idea: iPad Virus TI app
 

Wouldn't it be lovely if Access made an official iPad virus control app? Use the camera usb adapter to plug your iPad directly into the virus, and have all the features of virus control on a touch screen? Of course the UI would need a big overhaul so it was ergonomic and made sense as a multi touch interface... but wouldn't that be nice?

Would be great for loading patches, editing arp patterns, and accessing anything that is buried in menus on the TI.

I'd prefer to see Access get the hang of basic VST DAW integration fundamentals that seem to have escaped them so far, and until Kindergarten is graduated the big leagues might be a way off, but as a creative idea, tablets offer a lot of future with regard to touch.

Take a look at what Spectrasonic is doing with Omnisphere.

http://www.spectrasonics.net/products/omni_tr.php

I do own Omnisphere, and it is a great plug-in, if not a bit on the CPU-heavy side. Its got a great sample library, and the ability to mix samples with synthesis in an amazing way.

Sounds like you were personally unlucky with the TI and your computer set-up. However plenty of others don't have problems. Which TI OS were you using? Did you talk to Access support?

Wrong thread though.

Back on the actual topic, just scored an iPad and the first app I made a bee-line was the Korg iMS-20 and also iElectribe. The iMS-20 is great fun, very bold and fat sounding, albeit a tad fiddly. Less impressed with the iElectribe, it's very limited.

Going to try hooking up the iPad to MIDI before commenting on the iMS20 any further. Great though the iMS-20 is (you couldn't really expect to get any better for a tablet application and such a low price, notwithstanding the price of the iPad to begin with of course) I still dreadfully miss real knobs and buttons.

A tablet is great for messing around with but darned fiddly, limited, and restricting in use if external MIDI controllers ain't supported.

That said, Virus Control would be much easier to use due to its modern tabbed nature, larger controls and clean layout, rather than displaying all knobs at the same time as on the iMS.

However, you'd want to play the Virus with one hand and control the iPad with the other.... You may as well just use the knobs on the actual Virus to begin with! That's what they're there for. :) Don't be scared of using them.

Unless you meant a dedicated iTi|2 application for iPad (like Korg iMS-20) for people without a TI.

I don't recall the TI OS version, it was shortly after they released a 64-bit Windows driver, and that might have been part of the issue. I won't go too far with this here because as you said not the right topic, other than to say I have read on this forum of users with 64-bit VC woes as recently as the last few days, and I'm hoping that as 32-bit becomes completely passe, everything will just work on 64-bit Windows (maybe it already does? It was over a year ago that I tried to get my Ti2 Desktop working correctly in FL). Either way, when I see indications all VC / driver issues are up to speed I will likely either just get a Snow instead of a desktop or maybe wait to see what Access releases as their next gen Virus.

Back to iPads, I was mostly commenting that making great sounding hardware seems to be more Access' forte than software integration, so I do worry a little about them expanding into other software ventures until their existing software commitments are tightened up. In other words if they put a dedicated multi-touch controller on the Virus itself it would likely work like gangbusters since they are then not at Apple's mercy for iOS release testing and what not.

About iPad-specific synths, I'm sure we will see lots of "fun" (i.e. novelty) type synths emerge for tablets at first, but long term some of them could evolve into very serious instruments, particularly as tablet processors get more powerful.

For now, I think a lot of people are viewing it as a modulation controller that might offer musical possibilities not yet realized on typical synth modulation controllers. Many synths have had simultaneous X-Y axis controllers, which is in effect the same thing as controlling two synth knobs at once, except requiring one hand to do so instead of two. One possibility that comes to mind with a tablet is X+Y axis + tilt of the pad itself to various angles thus providing another dimension of modulation with a single hand. It might require a special stand for the iPad (and I may be wrong but I think the gyroscope in the iPad can do this out of the box), but if you can imagine not only having the changes taking place by your fingers on the surface, but also by tilting the pad itself forward, back, left or right using the wrist joint. This means simultaneous adjustment of potentially many more parameters than even four hands on tradional synth knobs could accomplish, but with one hand (you still need to keep one hand free to play the keys :).

Just a thought.

Re: the axis controller possibilities - there are some good things you can do with TouchOSC and MAX to convert X, Y, and Z axis into scalable midi messages when using the iphone.

A stand and a way to control the iPad tilt smoothly as you said before would be a bit more reliable as well as allow for a more consistent performance then waving an iPhone and hoping for the best.



The real power of these interfaces is the ability to construct a tactile surface that conforms to your musical performance needs, rather then conforming your performance and composition to fit the gear.

Incidently you can switch out the keyboard on the iMS-20 for two Kaoss pads:



The one on the right triggers gated notes in a selectable tuning scale (chromatic, pentatonic, 3rds, 4ths, and loads more) with pitch on the X axis and gate time on the Y axis.

The kaoss pad on the left can use any selectable parameters on either axes.

Just downloaded GarageBand for the iPad (my IQ has dropped several levels) however I must say I was suprised. The idea of the 'playable' drum kits is great fun as it detects how fast/hard you hit the pads/skins and where you hit them. There's three standard drum kits and a couple or so AKAI-like 4x4 pads. Not sure if you can upload your own samples to them yet, would be great if you could, but limiting if you can't. The virtual keyboards are pretty good - looks like they took a number of samples (or limited emulations) from the Minimoog/Voyager, Nord et al in the synth-based tabs. They've been heavily treated to sound radio (idiot) friendly.

Wouldn't have brought Garage Band up but it's like a miniture DAW and the the GUI for each instrument is slick, tactile in use, and well designed.



(If you can stand the cheese).

The iMS-20 is rather fiddly in comparison, at the expense of maintaining a fascia faithful to the original.

Next stop, Reactable.

Speaking of Reactable, a guy at my uni built his own version for 40 bucks using one of those PS cameras and downloadable creative commons visual cards...

About halfway into the video below, iPad as a controller with Omnisphere is shown in some depth. At around 16:30, he shows the Orb, which was added to the latest Omnisphere, controlled with an iPad. The Orb can be used with a mouse of course (how I use it now), but would arguably be more fun with an iPad and almost certainly easier to work with if used in live performances. They could also do some things with multi touch that wouldn't even be possible with the mouse, but they might be avoiding tablet-only features for a reason.

http://www.spectrasonics.net/video/i...ack.php?id=131

Hello,

Can't believe I just found out about this place after 12 years of owning & loving my Virus(es)...

Anyway, I've created an advanced Virus controller for iPad using TouchOSC which allows things you could never do with knobs alone - I've come up with some insane stuff while experimenting with it.

You can read about it here:

http://www.whinecellarstudio.com/home/antidote.html

Hope it inspires you ;-)

EDIT: this controller was designed with a Virus Classic for backward compatibility but it's very easy to remap any controller for the newer TI models...

Ask and you shall receive!

http://www.iximix.com/index.php?opti...=66&Itemid=152