Released: ToneBoosters Flowtones - virtual analog synthesizer

Skyblazer

@DJB There is still a different small bug in the preset browser.

1. Hold down a note on Flowtones' onscreen keyboard
2. Tap the preset viewer.
3. Tap a wave category like "Saw full"
4. Release the note. Try to play another note with the onscreen keyboard.
5. Tap another category. The selection will flicker between the two categories.

gregsmith

@Janosax said:

@DJB said:

@Janosax said:
AUM has absolutely no state saving issues with any AUV3, at least it’s never on its host side, it’s the most reliable iOS host since many years @DJB . So what’s going on here? @gregsmith is an experimented user and has some issues with your synth regarding state saving, perhaps you could find a fix for this (or reach some hosts devs)? I’m also very tempted to buy this synth as I like how how it sounds, but state saving issues are truly a no go for me. Once session is saved in AUM, closed then reopened Flowtones should restore entirely without any hiccups.

Edit: @Shabudua had state saving issues too it seems.

There was a small bug in the preset browser in August 2021 that could result in state saving issues but that was resolved pretty much within just a couple of days - most of them taken by the Apple app store review process.

In all of the tests we've done in AUM with the most recent release, all states are perfectly recovered when loading/saving sessions. Same in other hosts.

Perhaps there is something special going on your side @gregsmith? Did you reinstall the app? Any factors you could describe which could help for a potential fix? Perhaps iPadOS version?

This has happened to me basically since the app was released, across iPad and iPhone. I got used to having to save patches as soon as I made them so I could recall them next time I loaded the song.

I’ll see if it continues to happen with this release and see if I can narrow it down.

For anyone on the fence with this synth, don’t let my experience put you off. It’s fantastic.

A lot of the presets are quite ‘metallic’ and ‘harsh’ which people don’t like, but just play with the filter a bit to soften and warm it up.

Here’s a video I made some time ago - apart from the drums all the sounds are FT

DJB

@Skyblazer said:
@DJB There is still a different small bug in the preset browser.

1. Hold down a note on Flowtones' onscreen keyboard
2. Tap the preset viewer.
3. Tap a wave category like "Saw full"
4. Release the note. Try to play another note with the onscreen keyboard.
5. Tap another category. The selection will flicker between the two categories.

Thanks for that. Unfortunately not a bug we can directly control; it's an issue with one of the SDKs we're using; and basically any app made with that SDK has this multi-touch issue with nested menus. We'll contact the respective devs to see if we can help them fix it.

ervin

@DJB said:

@ervin said:

@DJB said:

@gregsmith said:
Fantastic! Love this synth.

I really hope they’ve improved their AU state saving so that the patch doesn’t keep reverting to light breeze or whatever it is!

The default patch is 'The flowing tones'. If you get a different one every time you start the stand-alone app, you have probably created your own default settings for loading new instances. Go into the hamburger menu and see if you can delete the default settings (they should be greyed out if no default settings were saved). See our manual on how to work with custom defaults when re-starting the app.

For Auv3, we can't restore the state of the previous setting in the app, because that's host functionality.

Oh @DJB while you're here and talk about patches: may I ask what's the logic behind providing previous/next arrows for the various color schemes in the top menu, but not providing one for the patches? Wouldn't that be the more important option for a synth?

The meaning of next/previous will depend on what category/library you have selected. Hence these previous / next buttons are provided in the preset manager, where you can filter based on text, category, library name etc, and simply go previous/next with that filter applied. We've now made that manager resizable and movable so it should be easier to keep it on screen when browsing patches. Moreover, with some people having thousands of patches, the previous/next buttons without some filter applied don't really make much sense anymore. That was the consideration anyway ;-)

Thank you for your kind reply. I understand your approach now - but with respect, I think the one IceWorks, Moog, Synthmaster etc. synths use is much better.

What they do is they let you set your filters in the patch browser and then the previous/next arrows let you jump to the previous/next patch in sync with the filtering settings in place. As a result, if you, say, want to quickly audit your arpeggios by X author, you can do that easily with the arrows, without having to keep the patch browser open.

With the number of Flowtones presets quite high, this approach could work well here as well.

Skyblazer

@DJB said:

@Skyblazer said:
@DJB There is still a different small bug in the preset browser.

1. Hold down a note on Flowtones' onscreen keyboard
2. Tap the preset viewer.
3. Tap a wave category like "Saw full"
4. Release the note. Try to play another note with the onscreen keyboard.
5. Tap another category. The selection will flicker between the two categories.

Thanks for that. Unfortunately not a bug we can directly control; it's an issue with one of the SDKs we're using; and basically any app made with that SDK has this multi-touch issue with nested menus. We'll contact the respective devs to see if we can help them fix it.

Thank you. And I hope you don't mind me bringing this up again, but I really think the oscillator algorithm from Eco Mode is less "uncanny valley", and I would love the option to use something similar, with the HQ or normal version of the other components.

Please consider it. Flowtones is otherwise such a great synth. @gregsmith said a lot of the presets are "harsh and metallic, which people don't like". His advice? Use filters to make it warmer and softer. In other words, filter out the area of the frequency spectrum where the nonlinearities are most pronounced.

But it's also the area of the frequency spectrum where we can hear your pristine anti-aliasing, and harmonics from the analog-modeled filters.

Seriously, @DJB, hear me out. I'm really passionate about this, otherwise I wouldn't bother. You created my favorite sound engine of all time, aside from that one component. When I listen to the factory preset, simply called "Brass", I'm like "That's the best brass preset I've ever heard! But I think I'll open up the filter a little bit...wait, do I hear phasing? Is there an S&H LFO mapped to the gain?"

NeuM

@DJB said:

@Janosax said:
AUM has absolutely no state saving issues with any AUV3, at least it’s never on its host side, it’s the most reliable iOS host since many years @DJB . So what’s going on here? @gregsmith is an experimented user and has some issues with your synth regarding state saving, perhaps you could find a fix for this (or reach some hosts devs)? I’m also very tempted to buy this synth as I like how how it sounds, but state saving issues are truly a no go for me. Once session is saved in AUM, closed then reopened Flowtones should restore entirely without any hiccups.

Edit: @Shabudua had state saving issues too it seems.

There was a small bug in the preset browser in August 2021 that could result in state saving issues but that was resolved pretty much within just a couple of days - most of that time was taken by the Apple app store review process to push out the update ;-)

In all of the tests we've done in AUM with the most recent release, all states are perfectly recovered when loading/saving sessions. Same in other hosts.

I use Toneboosters plugins on almost all of my projects now, especially the post-production side of things.

One thing I've noticed is any project I start on iOS GarageBand and then move to macOS for final production will lose all of the settings on Toneboosters effects once the file is transferred from iPad to iMac. As you already know, macOS GarageBand creates a duplicate file of the iOS version instead of simply converting the original to a desktop class format, so I wonder if this duplication and then automatic conversion process "might" be the point at which the Toneboosters plugin loses its state information? I'm at a loss. Every time I must then refer to the original iOS file on an iPad in order to duplicate my prior settings.

Strangely enough, this loss of state information does not happen with the Flowtones app. It retains my settings during the transfer and conversion.

gregsmith

@DJB getting a lot of crashes when switching presets in loopy pro. Dunno if it’s a TB problem or a LP problem @Michael 🤷‍♂️

attakk

@gregsmith said:
@DJB getting a lot of crashes when switching presets in loopy pro. Dunno if it’s a TB problem or a LP problem @Michael 🤷‍♂️

Do you get lots of crashes while doing the same thing in other hosts? If not then it’s a loopy pro problem.

Poppadocrock

New Update added several distortion models and other features

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Samu

This thing is just getting better and better with every release

Poppadocrock

@tja said:
Oh, a new topic would have been so great ;-)

Right on, maybe I should have, wasn’t sure if it was new topic material or not so just defaulted to the original thread.

NeuM

Nice unexpected upgrade. I like smart upgrades.

Poppadocrock

@NeuM said:
Nice unexpected upgrade. I like smart upgrades.

Agreed. A nice surprise you were not expecting.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Poppadocrock

@tja said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@tja said:
Oh, a new topic would have been so great ;-)

Right on, maybe I should have, wasn’t sure if it was new topic material or not so just defaulted to the original thread.

Don't take it personal 😅

I am always a promoter of new topics for a new App version!
This makes any topic so much more useful - it is just horrible to scan a topic with 10, 20 pages for the relevant newer parts.

Imagine a new user of an App .... he wants to read and write about the current version.

I didn’t, I was just saying that did cross my mind.

That is a valid point, very true.

Poppadocrock

@tja sold, lol. Just started a new one.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Samu

The recent update to FlowTones is pretty nice with a new gate-modulator and a few nice additions to the LFOs

Poppadocrock

@Samu said:
The recent update to FlowTones is pretty nice with a new gate-modulator and a few nice additions to the LFOs

Agreed.

frosttrance_7

@Samu said:
The recent update to FlowTones is pretty nice with a new gate-modulator and a few nice additions to the LFOs

Still waiting for oscillator sync.

Fear2Stop

@tja said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@tja said:
Oh, a new topic would have been so great ;-)

Right on, maybe I should have, wasn’t sure if it was new topic material or not so just defaulted to the original thread.

Don't take it personal 😅

I am always a promoter of new topics for a new App version!
This makes any topic so much more useful - it is just horrible to scan a topic with 10, 20 pages for the relevant newer parts.

Imagine a new user of an App .... he wants to read and write about the current version.

I’m that user right now lol ..actually I’m considering getting this, Bleass Alpha , or Phase 84 … I thought Alpha was gonna be 100 % the way to go until I started reading this thread lol

frosttrance_7

@Fear2Stop said:

@tja said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@tja said:
Oh, a new topic would have been so great ;-)

Right on, maybe I should have, wasn’t sure if it was new topic material or not so just defaulted to the original thread.

Don't take it personal 😅

I am always a promoter of new topics for a new App version!
This makes any topic so much more useful - it is just horrible to scan a topic with 10, 20 pages for the relevant newer parts.

Imagine a new user of an App .... he wants to read and write about the current version.

I’m that user right now lol ..actually I’m considering getting this, Bleass Alpha , or Phase 84 … I thought Alpha was gonna be 100 % the way to go until I started reading this thread lol

They are all different synths. BLEASS Alpha is a bread and butter VA synth that has ring modulation, sync, and FM (two of which Flowtones doesn't have). Flowtones is a sort of flagship virtual analog synth that has two layers inside and a myriad of awesome filter types and modulators. Phase 84 is a phase distortion synth in the vein of the Casio CZ synths.

Fear2Stop

@frosttrance_7 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@tja said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@tja said:
Oh, a new topic would have been so great ;-)

Right on, maybe I should have, wasn’t sure if it was new topic material or not so just defaulted to the original thread.

Don't take it personal 😅

I am always a promoter of new topics for a new App version!
This makes any topic so much more useful - it is just horrible to scan a topic with 10, 20 pages for the relevant newer parts.

Imagine a new user of an App .... he wants to read and write about the current version.

I’m that user right now lol ..actually I’m considering getting this, Bleass Alpha , or Phase 84 … I thought Alpha was gonna be 100 % the way to go until I started reading this thread lol

They are all different synths. BLEASS Alpha is a bread and butter VA synth that has ring modulation, sync, and FM (two of which Flowtones doesn't have). Flowtones is a sort of flagship virtual analog synth that has two layers inside and a myriad of awesome filter types and modulators. Phase 84 is a phase distortion synth in the vein of the Casio CZ synths.

Here’s what I currently have:

Omega, Synclavier, ivcs3, trooper, Zeeon, mood, Monolit, SampleWiz, Copperhead, OB-XD, poison 202, Ripplemaker, and VA Poly, plus all the AudioKit romplers.

Using iPhone 13 Pro Max in GarageBand. I have $19 and change to play around with.

I know Alpha will be stable and kinda know what to expect. It’s also the most expensive.

If I get Flowtones I’ll have most left over. Out of the three, I ranked it third based solely on presets on YouTube videos. I generally make my own sounds though so that won’t be an issue.

Phase 84 has the lowest rating but also just got an update recently. I like the way it looks as it makes me think of Mood, but out of the three , I’m the least familiar with the developer

So all three have pros and cons ! In all honesty I’m starting to lean more between Flowtones vs Phase 84

frosttrance_7

@Fear2Stop said:

@frosttrance_7 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@tja said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@tja said:
Oh, a new topic would have been so great ;-)

Right on, maybe I should have, wasn’t sure if it was new topic material or not so just defaulted to the original thread.

Don't take it personal 😅

I am always a promoter of new topics for a new App version!
This makes any topic so much more useful - it is just horrible to scan a topic with 10, 20 pages for the relevant newer parts.

Imagine a new user of an App .... he wants to read and write about the current version.

I’m that user right now lol ..actually I’m considering getting this, Bleass Alpha , or Phase 84 … I thought Alpha was gonna be 100 % the way to go until I started reading this thread lol

They are all different synths. BLEASS Alpha is a bread and butter VA synth that has ring modulation, sync, and FM (two of which Flowtones doesn't have). Flowtones is a sort of flagship virtual analog synth that has two layers inside and a myriad of awesome filter types and modulators. Phase 84 is a phase distortion synth in the vein of the Casio CZ synths.

Here’s what I currently have:

Omega, Synclavier, ivcs3, trooper, Zeeon, mood, Monolit, SampleWiz, Copperhead, OB-XD, poison 202, Ripplemaker, and VA Poly, plus all the AudioKit romplers.

Using iPhone 13 Pro Max in GarageBand. I have $19 and change to play around with.

I know Alpha will be stable and kinda know what to expect. It’s also the most expensive.

If I get Flowtones I’ll have most left over. Out of the three, I ranked it third based solely on presets on YouTube videos. I generally make my own sounds though so that won’t be an issue.

Phase 84 has the lowest rating but also just got an update recently. I like the way it looks as it makes me think of Mood, but out of the three , I’m the least familiar with the developer

So all three have pros and cons ! In all honesty I’m starting to lean more between Flowtones vs Phase 84

I think you have more than you need for making music. Flowtones seems like the least redundant option, but I suggest you should consider AddStation, Drambo, and/or Animoog Z,

rs2000

@frosttrance_7 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@frosttrance_7 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@tja said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@tja said:
Oh, a new topic would have been so great ;-)

Right on, maybe I should have, wasn’t sure if it was new topic material or not so just defaulted to the original thread.

Don't take it personal 😅

I am always a promoter of new topics for a new App version!
This makes any topic so much more useful - it is just horrible to scan a topic with 10, 20 pages for the relevant newer parts.

Imagine a new user of an App .... he wants to read and write about the current version.

I’m that user right now lol ..actually I’m considering getting this, Bleass Alpha , or Phase 84 … I thought Alpha was gonna be 100 % the way to go until I started reading this thread lol

They are all different synths. BLEASS Alpha is a bread and butter VA synth that has ring modulation, sync, and FM (two of which Flowtones doesn't have). Flowtones is a sort of flagship virtual analog synth that has two layers inside and a myriad of awesome filter types and modulators. Phase 84 is a phase distortion synth in the vein of the Casio CZ synths.

Here’s what I currently have:

Omega, Synclavier, ivcs3, trooper, Zeeon, mood, Monolit, SampleWiz, Copperhead, OB-XD, poison 202, Ripplemaker, and VA Poly, plus all the AudioKit romplers.

Using iPhone 13 Pro Max in GarageBand. I have $19 and change to play around with.

I know Alpha will be stable and kinda know what to expect. It’s also the most expensive.

If I get Flowtones I’ll have most left over. Out of the three, I ranked it third based solely on presets on YouTube videos. I generally make my own sounds though so that won’t be an issue.

Phase 84 has the lowest rating but also just got an update recently. I like the way it looks as it makes me think of Mood, but out of the three , I’m the least familiar with the developer

So all three have pros and cons ! In all honesty I’m starting to lean more between Flowtones vs Phase 84

I think you have more than you need for making music. Flowtones seems like the least redundant option, but I suggest you should consider AddStation, Drambo, and/or Animoog Z,

Agreed. With synths like Omega, Synclavier, ivcs3, trooper, Zeeon, mood, Monolit, SampleWiz, Copperhead, OB-XD, poison 202, Ripplemaker, VA Poly etc., I wouldn't even consider yet another virtual analog synth but rather something that does what the others don't.

Fear2Stop

@rs2000 said:

@frosttrance_7 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@frosttrance_7 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@tja said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@tja said:
Oh, a new topic would have been so great ;-)

Right on, maybe I should have, wasn’t sure if it was new topic material or not so just defaulted to the original thread.

Don't take it personal 😅

I am always a promoter of new topics for a new App version!
This makes any topic so much more useful - it is just horrible to scan a topic with 10, 20 pages for the relevant newer parts.

Imagine a new user of an App .... he wants to read and write about the current version.

I’m that user right now lol ..actually I’m considering getting this, Bleass Alpha , or Phase 84 … I thought Alpha was gonna be 100 % the way to go until I started reading this thread lol

They are all different synths. BLEASS Alpha is a bread and butter VA synth that has ring modulation, sync, and FM (two of which Flowtones doesn't have). Flowtones is a sort of flagship virtual analog synth that has two layers inside and a myriad of awesome filter types and modulators. Phase 84 is a phase distortion synth in the vein of the Casio CZ synths.

Here’s what I currently have:

Omega, Synclavier, ivcs3, trooper, Zeeon, mood, Monolit, SampleWiz, Copperhead, OB-XD, poison 202, Ripplemaker, and VA Poly, plus all the AudioKit romplers.

Using iPhone 13 Pro Max in GarageBand. I have $19 and change to play around with.

I know Alpha will be stable and kinda know what to expect. It’s also the most expensive.

If I get Flowtones I’ll have most left over. Out of the three, I ranked it third based solely on presets on YouTube videos. I generally make my own sounds though so that won’t be an issue.

Phase 84 has the lowest rating but also just got an update recently. I like the way it looks as it makes me think of Mood, but out of the three , I’m the least familiar with the developer

So all three have pros and cons ! In all honesty I’m starting to lean more between Flowtones vs Phase 84

I think you have more than you need for making music. Flowtones seems like the least redundant option, but I suggest you should consider AddStation, Drambo, and/or Animoog Z,

Agreed. With synths like Omega, Synclavier, ivcs3, trooper, Zeeon, mood, Monolit, SampleWiz, Copperhead, OB-XD, poison 202, Ripplemaker, VA Poly etc., I wouldn't even consider yet another virtual analog synth but rather something that does what the others don't.

Yeah that’s why I kinda changed my mind on Alpha. Phase 84 is phase distortion which I don’t currently have an example of, and Flowtones seems pretty deep. I mostly make my own sounds and everything I have drastically sounds different, even if I try to make the same patch.

rs2000

@Fear2Stop said:

@rs2000 said:

@frosttrance_7 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@frosttrance_7 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@tja said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@tja said:
Oh, a new topic would have been so great ;-)

Right on, maybe I should have, wasn’t sure if it was new topic material or not so just defaulted to the original thread.

Don't take it personal 😅

I am always a promoter of new topics for a new App version!
This makes any topic so much more useful - it is just horrible to scan a topic with 10, 20 pages for the relevant newer parts.

Imagine a new user of an App .... he wants to read and write about the current version.

I’m that user right now lol ..actually I’m considering getting this, Bleass Alpha , or Phase 84 … I thought Alpha was gonna be 100 % the way to go until I started reading this thread lol

They are all different synths. BLEASS Alpha is a bread and butter VA synth that has ring modulation, sync, and FM (two of which Flowtones doesn't have). Flowtones is a sort of flagship virtual analog synth that has two layers inside and a myriad of awesome filter types and modulators. Phase 84 is a phase distortion synth in the vein of the Casio CZ synths.

Here’s what I currently have:

Omega, Synclavier, ivcs3, trooper, Zeeon, mood, Monolit, SampleWiz, Copperhead, OB-XD, poison 202, Ripplemaker, and VA Poly, plus all the AudioKit romplers.

Using iPhone 13 Pro Max in GarageBand. I have $19 and change to play around with.

I know Alpha will be stable and kinda know what to expect. It’s also the most expensive.

If I get Flowtones I’ll have most left over. Out of the three, I ranked it third based solely on presets on YouTube videos. I generally make my own sounds though so that won’t be an issue.

Phase 84 has the lowest rating but also just got an update recently. I like the way it looks as it makes me think of Mood, but out of the three , I’m the least familiar with the developer

So all three have pros and cons ! In all honesty I’m starting to lean more between Flowtones vs Phase 84

I think you have more than you need for making music. Flowtones seems like the least redundant option, but I suggest you should consider AddStation, Drambo, and/or Animoog Z,

Agreed. With synths like Omega, Synclavier, ivcs3, trooper, Zeeon, mood, Monolit, SampleWiz, Copperhead, OB-XD, poison 202, Ripplemaker, VA Poly etc., I wouldn't even consider yet another virtual analog synth but rather something that does what the others don't.

Yeah that’s why I kinda changed my mind on Alpha. Phase 84 is phase distortion which I don’t currently have an example of, and Flowtones seems pretty deep. I mostly make my own sounds and everything I have drastically sounds different, even if I try to make the same patch.

If you like making your own sounds, Drambo should be your dream synth alchemy lab.

Fear2Stop

@rs2000 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@rs2000 said:

@frosttrance_7 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@frosttrance_7 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@tja said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@tja said:
Oh, a new topic would have been so great ;-)

Right on, maybe I should have, wasn’t sure if it was new topic material or not so just defaulted to the original thread.

Don't take it personal 😅

I am always a promoter of new topics for a new App version!
This makes any topic so much more useful - it is just horrible to scan a topic with 10, 20 pages for the relevant newer parts.

Imagine a new user of an App .... he wants to read and write about the current version.

I’m that user right now lol ..actually I’m considering getting this, Bleass Alpha , or Phase 84 … I thought Alpha was gonna be 100 % the way to go until I started reading this thread lol

They are all different synths. BLEASS Alpha is a bread and butter VA synth that has ring modulation, sync, and FM (two of which Flowtones doesn't have). Flowtones is a sort of flagship virtual analog synth that has two layers inside and a myriad of awesome filter types and modulators. Phase 84 is a phase distortion synth in the vein of the Casio CZ synths.

Here’s what I currently have:

Omega, Synclavier, ivcs3, trooper, Zeeon, mood, Monolit, SampleWiz, Copperhead, OB-XD, poison 202, Ripplemaker, and VA Poly, plus all the AudioKit romplers.

Using iPhone 13 Pro Max in GarageBand. I have $19 and change to play around with.

I know Alpha will be stable and kinda know what to expect. It’s also the most expensive.

If I get Flowtones I’ll have most left over. Out of the three, I ranked it third based solely on presets on YouTube videos. I generally make my own sounds though so that won’t be an issue.

Phase 84 has the lowest rating but also just got an update recently. I like the way it looks as it makes me think of Mood, but out of the three , I’m the least familiar with the developer

So all three have pros and cons ! In all honesty I’m starting to lean more between Flowtones vs Phase 84

I think you have more than you need for making music. Flowtones seems like the least redundant option, but I suggest you should consider AddStation, Drambo, and/or Animoog Z,

Agreed. With synths like Omega, Synclavier, ivcs3, trooper, Zeeon, mood, Monolit, SampleWiz, Copperhead, OB-XD, poison 202, Ripplemaker, VA Poly etc., I wouldn't even consider yet another virtual analog synth but rather something that does what the others don't.

Yeah that’s why I kinda changed my mind on Alpha. Phase 84 is phase distortion which I don’t currently have an example of, and Flowtones seems pretty deep. I mostly make my own sounds and everything I have drastically sounds different, even if I try to make the same patch.

If you like making your own sounds, Drambo should be your dream synth alchemy lab.

I may look into it, once I watch a few videos on it. Didn’t realize you could use it as an au instrument. So, I gotta ask the two questions that’ll make my decisions once I can afford to get it (I have $19.27 currently)… 1) does it work well on an iPhone or should I wait til I get an iPad later this year, and 2) would it work inside GarageBand?

rs2000

@Fear2Stop said:

@rs2000 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@rs2000 said:

@frosttrance_7 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@frosttrance_7 said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@tja said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@tja said:
Oh, a new topic would have been so great ;-)

Right on, maybe I should have, wasn’t sure if it was new topic material or not so just defaulted to the original thread.

Don't take it personal 😅

I am always a promoter of new topics for a new App version!
This makes any topic so much more useful - it is just horrible to scan a topic with 10, 20 pages for the relevant newer parts.

Imagine a new user of an App .... he wants to read and write about the current version.

I’m that user right now lol ..actually I’m considering getting this, Bleass Alpha , or Phase 84 … I thought Alpha was gonna be 100 % the way to go until I started reading this thread lol

They are all different synths. BLEASS Alpha is a bread and butter VA synth that has ring modulation, sync, and FM (two of which Flowtones doesn't have). Flowtones is a sort of flagship virtual analog synth that has two layers inside and a myriad of awesome filter types and modulators. Phase 84 is a phase distortion synth in the vein of the Casio CZ synths.

Here’s what I currently have:

Omega, Synclavier, ivcs3, trooper, Zeeon, mood, Monolit, SampleWiz, Copperhead, OB-XD, poison 202, Ripplemaker, and VA Poly, plus all the AudioKit romplers.

Using iPhone 13 Pro Max in GarageBand. I have $19 and change to play around with.

I know Alpha will be stable and kinda know what to expect. It’s also the most expensive.

If I get Flowtones I’ll have most left over. Out of the three, I ranked it third based solely on presets on YouTube videos. I generally make my own sounds though so that won’t be an issue.

Phase 84 has the lowest rating but also just got an update recently. I like the way it looks as it makes me think of Mood, but out of the three , I’m the least familiar with the developer

So all three have pros and cons ! In all honesty I’m starting to lean more between Flowtones vs Phase 84

I think you have more than you need for making music. Flowtones seems like the least redundant option, but I suggest you should consider AddStation, Drambo, and/or Animoog Z,

Agreed. With synths like Omega, Synclavier, ivcs3, trooper, Zeeon, mood, Monolit, SampleWiz, Copperhead, OB-XD, poison 202, Ripplemaker, VA Poly etc., I wouldn't even consider yet another virtual analog synth but rather something that does what the others don't.

Yeah that’s why I kinda changed my mind on Alpha. Phase 84 is phase distortion which I don’t currently have an example of, and Flowtones seems pretty deep. I mostly make my own sounds and everything I have drastically sounds different, even if I try to make the same patch.

If you like making your own sounds, Drambo should be your dream synth alchemy lab.

I may look into it, once I watch a few videos on it. Didn’t realize you could use it as an au instrument. So, I gotta ask the two questions that’ll make my decisions once I can afford to get it (I have $19.27 currently)… 1) does it work well on an iPhone or should I wait til I get an iPad later this year, and 2) would it work inside GarageBand?

Yes to both.
I'm using it on an iPhone too. You'll see wider racks on an iPad but the controls are large enough to make it usable on the iPhone.
Drambo needs some time to get used to but if you've been designing your own sounds then I suppose that you already know how a synth works 😊