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GeoSWAM Questions Please Assist!
Can an external MIDI keyboard control GeoSWAM sounds without too much grief?
Can MIDI Guitar 2 for iOS control GeoSWAM sounds without too much grief?
Can Fishman TriplePlay Wireless with TriplePlay FC-1 foot controller, control GeoSWAM sounds without too much grief?
Does IAP GeoSWAM Collection I & II represent good value at present?
Does IAP GeoSWAM Collection I & II ever go on sale, and if so when would that most likely be?
I've read here https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/48563/geoswam-or-swam-stand-alone that the stand alone SWAM iOS apps sound the same as the IAP GeoSWAM Collection I & II but are cheaper. True / false?
Is there anything else I should know before buying IAP GeoSWAM Collection I & I that might sway me away to some other SWAM format, whether that be Mac or PC or iOS stand-alone, etc?
Are SWAM sounds pretty much the ultimate in realism, or has the competition caught up now?
Note, I already have GeoShred and MIDI keyboards and Fishman TriplePlay Wireless and TriplePlay FC-1 foot controller, and Mac and PC.
Comments
Yes, just send MIDI events on a channel other than #1
Don’t know
Don’t know
Yes, but you can have sales sometimes in the year which make even better value than it already is.
Yes, sometimes 20% off during Black Friday or cyber Monday.
GeoSwam are cheaper but also with locked parameters you can’t access. But he locked parameters are usually not so important in my opinion.
Regarding sound, it is very good but I have the impression it can differ between the 2 (I have both GeoViolin and SWAM Violin and I can feel it sounds a bit different).
If you choose GeoSwam be aware that :
Other than that, I find the GeoShred playing surface very well suited to Swam instruments and thus using GeoSwam is more straightforward to me.
On iOS, yes I think they are.
Thanks Audiobussers! I do like GeoShred as a controller and it might be OK given the GeoSWAM sounds are parameter limited and maybe not as upgradeable, given the cost differences. But most importantly:
Using either MIDI Guitar 2 for iOS or Fishman TriplePlay Wireless with TriplePlay FC-1 foot controller with GeoSWAM sounds:
Can GeoSWAM can have a different tone/patch per string with separate pitch bend and whatnot per string so that it accepts MIDI Mode 4?
Can GeoSWAM change pitch bend range?
Maybe I don't understand the full specs of MPE, but good old MIDI Mode 4 seems to do the same thing?
The GeoSWAMs I think have some features disabled compared to the regular ones, which is why they are less expensive. Also the GeoSWAMs come with more factory patches, using the GeoShred fx and other features. I have bought swam instruments in both formats and don’t have a strong preference.
My remaining questions now are:
Can GeoSWAM can have a different tone/patch per string with separate pitch bend and whatnot per string so that it accepts MIDI Mode 4?
Can GeoSWAM change pitch bend range?
Maybe I don't understand the full specs of MPE, but good old MIDI Mode 4 seems to do the same thing?
Sort of agree with all the comments above…
My take is that the free standing SWAM instruments are probably better if you don’t intend to use GeoShred as the main controller.
If you use GS mainly then the GeoSWAM instruments feel (to me) more direct? + GS is aware of the note range which is handy and as has been said there are lots of presets.
Free standing SWAMs are probably a slightly better impersonation of the real instrument.
The suggestion above for having multiple GeoSWAMs (in effect multiple GeoShreds) will work but be aware that GS is sometimes a bit glitchy having so many versions loaded.
If it’s any use this is an album where each track is made with just one of the 11 different GeoSWAM instruments…
Hi Paulo164,
My questions 9. 10. 11. refer to controlling GeoSwam instruments via other than GeoShred. You'll see that by referring to my prior posts. Alas your responses don't really make sense, but I appreciate your kindness in trying.
Hi GeoTony,
Right you are, from what I've read so far it seems the stand-alone SWAM apps have more flexibility, but it's still not clear if the stand-alone SWAM apps meet the criteria of my questions as per:
a. Can the stand-alone SWAM apps have a different tone/patch per string with separate pitch bend and whatnot per string so that it accepts MIDI Mode 4?
b. Can the stand-alone SWAM apps change pitch bend range?
c. Can an external MIDI keyboard control the stand-alone SWAM apps without too much grief?
c. Can MIDI Guitar 2 for iOS control the stand-alone SWAM apps without too much grief?
d. Can Fishman TriplePlay Wireless with TriplePlay FC-1 foot controller, control the stand-alone SWAM apps without too much grief?
e. Maybe I don't understand the full specs of MPE, but good old MIDI Mode 4 seems to do the same thing?
For all interested posters, have a look-see at the below link as per using GeoSWAM sounds in Geoshred triggered from MIDI Guitar 2. Alas it's still somewhat unclear as to my questions a. to e. above, if using either the stand-alone SWAM apps, or the cheaper IAP GeoSWAM sounds, via the three non-GeoShred controller methods I've been discussing.
https://jamosapien.com/t/triggering-geoswam-sounds-in-geoshred-with-mg2/2711
Hi @puppychumful , will try and answer…
a) All SWAM Instruments (stand-alone and Geo) are monophonic so if you are playing say guitar, then each of the 6 strings would have to target a different instance of SWAM if you wanted polyphony. Each SWAM instance could be any instrument you want with any effects etc you want. The key is what the control surface E.g. guitar is outputting.
b) They appear to support up and down pitch bends from 0 to 48 (though not actually tried this)
c1) Yes, a lot of people do this. @LinearLineman is a master of the art!
c2) as long as MG2 outputs midi in a conventional way, ideally MPE then yes. Sorry don’t know the MG2 app.
d) No idea!
e) No idea!
If you intend to use MG2 all the time I would have thought stand-alone SWAM was a better option but that’s just a hunch 😊
Thanks GeoTony,
My fave controller interface is not MIDI Guitar 2. It's the Fishman TriplePlay Wireless with TriplePlay FC-1 foot controller and the Roland Integra 7.
The problems with MIDI Guitar 2 is that it's got latency and setup issues when used for polyphonic multitimbral guitar synth, at least when compared to the Fishman TriplePlay Wireless with TriplePlay FC-1 foot controller and the Roland Integra 7.
Then again as a one-stop beast, my Boss SY-1000 is pretty interesting (must have the GK-3 pickup to make best use though).
You mention that the stand-alone SWAM may be a better option, and that seems true, but not if it doesn't easily allow full polyphonic and full multitimbral guitar synth control, via good old MIDI Mode 4 or maybe MPE.
Hi @puppychumful , GeoSWAM instruments are also monophonic so you will have the same issue with them.
You can use GeoShred to play the standalone SWAM instruments which imo sound better than the ones in GeoShred
Just one quick correction. The SWAM stand along strings can do two notes at once, the rest are strictly monophonic.
A salient difference between the GeoSWAM and standalone versions is that GeoShred implements pitch rounding, which most keyboard and guitar (but not string) players prefer. Most hardware MPE controllers do this anyway; the big exception is the (guitar-oriented but string-player designed) Artiphon Instrument 1, which as a result sounds and feels better with the GeoSWAM versions, at least for guitarists. I wouldn't particularly recommend either with a non-MPE controller; I have a Jamstik Studio, which has a Fishman MIDI pickup and is better than Midi Guitar 2 (little miracle though that is), but its MPE performance falls far short of the Instrument 1 and the SWAM instruments are wasted on it.
Agreed @baconink , GS is a great controller for SWAM.
You are right @FriedTapeworm , thanks for the correction.
If I understand you correctly @Masanga , pitch rounding is an option on GS which you can switch off for both internal and external sounds. Apologies if I have misunderstood 😊
You can adjust pitch-rounding speed or turn it off altogether in each of GeoShred, Velocity KB, and Animoog, which are my favorite three touchscreen controllers for the SWAM patches.
I would use Geoshred as a control surface for the standalone swam apps personally. Eg the Geobass has no pizzicato mode. As mentioned by others these are monophonic instruments, apart from the strings being able to play 2 strings in certain modes (only in Swam standalone, not Geoshred?)
I know l nothing about the Fishman and other stuff in your setup so can't comment on those. The Audio Modeling guys themselves don't use dedicated mpe controllers to play these. They use regular keyboards with pitch bend, mod wheel and expression pedal. But they are generally playing one monophonic instance at a time, unless maybe they sometimes set up key zones, not sure. Perhaps you could just take the plunge and buy one instrument before buying a whole bundle, even though you would need to buy the whole geo bundle again and the Swam apps are not bundled in a way that will appeal to many buyers. Then u could experiment, even just with multiple instances of the same instrument and see if u can get something you're happy with.
@puppychumful Not sure whether this changes anything for your decision, but SWAM apps all just went on sale $10 off.
Hello FriedTapeworm,
Your name is niftier than mine! Are these iOS stand-alone or GeoShred IAP's or…? I can't confirm any sale prices in Canada (yet anyway). How would these prices compare to the usual Black Friday type of deals?
iOS stand alone are on sale, at least in the USA store. 33% off, this was the intro price, and I haven’t seen the prices go any lower. Last Black Friday was 33% as well if I remember correctly.
Hi Tape,
On my Apple Store website, the SWAM Saxophone Bundle is $99.99 Canadian dollars and there is nothing showing anything on sale. What does your store say?
The problem is.... Why would you really want the saxophone bundle? Do you personally really need that many takes on a sax sound? Most people don't, which is why you're probably better off just buying individually the specific instruments you want
Obliged Gavinski,
Excellent point, I am not sure at all which versions of (for example) a sax, I would best like.
I did some simple number crunching, and although the Canadian Apple Store does not refer to any sale (at least they did not last night) the prices are also 33% reduced.
Completely agree. Why a single Sax app doesn’t contain all of the Sax sounds remains a point of irritation for me with this company, especially at those prices.
I would just like to have seen one nice mixed bundle for each 15-app (or whatever number it was) set. I guess their math / marketing dept didn't like the idea or decided it wasn't in their interest. So that's where Geoshred has an advantage, cos you can buy a nice mixed bundle
Don't get me wrong, I think the quality of their sounds remains unmatched for modeled instruments, but I find their own apps lacking compared to GeoShred, as you pointed out.
They are on the pro segment.
Personally I am glad to have access to SWAM products on iOS at these prices. But I think it would be much nicer and elegant to have all the saxes in one single app, unlock instruments through IAPs and switch from one instrument to the other one within the same app. This is a real plus GeoSwam instruments have over standalone ones.
Completely agree.