Favorite kind of synthesis on IOS?

bygjohn

@HotStrange said:

@bygjohn said:

@HotStrange said:

@Fear2Stop said:

@michael_m said:
I don’t really think about things like that. Everything I do starts with figuring out the notes, so the sound source is secondary.

For me, it's kind of the opposite...I'll be working on patches and in the course of doing so I'll start getting ideas for songs!

I’m the same way. From what I’ve noticed more experimental/genre musicians tend to do things that way and more straightforward musicians tend to start with piano or an acoustic. Not every time, just something I’ve noticed.

I generally start with patch making or sample mangling or something like that. Or if I’m using piano it’s usually being ran through lots of effects lol

I think your analysis is pretty much spot on with respect to the two approaches, which I’d also say aren’t mutually exclusive by any means. I’m definitely in the “follow the sound” camp. Confuses people sometimes who don’t understand that I play synths and other electronics, but not keyboards. I’ll use a keyboard if I need to, but for me it’s just another controller. The piece I’m most proud of this year was played entirely with filter cutoff and resonance controls (mostly just the cutoff), once I’d got the whole thing set up!

Anyway, I answered granular, as I use it a huge amount of the time either to make instruments or as processing. I am very much drawn to Buchlas/West Coast, though. Ripplemaker, Branches, Hilda and the Buchla-inspired modules in MiRack (plus the Mutable stuff) I find hugely inspiring. Plus I generally seem drawn to weird and quirky instruments 🙃

For sure. A lot of my tracks in the past have started because of a patch I was making which then sorta just lends itself to certain notes and progressions. Sample mangling is my favorite so of course granular is huge for me as well.

I love west coast stuff but it’s also an arena I could stand to learn more in. I’m in the process of diving into MiRack now, so hopefully that will help in the long run.

Btw, there’s a really cool Buchla inspired Drambo patch on patchstorage if you haven’t tried it!

I’ve downloaded it, but I need to get my head around Drambo before I can really use it!

chaocrator

whatever, because i’m that one using only presets.
i do music in my spare time which is limited, and I’ll better spend it on making a tune / beat / arrangement than on sound design jobs (that someone else does better than me anyway).

Fear2Stop

@chaocrator said:
whatever, because i’m that one using only presets.
i do music in my spare time which is limited, and I’ll better spend it on making a tune / beat / arrangement than on sound design jobs (that someone else does better than me anyway).

That's definitely understandable! Only reason why I had as much free time as I did is because I was out of work for over a year +, and had been on medical leave before that, and I literally worked on music whenever I wasn't looking for a job...was staying up until about 5am, waking up at 9am.

There are a LOT of good presets, mind you...I just have so much fun playing around with sounds, though, which is why I've recorded so many different versions of things lol

HotStrange

@chaocrator said:
whatever, because i’m that one using only presets.
i do music in my spare time which is limited, and I’ll better spend it on making a tune / beat / arrangement than on sound design jobs (that someone else does better than me anyway).

Fair enough. For a lot of us, sound design is part of the songwriting process too. Some great presets out there though.

Fear2Stop

@HotStrange said:

@chaocrator said:
whatever, because i’m that one using only presets.
i do music in my spare time which is limited, and I’ll better spend it on making a tune / beat / arrangement than on sound design jobs (that someone else does better than me anyway).

Fair enough. For a lot of us, sound design is part of the songwriting process too. Some great presets out there though.

Especially the ones by Spidericemidas!

u0421793

Yes, I’d say ‘presets’ is a valid form of synthesis of course

Stuntman_mike

Great poll!
Nothing does granular better than iOS/ipadOS.
Every time I think about buying a hardware granular synth I think about how much better my iPad is at it and remove the hardware from my cart 😂

Fear2Stop

@Stuntman_mike said:
Great poll!
Nothing does granular better than iOS/ipadOS.
Every time I think about buying a hardware granular synth I think about how much better my iPad is at it and remove the hardware from my cart 😂

That's something I need to get more of... I have SampleWiz 2, but also looking at FRMS and the stuff from Apesoft

bygjohn

@chaocrator said:
whatever, because i’m that one using only presets.
i do music in my spare time which is limited, and I’ll better spend it on making a tune / beat / arrangement than on sound design jobs (that someone else does better than me anyway).

Nothing wrong with using presets! I use them myself, particularly if I have something that’s almost there and just needs an extra layer, and I know a preset that fits. There are a couple of Retro Piano presets that end up all over my stuff, for example. Whatever gets the job done.

HotStrange

@Stuntman_mike said:
Great poll!
Nothing does granular better than iOS/ipadOS.
Every time I think about buying a hardware granular synth I think about how much better my iPad is at it and remove the hardware from my cart 😂

Haha same here. I remember SonicWare announced that granular synth and at first I thought “oh cool I want that” and then I remembered Grain Science, FRMS, Tardigrain, Borderlands, Bleass Granulizer, iDensity, etc 😂 it really is one of iOSs strong suits.

Telefunky

You didn‘t hear Quanta 2 on desktop, did you ?

u0421793

If sampling is valid, presets are kind of the same paradigm

It’s analogous to collage, if collage is valid in art (it is), then so was sampling (ie KLF), so is using presets for art, and I would go so far as to say so is using the built in demo tunes of your gear

FriedTapeworm

I chose other for physical modeling…if that counts as a synthesis type.

Paulo164

@FriedTapeworm said:
I chose other for physical modeling…if that counts as a synthesis type.

I don’t think this is a synthesis type.
« Physical modeling » is a (marketing) word gathering all kinds of synthesis methods - except sampling - that allow to emulate acoustic instruments in a realistic way.
It can be waveguide, karplus-strong, etc.

Icoustik

@Paulo164 said:

@FriedTapeworm said:
I chose other for physical modeling…if that counts as a synthesis type.

I don’t think this is a synthesis type.
« Physical modeling » is a (marketing) word gathering all kinds of synthesis methods - except sampling - that allow to emulate acoustic instruments in a realistic way.
It can be waveguide, karplus-strong, etc.

Should still count here in any case, I got an ipad pro specifically for physical modelling synths (Geoshred, SWAM and Pianoteq) and selecting all the synthesis types in the poll doesn't really reflect that :P

Fear2Stop

@Icoustik said:

@Paulo164 said:

@FriedTapeworm said:
I chose other for physical modeling…if that counts as a synthesis type.

I don’t think this is a synthesis type.
« Physical modeling » is a (marketing) word gathering all kinds of synthesis methods - except sampling - that allow to emulate acoustic instruments in a realistic way.
It can be waveguide, karplus-strong, etc.

Should still count here in any case, I got an ipad pro specifically for physical modelling synths (Geoshred, SWAM and Pianoteq) and selecting all the synthesis types in the poll doesn't really reflect that :P

I thought physical modeling was referring to something like Karplus-Strong … I’ve only used it with LaPlace…but that’s one of my favorites

HotStrange

@Icoustik said:

@Paulo164 said:

@FriedTapeworm said:
I chose other for physical modeling…if that counts as a synthesis type.

I don’t think this is a synthesis type.
« Physical modeling » is a (marketing) word gathering all kinds of synthesis methods - except sampling - that allow to emulate acoustic instruments in a realistic way.
It can be waveguide, karplus-strong, etc.

Should still count here in any case, I got an ipad pro specifically for physical modelling synths (Geoshred, SWAM and Pianoteq) and selecting all the synthesis types in the poll doesn't really reflect that :P

Yeah as an all encompassing term I’d say it should count.

Slam_Cut

From Wikipedia:
“ Physical modelling synthesis refers to sound synthesis methods in which the waveform of the sound to be generated is computed using a mathematical model, a set of equations and algorithms to simulate a physical source of sound, usually a musical instrument.”

Paulo164

@Icoustik said:

@Paulo164 said:

@FriedTapeworm said:
I chose other for physical modeling…if that counts as a synthesis type.

I don’t think this is a synthesis type.
« Physical modeling » is a (marketing) word gathering all kinds of synthesis methods - except sampling - that allow to emulate acoustic instruments in a realistic way.
It can be waveguide, karplus-strong, etc.

Should still count here in any case, I got an ipad pro specifically for physical modelling synths (Geoshred, SWAM and Pianoteq) and selecting all the synthesis types in the poll doesn't really reflect that :P

I fully agree with you. Just to say we have reached our limit mentioning “physical modeling” as we don’t know exactly what set of synthesis methods are behind PianoTeq or swam engines.

Paulo164

@Fear2Stop said:

@Icoustik said:

@Paulo164 said:

@FriedTapeworm said:
I chose other for physical modeling…if that counts as a synthesis type.

I don’t think this is a synthesis type.
« Physical modeling » is a (marketing) word gathering all kinds of synthesis methods - except sampling - that allow to emulate acoustic instruments in a realistic way.
It can be waveguide, karplus-strong, etc.

Should still count here in any case, I got an ipad pro specifically for physical modelling synths (Geoshred, SWAM and Pianoteq) and selecting all the synthesis types in the poll doesn't really reflect that :P

I thought physical modeling was referring to something like Karplus-Strong … I’ve only used it with LaPlace…but that’s one of my favorites

Like Karplus-Strong. But Karplus-Strong is Karplus-Strong, a very basic feedback loop with very short delay and dampening. Probably the most simple technic to synthesize plucked string vibration in a convincing way.
This technic belongs to the broader family of resonators. Resonators can be of several orders (karplus-strong being 1st order). I remember an iOS synth simulating a set of N masses bound together with springs and excited by an excitation function.

u0421793

that’s SpringSound
http://www.anckorage.com/spring-sound/

Paulo164

@u0421793 said:
that’s SpringSound
http://www.anckorage.com/spring-sound/

Exact ! Thanks 😊
It should be nice to see another modern iteration of this…