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Best App to Play With Digital Piano (as a midi controller)
If you ask for a piano app recommendation, a lot of the answers are (rightfully) Pianoteq or VTines or Ravenscroft.
But I’m looking to dig a little deeper. I want to know about the apps that might not get the same mainstream spotlight but have a permanent spot in your iPad because of their unique character, soul, or specific vibe.
Per example, I really like Cantoria by GSI but it's heavy on the chips (A15).
I also really like Nambu for keys sound but it's also hard on the chips.
Comments
To be clear, I'm looking for apps to try with my digital piano that I use as a midi controller.
DecentSampler has some nice pianos, especially on pianobook.
Chatgpt, that you? 😁
The Dusty Rings Keys instrument for Decent Sampler is one of my favorites. It’s here:
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/dusty-rings-keys/
Also, in Rob Jackson’s moodunits app there are a number of cool pianos in the Mellopiano section including my favorite, Big Softy.
English is not my mother tongue. Sometimes I use Gemini to translate sentences or to help me start a thread. Then I can edit, add or remove sentences to my liking. Some part where written by Gemini to reflect my ideas. My French is almost flawless and I don't like the idea of butchering a language.
What part sounds the more like AI?
This post is AI free
Do you follow him on YouTube?
(The developer of D-S)
There are a few giveaways in there, the entire second paragraph basically. I'm not going to take the time to analyze it. It's just obvious to me and many others when people do this and it really bugs the shit out of me, and presumably many others. It's becoming more common on the forum, even with people whose mother language is English, lmao.
You've been participating on this forum for years no problem! Google translate is a better option tbh. Or just make a few mistakes, no one cares! The majority of people here are likely English speakers who can't speak any second language at all well. People would rather feel they're interacting with another person rather than with an AI. Making mistakes as a second language speaker is natural, it's not 'butchering' anything. Trust me - I've been a language teacher for 30 years, and have learned several languages (all imperfectly, some to a higher degree than others) through my life.
This AI thing is really turning onto a plague when it comes to online interactions, I want to feel I'm engaging with a fellow human rather than an LLM, it really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I understand.
Parmi les langues que tu as étudiées, as-tu appris le français?
Writing is hard, maybe that's why. When there is a shortcut, human nature will often take it.
No, I chose German and Spanish in school instead of French. Later I learned Polish, Portuguese (the Brazilian variety) and Chinese, because I spent time living in those countries. Portuguese was the one I mastered to the highest level, I was pretty fluent after my time in Brazil, but I've barely spoken it for 25 years, so I've forgotten nearly everything when it comes to speaking, though it's still fairly easy for me to read. Chinese is only one I still speak fairly well, as it's the last one I learned. Unless you keep practicing languages, you forget them, which is another good reason for you not to get Chatgpt to write for you haha.
Thank you brother for accepting my criticism graciously. We've all been there. I've certainly used Chatgpt to write a few things in my time, even a couple of important emails. It was an interesting experiment and it's natural to want to test the waters, but I stopped doing this after one time when I got a series of emails from a developer, which were clearly written by Chatgpt. I felt a visceral dislike of the fact he'd done this, it felt so damn lazy and insincere, and I vowed I wouldn't use Chatgpt in this way again. That developer ended up pissing me off in other ways too, and I no longer promote their stuff. 'Je ne regrette rien' lol...
My own feelings towards AI are complicated and have changed a lot since I first started using it, when I was definitely infatuated. Overall, I think we'll regret, as a species, that we developed this tech.
All I know is that, when I'm interacting with another human online, I really don't want to start getting that sinking feeling that the whole interaction is being mediated by AI. Cheers!
Combustor and Fauve
I like the way you think. I was thinking about new sounds, but same sound + effects is an interesting path.
I already have Combustor. I will read about Fauve.
Back to your question, OK, you want apps to play your digital piano (you should really clarify your main post and title, or you'll get tons of irrelevant replies). I'd definitely recommend taking a look at Elpiano by Klevgrand and Wurly by Audiothing.
I changed the title. I agree.
Wurly is on my wishlist. I will have a look at Elpiano.
Thanks!
If I can ask, how demanding are theses apps? I mainly use my iPhone theses days with a A15 chips. I use a 32ms buffer (maybe that's why Cantoria was cracking a little bit). But I like my latency as low as possible.
I have an M1. Elpiano is pretty hard on it at that buffer size. I got around 30%+ dsp I aum on a few presets I tried just now. Wurly seemed to be mostly around 10%. Do remember though that dsp load works in mysterious ways on iOS, sometimes using several plugins together actually makes dsp drop, etc etc. But yeah, I like Klevgrand but their plugins often seem hard on the dsp meter
I use Marseille from Gadget a lot, it's my go to for Piano Motifs. has all the classic sounds and then IM1 if I need to step it up, the module pro for specialty stuff which isn't special.
The developer of Decent Sampler has a wonderful YouTube channel. His name is David Hilowitz. Most videos are about him finding unique instruments, often in disrepair, fixing them up, and turning them into Decent Sampler presets. I don’t know how to link a channel, so here’s a random vid of him turning his modular synth into a DS instrument:
Gadget - I personally like the Marseille + Helsinki combination in Gadget 2 for piano sounds.
Korg Module has quite a few piano sounds I tend to use a lot. iM1 and the expansions have been a pleasant surprise going through a lot of presets that made 90s dance music.
Only wish the MIDI note hanging wasn’t happening every time use my 49 key Arturia keyboard.
Pure Synth Platinum having the expansions from GM made it a great choice, except the files are super large. But the options are immense, and I quite like the diverse combinations.
Soundfonts AU is my third most used piano app. I grew up with the Yamaha and Casio keyboard sounds, and being able to get those soundfonts into my production added a sense of nostalgia, and unlocked a ton more sounds than I could imagine.
Don’t forget to set the appropriate reverb level on the app.
Got Pure Piano and Ravenscroft but my absolute favorite is still a Piano I made myself in AudioLayer - probably because I chose to sample the piano that I liked best.
Piano sounds are a very personal thing, very much a matter of taste and also depending on the context it's used in.
For solo playing, my faves are old Steinways and the Yamaha C7, with a mix of close and medium-distance microphones.