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Portatron lovers thread

krassmannkrassmann
edited February 2023 in Desktop

Portatron, a unique sampling instrument that is modeled after the infamous 4-track Portastudio, was on sale and caught some attention on the 2023 Desktop Plugin Samples Deals thread. Since I'm interested in what AB-forum users are experiencing during their journey with this plugin and the exchange of usages, it's better to do that in a separate thread instead of spamming the deals thread. (credits to @enkaytee). Moreover, the developers seem to have an iPad version "on their list". So, let's share our journeys.

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Comments

  • enkayteeenkaytee

    👍

  • andowritesandowrites

    @krassmann said:
    Portatron, a unique sampling instrument that is modeled after the infamous 4-track Portastudio, was on sale and caught some attention on the 2023 Desktop Plugin Samples Deals thread. Since I'm interested in what AB-forum users are experiencing during their journey with this plugin and the exchange of usages, it's better to do that in a separate thread instead of spamming the deals thread. (credits to @enkaytee). Moreover, the developers seem to have an iPad version "on their list". So, let's share our journeys.

    Thanks for starting this thread!

  • KrupaKrupa

    Thanks for sharing the gumroad link in the other thread, I’ll defo check them out, though I’ve almost exclusively just been getting high on my own supply with the samples from my valves pack… noisy but fun!

  • andowritesandowrites

    Reposting this from @enkaytee on the other thread:

    Some very nice preset 'cassettes' for Portatron here: https://takecha.gumroad.com/l/cassette

    I downloaded and installed these this morning, and exploring them. Are there any more out there?

  • KrupaKrupa

    A really lovely feature is that once you drop a sample into a track, the deposited for that track becomes the folder that sample came from, insanely good for quickly going through folders full of stuff…

  • auxmuxauxmux

    Got this as part of the deal as well. It's fun. Is there a way to tune individual samples/tracks from the interface, or does everything need to be tuned externally? Also, doesn't seem like there is a way to fade in or edit the attack of samples?

  • KrupaKrupa

    @auxmux said:
    Got this as part of the deal as well. It's fun. Is there a way to tune individual samples/tracks from the interface, or does everything need to be tuned externally? Also, doesn't seem like there is a way to fade in or edit the attack of samples?

    They said to me in an email yesterday that pitch control per track was on the list for the next major update…

  • enkayteeenkaytee

    I've invited Robotic Bean to the forum...

  • andowritesandowrites

    @enkaytee said:
    I've invited Robotic Bean to the forum...

    :)

  • auxmuxauxmux

    @Krupa said:

    @auxmux said:
    Got this as part of the deal as well. It's fun. Is there a way to tune individual samples/tracks from the interface, or does everything need to be tuned externally? Also, doesn't seem like there is a way to fade in or edit the attack of samples?

    They said to me in an email yesterday that pitch control per track was on the list for the next major update…

    Nice, that would be awesome.

  • KrupaKrupa

    @auxmux said:

    @Krupa said:

    @auxmux said:
    Got this as part of the deal as well. It's fun. Is there a way to tune individual samples/tracks from the interface, or does everything need to be tuned externally? Also, doesn't seem like there is a way to fade in or edit the attack of samples?

    They said to me in an email yesterday that pitch control per track was on the list for the next major update…

    Nice, that would be awesome.

    Attack/fade ins would be great too, I only thought about those after I’d already harassed them about pitch stuff…

  • david_2017david_2017

    Ok I have to say I got late to dinner.... it was showing 0 Days 0 Hours 0 Minutes 0 Seconds already but I got it still for the great 28€ deal. wow puh 😅

    Its brilliant. It's a wonderful lofi tape loop playground and I love it. In Bitwig I hooked up some random modulation and got drones for days. and it has a beautiful GUI. Love the fact that we can share Tape designs in here and use them in the Thing

    https://roboticbean.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Portatron-Cassette-Art-Template.psd.zip

    I wishes they would have made the halfspeed accessible via button

  • roboticbeanroboticbean

    Thanks for the invitation! :smiley:

    Yes, we're working on individual pitch control! I can't give a good ETA yet, though.
    The basic idea behind it right now is to have the individual pitch be varispeed too (in the same spirit as the rest of the device), so if you change the pitch for a track you also alter the length of the sample. So you'll be able to use it to either match tempo or key between tracks.
    We have some other cool features planned as well!

    We'd love to make an iPad version. We have received a lot of feedback on that! We're going to have to take a closer look to get a better idea of how much work it would entail, so we're not ready to commit to it just yet -- But we're carefully optimistic about it right now, at least!

  • KrupaKrupa

    @roboticbean said:
    Thanks for the invitation! :smiley:

    Yes, we're working on individual pitch control! I can't give a good ETA yet, though.
    The basic idea behind it right now is to have the individual pitch be varispeed too (in the same spirit as the rest of the device), so if you change the pitch for a track you also alter the length of the sample. So you'll be able to use it to either match tempo or key between tracks.
    We have some other cool features planned as well!

    We'd love to make an iPad version. We have received a lot of feedback on that! We're going to have to take a closer look to get a better idea of how much work it would entail, so we're not ready to commit to it just yet -- But we're carefully optimistic about it right now, at least!

    Oh that’s lovely to hear, it’s already great on desktop, but with the semi tactile nature of the iPad screen it would be a much more interactive device…. Welcome!

  • ervinervin

    @roboticbean welcome to the forum! A question and a note regarding your products:

    • Are you open to receiving feature requests and related ideas etc. for the desktop version here, or do you prefer a different platform for that?

    • Good to see your cautious optimism regarding an iPad version: both halves of that term are justified. 🙂 That said, if you do decide to go for it, many forum members double as good beta testers specialised on iOS music apps. If you are willing to put in the effort and communication, and a public trial version, it will help you launch a(n even) higher-quality product right off the bat.

    Good luck to you!

  • auxmuxauxmux

    Awesome, thanks @roboticbean! Attack and decay for each track would be great too.

  • krassmannkrassmann
    edited February 2023

    @roboticbean glad to have you here. Welcome to the AudioBus forum, IMHO it's the place to be for an iOS musician. Lovely community with a good heart and a decent dose of nerdiness. Among the users, there is much love for creative apps (such as Portatron) and many users prefer to create their own "DAWless" setup with plugin hosts like AudioBus or AUM instead of using iOS DAWs which all have a lot of shortcomings compared to desktop land. Some users are iOS only but many are using a laptop for music making, too. Quite a number of app developers are regulars and as @ervin said, the community often helps with beta testing. We are all aware that iOS is a small market and that the prices of apps are low, probably too low.

    Thank you for your honest words about an iPad version. We all would be very happy to support. Also some feedback from my side. Same as @david_2017 I'm using Bitwig and as a good Bitwig user I also started modulating Portatron. Works basically well but I also tried to map the transport and locator buttons and that did not work. They are not mappable. I know that they are mapped to Midi notes but I'd like to use Bitwig's modulators. Something like a euclidian note repeat modulating the forward transport or randomly using locators. So, my wish would be that these buttons are mappable, too. In the meantime, I try to figure something out with the Note Grid.

  • enkayteeenkaytee
    edited February 2023

    Welcome @roboticbean - thanks for accepting the invite! iPad music making is still evolving and some recently published apps are excellent versions of existing desktop apps - I think the market is slowly shifting towards more costly, but fully featured, high quality and well supported plugins and this forum is a great place to get a feel for what iPad musicians are all about, pitch ideas and get honest feedback if you decide to develop Portatron for iOS - I hope you do, but until then I'm having so much fun with the desktop version!

  • roboticbeanroboticbean

    @krassmann said:
    Same as @david_2017 I'm using Bitwig and as a good Bitwig user I also started modulating Portatron. Works basically well but I also tried to map the transport and locator buttons and that did not work. They are not mappable. I know that they are mapped to Midi notes but I'd like to use Bitwig's modulators. Something like a euclidian note repeat modulating the forward transport or randomly using locators. So, my wish would be that these buttons are mappable, too. In the meantime, I try to figure something out with the Note Grid.

    That's strange, since the transport controls and locators are all declared as automatable (except for play and stop which you automate indirectly via the Auto play parameter)... I can automate them in Reason and Live, for example. Maybe Bitwig doesn't like to modulate boolean/discrete parameters? I have to admit that I'm not very familiar with Bitwig, I've only "smoke tested" our plugins in the trial version a couple of times.

  • roboticbeanroboticbean
    edited February 2023

    @enkaytee said:
    Welcome @roboticbean - thanks for accepting the invite! iPad music making is still evolving and some recently published apps are excellent versions of existing desktop apps - I think the market is slowly shifting towards more costly, but fully featured, high quality and well supported plugins and this forum is a great place to get a feel for what iPad musicians are all about, pitch ideas and get honest feedback if you decide to develop Portatron for iOS - I hope you do, but until then I'm having so much fun with the desktop version!

    I tried out a lot of music apps on my iPad about 10 years ago (mainly using Rebirth and iMS-20), but after that I got more into eurorack and used that with my desktop setup. Although I have a pretty modern iPad now (3rd gen iPad Pro 12.9 from 2018) I haven't really been keeping track of the music app market lately, but there seems to be a lot of cool stuff out there!

  • qryssqryss

    Got this in the sale, too. Definitely going to be a focus for me - it’s instant inspiration even with the presets. Can’t wait to start putting my own sounds in there.

    Nice to see you here, @roboticbean!

  • echooperaechoopera

    Just wanted to say hello @roboticbean and can't thank you enough for this amazing Plug-In. If it ever comes to iPadOS...let me know :)

    Cheers!

  • SvetlovskaSvetlovska

    I’d be all over an iPad version.

  • sevenapesevenape

    @roboticbean said:
    We'd love to make an iPad version. We have received a lot of feedback on that! We're going to hIsve to take a closer look to get a better idea of how much work it would entail, so we're not ready to commit to it just yet -- But we're carefully optimistic about it right now, at least!

    Thanks for giving us a thought!! Hope it's not too much work, would love an iPad version!

  • krassmannkrassmann

    @roboticbean, just an idea... There are plenty of iOS music app developers here on the forum and there had been successful collaborations between our local indie devs and software publishers. I'm thinking of Hainbach collaborating with Bram Bos, for example. Could be a win-win-win.

  • bazebusterbazebuster

    I also habe the luck, to take Note of the portatron sale and as far as I’ve used it yet - am really in Love with it especially for its „Not being preciseness“. Great for - Everything That Comes to mind - .
    I didn‘t glimpse in the New Update, which was released in the Last few days

    A Late welcome on Board @roboticbean

  • bazebusterbazebuster
    edited February 2023

    @krassmann said:
    @roboticbean, just an idea... There are plenty of iOS music app developers here on the forum and there had been successful collaborations between our local indie devs and software publishers. I'm thinking of Hainbach collaborating with Bram Bos, for example. Could be a win-win-win.

    Yes, that would be a great thing, have a tape recorder. With a finger spinning scrub-wheel, the other hand may set markers/cuts or even hold the tape and stretch it 😵🤫 bought

  • lukesleepwalkerlukesleepwalker

    Welcome, @roboticbean ! Add me to the list of buyers of the potential iPad version of Portatron!

  • roboticbeanroboticbean

    Thanks for the great feedback, everyone! :smile:

    I did actually create an iOS build target in the Portatron project a couple of weeks ago. As I expected it failed to run, because there are quite a few things I have to fix in order to make it run on iOS. For one thing, all the GUI assets (i e graphics files) are loaded from an external file in the plugin, and since iOS is very restrictive with file access I have to figure out a way to include this file in the app bundle instead. And then there is of course the matter of loading the sample files into Portatron. :smirk:

    I'd rather not manage the iOS version as a separate project since I want it to be easy to keep new features in sync, and patch compatibility (if at all possible), so I'm starting by adapting some stuff in the plugin version that I know might be a problem in iOS later on -- And that in some cases already shave tarted to become problems in for example GarageBand which seems to be getting more and more restrictive.

    Did you all catch the 1.2 update we released the other day, by the way? We added some important bug fixes + ability to change the plugin window size that many customers have asked for.
    At the moment we're working on some new features for the next update...

    To be continued :smiley:

  • SynthiSynthi

    Thanks for the update @roboticbean !

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