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Gadget Synths vs Eden (NanoStudio)
Hello. In this new slightly glitchy world of iOS8 i've noticed a number of people (including myself) singing the praises of the 'self contained' studio app where your synth sounds are largely on board inside the app. There are certainly lots of workflow advantages and you can always add a few external sounds as samples.
BUT... head to head between two of the most highly regarded ones (Gadget and Nanostudio) which has the best synths?
I'm really interested in people's informed opinions because i'm not as much of a synth nerd as I should be. I'd love to hear people's opinions on both sound quality and also the flexibility of the sounds you can make with each. (Partly because now when I start a new project I can't decide between Gadget or Nanostudio - they both have their merits). Not so interested in workflow opinions because everyone has their personal way of working and I think most people agree the workflow in both is pretty good (and the listener doesn't care anyway!)
- Which has the best synth capability?23 votes
- Nanostudio (Eden)21.74%
- KORG Gadget78.26%
Comments
I voted for Gadget. However, Eden is not the problem. It sounds great and is really versatile. BUT: In self-contained apps the quality of the effect algorithms is not less important. And exactly this is the weak point in Nanostudio.
Thanks. Interesting @Klangsulfat. So you think the quality of the effects is better in Gadget?
I get annoyed that lots of the effects can't be applied to lots of the synths in Gadget. And you are limited to 2 FX only (plus the global reverb). Whereas Nanostudio's FX are much less limited. But I guess, worse quality?
They're both good; it just depends on what you want. I think Eden can generally take you further than the sum of the gadget synths, primarily because it's also a sampler and it's easy to pull other sounds in to play chromatically but, for some stuff anyway gadget can get you there quicker.
Some of Gadget's gadgets would be really time consuming to reproduce by hand in nanostudio. Beat slicing is definitely one of them!
I should note: I know Gadget has samplers but I'm talking spefically about the type of sampler that lets you bring in any sort of source material and treat it as an oscillator upon which you can do all of the regular synthesis stuff Eden offers.
I'd also be interested to hear which effects @klangsulfat prefers in gadget. I get more mileage of NS's effects. Plus, 4 inserts per track (and two in eden) and two sends and 4 inserts on the master make it all pretty flexible. I'd love love love 2-4 more sends though (or proper bussing)!
Interesting. Agree gadget can be quick. But sometimes feels limiting with it.
The Abu slicer just doesn't exist in Nanostudio. But then Nanostudio lets you bring in other audio much more easily than Gadget. So you can do something in Sector, or Samplr or Egoist or even Abu and then bring it into Nanostudio.
I like Gadgets drum module (London) for speed and teakability too.
But these aren't synths. The actual synths in Gadget sound a bit thin to me sometimes, compared to Eden. And also bit limited.
For a short while I though Miami was great for bass but then I realised its quite limiting in terms of not being able to have a non-synced LFO/wobble. And again it sounds quite thin to me.
The others are ok. But start sounding quite samey after a while sometimes.
Also Im not blown away by Gadgets factory synth presets and there is no scope to add third party presets. This is something I think is great about Nanostudio.
I was taking a look at nano studio last night. Perhaps I need to take a closer look in fact.
I just got into NS two weeks ago and I'm loving it.
One of the first apps I bought after garage band but I didn't understand it immediately and then never went back to it. That was about 18 months ago.
Fun read - and amazing to hear how well Nanostudio holds up against all the new stuff. I know I'm new to the IOS game, but in my first few searches on what apps I should look at - some of the responses going back to 2012 - Nanostudio/Eden was referenced many times. It was the first app I bought, and after initially playing around, thought I'd find something more fitting. I recently came back, and now it's a key part of my setup.
I always liked the sound of imported audio re synthesised through Eden, but haven't had NS on my iPad since Gadget was released. This thread has inspired me to reinstall NS. Let me see where this goes to.....
To be fair to Gadget. I'd say where it excels is:
NanoStudio is more of an all rounder with some quality lacking but sampling via Audiobus from all the other iOS synths etc really opens it up...
Gadget imho sounds a lot better but needs more dev time with such things as an fx suite and a true sampler gadget that can sample via Audiobus...and then be played across the keyboard...
I feel like the limits on the synths in Gadget (they all just have a handful of parameters each) makes for a quick, easy way in and has taught me a lot but Eden seems like a more grown up synth with an awful lot more depth.
I've not even really expored the possibilities with using your own sample as the ocilator yet. But presumably that allows you to do some pretty creative stuff.
@DaveMagoo. Where do you think the quality is lacking in Eden? In the synth engine itself or the effects?
To me it sounds pretty good in terms of the synth itself. Makes a pretty meaty noise comparable to some of the big synths like Z3ta and Thor whereas for me I can never seem to get Gadget synths to sound as full.
I feel that the synth options within both are quite limited. I'm not really a fan of Nanostudio at all (I don't like the workflow or the UI and Eden sounds like a Moonshine records promo from 1998...sorry). Gadget has great sounding synths but the editing capabilities are way too limited.
I personally wouldn't consider iOS8's choppiness to be a hindrance to using a more in-depth synth. I see this as just different schools of thought.
The irony to all this...I updated to iOS8 on my iPad specifically for Module. Module suffers from the same criticism I have of Gadget's synths: They sound great but little editing capabilities (not a big deal with the acoustic pianos, but I'd say right off that NeoSoul Keys blows Module's E. Pianos out of the water in both sound and editing capabilities and it's not even close).
Fx...
Another bonus with Nanostudio is its multi platform and works on iPhone...
I made this in just Nanostudio on iPhone sampling via Audiobus...back in the summer in the garden...
With Gadget I rely on the limiter to fatten the sound a little...
The more I use gadget the more I am happy with the possibilities....I often layer the same synths by duplicating and then doing things like changing the octaves and oscillators....you can end up with 6 oscillators and a really nice chord like sound...
We need an fx rack with fx gadgets for sure.....and a proper sampler soon if possible..,
Not sure what @davemagoo is referencing but I think Eden suffers from aliasing in the filters and upper mids generally. Same for the 5th planet effect for me—it all gets a little ugly in the upper mids. It's a symptom of optimization according to Matt and will be addressed in the next version. Good to remember here that you can run 15 Eden instances, with effects, on an iPhone 3Gs.
Quite enjoyed that track Mr Dave!
It's the FX in Nanostudio that let it down but they are still more than adequate...as I say it's a great all rounder and no app even as the years have gone by has quite got the full package it offers...and the UI is super slick..
I quite look forward to Nanostudio2 but for now I choose Gadget as its getting development and I can get stuff done plus I needed to make a decision to eliminate choice paralysis:)
@syrupcore thanks!
Wow. @DaveMagoo. I really like that track. On an iPhone? That's nuts if you think about it.
I love the sample. Very cool.
Can you tell me about the bass please. Eden synth sounds or samples in Eden or TRG samples?
And is most of it Eden's own synth?
And was it mastered in something else?
I had a proper go at single note sampling (Animoog bass) into Eden today.
Good results. In fact I kind of ended up getting the bassline to sound better in Eden than it did coming out of Animoog actually. Less crackles for a start.
Applying the Bitcrush filter in Eden sounds pretty decent almost full on (although breaks up a bit dialing up to full on).
And messing with loop plus adjusting sample length gets a pretty weird tremolo / glitchy effect going which could be cool (although it click slightly).
All in all I'm continuing to like pushing possibilities in Eden and syrupcore is right - bringing in other sounds opens it right up.
try adding a tiny (0.01-0.03) attack and release to the amp envelope.
Thanks. Will do. (Essentially microfades?)
Here's an old all-NS (no samples other than drums) all-iPhone (3gs!) track.
And here's the NSP if any one wants to have a play:
http://bridgeportmusic.com/audio/random2/Nanodub.nsp
@matt, yep. Doesn't always work but sometimes is just the ticket.
@syrupcore that's a great track. Sounds fantastic. I like the way it's really restrained too - I'd have messed it up by adding more and more.
How on earth did you do the 'rewind' at about 2.00. That was amazing. Surely a sample played backwards?
@syrupcore, love the track it's like a technical 'tour de force', it's dub reggae, don't no why always seems to evoke a kind of 'ghost-town urban decay feeling in me'.
@Matt_Fletcher_2000 said:
its a a mixture of Eden, Minimapper samples for the bass and some other parts, Alchemy for the vocal choir thing..Sampletank for the piano...all sampled through Audiobus...
no mastering just as it came out of Nanostudio
.....need to hold off downloading again !....must stick with Gadget
Ha ha. Fair enough. But...
I must say I'm loving NanoStudio so much (having spent nearly a year deep inside Gadget).
Tonight I properly 'got' the sample length parameter in Eden... This is super powerful for glitching stuff and general automated weirdness. I love it.
Thanks Syrupcore on the attack tip. 0.3 didn't make much difference so I wacked it up to 0.10 and that's acceptable - the slight glitching adds character (I've decided
).
I'm currently in heaven making some very weird sounds
.
Will post when finished.
Thank you guys.
@Matt_Fletcher_2000 Re-sampled a small section of the song, put the sample into an Eden and used the pitch bend wheel. I don't remember how the ones around 2:00 and 2:50 were put together but something similar. It should all be in the NSP.
Here's another NanoStudio only dub that uses sample offset madness to mess with an acoustic guitar I recorded via the iphone mic into MultiTrackDaw (I think, been a while). Might be some offset modulation as well as the weird autochopper thing. Pretty sure all of the sounds, other than the guitar+drums, are regular Eden oscillators. I know all of the effects are internal to NS. I'll see if I can dig up an NSP.