Chapter 7: Touching Sound

The multi-touch interface of iOS devices has revolutionized the way we interact with sound.

Moving beyond traditional electronic music hardware and the associated software metaphors, the multi-touch interface of iOS devices has revolutionized the way we interact with sound. There are two specific categories of music apps that really showcase the potential of the platform by allowing us to interact directly with sound more intimately than ever.

Naked Waves

A handful of apps have given us the ability to interact directly with sound samples by touching visual representations of the actual waveforms.

Samplr

Samplr by Marcos Alonso allows you to manipulate up to six different samples simultaneously using a number of different play modes. Effects can be applied to each sample independently, and new samples can be recorded from an external source or by resampling existing samples. Samplr also allows you to record your gestures and play them back to automate the sample manipulation.

iDensity

iDensity by apeSoft allows you to load up to six different samples and play them independently using transport controls or by scrubbing along the waveforms with your fingers. You can control the scanning speed and direction of each of the playheads, introduce jittering and randomness, and alter things like grain density, length, and pitch. As you’ll find with the majority of apeSoft’s apps, almost any parameter can be controlled via MIDI, by tilting the device, or by automation using independent LFOs. In addition to using pre-recorded samples, you can feed some or all of the tracks with live audio using AUv3 (iDensity can act as a host or be loaded inside another host such as AUM), Audiobus, inter-app audio, the microphone, or input from a hardware audio interface.

Soundfruuze

Soundfruuze by Alexey Nadzharov is another multi-lane sampler / looper which samples the most recent 10 seconds of audio and allows you to interact with it in multiple ways over 5 different “lanes”. As an AUv3 app, this one only works in the effect slot.

SpaceCraft Granular Synth

SpaceCraft Granular Synth by Delta-V Audio offers two parallel granular engines. You can load audio files, or alternatively you can drop the app into an AUv3 FX slot and record samples directly from another app or input source. The notes grid on each engine allows for more musical results, and of course you can use a keyboard or other MIDI source to control the pitch.

Borderlands Granular

The next app on the list is Chris Carlson’s Borderlands Granular, which allows you to load multiple samples and interact with them using “grain clouds”. Samples can be positioned however you like on the playing field, resized, and even layered. The grain clouds play whatever is beneath them and can be moved between samples and even automated.

Apptronica folks loved this app so much we dedicated a whole compilation to tracks made with the it when version 2.0 released in 2015.

Sliver

Sliver by Alex Matheu only supports a single wave, but does provide four independent resizable playheads. Every control on this app can be mapped to MIDI controllers or automated using either the gesture recorder or built-in physics. Each channel has its own volume, effects, and pan controls. (Note: Sliver is a bit out of date, and while it works as an IAA source, it crashes if you try to use it in an effect slot to mangle audio from another source.)

Fluss

A much more recent (and more stable) take on single-wave mangling is Ruismaker’s Fluss, a collaboration project by Bram Bos and Hainbach. Similar to Sliver, you get multiple sliders and frictionless controls for physics-based modulation. You also get AUv3 support, both as an instrument and effect, or you can load the app into an FX slot for recording like SpaceCraft. The pitch/octave X/Y pad allows for slightly more musical manipulation and supports custom scales, which you know I love. You can also use a keyboard or other midi source.

Tardigrain

Another very musical single-wave granular synth is Tardigrain by humbletune. Tardigrain has solid AUv3 support and can be used as an instrument or effect. It has built-in wave shaper, reverb, sample crusher, and stereo spread effects that sound really good, so you can save a little bit of processing power by cutting down on the number of apps you need to load.

Bring the Noise

The second category of direct touch-to-sound apps is made up of some serious noisemakers. This category holds some of the most experimental apps on iOS, and honestly revising this part of the chapter was a bit depressing because two of the apps from the first edition of this book are hopelessly broken or completely unavailable. That’s an unfortunate reality of the iOS ecosystem that us long-timers just have to come to terms with. Still, if you’re looking for the cutting edge of what’s only possible on iOS, this is it.

Hexaglyphics Noise Generator

Hexaglyphics Noise Generator by Nicola Pisanti features a playing surface made up of glyphs similar to some of the visuals from the movie The Matrix. The controls borrow from the standard X/Y touchpad interface, with frequency on the x-axis and amplitude on the y-axis. It also includes a multi-touch filter modulation bar, a latch/hold feature, a percussive mode, and four different voices.

SKIIID

SKIIID by All the Machines is a four-pad drum synth that sounds and feels nothing like your average drum synth. I’ve only known about this one for a few days, but if you’re making glitch, you need this in your toolkit.

Broohahaizer

Broohahaizer is just plain weird. It’s an experimental noise effect app that can be loaded into an AUv3 FX slot or used in standalone mode. The input audio is fed to into both a synth and modulator section, which are then sent through a ring modulator and filter unit. I found it pretty interesting to automate the X/Y parameters of the synth and modulator with midiLFOs in AUM to get a nice radio tuning kind of effect.

VOSIS Pro

Last but definitely not least is VOSIS Pro by Ryan McGee, which uses scanned synthesis from an imported photo, videos, or live camera input. You create sound by touching and moving your fingers across the image. You can create loop points, use multi-touch gestures to control filters, and control vibrato using the device accelerometer. As an added bonus, you can hook your iPad up to an external monitor or projector to add a visual element to your performance.

Technically, this app is also available on Mac, but dragging around a mouse is simply not as cool as laying your fingers on the image.

I’d like to thank the folks from the iPad Musician group on Facebook for helping me remember a few apps I’ve forgotten, and for introducing me to some new apps I had completely missed. Feel free to leave a comment if there are other apps you feel should be on this list.

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