline.

I do love the iOS SWAM Trumpet and Sax apps I got for iPad, however there is still no obvious way for these instruments to utilize MPE function with the built-in GarageBand keyboard (unless there is something I’ve overlooked... and I have turned on the GB MPE setting in the Settings). And I have great difficulty trying to play any of the SWAM instruments using their own keyboard, as it is not resizable. I have a feeling the developer only expects musicians to use an external keyboard, but that is not always the case. I’ve been using the built-in GB keyboard almost exclusively for nearly 10 years at this point.

Buy Velocity Keyboard app.. Its awesome for playing such SWAM MPE instruments. Other alternative is Geoshred..

I do have GeoShred, so that is a possibility. GeoShred has no velocity sensitivity, which prevents me from making it my first choice. So I might have to give Velocity Keyboard a shot.

You don’t need velocity for a string sound. GS will work better than Velocity KB for these patches due to finger expression.

Velocity is, in my opinion, pretty important for strings. Expression and velocity have different impacts on the sound and both are important -- to my ear anyway. On my physical controller, I have mapped aftertouch to Expression and it adds expressiveness. Velocity determines the volume/timbre at note onset and aftertouch lets you control the bow dynamics via Expression.

I agree in general, but in the specific we’re talking about GS v. Velocity kb. Finger expression substitutes well enough for me, and GS has many other features that Velocity kb lacks. But I don’t care that much about verisimilitude—I just want an expressive patch.

FriedTapeworm

@Gavinski said:

@Charlesalbert said:
To my old ears Swamm instruments on Geoshread are better implemented then in SWAMM apps itself. Have all swamm products on mac and I enjoyed them but this suits of intruments for IPAD (strings)me, as now, is barely uplayable. I can not record any decent sounds out of it using nor roli keyboard,nor velocity keyboard or onboard dedicated keyboard.

I will continue using them on mac, recording sending audio stems to Ipad to use in AUM.

I am also finding these strings sounding a bit weird played on seaboard. There is maybe something not set up right in the seaboard in app preset? The brass sound amazing through the seaboard. This is probably a beta glitch, I remember similar probs at the start of the brass beta and they got fixed

I’ve noticed that there is an incorrect note sounding very quietly when playing lightly on the seaboard for low expression. If you play softly enough to have expression at 0.1 or 0.2, you can hear a quiet note 11 half steps down from the note being played. I reported this, and suggested that they adjust the expression curve so that it passes beyond 0.2 more quickly in the seaboard preset.

These “false” notes also occur on real stringed instruments when the bow is played very slowly, so I understand why it is there.

LinearLineman

Just noticing you can implement a bit of harmony on these by setting the bow polyphony to double.
So far might get only the cello. The others I have a problem with... they sound a bit sour to my ears.

mjcouche

I’m excited for these. Particularly being able to use Pen2Bow as an additional controller. @audiomodeling any tips on this?

FriedTapeworm

@Gavinski I’ve had a little more time to play around with v3 strings on the seaboard blocks. Two things I have found very helpful with regards to expression: adjusting the curve for expression in the SWAM app to be a little more straight at the lower (softer aftertouch pressure) has helped my playing sound better. The seaboard preset is more sloped than linear, which didn’t work great for me. Secondly, I noticed that the bow position is tied to cc74. I turned this off as well, and left bow position right in the middle which gives good results. I find better results when cc74 is assigned to vibrato amount, rather than bow position.

Overall I find these more responsive than their geoswam counterparts when played on seaboard after marking these changes, especially the v3 versions of each model.

ion677

I've mapped vibrato to aftertouch and it’s magical.

david_2017

@ion677 said:
I've mapped vibrato to aftertouch and it’s magical.

This! Felt wonderful

FriedTapeworm

I haven’t tried that, but that could yield interesting results. My set up has something similar, in that vibrato rate is mapped to expression; so quiet legato has a slow beautiful vibrato, and louder more aggressive stuff has a faster vibrato.

NeuM

@LinearLineman said:
Just noticing you can implement a bit of harmony on these by setting the bow polyphony to double.
So far might get only the cello. The others I have a problem with... they sound a bit sour to my ears.

You’re right. I played the violin for about ten years and it’s not an easy instrument to master, nor is it an easy instrument to simulate. Most of the time a simulation ends up sounding too clean, too consistent and too mechanical.