I think that KRFT is a great idea and a great app too, and it goes from strength to strength too. In the latest update it adds Audiobus and also its own network giving KRFT users the ability to share their own surfaces and try out those from other users.
You might be wondering what the pictures above are all about. I spent a very pleasant time with Studio Amplify guys playing with KRFT, and having a few craft beers at the same time. Personally I think it’s a great recipe for an evening, so you should try it sometime.
For now, here’s all that’s new with KRFT:
All aboard the Audio Bus to the new KRFT Network
Check out the KRFT Network tab! You can now share your Surfaces and play on other users. Also, share privately and open your Surfaces on multiple devices.
Use KRFT with Audio Bus 2 & 3 and control other apps using the Audio Bus control bar from within KRFT.
Added the ability to scroll horizontally on iPhone.
Other improvements:
Added a master volume slider
Added list picker for waveforms
Added list picker for morph & dial property list
Added some more options for dial & morph properties
I’ve said it before, and almost certainly (well certainly) I’ll say it again. I really like KRFT. It’s a pretty awesome way to make music. If you feel the same, and if you’re in London next week on the 5th then you should come along to the KRFT Jam.
When: April 5th 6:00-9:30pm Where: Forest Rd Tap Room, London, E8 3RL
If you don’t know KRFT, then you need to check it out. If you can’t make it, I promise to take some pictures, maybe some video too.
I’m a big fan of the cool things that Studio Amplify do, and especially KRFT Realtime Composition, and in version 1.3 they’ve done even bigger and better things. Here’s what’s new:
Added 16th triplet & 8th triplet grids in to the matrix
See note info when changing velocity, length, pitch in matrix
Now add Labels to your cells to help you remember what they are!
Added a preset picker list
Redesigned the Surface Edit/Add Cell menu
Now you can change the channel a cell points towards
Also you can turn a Loop or a Fill on/off in edit mode
Added a simple keyboard/drum preview keyboard to the sound tweaks page to help with tweaking!
Added Cue Time and Mode to Group settings
Reworked the keyboard toolbar and added velocity controls
Now set cue & sync on timelines to 0 for instant fun
Added a long hold in edit mode to go straight into cel edit
Note preview toggle
Metronome toggle
Now enter custom value of horizontal sliders by tapping on the value
The lovely chaps at Studio Amplify have been hard at work and brought us KRFT version 1.1 which is pretty big and well worth a look at. Also KRFT is still at its sales price of $2.99.
Here’s what’s new:
Added full iPad support! Enjoy retina graphics and more space to build your Surfaces on iPad.
Exposed loads of settings and tweaks for the synth engine so you can add more personality to your sounds.
Unlocked the ability to create custom Dials & Morphs. Now you can pick from a large list of synth, drum and master properties to create your effects.
Added “Save As” and “Clone Surface” to give more flexibility when working with your Surfaces
Increased the quality of recordings to 256kbps AAC.
I’ve been testing this app for what seems to be an age now. It’s something I’ve been talking to the chaps at Studio Amplify for a very long time. It’s definitely something worth checking out. Here’s all the details:
KRFT is a new approach to music creation. Build beautiful interfaces from a toolset of musical cells. Make anything from a funky groove box to a full composition, and everything in-between. Open the door to new workflows and inspiration.
Moving away from the typical 80s multi-track paradigm found in most music making software, KRFT is a unique and inspiring way to create music. By combining a variety of loops, dials, effects and more, you build your own customized musical Surface. These interfaces are a collection of musical functions and ideas that can be controlled and interpreted in real time.
The nature of this workflow allows you to make expressive decisions on-the-fly and create dynamic compositions that would be difficult to achieve in typical music software.
Download it now and rev those creative engines!
MODULAR MUSIC MAKING
Don’t be confined by pre-defined interfaces, make your own rules! Want to build a song? Add loops and groups to build a structure. Need to add a layer of jam-ability? Add drum fills, live effects and filters. Now get jamming!
POWERFUL SOUND ENGINE
A highly optimised and high quality custom sound engine is at the core of KRFT. Choose from 50 Bass presets, 50 Lead presets, 14 Drum Kits & over 50 Sound Effects to make your creations. Go deeper and tweak filters, effects and more to make the sound your own.
NON-LINEAR COMPOSITION
Rather than writing a song from start to finish, KRFT lets you play and re-interpret your composition giving you the opportunity to experiment and add flair in real time. Record multiple takes and export them to your favourite audio software or upload online.
Help us build the future of music production. Send your thoughts and ideas to hello@studioamplify.com and connect with us on Twitter & Instagram @StudioAmplify
KRFT is on the app store at $2.99, which is 40% off until the 20th of Feb:
I always think it’s difficult to tell you which were the best apps in any year, and 2016 is no different at all. What works for me as a great app won’t work for other people and vice-versa, so it all seems a little pointless. However, what I can tell you is which apps were important to me this year. I think that might be more interesting (or maybe not), and it’s certainly easier to do from my perspective.
So without further messing around, here are the apps that I used a lot, or found intriguing, or for whatever other reason, mattered.
Without a doubt Auxy is an app that I can’t do without, at least not currently anyway. I really love it. It works for me and just fits with how I think and work right now. I’m not saying that this will always be the case, but for now me and Auxy, we’re good. I also really like the sound packs that they’ve been releasing. I got them both and love them.
Moog’s Model 15 is on my list for a totally different reason than Auxy is. Model 15 is here because it’s one of those apps that I keep fiddling with and getting into and then leaving for a bit, then coming back to. I don’t know if you do that, but I certainly do. I like Model 15 and I’d really like to do something useful with it, but so far I haven’t. Who knows, maybe in 2017 I will.
NOIZ you’ll know from Studio Amplify. It’s a great app for making stuff even if you’ve no idea how to make stuff, and I’m all for that. Of course the nice chaps from Studio Amplify now have KRFT in beta and I’ve been playing with that recently. It is going to be awesome. I mentioned it not so long ago here, and I’m hoping to be able to tell you lots more soon enough.
I think that these apps are going to have a really bright future and are going to help users to make things in ways that they hadn’t thought about before.
I’m a fan of Mr HumbleTune’s apps, music, and design style. I think it’s great, and for good reason. His apps are amazing, and, pretty much everywhere too. I really like two of them though, nils, and frekvens. They really let you mangle sound, but in a good way, in a way that doesn’t hurt. I’m sure that other people find themselves coming back to the same FX apps over and over, and frekvens is one of those for me.
5. All things Korg
I can’t help myself but say that I do love Korg’s apps. They’ve done well this year. We’ve had good updates and new apps like ODYSSEi and iWAVESTATION. My personal favs are Gadget and iDS-10 though. Again I find myself coming back to these time and time again. I bet some of you do too.
I think that Sabre has been a bit overlooked and that’s a shame. The AC Sabre is an amazing gestural performance tool for the iPhone and hasn’t really had the attention it should have had. I’d like to do a bit more with it myself next year as I think I’ve only barely scratched the surface of what it can do for me.
I posted on ROTOR and the tangible controllers yesterday, but it also deserves a mention here. I like modular apps but ROTOR (and Reactable mobile before it) seem to provide a more accessible route into modular than a lot of other apps in that genre. Now that ROTOR has the tangible controllers with it I’m hoping to get a bit more time to devote to it soon.
Unusual apps and alternative interfaces are very important to me. So Fluxpad is assured a place in my list. It gives you a different way to interface with sound and that in itself is important. I like that Fluxpad is playful and easy to use and yet at the same time a highly capable and flexible app for manipulating samples.
There had to be a DAW in the list and it’s Cubasis 2.0. It’s been a big help to me on a project that I’m working on so it’s in my list. However, there was stiff competition from n-Track Studio 8 which arrived quite recently. It will be interesting to see how some of the big, and one or two little, DAWs survive in 2017.
I love drum apps. Patterning is another app that just fits with my workflow. It’s just intuitive and fluid and it makes perfect sense to me. I can’t say that about all drum apps I’m afraid, but Patterning is probably one of the few go to drum apps that stays on my iPad. I’d love there to be an iPhone version too.
You might find this one a little strange, but more will become apparent soon. For now I’ll tell you that I love Wotja’s ability to create an ambient soundscape from a few words. It’s simple to tailor and tweak to do exactly what you want too.
I’ve also found myself coming back to Mixtikl recently and really getting into that app again. I think that these generative technologies are so deep that it can be easy to get lost. However, I think it’s worth it to dive in and explore and I’d like to do more of that in 2017 with all of Intermorphic’s tools.
Last and by no means least is Skram from Liine. I’m a fan of apps that make the process of creating music simpler and more immediate. To me that’s really important. I thought Skram was great when it first came out and the latest update has made it even more usable. I hope that it keeps going and brings more and more people into making music, and I’d also really like to see an iPhone version of it too.
So that’s 12 apps (more if I’m honest) that mattered to me and continue to do so. I hope you found that interesting. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments.
PalmSounds 