Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
FM Synthesis, Cuckoo, Patches, KQDixie, The Future
The Digitone is not cheap, and it is out of stock and (dare I say) not tremendously unique at the moment. I imagine if I pulled one out for a gig around a certain group of people they mind roll their minds eye at me.
KQDixie is underpriced, and has an annoying patch management system, but it is backwards compatible with the history of FM Synthesis.
I have been listening to Cuckoo's video this morning the background:
I think it would be a big mistake for this community not to share some modern patch banks. I am a part of the Reaktor community and one of the compliments for someone who designs a synth is for the heavy hitters to come along a few days (or years) later and upload preset banks for the synth. Obviously, like Cuckoo, they take the time to sit down and learn the synth and then tinker around to produce a number of settings that reflect the character of the design and the nuances of their own taste.
Can we do the same for KQDixie? Can we make patches that are comparable or even better than what people can make on the Digitone?
I have seen people arguing about whether one should d/l presets or make their own. I find that the more I make myself in my setup, the more interest I have in the music I produce. Downloading an app that basically generates music for me is the extreme end of what I believe leads to overconsumption and under appreciation of what you have. I also think that my ear has gotten better over the last few years by tinkering more, EQing, and becoming a connoisseur of delicious timbre. Producers that I used to think were amazing, are presently sounding a bit muddy to my ears, while music I thought was a bit simple now seems to have very enduring attention to understated details that reveals well proportioned, tactile soundscapes.
Making patches is great and so is sharing them. Even "best of" banks for various instruments would be a huge asset to all of us. Best kicks, snares, hats, claps, class, blocks; best bass strings, bass drums; best pads, leads; best sound effects, etc. Or even banks for KQDixie that have only 3 or 4 patches that you made would be fantastic.
Whatcha got people?
Comments
What’s the best method you’ve figured out for extracting instruments from different banks? (Without leaving iOS)
I have sifted through ALOT of banks and have found many stand out patches. I really like your idea and would be happy to contribute. In general I use a 4 op fm synth, a Yamaha DS1000 and its great because of how easy it is to edit the onboard patches. I have yet to do a Sysex dump, and I’m not even sure it’s even KQdixie compatible but it’s worth a shot. As an owner of a hardware FM synth I can honestly say this app sounds fantastic! I absolutely love KQdixies interface and the fact that it allows users to load DX7 Sysex files is brilliant. That’s a HUGE deal. The only major issue is that there are wayyy to many Sysex files out there that are crappy and it takes awhile to find the great stuff, but it’s s fun treasure hunt for sure. I have yet to hear any drum sounds other than a few toms that were worth messing with. Also I recommend running it through FAC chorus into EOS 2 that really brings the sound to life. I highly recommend KQdixie if you don’t already own it. The developers other app kqminisynth is cool too, but overshadowed by the almighty model 15
I don't really have a good method for that right now, but (when I leave iOS) I have been tinkering with Dexed as a VST in Ableton. In the stock bundle there are some really quality patches (32 banks of them in the "Synprez FM" folder). Some of them really show how deep you can go using FM synthesis. I decided to email that folder to myself and open it in KQDixie.
Let me know if you figure out if you can run those patches in Dixie.
Already having Phasemaker, I saw no reason to dive into Dixie. Am I missing something?
Probably not. Phasemaker, from what I understand is a much more accessible interface for tweaking. KQDixie is an version of the DX7 engine. I don't think you can run all the old DX7 patches in Phasemaker, like you can in KQDixie. But I am not certain.
I like the notion of this greatly. Synth of the month club?
Not sure about Yamaha DS1000,
But here are the stock patches mentioned above for the great Dexed vst: https://musical-artifacts.com/artifacts/199/3221-Dexed_cart_1.0.zip
Sysexbase by coffeeshoped is a great app if you guys don’t already know about it. I’ll have to check to see if it supports my Yamaha DS1000, and if it does I’ll post some new FM patches ,provided they load in KQdixie. I use it routinely to load or save Sysex files on my hardware synths. It’s worth every penny
Not sure if you've seen the thread I posted about the FM patch generator which works with KQ Dixie. It's great, but you need to use with an audio interface and a computer.
https://www.synthmata.com/volca-fm/
check out the youtube vid guide