iDS-10 (iOS)

I wonder if they will make an android port.

been playing around with this on and off over the last week on my ipad (despite it only being made for the iPhone).

thoughts:

1) 2 subtractive synths + 1 voice synthesizer + 6 drum sounds.   i'm kind of puzzled by this arrangement.  the first 2 synths operate pretty much like those on the DS-10, but the drum sound parameters are pared way down to 808/909-esque parameters specific to each type of drum sound (kick / snare / hihat1 / hihat2 / tom / "perc").   i don't understand why they didn't just have 8 full-featured subtractive synths -- i'd wager that most iOS devices should have the necessary CPU horsepower to do this just fine.  maybe the rationale was for ease of use but i don't think any true synth heads would sacrifice sound design flexibility for that.

2) the formant-based voice synthesizer is pretty cool actually, you can get it to speak either parsed text strings, or you can use the mic to record speech or whatever else and the synth will use that spectral content as a wavetable of sorts (with visuals and everything).  you can actually use this sort of like a DMG's WAV channel, it's pretty flexible in that you can do things like airy robot speech, or growling deep bass.

3) i like being able to pan around the iPad and enter in grid-based note data as an alternative to the stylus approach, but it's also prone to not being able to distinguish between panning and entering notes, so you might accidentally clobber some notes you previously put down when all you wanted to do was pan around the sequence grid.

4) Effects.  as i understand it, in each pattern, you can set a particular per-pattern effect (delays / reverbs / chorus / EQ) for each synth.  on top of that, it looks like there is one global effect you can set to apply to all of the mixer's channels (the degree to which you can also set per channel).

5) you can easily email songs and synth patches from right in the app.  this should make backups and collabs way easier.

6) you CAN automate parameters via sequence grid.  I can say this because there are a couple of times i accidentally opened up a sequence grid for an arbitrary parameter.... only, i have no idea how to do it intentionally.  i hope this isn't just a bug, because otherwise the only other way to do this is to hit the Record button and manually twiddle knobs.

7) there's an intriguing "Mystery Bingo" screen consisting of a 5x5 grid of cryptic icons that are like "achievements" that individually activate permanently when you use different features of the app.  some of the icons activate when you move the controls in a certain way; others activate when you input a particular sequence of notes in the grid.  as for what happens when all 25 icons are lit, i have zero clue.  i'm guessing partly it's meant as a fun incentive to delve into all the app's features, especially the newer or more obscure ones.  anyway it's a nice touch that i wasn't expecting.

@Bryface Thanks for the write up! So do you like it overall? Is it worth it considering how many alternatives there are?

Stab in the dark for automation sequencer... Try double-tapping/holding on knobs?

I'm not an Android expert, and I heard about the improvement on Lollipop, but from what I've read and seen, it's still a problem for reasons which have to do with the Linux sound architecture.

Here is a post about poor test results of major Android handsets, with lollipop.
http://www.androidauthority.com/horrend … cy-624171/

Here's a post about the deeper technical problem.
http://superpowered.com/androidaudiopathlatency

About the premium price thing, it's still $40 less than the Nintendo DS version, at non sale price, so I say it's a good deal.

Last edited by breakphase (Dec 9, 2015 4:57 am)