Awesome successor to Curtis! We are HUGE fans of Curtis for iPad. Glad to see this optimized version for the iPhone 4.
Completely rewritten for better performance, longer recording time, session recording, polyphony, high-res display and more!
New features:
Control layout adjustments
Grain overlap control
Grain overlap LFO
MIDI input
Portamento
Position slew
Improved grain jitter control
Optional old-school Curtis glide mode setting
MegaCurtis has been completely rewritten for better performance, longer recording time, session recording, polyphony, copy/paste, high-res display and more!
More features:
• Selectable keyboard scales for easier jams
• Fat keys option for fat fingers
• Four voice polyphony
• Three LFO modulators
• Lowpass filter effect
• Echo effect
• Granular jitter effects
• Audio Copy/Paste
• iTunes file sharing
• Works on iPad and iPhone 4s/4/3GS
Granular synthesis works by combining many tiny grains of sound from an existing recording, generally creating new sounds with the textural properties of the original.
Granular synthesis allows you to regenerate the recording, playing it forward or backward at any speed, to skip around the recording playing tiny slices of it at random, or to loop a small portion with a varying loop size.
Check out Curtis Heavy, the free original version for a taste and come back here for more!
Please note: MegaCurtis is currently only supported on the iPhone 4 and 4s.
MegaCurtis is available for $4.99 for a limited time.
This video demonstrates creating your own Animoog synth patches in depth. In part two of a three-part tutorial on Moog’s Animoog iPad app, Dubspot Instructor Matt Cellitti shows you how to creatively use Animoog’s modulation parameters to achieve complex sounds.
Now that we have looked at how to break down Animoog into a basic initial state, I would like to examine the instrument’s creative options to make more complex sounds. Animoog has a clearly labeled and easy to use modulation area, allowing us to add several modulation parameters to the sound at the same time. We are able to use traditional modulation sources like mod envelopes, filter envelopes, and low frequency oscillators, but there are some hidden gems in here as well. For instance, take control of the Touch Keys to manipulate sounds in ways a traditional keyboard is incapable of. By using the the modulation control of “poly-pressure” to manipulate a destination of filter frequency, the areas of the touch key will activate modulation of the filter’s cutoff frequency. So you can create filter sweeps just by moving your fingers up and down a single touch key. Furthermore, as if the path and origin controls of the X/Y pad weren’t enough, you can use mod controls to effect these parameters even further. It never ceases to amaze me how much flexible control this app has. – Matt Celletti
Sketch Synth 2 is here to solve one problem, how do I go from having a bunch of loops that sound good to creating an arrangement that arranges these loops. The app ships with several preset instruments so you can get going straight away and understand how the sequenced XY pads control the arrangement of the sounds; but the most important aspect of the app is to be able to create your own pad based instrument with your own loops.
You can use audio copy and paste to copy in loops from other apps, but the app was designed with it in mind to take loops from a DAW on your main computer via iTunes file sharing not another iPad app. Once you’ve loaded the samples into the app in Blueprint mode then you can configure the background and assign loops and FX to every pad on screen and start arranging.
All XY pads are rapidly reconfigurable and you can quick fade sounds in and out to understand when and where you should be bringing your loops in and how fast they should come in. Once you have worked out how everything works together then you can record in Sketch Synth, but really you should be going back to your DAW and building the stems properly.
1.2.1 Update
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A few thoughts: A shortcoming of the current version is the lack of recording level monitoring, mute and solo buttons. Midi is a key feature also. I would also like to be able to bypass fx processing on some channels, so for instance you may want a tiny bit of reverb on the drums here and there, but not on the bass.
Music Studio offers a complete music production environment for the iPad/iPhone/iPod touch offering high sound quality and tons of features.
It combines a piano keyboard, 65 studio-quality instruments with sustain, a fully fledged 127-track sequencer, extensive note editing, reverb, real-time effects and much more on a user-friendly interface.
FEATURES
• Photorealistic dynamically configurable 85-key keyboard
• Instant positioning via the slide gesture and resize with the pinch gesture
• Drum pads, chord pads and chord programming
• 125 studio-recorded instruments (16bit 44.1kHz sampled from real instruments)
• 65 free instruments, 60 available in the in-app shop
• Stereo and up to 8 channel recording with CoreAudio class compliant hardware
• New setup option to normalize recorded audio files
• The tempo can be decreased down to 20bpm
• 4 categories: classic, band, electronic, world
• Release and attack time configurable per instrument
• Sustain samples
• Pitch bend wheel and accelerometer control
• Audio tracks
• Microphone recording
• AudioCopy & AudioPaste
• iPod library or wav/mp3/AAC/ogg file import
• Waveform and audio region editing
• Record up to 8 channels simultaneously with CoreAudio (class compliant) hardware
• Low-latency, highly optimized, 64x polyphony, battery saving audio engine
• 100 drum loops
• 5 real-time effects with lots of parameters:
3 high-quality reverb algorithms, delay, 3-band equalizer, amplifier, filter
• 127-track sequencer
• Beat & metronome settings (tempo and signature)
• Mute, solo, effect bus, pan and volume adjustment for each track
• Edit tracks, bars and even individual notes:
Draw, quantize, transpose, repeat, move, length, velocity, etc.
• MIDI import and export
• Save and load your songs and export to wav and AAC formats
• Share your songs via email, AudioCopy and SoundCloud
• Wi-Fi and iTunes file transfer to your computer
• Songs and MIDI files can be opened directly from Safari and Mail
• Unlimited undo and redo
• Detailed in-app help
• Play or record 2 different instruments at the same time with 2 keyboard rows
• iPhone 4 Retina Display supported
• Compatible with: CoreMIDI (MIDI in and out), Line 6 MIDI Mobilizer I & II, Akai SynthStation 25, iRig, iRig Mic, iRig MIDI, Ampkit Link, Apogee Jam, Blue Mikey, Alesis IO Dock and iConnectMIDI
Symphony Pro is a complete music notation editor that allows you to quickly write and playback music wherever you and your iPad go.
Open up one of your saved compositions, or begin with a blank page, and you’re ready to start writing. You can import MusicXML, MIDI, ABC, MXL, Symphony files, and even some scanned music sheets downloaded from the web, opened from other apps such as Mail and Safari, or from the device via iTunes File Sharing.
Select a note length and then tap anywhere on the score to add a note. Use the 88-key virtual keyboard or a Core MIDI compatible keyboard to rapidly enter a series of notes or chords. You can use the recording tool to play in phrases in real-time.
Symphony Pro supports a wide range of notational elements, including dynamics, arpeggios, trills, mordents, accelerandos, glissandos, tuplets, tempo changes, time and key signature changes, alternate endings, double bar-lines, and repeats. You can create and edit chord symbols and lyrics easily using the iPad’s standard keyboard.
When you’re done composing, you can export your piece as a MusicXML, MIDI, PDF, MP3, AAC, or Symphony file to iTunes or email. You can also quickly save a screenshot of each page in your score to Photos.
In addition, you can use the new AirPrint feature to print your scores directly from the iPad, AirPlay to wirelessly stream audio to compatible devices, and AirShare to easily share or transfer multiple files at once across your local network.
New Features:
Copy and paste using rectangle
Expandable crescendos and diminuendos
User defined beam groups
User defined stems
Added non-pitched neutral clef
Reposition rests vertically
Added note stem direction support to MusicXML import and export
Enable/Disable background music
Hold down any of the arrow keys to press it repeatedly
Preview MP3, AAC, and other audio files from inside the app
Accolades:
• Currently featured as a top creativity app by Apple at apple.com/education/apps/
Feature Highlights:
• 114 high quality instruments including drum kit
• Up to 12 tracks and 4 voices per composition
• Add and edit notes by tapping on the score, playing the built-in keyboard, or playing a Core MIDI instrument
• Supports tons of notational elements, including dynamics, arpeggios, trills, mordents, accelerandos, glissandos, staccatos, tuplets, double bar-lines alternate endings, pickup measures, and repeats
• Real time note entry
• Smart chord symbol, lyric, and text tool
• Grace notes
• Customizable noteheads
• Transposable instruments & score
• Import MusicXML, MIDI, ABC, MXL, Symphony files, or even some scanned music sheets
• Export as a MusicXML, MIDI, PDF, MP3, AAC, or Symphony file
• Change the tempo, time signature, key signature, or clef at any point in the score
• Advanced editing support, such as copy/paste and undo/redo
• Stream audio wirelessly with AirPlay to compatible speakers, stereo systems, AV receivers, Apple TV, and other devices
• Print a page or the entire score from your iPad
• Easily share your files over the air with others on the same local network
• Switch to portrait mode to view your composition in full screen, like sheet music
• Multi-touch gestures for easy navigation and editing
• Customizable layout & text sizes
• View and edit tracks one at a time, or all at once
• Delete individual notes, entire measures, or entire selection areas
• Use the keyboard without entering any notes to test out phrases
• Loop playback between specific measures
• Metronome
• Document recovery
• Built-in manual
Symphony Pro is great for working on pieces while you’re away from your workstation. It’s an invaluable tool for instructors, since it allows you to write out a part and have it immediately played back. It also works well as a sketchpad and sheet music viewer for musicians.
iPad Loops is an iOS music production blog dedicated to exposing the best iPad apps musicians, producers, and Djs. This is not a database of every app. It is, however, one of useful recommendations from someone with many years in music production. I try to update it on a daily basis (ok sometimes every two days) and I do my best to post useful apps only. My name is Jason Donnelly (Dj Puzzle).
Some of the apps that contain my sounds are Synth One, EG Segments, Hammerhead, Retronyms AudioCopy, Audio Evolution Mobile, and iMPC Pro. My work is published by Roland, Antares, Magix, Soundtrack Loops, Sample Logic, Acoustica, Native Instruments, The Grammt Museum and many more. Subscribe to our RSS feed below to get updated when new apps are posted.
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