Nanostudio on the Iphone 3GS

First experiment with NanoStudio on the iphone. Review article is in the more section.

New Forest by UFO Dance

Official Blurb

NanoStudio is a recording studio for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. It has virtual analogue synths, sample trigger pads, a comprehensive sequencer, a sample editor, a mixer and multiple effects all integrated into a single application.

Record your ideas in real time, mix synth layers with samples, compose and arrange your tune using the powerful sequencer and bring the mix alive with effects such as reverb, compression and EQ. Share your tune on SoundCloud from wherever you are or use the comprehensive audio mixdown options and MIDI export feature to get your ideas over to your desktop DAW when you get back home.

My review

I have used the PC demo version of Nanostudio before but I wasn’t particularly impressed. I have an Iphone 3Gs now so I thought I would give it another look. WOWZA. I think I love the lack of options, as I am so used to having the VST world at my fingertips. You just have the one synth and one drum pad that you can load with samples and hits. You can have 16 instances of the two so it’s more than enough to create a pretty good mix of drums, sounds and samples. The quality of the presets in the Eden synth is impressive though and when you start scrolling down you can amend so many parameters that you could probably reproduce any sound you wanted to. The drum pads were slick and the built in sample editor allows you to record and trim samples neatly and attach to the pads. I still need to work out how to do a few things in the sequencer but everything that I wanted was there and worked how I expected it to work. The song I knocked out at the top took a couple of hours but that included learning how to use the features so I was well pleased with the outcome.

The next step however was the most satisfying. How do I get this project off my phone now that I have finished it. Never had I been delivered so many options on how to achieve this. I can save on the phone as Wav or OGG. I can save a looped section, the whole song or the song in stem parts (WOW). It saves it on the phone but once I installed NanoSync on my laptop I could access the nanostudio folder to drop and pull files to the device. That allows me to get my work, backup my projects and drop my own drum samples onto the device. You also have the option to send the mixed version straight to Soundcloud. Finally I can send it as a midi file so that I can open in my full DAW software.

The mixer is a dream compared to other iphone daws that I have used. With 4 tracks per instrument you can have 64 tracks. You can add 4 insert effects on each of the 16 mixer channels. You also have two send channels to add to them as well.  The affects can be applied in preset chains, which can save a lot of time. Add in midicore support and what else do you need.

Seriously, I am contemplating buying an IPAD just for this software. It’s £10 for Nanostudio and £3 if you want to go from 6-16 channels but £13 still isn’t much for such a feature rich product.

10 out of 10 in my book.

Specifications

Compatible Devices

  • iOS version 3.1.2 or later
  • iPad 1 or later
  • iPhone 3G or later
  • iPod Touch 4G or later
  • iPod Touch 2G and 3G – mic recording possible with external accessory
  • iPod Touch 1G – mic recording not available

General

  • 6 simultaneous instruments (including mixer), or up to 16 with in-app purchase
  • Stereo 44.1kHz floating-point signal path (only the final output is reduced to 16 bit)
  • 3-23ms buffer latency (user adjustable)
  • Individually optimized for new and old hardware (chooses between VFP or NEON technology)

Extra Features

  • MIDI input with the Line 6 MIDI Mobilizer, Akai SynthStation 25 and Core MIDI (see Supported Accessories below)
  • Audio copy/paste for sharing audio with other compatible apps (both Sonoma and Intua standards supported)
  • Direct SoundCloud sharing straight from your device (wav or ogg formats)
  • MIDI file import/export

Eden Synth Instrument

  • Maximum polyphony – 16 voices per synth
  • 2 anti-aliased oscillators per voice, each with 36 basic waveforms including noise
  • Oscillators can be mixed or sync/ring modulated
  • Resonant filter per voice – low pass, band pass or high pass with 12dB or 24dB slope
  • Samples can be used in place of basic waveforms
  • 4 LFO’s, optional sync to note start/sequencer tempo
  • 3 ADSR Envelope generators (amp, filter and aux)
  • 2 X/Y controllers, 1 configurable control knob, pitch bend wheel and accelerometer input
  • Virtual patchbay for connecting controllers, LFO’s and envelopes and other synth parameters
  • 2 dedicated insert effects (waveshaper, chorus/flanger/delay) with automation
  • 192 Global presets (shared between all projects) and 64 Project specific presets

TRG-16 Trigger Pad Instrument

  • Number of pads – 16
  • Maximum polyphony – 32 voices
  • Adjust volume, pan, pitch, output bus, attack, release and loop type per sample
  • 2 exclusive groups for use with high hats etc.
  • 3 output busses, each with its own filter and send effects
  • Load/save individual samples or whole kits
  • Copy/paste settings from one pad to another

Sampling

  • Maximum size for a single sample – 32MB (total sample memory will depend on your device)
  • Upload wavs or aiffs to your device using NanoSync for Mac or Windows
  • Record your own samples using internal or external microphones
  • Resample NanoStudio’s main mix output
  • Crop and normalize samples on the device using NanoStudio’s built in sample editor with 4 levels of undo/redo
  • Preprocess samples offline using configurable effects chains

Sequencer

  • Up to 64 tracks (maximum 4 tracks per single instrument)
  • Up to 1000 parts per song
  • Up to 1000 events per part
  • Realtime record with undo
  • Pattern editor and song arranger
  • Record unique parts or turn them into patterns for repetitive loops (100 patterns supported)
  • Draw note and controller events such as XY pad movements, pitch bend, velocity and accelerometer
  • Editing functions include delete, merge, copy, move, note length, transpose, clean and quantize
  • Controller editing and automation
  • Time signatures 1/4 – 7/4
  • 4 levels of undo/redo on every editing operation
  • All editing operations are possible while the sequence is playing

Mastering

  • Mixer with up to 48 stereo inputs, 1 stereo output and 2 stereo sends
  • Each mixer channel supports up to 4 insert effects
  • Mixer fader and pan automation on all channels
  • Stereo VU displays for all channels, with accurate clip detection on output
  • Effects include reverb, parametric EQ, compressor, chorus, flanger, delay, waveshaper and bitcrush
  • Offline mixdown – stereo mix, individual tracks or individual song parts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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