Developer Alexander Zolotov has released an update to SunVox, his modular synthesizer for iPhone and iPad.
The update adds in improved audio engine, Audiobus 2 and IAA support, new modules and more.
Here’s what’s new in SunVox 1.8:
- audio engine has been switched to 32bit (Floating Point) mode;
- other than 44100 sampling rate support;
- Audiobus 2 and IAA (partially) support;
- new Module View (Routing) functions: Zoom (with multitouch support), Snap to Grid;
- MetaModule: EDIT button has been added; now you can edit MetaModules without annoying Loading/Saving;
- MetaModule: additional options: Arpeggiator (change the pitch of internal
- MetaModule patterns), Apply velocity to song;
- Sampler: the following options have been added: Record on play (use it if you want to record in sync with the PLAY button), Record in mono, Record with reduced sample rate, Record in 16bit;
- SpectraVoice improvements: auto render, additional sample size, new band types (random, triangle1, triangle2, overtones1, overtones2, overtones3, overtones4);
- Sound2Ctl: “Record Values” option has been added; now all values from this module can be recorded alongside with the other SunVox events (notes, Theremin, etc.);
offset commands (effect codes 09 and 07) support has been added to the following modules: Generator, Analog Generator; - MultiSynth: new controller “Random phase” has been added; for example, with this option you can play the Sampler’s notes from the random position;
- MultiSynth: new controller “Random velocity” has been added;
- Analog Generator: new option “Filter freq. scaling per key (reverse)”;
- Analog Generator: new controller “Noise” – amount of the white noise;
new pattern command: Previous Track; use it to apply effects to previous track; but the following secondary effects are not allowed: 2x, 40..5F, 1D;
new button in the Pattern Editor: Spec.Cmd – press it to insert a special command (Set Pitch or Previous Track); - press SHIFT and change the value of some controller – the new value will be written to the pattern;
- press SHIFT and play some note on Touch Theremin – the new microtone (Set Pitch XXYY command) will be written to the pattern;
- new module – GPIO (only for Raspberry Pi); with this module you can send or receive the signals to/from GPIO pins;
- additional MIDI slot has been added to the Preferences; now you can use two MIDI keyboards simultaneously;
- Timeline section has been added to the Preferences;
- new option: Preferences -> Timeline -> Show timeline (always show Timeline on the screen);
- new keyboard shortcut: SHIFT + F9 – record start/stop;
- new keyboard shortcut (pattern editor): SHIFT + [ – transpose octave down;
- new keyboard shortcut (pattern editor): SHIFT + ] – transpose octave up;
- new keyboard shortcut (pattern editor): CTRL + m – paste and mix;
- new keyboard shortcut (pattern editor): SHIFT + k – insert the “Previous Track” special command;
- new simple song examples: spectravoice2, metamodule_arpeggiator, metamodule_arpeggiator2, std_effect_multitrack, std_effect_multitrack2, std_effect_multitrack3, raspberry_pi_gpio;
- new song examples: alchemy_masters, full_moon_night, Twistboy – Translucent, Spline – Endless August, Knyazivan – Left Double Quotation Mark;
SunVox is available in the App Store for US $5.99.
I’ve owned this app for a couple of years now, and it has one of the coolest interfaces ever. It’s a deep, deep app, and Alex is a genius. But having come from a hardware sequencer background, this app was my introduction to the tracker format and I just can’t seem to adapt to the it. It’s probably my lack of gumption- I need to spend some serious time delving into the app to figure it out. Since getting Gadget though, I feel less compelled to do so, as Gadget has a work flow that feels closer to my hardware setup and is a breeze to use. However, I wouldn’t want Sunvox to change, it’s a beautiful app and many folks have made sweet music on it. After the update I’m going to give it another try.
sunvox feels more like a hardware sequencer than gadget to me, guess it depends on what hardware you’re used to. 😉
some stuff that might help:
-keep musical information and automation separate when you can.
-stack your patterns vertically and run modules into an amplifier then you can loop playback and just play around with mixing and muting that one amp. later you can clone your patterns and then record real time playing with the amplifiers into a new pattern.
-put patterns into meta modules and you can jam on triggering them kinda mpc style.
– when you want to automate something turn on real time control and move the parameter around then stop it. this can help you understand the format of automation data.
don’t get me wrong i like gadget too! (although i wish it ran on my laptop 😉 ) and i think the automation is much more clear and straight forward with the named parameters and so on, but sequencing i like to add some help from sunvox, which i kinda treat like having a bunch of drum machines with sequencers, an mmt8 and an mc500, but much easier to sync. 🙂
check out Renoise
Did somebody say MMT-8?? Like Goudron, I tried an actual tracker a long time ago and couldn’t click with it, which is what has been keeping me on the fence about sunvox. However, my only hardware experience has been using 2xMmt8s to control everything 10+ years ago, so maybe I outta try this. I’ve heard people compare gadget which I have, to caustic3 but how would caustic compare to sunvox in terms of work flow?
price drop
2.99