I dream of touchscreens

setAI

in the modular synth doc - I Dream of Wires- the primary reasons given for the analog modular synth revival are a dissatisfaction with the indirect interface and inferior sound quality of computers- however to me - it seems that the iPad and touch based music production has largely improved upon both the interface and sound quality of software synths- offering a forward escape from the limitations of these limits of the PC/Mac- instead of a retreat to retroism and nostalgia- the interface improvements are obvious- but I think the advances in sound quality are simply a result of steadily improving software on all platforms- it's finally getting there- aliasing and brittleness are gone-

I own a small modular system myself- but I find myself using my hardware less and less since I started working with the iPad and wintablet- they give me all the interaction as a physical instrument- and I have found that I don't need to reach for my analog gear for good analog sounds-Phoenix and Dublin in Gadget and Pulse Code's Modular are all I need-

thoughts?

bixnood

Audulus, don't forget Audulus, even if the interface doesn't remind of the good old times. Also, I hope Arturia ports to iOS its great Moog Modular V.

Tritonman2

Three words come to mind, Korg Kronos X. It makes me absolutely drool! It is hardware , and it has a touch screen!

bixnood

And the Roland Jupiter-80!

ArcaneScreams

@setAI Hi. Somewhere in these forums I've said that I think of these audio apps as modules, so I'm a big proponent of using any means to connect these apps together. Modular by PulseCode I love, though I do wish they'd implement more rack space. A friend of mine, who buys analog gear, was really impressed when I showed him the iVCS3 on my iPad. That's a 'go to' app for me as well. Dr-OM and Noisemusick are pretty fun to play with, too. So is the Korg iMS-20. TC-11 is incredible as a modular system, but I don't use it as much as I'd like. I can't say enough how amazing Audulus is. I find it fun to get on the Doepfer website, check out modules, and attempting to build some of those inside Audulus. I find the sound quality of all those apps to be very good, only limited by the hardware of tablets. One app I think modular enthusiasts need here is an Arp 2600. I don't look at hardware all that much, but it would be nice to have a piece of equipment that is only knobs, for fine tuning. Sometimes the touch screen is limiting in that way. Maybe there is a midi platform like that already, I don't know. What I do know is that when I show my friends who are musically inclined what I have on my iPad, they are all impressed. The sound is going to continue getting better.

dwarman

There are quite a few knobby boxes around. nanoKONTRL2 and nanoPAD2 make a nice pair. Behringer has the BCR2000 and BCF2000. I have an Evolution UC33E but they might be tough to find. Then there are several controller keyboards with lots of knobs. Mine is a Samson Graphite 49.

ArcaneScreams

Thanks for the info. Really helpful. I'll be looking at those tonight.

MusicInclusive

Maybe we need a full length movie on making music with iPads - the title is already there ;-)

ArcaneScreams

Ha, We have Vidibox, a movie is doable.

johnfromberkeley

@dwarman said:

nanoPAD2 make a nice pair.

I just bought a nanoPAD2 on Craiglist, and unfortunately, it's not very plug and play. It looks like I'll need to use the editor to make work with most of my apps.

TGiG

Great topic! I really enjoyed the I Dream Of Wires Documentary. I reccommend anyone who hasn't seen it to go check it out! I also think, even a short, video of iPad music production would be awesome!

setAI

After a lifelong obsession with Serge and Buchla modular synthesizers - and finally owning a small banana system for several years - I've come to the hard realization that Modular Synthesis doesn't fit my workflow - the way that I work is I develop soundscapes and motifs over time- I start working on something then I like to save my work and work on something else for a while so that I can come back to it with fresh ears- I will work on tracks for sometimes years before I feel like I'm ready to record something - and once I've developed a patch I like to play it again live from time to time even after I've recorded it- modular workflow just doesn't allow this because there are no presets - what I have been doing is building up patches and then just recording sessions of tweaking the patch - I have gotten a lot of interesting material out of this but it's the type of stuff I would use for sample food- maybe a few finished soundscapes- but generally I find myself not wanting to work with the modular when I'm making music because I don't want to disturb the patch that's on it- as a result I just don't use it very much - I much more prefer the way that synthesizers like the DSI Evolver are laid out - it has the full capabilities of a modular synthesizer in that it is able to connect even the outputs of oscillators as modulation sources - and all of its components have large numbers of modulation inputs - but you can save your work and there's no messy cables - modular cables are aesthetically interesting but in practice they get in the way and can sometimes be accidentally disconnected when rewiring a patch- a hidden electronic connection is much better for my workflow-

pierre

For modular fun and easy workflow Zmors modular is great ! I find it more accessible than audulus and apparently there s a big update coming

On desktop my favorite for weird patching experiment is u-he bazille

[Deleted User]

@pierre thanks for posting this video. looks awesome