Developer Roger Mann has updated Rubycon – a software step sequencer for iPad – adding external MIDI control and more.
Here’s what’s new in Rubycon v1.7:
- Pitch Scale & Key selection
- External MIDI control (For details, see Mann’s site. )
New in v1.6
- MIDI device control, from keyboard, BCR2000, and others
- Pitch transposing from MIDI keyboard
- Control/Play loop-points, ratcheting, skip/pause, start/stop, CC, as well as pitch, duration, velocity per step….
- Pitch Modes for beyond chromatic, dqwdw, great for melodic development
Features:
- Modern take on the classic 8 step sequencer.
- Play/Control from external MIDI keyboard, devices
- Pitch Scales for beyond chromatic, great for melodic development
- Ratcheting per step
- External clock Sync for Logic, and other DAW synchronization
- Supports Core MIDI for external synthesizers
- Audiobus support
- CC’s and more
Rubycon is available for US $3.99 in the App Store
he also has the i960 ac simpler version for 1.99
It’s the same app, but in an early version with no upgrade option and of course another name. I think that’s a dubious strategy, so I didn’t buy both.
His stated reasoning was that R960Seq was meant to be a pretty direct clone and Rubycon was with all the new stuff he wanted to add, but weren’t part of the original Moog 960.
Great little sequencer.
Look, Instant Berlin School. 🙂 I’m not sold on iPads just yet, but this is a useful, tidy bit of design. It brings to mind someone sitting in front of a controller or two and five or six iPads, running this, a couple of synths and a DAW. That’s the modern version of an older proggy hardware stack and even at the price of a decent iPad, the total expense is still lower. That assumes that you’d trust such a rig, especially live, but that doesn’t invalidate the idea. I have to give Rubycon a thumbs-up. Imagine some brave soul using it to run an iVCS3, AniMoog, Nave and maybe Korg’s Module for piano/ep/basic polysynths. I don’t know about you, but I’m one of those madmen who has dropped several thou on gear. If someone has the ballz to go all-iPad, its certainly an honest approach.
I would prefer having a step sequencer, that has five or six tracks, instead of buying as many iPads.
Zaquencer, Beatstep Pro, etc. etc.
thanks for that. was hoping some people would mention competing apps….
There are tons of step sequencing apps. Xynthesizer can be up to 5 tracks but you preset the notes. It comes with a surprising good sounding built in synth and has interesting generative capabilities. Little MIDI Machine supports two tracks. Xynthesizer and LMM work on iPhone as well. There’s Koushon (sp) and B-step. MIDISequencer is probably the most interesting but it’s currently only a single track. Necklace is very cool too. Think it supports 3 tracks but not exactly a traditional step sequencer.
I’m sure I’m forgetting another 10. That’s excluding all of the piano roll style sequencers!
There are no step sequencer apps on iPad, that transpose on the run and play several tracks at once. (Ihave a couple, that have transposition parameters hidden in menus, but that’s not Berlin school)
LMM has two channels and you can transpose via MIDI input.
http://syntheticbits.com/LittleMIDIManual/LMMv3iPad.pdf
Midisequencer by Tony Saunders is very powerful ipad step sequencer , with chords & midi fx IAPs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emBemOSn1dE
He is also working on a multi sequence version .
midiSequencer will soon be 20 track…..