a personal journey in mobile music
This is just the kind of thing that inspires me to get that Teensy working at long last. What’s more the code is shared too. You can find it here.
It is also an interesting sign that app ideas and concepts are moving out of the iOS world and into other environments and technologies. To a degree this is true with Hermutt Lobby’s hardware excursion (below), and also HumbleTune’s Phase synth on PocketC.H.I.P.
My guess is that we’ll only see more of this, and personally I think that’s a good thing.
I’ve mentioned the possibilities of the Raspberry Pi a few times now, and this confirms that as a platform it is very capable. Sadly, according to this page “Currently, there are no plans to release as products and to publish the source codes“. Which is really sad.
Here are some details if you really want to make yourself sad …
High-Resolution (24bit/96kHz) 6-Polyphonic Innovative Raspberry Pi Synthesizer made by The Synth-Sennin (The Hermit Wizard of Synthesizer).
Version 2 Additional Functions
The S³-6R is originally developed by The Synth-Sennin (The Hermit Wizard of Synthesizer) who was once a sound engineer of the Company “R”. It is innovative digital synthesizer which is clearly different from general analog modeling synthesizer.
Individual synthesis based on original phase control and modulation thinking (αα-Phase Modulation). Driving in High-Resolution (24bit/96kHz) and 6-Polyphonic. Also it is a feature that very low alias noise even if extreme modulation. It adopts a Raspberry Pi as a platform.
Currently, there are no plans to release as products and to publish the source codes.
Tim at Discchord called this ‘ugly’. I’m not sure it’s that bad, although it could do with a better description, or at the very least a bit fuller anyway.
Here’s what the developer says about DA ONE Synth:
The DA ONE synthesizer app provides you with a powerful synthesis engine combining digital and (virtual) analog synthesis methods, such as wavetable synthesis, vector waveform mixing, subtractive, additive, and frequency modulation synthesis. The individual blocks of this synthesizer are connected using an innovative and highly flexible routing system that allows millions of different configurations of oscillators, filters, and distortion blocks.
DA ONE Synth costs $7.99 on the app store now:
zMors Modular is excellent and now in 1.8 it just gets so much better. I’m a big fan of iPad apps that go universal. Here’s what’s new:
The lovely people at Klevgränd have brought yet another new app to add to their already excellent portfolio.
Baervaag brings FM synthesis to the masses! An easy to use but still powerful and tweakable synthesizer, accessible to everyone. Several parameters are sensitive to velocity which makes Baervaag very expressive and fun to play.
The additional LP filter, ”Wobbler”, and a simple stereo chorus makes this synthesizer versatile and a joy to tweak.
Noteworthy features:
Important: Baervaag in stand-alone mode does not support IAA or MIDI. You can try it out using the keyboard at the bottom, but that’s it. We recommend using Baervaag with AUv3 compatible hosts.
iPhone 6 or later is recommended.
iPad Air 1 or later is recommended.
Baervaag is on the app store and costs $4.99
I’ve been desperately avoiding modular synths for a long time now even though I’ve found myself drawn to them as have many of my friends been. But when I was in Berlin at Ableton’s Loop festival in November I bumped into an old friend, Tom Whitwell. You might remember Tom from Music Thing, and now Music Thing Modular. Tom had this device with him.
Not the bela being presented, but the tiny little lunchbox modular on the table. Here’s a close up.
This little device totally captivated me. I thought it was awesome, and it’s battery powered too. Tom very kindly put me in touch with the maker of the lunchbox modular. You can find his site here. It’s well worth a look.
Very kindly, the maker of the lunchbox modular has sent me one, and now I’m on the start of what I’m told will be a very long journey.
The lunchbox modular is a beautiful little device and I’m looking forward to adding my first modules to it soon.
I’ll be sharing my journey as I go. Wish me luck!
From the maker of ToyTone and PMW-1 comes another fun app called LCW-1. This app is for playing the SE (sound effect). It resembles ToyTone released in the past. MIDI is supported only “Note On”, “Note Off” and “All Note Off”.
Anti-Aliasing
Delay Effect
MIDI Mode
Synth
Using 1-8 channels, it operates as 8 monophonic synthesizers.
To receive MIDI on LCW-1, Camera Connection Kit and MIDI device (ex. USB MIDI Interface) is required.
LCW-1 costs $1.99 on the app store now:
Jonathan Mackenzie, the maker of scriptSONIC brings us a new universal app called Ops. Here are all the details …
Ops is a modular synthesiser designed to make it easy to create and explore sound interactively with a touch screen. Ops does away with patch cords, instead using a system of connected blocks with a clear signal flow.
The blocks, called ops, are joined together into structures by dragging and dropping them on screen. Structures can easily be copied and varied to build-up rich, interesting results.
There are ops to perform a wide range of functions, including interaction, signal generation, effects processing, control, audio input, MIDI input, and pitch and rhythm manipulation.
Ops costs $9.99 on the app store now:
I’ve been waiting for this for a while now. It looks really great and it is from some of the people behind the Mute Synth (I and II), both of which are excellent (although I probably prefer II).
Polytik describes itself as a collection of beautifully designed hand-held synth modules exploring the border between play and sound. Which sounds right up my street.
Here’s what the Kickstarter page says …
Born out of a DIY ethos and the maker community, Polytik has been crafted into something very different – a series of beautifully designed objects in their own right.
Polytik is open-source hardware and encourages users to make new modules and hacks.
The brainchild of John Richards and Jack Featherstone in collaboration with Artists & Engineers, these hybrid analogue/digital devices can produce a palette of sounds ranging from angular rhythmic sequences to abstract noise, pads and drones. The synths are designed to be tactile, to be held and touched when playing.
Polytik comprises four separate, colour-coded, battery powered modules. Every Polytik system needs a Core module and at least one sound module. The sound modules connect to the core with ribbon cables, these carry audio and control data to connect the system together giving you a single audio output for all modules. You can have up to three sound modules connected at one time.
The Starter Pack comprises a Core module and a Combi module, which we think is a really good way to start using Polytik.
POLYTIK MODULES:
Core (Blue) – A sequencer, programmer and mixer. YOU NEED TO HAVE THIS MODULE TO START, you can then add any or all of the other modules to expand your experience.
Combi (Black) Voltage-controlled feedback, voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and filtering
VCO (Red) Voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and voltage-controlled filter (VCF)
Noise (Yellow) Noise generator, patchable feedback networks and voltage-controlled filter (VCF)
For more information take a look at the Kickstarter page.
Whatever you think of the Stylophone you can’t deny its place in mobile music history and that is a very significant place. Dubreq also brought us the Stylophone S2, and now the the Stylophone GEN X-1 is the latest portable analogue synthesizer by Dubreq. Estimated retail launch date is May 2017 with an anticipated RRP of (no more than) £59.99, which is pretty good I think.
If you watch the video above I think you’ll agree that this is a pretty nice noise maker. I’ll certainly be getting one in May. If you take a look at their page about the Gen X-1 you can register and get 20% off when it launches.