Wiksnet release MIDI Studio

Wiksnet have just release MIDI Studio, I got my hand on a copy to give it a whirl. You might be able to tell from the latest Sketch Synth release that I am very keen on having 4 XY pads, each controlling FX levels on one of four tracks, a while back I did this quick dub step demo like that and it seems an effective way to modulate otherwise dry tracks:

Anyway MIDI Studio offers a 6 XY pad view that lets you do this, although I think it’s best feature is it’s keyboard, it lets you create custom keyboards to play in scales, it also has an arpeggiator built in as well. It’s also zero MIDI config as well, so it outputs on any coreMIDI channel that is available to it. The website is here:

http://www.wiksnet.com/

VJunk explores the twisted world of Sketch Synth 3D

The VJunk blog is doing a series of articles on Sketch Synth 3D; taking it from a few different angles, looking at what brought all of this together:
http://vjunk.org/alistair-and-synaesthesia/

iOS Music And You Review

Chip from iOS Music And You is getting a bit of a name for doing in depth reviews, and his review of Sketch Synth 3D is no exception, he’s drilled down into each area and it makes a fantastic overview of what it can do. As with any good review it has positive and negative feedback, the review sites the need for some kind of Keyboard interface (and rightly so). If you read the previous post on Orbitalis you will see that we are going the guitar route so that you get better repeatability and can do not just tunes, but can also use a guitar interface as a step modulator for any of the effects. The full review is available here:

http://iosmusicandyou.com/2012/03/11/ipad-music-app-review-sketch-synth-3d/

I’ve been reading some of his other reviews and they are a pure goldmine for in depth feature examinations, be sure to check them out at iosmusicandyou.com. You can also find another review of an older version at Steelbury Clones here.

Orbitalis

I don’t want to give away too much too soon; but I’ve been experimenting with this new guitar interface for Sketch Synth 3D. The interface is called Orbitalis and takes the place of the Big Pad, the Performer view is now so similar to the Big Pad that both are not needed, although I could add a button to switch between them, anyway…. Orbitalis has a guitar like interface, i.e. 6 strings and a fretboard around 22 notes long, it writes distinct notes onto the Y axis, you can then use one of the 3D editing modes to touch up the X & Z axis afterwards. I’ve had to do some pretty nifty performance updates to get this to work, the whole thing is now between 8-12 times more responsive than before, with no real cost, ding dong! The major advantage of this interface is repeatability, on a 3D touchpad it is incredibly difficult to press the same note twice, this solves that and lets you do tunes, I’m just in the process of dealing with scales.