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You talked me into buying TC-Data
I have a really strong desire to buy this app. I enjoy the TC-Performer, as limited and perplexing as it is. When it comes to TC-Data, I keep thinking, how would I use it with apps that don't have midi learn? If I used it to control apps in AUM it would be stuck to using shitty 7-bits rather than 14-bits. Could it even control apps in AUM? I want a controller that is creative, can play apps loaded in AUM, but has no stepping between frequencies when I control something like Fundamental's oscillators, which have huge width between their lowest and highest values. AUM accepts 14-bit pitch bend but Xequence AU | Keys, for example, only sends CCs on one channel. So to load it in AUM to control all 8 oscillators of Fundamental I would need to use 8 instances of AU | Keys. I know that using Loopy Pro as a host can solve many of these issues. But I'm very used to AUM. And it's not the same kind of UI experience. Would TC-Data be a waste of time and energy, despite the fact that it has an interesting UI / UX? Is anyone still using it? Dev doesn't answer emails currently - personal experience as well as looking through threads.
Comments
I've had it for years but never use it. Hurts my brain too much.
It can certainly control apps in AUM though. And it can send 16 channels of pitch bend per port. If 16 channels isn't enough, you could probably use TC-Data and AUM's virtual ports for 32 channels worth. Maybe even something like MIDIFire to create additional virtual ports.
TC-Data has a ;earning curve and finding the menu's is tricky. Game over right?
If TC-11 seems magical then be advised... with a little effort you can apply the magical GUI to any cluster of synths that accept MIDI IN. There are a ton of presets (a but had to find at first) that just make it a game of going through them to land on the magical set-ups.
It's huge to dial in a setting and hand your ipad to someone without any interest in IOS or music even. If they have headphones they will just get lost for 3-5 minutes making the best music they ever made. And they will soon forget and never ask to do it again but still... do that with a child. They will probably steal your ipad. Can't really blame them if music touches them.
I picked up TC-Data on sale thinking it might give me a different option for controlling my apps. It works with AUM if you route TC-DATA’s Virtual port to AUM’s Source port and then route AUM’s destination port to your synth. If there’s another way, I haven’t found it. There is an option under the settings on TC-DATA for 14 bit CC (see the image) but my midi knowledge isn’t enough to answer your questions.
I’ve run it into Aparillo and Factory to get some strange ambient stuff but I’m not sure the touch control really added anything to what the synths themselves were doing. Your mileage may vary.
I’m sure someone with more midi knowledge could get much more out of it than I have but it’s not an app I would buy again.
Buy it. Live and learn, lol. As mentioned, it's not easy to use or configure. I might get around to it one day.
I have TC-Data. Haven’t used it much. I’d really like to hear @DavidEnglish ‘s input/opinion on using it.
Thanks for responses everyone... Yeah seems like it's one of those apps that most people buy and never end up using. @wim thanks for the detailed info, that does sound good about pitch bend. But if it hurts your brain to use, and making things like Mozaic scripts somehow doesn't, I should probably steer clear 😂
It's a great thing to have around even though I don't use it that often. One of the best touch controllers there is, good for live performance interactions. It's better used for an external destination, although it does support slide over split view. But using it to control the same ipad is not the best experience, even though it is possible
No external sync for sequencers & LFOs .
Bought excitedly to enter the space age , haven't opened in ( @7?) years.
Right, this is a big one. If it supported Ableton Link, that would be useful.
@DavidEnglish has posted a number of tracks using this app. I’d love to know more about his process.
Same story as many others here:
I picked it up for an insanely low price during a sale because I liked TC-11 so much.
Played around with it for a few minutes.
Said, “I need to come back and spend more time with this”
Have not done so yet.
Hey @Gavinski - TouchOSC can send pitch-bend from its controls and each control can send on a different channel. I'm thinking its scripting capability could even overcome linear vs. logarithmic control issues that I think you discussed elsewhere. It can work in popover mode in AUM as well. TC-Data would be more expressive though, I'm sure.
I'd prefer using Loopy Pro as a control surface over TouchOSC, but it can't send pitch bend and 14bit messages from controls, which it seems you need. (I'm not sure whether TouchOSC can do 14-bit or not.)
TC-Data might work for your brain even though it twists mine like a cinnamon roll. You've said you get along with TC-Performer, so maybe your brain is wired differently than mine and it would be fine.
I agree, it’s one of those apps that you do not use too frequently; but it has great application for cinematic and ambient soundscapes. It works good if you route it to AUM virtual, then AUM virtual to your synth. I recently locked a patch to the Dorian mode, and channeled it to SynthMaster 2 with a synth pad sound. You can get some fantastic performances with some of the patches; like orchestral swells, etc. Also for creating some great textures.
I bought the TC-Data app soon after it was first released -- maybe eight or nine years ago. I still use it fairly often, though strictly for MIDI note-input. I haven't used it in any other capacity, so I can't speak to its limitations with other types of MIDI data, such as non-note-related CCs.
As for the presets, I found a few that I especially like. Over the years, I've spent enough time with them to instinctively know where the notes are and how they might sound with different synth apps. Recently, I've been using Bome Network software to route TC-Data to my desktop PC, so that I can use it with my desktop synths.
My approach may not fit everyone. For me, it's all about improvising and finding ways not to fall into a creative rut.
Thanks to this thread, I dived in with the suggested AUM setup & noodled some today, reacquainting with the touch interface. I too bought it on sale and used it sporadically.
I've set up an extra channel strip in AUM for TC-Data and MIDI Tape Recorder, since I tend to use them frequently.
It's handy to have them within easy reach and already routed within AUM. The channel strip is off to the side, so I can ignore it, if I don't need to access the two apps.
I noticed a Thread title change? Lol.
@Gavinski went from tell me about it, to talk me out of it.
(Okay, time for my low-effort attempt...)
Don't buy it.
No 😂, pretty sure that was the title from the start and I don't see that I edited it haha
Neat approach. I’ve always been more perplexed with how to integrate the app than use it. When I was trying a while ago, I was using it like you. Just kinda preset surfing and using it as a different way to interact, it like a permanent tool I’d use.
I think most of this has already been said, but it’s an app to marvel at for the possibilities it can inspire, but there’s a big learning curve to getting (and later remembering) all the gestures to be able to masterfully “perform” with it and be in complete control of your modulations. You always end up realizing you’re better off with good ol’ LFO, pitch/mod wheel, and aftertouch. Visually it’s still the best iOS app ever, but the time barrier to entry and the tedium of programming it for such specific-use cases is honestly never worth the result. It’s fun feeling like you’re in Minority Report though.
Then of course there’s the whole IAA thing and wondering how much longer support is gonna last.
Yes, these are all things that worry me. I like to work quick and dirty, I think I'd have the patience to read the manual properly and understand it, but not sure I'd have the patience to actually make the surfaces.
Agreed and agreed. I made it through the manual no problem (it’s not the best, however) and was all rarin’ to go some years back. But every time I opened it up I’d struggle to find something to actually do with it that I couldn’t using the old standbys. To be flatly honest, it is the best-looking and one of the most convincing gimmicks I’ve ever run across. But, at heart, it’s still just a gimmick.
There are no surfaces made
Notes can be either located on rectangular grids or circles, rather standard.
You have to consider location and time (with their respective movement) simultanously.
That applies to a single tap-hold-move.
With multi-taps (several fingers at once) this is extended by a group concept.
Most of the animated graphics just visualize these relations, they are generated automatically to give status feedback.
The difficult part is to anticipate results of movements, which often exceed what we‘re used to in everyday life.
If you turn the wheel of your car, you know the vehicle will change direction... but you don‘t even think about force or speed applied to the wheel. You‘ve learned it by experience.
TC Data is just some more complexity, but it won‘t crash into a building or drown in a river beneath the road.
I tried it for a few hours last night. I wasn’t able to get it working in AUM (but also did not rtm or try every setting). I did get it to control standalone IAA versions of Animoog and Model 15. There are many presets; I don’t think a lot of TC programming would be necessary. The default preset seemed the most musical one.
Cons: I did not get any output from the default patch that I could not have gotten just as easily with the Animoog and Touchscaper controllers. I tried another patch with a lot of pitch bend that was pretty wild; that one might work well with Fundamental if you are okay being outside a tonal system. It does not appear that you can choose your own notes; you can only select a scale and key and octave. For me this is a huge drawback compared to Animoog and Touchscaper.
Pros: It is very beautiful and fun to play. The presets all load on gray monochrome, but it has gorgeous color schemes you can choose. It is not for executing a musical idea; it’s for happy accidents. Think of it as a generative controller with probability settings.
Here’s last night’s first cut. TC controlling one track of Model 15, plus field recordings:
https://brotherthomas1.bandcamp.com/track/tc-data-controlling-model-15
On second thought, probably I would never have gotten this from the Animoog controller. This one uses the default TC patch set to E minor pentatonic.
(Still no idea why bandcamp players don’t embed here any more.)
I’ve just skimmed through this thread, so apologies if someone’s suggested this already.
Have you tried using Mononoke’s pad controller with Fundamental? Not Mononoke itself, the MPE/MIDI controller that comes with it. I haven’t used it in anger, but I did set it up once, and it does work.
That sounds cool!
What did you have to do to get it working? I wasn’t crazy about the way mpe implementation was handled on Fundamental, so it has been a long time since I tried playing it with any kind of mpe controller. Just gave it a quick try now, not sure of the best way to use this to ‘play’ the oscillators pitch, will need to take a look at the manual. All oscillators are changing pitch together, even though I am using ‘user layout’, not ‘harmonic’.
Also I notice that Mononoke Pads standalone does not seem to let you choose ‘free’ - it is stuck to ‘note’. Has it always been like that or…? I remember that using Mononoke itself you can select free pitch for each slider.
Yes it's great for people who like to do abstract and filmic compositions to play around with live. If you're the sort of person who prefers more linear and structured compositions or "songs", it's probably not for you
note: I was just playing around with it, great fun but AUM's midi port wasn't available which meant TC-data couldn't connect, so try restarting AUM if that happens, then I could connect with TC-data, using AUM midi destination port.
However I couldn't use the TC-data "virtual port" this doesn't seem to work for me.