Jim Audio Groove Rider 2 - RELEASED

jwmmakerofmusic

@oscillotus said:

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

@oscillotus said:
Is GR2 still as strong after the honeymoon phase? I was waiting for Loopy Pros midi update but as it seems to be still a few months until its release (I read that there should be another beta phase which hasn't started yet), I'm tempted to try GR2. What are your thoughts?

For me personally it's still going strong. I'm not only building an album with GR2, but I also did some client work with GR2 as well. 😃 $35 well spent in my honest opinion, and it has more than paid for itself.

I love Cubasis 3 as well, so yeah don't get it twisted. I do a lot of client work in Cubasis 3. But it's not as quick to get down an idea in as GR2 is. In Cubasis 3, I lay out an idea using the default acoustic piano sound just to lay down chords, bass, and melody before fleshing out the arrangement. In GR2, I can just go "straight for the jugular", right to the heart of things.

I have plenty of great soundfonts (most of them DSK Music, one baller Papelmedia multi-timbral soundfont I forgot I had, and a KK Slider soundfont in case I want to do an Animal Crossing-styled track, lol 😂 ). I also have Poison-202 and Pure Acid, both of which integrate superbly into the GR2 software structure. (Although, Poison-202's integration is more that of a preset player, whereas Pure Acid's integration is far more customisable.)

And GR2's IFX are also extremely superb, simple, and well thought out. Nothing complex. It also has a preset signal path where everything can be placed in a logical order. It has its limitations, but it shoves aside the more technical bullshit so you can get straight into the creativity.

I've yet to try its clips section though. Just doesn't interest me personally, so someone else can comment on that. However, the timeline section is extremely well thought out and quick to manipulate MIDI clips and automation with. Easy.

The only time I find myself reaching for any AUv3 effects is when I want to master a track in the Master FX section. I use Grand Finale 2's EDM Punch preset and set the input gain to roughly -14LuFS. Then NoLimits 2 with its gain set to +1dB and output to -1dB. (Sometimes a stray peak will escape Grand Finale 2, and I want to ensure I have -1dB headroom so when the quality is reduced when converted to lossy formats like mp3 and m4a, it doesn't clip.) That's literally it.

All in all, an amazing app.

Thanks for taking the time mate, real thoughtful! I think I've read somewhere that you were using Koala Sampler a bit? If so, do you think Koala can have it's use in GR2? I love Koalas workflow and would be happy to bring it over into GR2.

I have to test that tomorrow. Koala Sampler
works a treat in Cubasis 3.

Also, I'm new to soundfonts, if I remember correctly there was a thread about soundfont packs. I will have to go check this out!

For sure. @wim I forgot where that thread is. Any chance you can link it here mate?

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@wim said:

@yellow_eyez said:

@oscillotus said:
Thanks guys, will dig into it tomorrow! I really like playing my Novation Circuit but I often find it too restrictive from a timeline/song building and automation point of view. GR2 looks to be exactly what I could be looking for.

I like your posts
Very cool mind

Someone, actually an amazing if not the best producer I know, told me it’s like a TE product made for iPadOS

He’s so right

If Jim raised the price to $3,000.

Lol! Well $35 is a higher price Appstorewise, and an iPad is sort of a boutique item in of itself. 😂

wim

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

For sure. @wim I forgot where that thread is. Any chance you can link it here mate?

---

I wouldn't know which one to link. Forum search for "Soundfont" comes up with many threads.

jwmmakerofmusic

@wim said:

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

For sure. @wim I forgot where that thread is. Any chance you can link it here mate?

---

I wouldn't know which one to link. Forum search for "Soundfont" comes up with many threads.

Indeed it does. Can't figure out which one was the most recent though.

michael_m

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

@wim said:

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

For sure. @wim I forgot where that thread is. Any chance you can link it here mate?

---

I wouldn't know which one to link. Forum search for "Soundfont" comes up with many threads.

Indeed it does. Can't figure out which one was the most recent though.

That would be an amazing addition to the forum search if we could sort results by most recent post.

jwmmakerofmusic

@michael_m said:

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

@wim said:

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

For sure. @wim I forgot where that thread is. Any chance you can link it here mate?

---

I wouldn't know which one to link. Forum search for "Soundfont" comes up with many threads.

Indeed it does. Can't figure out which one was the most recent though.

That would be an amazing addition to the forum search if we could sort results by most recent post.

Agreed.

wim

@michael_m said:

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

@wim said:

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

For sure. @wim I forgot where that thread is. Any chance you can link it here mate?

---

I wouldn't know which one to link. Forum search for "Soundfont" comes up with many threads.

Indeed it does. Can't figure out which one was the most recent though.

That would be an amazing addition to the forum search if we could sort results by most recent post.

jwmmakerofmusic

@oscillotus said:
Also, I'm new to soundfonts, if I remember correctly there was a thread about soundfont packs. I will have to go check this out!

https://forum.loopypro.com/discussion/64080/groove-rider-2-i-downloaded-installed-over-2000-soundfonts-what-was-i-thinking

Found it!

pricklyrobot

I’ve started looking at GR2 since hearing about the demise of NS2. The Song mode does indeed look pleasantly similar to NS2.

Does GR2 have an External MIDI instrument?

I pretty frequently use NS2 to sequence external hardware.

oscillotus

@yellow_eyez said:

@oscillotus said:
Thanks guys, will dig into it tomorrow! I really like playing my Novation Circuit but I often find it too restrictive from a timeline/song building and automation point of view. GR2 looks to be exactly what I could be looking for.

I like your posts
Very cool mind

Someone, actually an amazing if not the best producer I know, told me it’s like a TE product made for iPadOS

He’s so right

It is so fun to use - I don’t care how good the songs are, they are just fun to make

only (non full daw) app besides LP and CB3 I think worth $40

Hey you can always wait for a sale lol but might be a while

Thanks, I appreciate your kind words! It's easy to have a cool mind when the community is as helpful as this one!

I have yet to try a TE product, but as a hobbyist, I can get behind your statement about fun. I find the iPads touchscreen is full of potential for this!

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

@oscillotus said:
Also, I'm new to soundfonts, if I remember correctly there was a thread about soundfont packs. I will have to go check this out!

https://forum.loopypro.com/discussion/64080/groove-rider-2-i-downloaded-installed-over-2000-soundfonts-what-was-i-thinking

Found it!

Thanks man, as helpful as always! Will have a look at this tonight when the kiddo is in bed!

Edward_Alexander

Oh man! I almost just had a heart attack thinking I accidentally deleted or had overwritten my user bank full of all the projects I had created!

What happened was I decided to create a new “test bank” to save a couple test projects where I was trying out about a million different Soundfonts. Then I decided to go back and work on one of my saved projects, and my USER bank was GONE!

Thankfully I found it, as evidently it got placed inside said newly created “Test” bank.

Made my blood pressure slightly rise at first though, ain’t gonna lie!

I was like FUUUu@$%#K!

Tapping on the “+” symbol revealed my saved USER bank (now a sub-bank) Wheeeeeew 😅

Edward_Alexander

Moral of the story; SAVE your work!

Also, has anyone figured out a good method of backing up saved banks/projects?

As I don’t see banks/projects in FILES anywhere.

Samu

@Edward_Alexander said:
Moral of the story; SAVE your work!

Also, has anyone figured out a good method of backing up saved banks/projects?

As I don’t see banks/projects in FILES anywhere.

Check under Settings > Export (Share the Bank and store it where ever you desire).

cyberheater

@Edward_Alexander said:
Moral of the story; SAVE your work!

I do wish it had some sort of autosave.

Edward_Alexander

@Samu said:

@Edward_Alexander said:
Moral of the story; SAVE your work!

Also, has anyone figured out a good method of backing up saved banks/projects?

As I don’t see banks/projects in FILES anywhere.

Check under Settings > Export (Share the Bank and store it where ever you desire).

Thanks! Creating backups right now.

@cyberheater said:

@Edward_Alexander said:
Moral of the story; SAVE your work!

I do wish it had some sort of autosave.

Indeed!

wim

@pricklyrobot said:
I’ve started looking at GR2 since hearing about the demise of NS2. The Song mode does indeed look pleasantly similar to NS2.

Does GR2 have an External MIDI instrument?

I pretty frequently use NS2 to sequence external hardware.

Sorry, it doesn't have midi out.

pricklyrobot

@wim said:

@pricklyrobot said:
I’ve started looking at GR2 since hearing about the demise of NS2. The Song mode does indeed look pleasantly similar to NS2.

Does GR2 have an External MIDI instrument?

I pretty frequently use NS2 to sequence external hardware.

Sorry, it doesn't have midi out.

Bummer 😢

Ah well, the search continues…;)

And NS2 still works in the meantime.

dmori

@oscillotus said:
Thanks for taking the time mate, real thoughtful! I think I've read somewhere that you were using Koala Sampler a bit? If so, do you think Koala can have it's use in GR2? I love Koalas workflow and would be happy to bring it over into GR2.

Yes, I've integrated them together - these are my 2 go-to's. Depends how you want to use Koala.

1) You can use it as an AUv3, then you have access to all banks and they will record as notes in GR2. I've created a custom MIDI map in Koala to trigger notes.

2) You can use Koala in standalone - then export your samples directly into GR2. When you export from Koala, it gives you option to share to GR2 and it exports it to GR2 sample folder.

3) Another way - What I'm doing is sampling instruments from my computer directly into Koala (I use Connect 6 audio interface). Then I save in Koala and open the same project in GR2 so I have access to all the samples. If I want to use the warp feature and pitch up/down without speeding up/down - I export that sample into GR2.

Plus I'm using the key commands in GR2 so it's all mapped onto my Lauchpad X - so it's like having hardware on steroids.

Best of both worlds.

oscillotus

@dmori said:

@oscillotus said:
Thanks for taking the time mate, real thoughtful! I think I've read somewhere that you were using Koala Sampler a bit? If so, do you think Koala can have it's use in GR2? I love Koalas workflow and would be happy to bring it over into GR2.

Yes, I've integrated them together - these are my 2 go-to's. Depends how you want to use Koala.

1) You can use it as an AUv3, then you have access to all banks and they will record as notes in GR2. I've created a custom MIDI map in Koala to trigger notes.

2) You can use Koala in standalone - then export your samples directly into GR2. When you export from Koala, it gives you option to share to GR2 and it exports it to GR2 sample folder.

3) Another way - What I'm doing is sampling instruments from my computer directly into Koala (I use Connect 6 audio interface). Then I save in Koala and open the same project in GR2 so I have access to all the samples. If I want to use the warp feature and pitch up/down without speeding up/down - I export that sample into GR2.

Plus I'm using the key commands in GR2 so it's all mapped onto my Lauchpad X - so it's like having hardware on steroids.

Best of both worlds.

Those are some nice ideas. In #1, is it a custom mapping to trigger Koalas pads from inside GR2?

oscillotus

A question that I ask myself since GR2s launch is if it's possible to use Fugue Machines multiple playheads.

That and one Scaler 2 unit driving multiple instruments.

I suspect the answer might be no because of what looks like a more linear workflow, but still, I had to ask!

wim

@oscillotus said:
A question that I ask myself since GR2s launch is if it's possible to use Fugue Machines multiple playheads.

GR2 doesn't support multiple MIDI output. But, if you use it to sequence plugins that can set which channel they listen to, then you can use Fugue's per playhead midi channel settings. You're limited to three layers per part though, so that means you can only use it to drive two plugins.

That and one Scaler 2 unit driving multiple instruments.

Same restriction as Fugue - one slot for Scaler 2 and two slots for plugins that can filter by channel themselves. There are also playback timing problems Scalar 2 - something related to the sample rate that occurs in other hosts too.

I suspect the answer might be no because of what looks like a more linear workflow, but still, I had to ask!

These apps can be used in standalone or in another host like AUM to send their midi to GR2 - but that's kinda messy.

oscillotus

@wim said:

@oscillotus said:
A question that I ask myself since GR2s launch is if it's possible to use Fugue Machines multiple playheads.

GR2 doesn't support multiple MIDI output. But, if you use it to sequence plugins that can set which channel they listen to, then you can use Fugue's per playhead midi channel settings. You're limited to three layers per part though, so that means you can only use it to drive two plugins.

That and one Scaler 2 unit driving multiple instruments.

Same restriction as Fugue - one slot for Scaler 2 and two slots for plugins that can filter by channel themselves. There are also playback timing problems Scalar 2 - something related to the sample rate that occurs in other hosts too.

I suspect the answer might be no because of what looks like a more linear workflow, but still, I had to ask!

These apps can be used in standalone or in another host like AUM to send their midi to GR2 - but that's kinda messy.

That how I imagined it would work. Thanks for confirming! I just bought it.

michael_m

@wim said:

@michael_m said:

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

@wim said:

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

For sure. @wim I forgot where that thread is. Any chance you can link it here mate?

---

I wouldn't know which one to link. Forum search for "Soundfont" comes up with many threads.

Indeed it does. Can't figure out which one was the most recent though.

That would be an amazing addition to the forum search if we could sort results by most recent post.

Thanks, but I was thinking of sorting rather than filtering. There have been times when I have searched for a relatively common term and got results that take time to trawl through, but sort order would probably have helped with.

wim

@michael_m said:
Thanks, but I was thinking of sorting rather than filtering. There have been times when I have searched for a relatively common term and got results that take time to trawl through, but sort order would probably have helped with.

It might be that it sorts too. I haven't checked. [edit ... it doesn't]

Well anyway, the search is just passed to Duck-Duck-Go. It's them that would need to add that feature.

cokomairena

Ask deepseek with search on

dmori

@oscillotus said:

@dmori said:

@oscillotus said:
Thanks for taking the time mate, real thoughtful! I think I've read somewhere that you were using Koala Sampler a bit? If so, do you think Koala can have it's use in GR2? I love Koalas workflow and would be happy to bring it over into GR2.

Yes, I've integrated them together - these are my 2 go-to's. Depends how you want to use Koala.

1) You can use it as an AUv3, then you have access to all banks and they will record as notes in GR2. I've created a custom MIDI map in Koala to trigger notes.

2) You can use Koala in standalone - then export your samples directly into GR2. When you export from Koala, it gives you option to share to GR2 and it exports it to GR2 sample folder.

3) Another way - What I'm doing is sampling instruments from my computer directly into Koala (I use Connect 6 audio interface). Then I save in Koala and open the same project in GR2 so I have access to all the samples. If I want to use the warp feature and pitch up/down without speeding up/down - I export that sample into GR2.

Plus I'm using the key commands in GR2 so it's all mapped onto my Lauchpad X - so it's like having hardware on steroids.

Best of both worlds.

Those are some nice ideas. In #1, is it a custom mapping to trigger Koalas pads from inside GR2?

You don't need custom mapping to trigger Koala pads in GR2. You can set the midi offset mapping in Koala to what you like (C1/C2) and the rest will be automatically mapped.

I've got a custom map because of my setup on the launchpad x

jklovemusic

Anyone where the patterns/song are saved? I picked icloud drive from the iPadOS app setting but nothing there. Rendered audio is being saved locally and can be found on the File app.

Essentially, I need to know how to share works on multiple iPads and how I can backup and transfer my GR2 projects.

cokomairena

@jklovemusic said:
Anyone where the patterns/song are saved? I picked icloud drive from the iPadOS app setting but nothing there. Rendered audio is being saved locally and can be found on the File app.

Essentially, I need to know how to share works on multiple iPads and how I can backup and transfer my GR2 projects.

There is a share pattern and bank option

oscillotus

@dmori said:

@oscillotus said:

@dmori said:

@oscillotus said:
Thanks for taking the time mate, real thoughtful! I think I've read somewhere that you were using Koala Sampler a bit? If so, do you think Koala can have it's use in GR2? I love Koalas workflow and would be happy to bring it over into GR2.

Yes, I've integrated them together - these are my 2 go-to's. Depends how you want to use Koala.

1) You can use it as an AUv3, then you have access to all banks and they will record as notes in GR2. I've created a custom MIDI map in Koala to trigger notes.

2) You can use Koala in standalone - then export your samples directly into GR2. When you export from Koala, it gives you option to share to GR2 and it exports it to GR2 sample folder.

3) Another way - What I'm doing is sampling instruments from my computer directly into Koala (I use Connect 6 audio interface). Then I save in Koala and open the same project in GR2 so I have access to all the samples. If I want to use the warp feature and pitch up/down without speeding up/down - I export that sample into GR2.

Plus I'm using the key commands in GR2 so it's all mapped onto my Lauchpad X - so it's like having hardware on steroids.

Best of both worlds.

Those are some nice ideas. In #1, is it a custom mapping to trigger Koalas pads from inside GR2?

You don't need custom mapping to trigger Koala pads in GR2. You can set the midi offset mapping in Koala to what you like (C1/C2) and the rest will be automatically mapped.

I've got a custom map because of my setup on the launchpad x

Got it, thanks!

jklovemusic

@cokomairena said:

@jklovemusic said:
Anyone where the patterns/song are saved? I picked icloud drive from the iPadOS app setting but nothing there. Rendered audio is being saved locally and can be found on the File app.

Essentially, I need to know how to share works on multiple iPads and how I can backup and transfer my GR2 projects.

There is a share pattern and bank option

Thanks! Then what is being stored on iCloud if the option is enabled?

wim

@jklovemusic said:

@cokomairena said:

@jklovemusic said:
Anyone where the patterns/song are saved? I picked icloud drive from the iPadOS app setting but nothing there. Rendered audio is being saved locally and can be found on the File app.

Essentially, I need to know how to share works on multiple iPads and how I can backup and transfer my GR2 projects.

There is a share pattern and bank option

Thanks! Then what is being stored on iCloud if the option is enabled?

There's no setting for that in the app, so I guess you mean in iOS Settings > Groove Rider 2 > Document Storage?

That's only granting permission to store documents in iCloud. It isn't a setting that causes that to happen in the app. The developer has to enable the the app to use it. If you note up-top on that screen it says "Allow Groove Rider 2 to Access...".

I know, it's confusing.