The question for Intua team
I was wondering, when you trigger samples using pads, why there's no option to control the length of a sample with the amount of time one press on it?
At the moment, when you click the pad, it plays the whole length ( length previously set) of a sample and that is a bit limiting cuz sometime you need just the short stab of a sample, sometimes the full length etc. Will that be possible with 1.3 update?
In my mind.. there are one of two ways to fix your issue Zack. One is.. to do what you say.. have some ability to provide start/offset ability per pad. But.. that is still kinda limiting. A better way to implement this is in the sequencer mode.. allow not only pitch/pan adjustment.. but also allow start/stop offsets. The code to do this is really easy actually.. it's merely a formula of figuring out the sample rate of the sound being played.. and starting to "read" the sound into the mixer portion of the app at that position... the harder thing of this is to properly stop the sample at the right point. I think putting it inline with the sequencer portion instead of pad gives a lot more flexibility. We could load up a single sample with say 20 different sounds on it, and we know the "cue" points and lengths. Then as we lay down the notes in the sequencer, we adjust the start/stop for each sound. The downside tho is that while the code to do this is not difficult, it would reduce performance of the overall app.. taking extra time on the sounds you've "adjusted" requires extra work per sound to jump to the start and then stop at the right time. The second problem tho may be one of polyphony. Unless they are using 32-bit math internally to "mix" the sounds together.. you're going to run up against a polyphony issue if you play more sounds than BeatMaker can play back. I still haven't found out the max voices it plays.. but if you put the same 1 sample several times in one track..and for each note you start/stop the sound at different points.. you could easily run out of polyphony.
The other way to correct this is rather than allow you to start/stop a sample adding extra logic to every sound being played.. potentially slowing it down.. gives us more pads. The ability to play more pads at once would allow you to instead cut up a sample and put it on more pads. This approach is a win win all around. Not only can your songs now have more sounds available, but you don't have to try to figure out the perfect start/stop position of a given sound within the sample... making it as much fun as it is now to play with.. only you've got more sounds to use. There is still the potential to run up into polyphony problems.. the best approach is to either the app stops the last played sound to add a new one into the mix.. or checks for the lowest volume sounds ( a sort of mp3 like hack ) to stop playing the most likely sound not heard in the mix. However.. if they are using 32-bit math (most likely given the hardware and registers on the iphone) for the mixing of the sounds, then the biggest problem you run into is when the total mixed sounds is "dithered" back to the 16-bit output of the iphone.
I would love for the Intua team to tell us if the wave files we export are in 24-bit audio, or 16-bit.. and what the total polyphony is for this app. Or if anyone knows.
In my mind.. there are one of two ways to fix your issue Zack. One is.. to do what you say.. have some ability to provide start/offset ability per pad. But.. that is still kinda limiting. A better way to implement this is in the sequencer mode.. allow not only pitch/pan adjustment.. but also allow start/stop offsets. The code to do this is really easy actually.. it's merely a formula of figuring out the sample rate of the sound being played.. and starting to "read" the sound into the mixer portion of the app at that position... the harder thing of this is to properly stop the sample at the right point. I think putting it inline with the sequencer portion instead of pad gives a lot more flexibility. We could load up a single sample with say 20 different sounds on it, and we know the "cue" points and lengths. Then as we lay down the notes in the sequencer, we adjust the start/stop for each sound. The downside tho is that while the code to do this is not difficult, it would reduce performance of the overall app.. taking extra time on the sounds you've "adjusted" requires extra work per sound to jump to the start and then stop at the right time. The second problem tho may be one of polyphony. Unless they are using 32-bit math internally to "mix" the sounds together.. you're going to run up against a polyphony issue if you play more sounds than BeatMaker can play back. I still haven't found out the max voices it plays.. but if you put the same 1 sample several times in one track..and for each note you start/stop the sound at different points.. you could easily run out of polyphony.
The other way to correct this is rather than allow you to start/stop a sample adding extra logic to every sound being played.. potentially slowing it down.. gives us more pads. The ability to play more pads at once would allow you to instead cut up a sample and put it on more pads. This approach is a win win all around. Not only can your songs now have more sounds available, but you don't have to try to figure out the perfect start/stop position of a given sound within the sample... making it as much fun as it is now to play with.. only you've got more sounds to use. There is still the potential to run up into polyphony problems.. the best approach is to either the app stops the last played sound to add a new one into the mix.. or checks for the lowest volume sounds ( a sort of mp3 like hack ) to stop playing the most likely sound not heard in the mix. However.. if they are using 32-bit math (most likely given the hardware and registers on the iphone) for the mixing of the sounds, then the biggest problem you run into is when the total mixed sounds is "dithered" back to the 16-bit output of the iphone.
I would love for the Intua team to tell us if the wave files we export are in 24-bit audio, or 16-bit.. and what the total polyphony is for this app. Or if anyone knows.
Hi, thanks for your well thought reply.
Few years ago I had Yamaha RS7000 sampler/sequencer ( ok..sequencer is a beast..has like 410.000 notes) BUT what I liked was that specific feature that you could use 'release' button for individual samples so you freely adjusted the pad release by dialing more or less.
If I just hit the pad with release button being closed it would only play that fraction of a second. If I hold my finger it would play the sample until I relseas it.
If I dialed release button to 'open' it would play the whole sample regardless of me holding my finger on the same it does now in Beatmaker.
wow thanks for the screenshots, cant wait. The fact this app update is coming so soon revitalized my love of the program, been messing around on it again after a long break. I always show everyone that app when trying to convince them how great the iphone is and how amazing the programs can be. Beatmaker is definitely the best example of how much power the iphone has as an app and music making tool.
Intua,
I think the best way to appease the baying masses here is to post 1 screenshot a day until the app is available in the app store. <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->
Comments
I was wondering, when you trigger samples using pads, why there's no option to control the length of a sample with the amount of time one press on it?
At the moment, when you click the pad, it plays the whole length ( length previously set) of a sample and that is a bit limiting cuz sometime you need just the short stab of a sample, sometimes the full length etc. Will that be possible with 1.3 update?
The other way to correct this is rather than allow you to start/stop a sample adding extra logic to every sound being played.. potentially slowing it down.. gives us more pads. The ability to play more pads at once would allow you to instead cut up a sample and put it on more pads. This approach is a win win all around. Not only can your songs now have more sounds available, but you don't have to try to figure out the perfect start/stop position of a given sound within the sample... making it as much fun as it is now to play with.. only you've got more sounds to use. There is still the potential to run up into polyphony problems.. the best approach is to either the app stops the last played sound to add a new one into the mix.. or checks for the lowest volume sounds ( a sort of mp3 like hack ) to stop playing the most likely sound not heard in the mix. However.. if they are using 32-bit math (most likely given the hardware and registers on the iphone) for the mixing of the sounds, then the biggest problem you run into is when the total mixed sounds is "dithered" back to the 16-bit output of the iphone.
I would love for the Intua team to tell us if the wave files we export are in 24-bit audio, or 16-bit.. and what the total polyphony is for this app. Or if anyone knows.
Hi, thanks for your well thought reply.
Few years ago I had Yamaha RS7000 sampler/sequencer ( ok..sequencer is a beast..has like 410.000 notes) BUT what I liked was that specific feature that you could use 'release' button for individual samples so you freely adjusted the pad release by dialing more or less.
If I just hit the pad with release button being closed it would only play that fraction of a second. If I hold my finger it would play the sample until I relseas it.
If I dialed release button to 'open' it would play the whole sample regardless of me holding my finger on the same it does now in Beatmaker.
I think the best way to appease the baying masses here is to post 1 screenshot a day until the app is available in the app store. <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->
I'd say we are looking at about 7 screenshots.
Any bets/takers?
More than 7?
Less than 7?
<!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->