MuTheremin is an interactive music toy based on the design concept of ‘theremin’. According to the design of ‘theremin’, the pitch and volume could be controlled separately. Multi-touch (max:10) is support.
The following demonstrates MuTheremin iPad App version 1.0. It’s a multi-touch theremin inspired synth and it’s free.
Pros: Free, Multi-Touch,cool lights
Cons: It’s buggy. You will hear clicks and noise. I used an Alesis IO dock for audio. Also tried it though headphones. Same problem.
Retro Sound Studio is a free synthesiser application for the iPad that is aimed at creating retro electronic sounds reminiscent of 80′s arcade games. It is intended to be used by game developers to create sounds for their games or by music producers as a sample source, particularly for producers working in dance music genres such as tech house and electro.
Saved sounds can be accessed by using iTunes. Select the device, then go to the Apps tab and finally select Retro Sound Studio under File Sharing.
The iOS version of the world-renowned TENORI-ON brings you a completely new musical interface. Even if you don’t know much about music, you can create music intuitively as if you were arranging sounds in space. The music that you see on the 16 × 16 grid of buttons is the music that is performed.
What’s new:
File Share Function: Share your TNR-i saved files with other TNR-i users. You can now make a new song with other TNR-i users by exchanging your “Block” data or your “Layer” data. You can also add comments to your files. View the data on the server by either uploaded order or popularity order (Note: a Twitter account is required to login the server).
Additional Multi Player Session Functions: View the location of the session members on a map.
Chatting history list is now available.
16×16 Buttons Brightness Control Function: You now have the ability to control the brightness of the 16×16 buttons.
External Display Function: Using the Apple VGA adaptor you can view the 16×16 buttons on an external display.
On the 16 × 16 grid of buttons, basically, the horizontal direction is time, and the vertical direction is pitch.By laying sounds on these buttons, you can combine rhythms and melodies to produce music. A button will glow when its sound is produced. The movements of the glowing lights produce a visual performance.
New Features:
* Record TNR-i 2-mix output and share it on SoundCloud.
* Copy & Paste audio files between iOS apps (AudioCopy)
* Assign your own waves to user voice 1,2,3. Each wave max is 5seconds.
* Record waves using iPhone/iPad built in mic.
* Easy wave editing function (trimming, normalizing)
* TENORI-ON User Voice Manager file (.tnw) is compatible.
* Available 3 sample files. Loading the file: From the menu (touch the display), touch Preference menu, touch User Voice Settings, touch User1, touch File mark (right, bottom), and then select 01_Voice, 02_Synth, or 03_SE.
* Twitter posting is available at the beginning of the session.
* Message exchange, like a chatting, is available during the session.
* Can select to start or stop the session from the menu.
* WIST (Wireless Sync Start Technology) is available. You can easily make sync start with the other iOS apps that have WIST function.
TNR-i can produce 16 types of sounds at the same time (16 layers), and it can remember up to 16 song patterns produced using those sounds (16 blocks). By switching between song patterns in real time, you can produce a rich variety of musical expressions.
There are six different types of performance modes that you can select for each layer. You can make elaborate music by combining different modes. In score mode, the most fundamental of the modes, you can arrange sounds horizontally (temporally) and vertically (by pitch). In the exciting random mode, the sounds that you arrange are not just played in order—the melody and rhythm constantly change as twists are added. In draw mode, you can perform music by tracing your finger across the buttons as if drawing a picture. In bounce mode, the glowing lights are like bouncing balls that produce sound when they fall. In push mode, you can continuously change the sound as you perform. In solo mode, which is fun for solo performances, you can easily adjust the speed of repetition and the pitch.
First, please try the demo. You can experience the joy of performance just by switching layers.
– Loading the Demo: From the menu (touch the display), touch All Blocks, iD-Xtra_uncTK, and then Load.
– Switching layers: Press R5 and the area that the 16 × 16 buttons are in at the same time. (You can double-tap R5 to hold it and make it easier to switch layers.)
The appeal of TNR-i isn’t just limited to its faithful duplication of the TENORI-ON concept and its design and interface, which were developed under the supervision of Toshio Iwai.
If you are connected to a network, you can participate in TNR-i sessions with distant friends and others. Up to four people can connect to each other over a network and enjoy performing together at the same time. First, tap Clear and the display at the same time to activate the Game Center feature. Then, invite your friends, or use the auto-match feature to automatically select a partner, and start your session.
For more details, see page 23 of the internal manual.
Manual: From the menu (touch the display), touch System Menu and then Manual.
If you update the TENORI-ON (TNR-w or TNR-o) to version 2.1 and use it with TNR-i, you can participate in sessions using the TENORI-ON (TNR-w or TNR-o).
For details, see the TENORI-ON webpage at http://www.global.yamaha.com/tenori-on/.
The preset sounds of TNR-i are the same as those of the TENORI-ON, and the performance files are also compatible. You can use iTunes to transfer performance files saved on your TENORI-ON SD card to TNR-i. Of course, the reverse is also possible.
Please enjoy the world of TENORI-ON.
TNR-i is available for $9.99 in the US for a limited time.
DigiEnsemble Berlin is a group of classically trained musicians who use iPhones and iPads to perform classical music. One of the apps they are using for the strings in this video is the Thumbjam app. The group’s members Solisten (Morgenstimmung): Matthias Krebs, Daniel Grote, Dustin Dick, (Uwe Schamburek) are all classically trained musicians. Visit their website for more info and booking htp://www.digiensemble.de
Grain Science is a beautiful new iPad Synthesiser. Designed for musicians, soundscape artists and SFX engineers who want to go beyond our Sylo Synthesiser, Grain Science is built on similar principles of granular synthesis, but is vastly more powerful.
What’s New in Version 1.3.5
• Updated for iOS 6
• Updated to take advantage of larger iPhone 5/iPod touch (5th generation) screen
• New: Custom reverb mode: direct control over reverb unit parameters
• New: Custom piano key sizes
• New: MIDI damper pedal (sustain) support
• Fix: Crash that could occur when using the Performance Panel to reselect the current instrument
• Fix: Minor graphical & UI issues
• iPhone and iPod touch support: Grain Science is now a Universal app, one purchase works on all your iOS devices. With Retina graphics for 4/4S and the new iPad!
• Arpeggiator 2.0: The arpeggiator has been rewritten to offer tonnes of new power and flexibility
• Ribbon Controller & Velocity: You can now use MIDI velocity to control synth parameters — even without a MIDI device, using the new on-screen Ribbon Controller
• G-1000 Shapeinator: A new fully customisable wave-shaping FX unit.
Arpeggiator 2.0
• New: Chorus FX unit
• New: Pulse Width Modulation blend mode
• New: Wave list shows a count of how many instruments use each wave
• New: More musician-friendly BPM system, goes up to 180bpm with 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32 options (old system can still be selected)
• New: Multiple-octave chord arpeggiation
• New: Swipe to delete unwanted audio from wave & audio import lists
• New: “Reed” built-in wave
• New: 6 additional built-in instruments
• New: Tube Resonance Bass can be programmed. Note: It can bite! Slow, gentle programs are recommended, unless you want artefacts!
• New: UI improvement — swap FX units by dragging them around by their names
• New: Setting to choose whether recording is hold-to-record or tap-to-start/tap-to-stop
• New: Mini VU meter on recording button during recording (or, in hold-to-record mode, tap to toggle on/off)
• New: Cropping selections now snap to zero-crossings for smoother results
• Improved: Easier to see when a cropping selection is about to begin
• Improved: Avoids “popping” while installing/uninstalling FX units
• Improved: Slightly more useful naming for newly-created instruments
• Fix: Crash bug when mapping certain kinds of parameter in otherwise-unmodified instruments
• Fix: Issue with reverb resetting itself after re-opening Grain Science
• Fix: Control Mapper shows the same names for Tube Resonance parameters as on their FX dials
• Fix: Issue with Control Mapper Auto-Reset not always auto-resetting to the correct value
• Fix: Issue with Single-Shot grain mode
Previously, in version 1.1:
• New: Background audio support (enable in settings)
• New: Virtual MIDI — control Grain Science from other apps on your device
• New: Flanger FX unit
• New: Pulse Width FX unit
• New: Single Shot grain mode — like Linear, but halts at the end of the sample instead of looping
• New: UI improvement — Jump quickly to any panel without having to scroll one-by-one
• New: UI improvement — Grain Mode, Blend Mode, Reverb Mode and AGC buttons can now be dragged up/down to quickly change modes without popping open a separate panel.
• New: 5 additional built-in instruments
• Improved: Faster switching between instruments
• Improved: Cleaner transitions when switching instruments
• Improved: Reduced memory usage
• Fix: Parameters in the control mapping panel now show “FX switched off” when the FX Unit they apply to hasn’t been activated in the FX chain.
• Fix: Issue transferring control map minimum/maximum/auto reset values to new instruments
• Fix: Issue where Bounce grain mode would, in rare circumstances, loop instead
• Fix: Compatibility issue importing certain audio files
• Fix: Various other minor issues
Use the built-in waveforms, or record or import your own — then use the sophisticated grain engine to create something completely new from them! Grain Science is easy to get to grips with, but offers lots of depth to explore: instead of offering one or two LFOs, almost any parameter in the system can be programmed to vary over time in complex ways.
Using new optimisations available in iOS 5, we can provide two grain units per voice, which you can combine for morphing or complex modulated sounds, then send through a configurable FX chain. Pick any 4 from the collection of FX units (including various types of distortion, high- and low-pass filters, phaser, resonance and echo), and connect them up in any order. Other audio tweaks include soft loop, reverb, glide and supercharger controls, and the ability to affect granular synthesis in realtime (live grainbending).
Also featured are an arpeggiator with both chord and step-sequence modes; Core MIDI support, including “tap & twist” learning for setting up controls; and a customisable performance screen with a collection of XY Pads and wheels.
Rounding it off, Grain Science plays nicely with others: Dropbox, Twitter and email integration are all included, for sharing or exporting your waveforms, recordings of your performances, and instrument (patch) designs.
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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