Bram Bos has reduced the price of some apps for a limited time. The deals are:
- Salome – $7.99 to $4.99
- Mononoke – $8.99 to $4.99
- Hammerhead – $7.99 to $4.99
- Hilda – $12.99 to $6.99
- Fluss- $13.99 to $6.99
- Ruismaker Noir – $9.99 to $4.99
Salome – MPE Audio Sampler
Salome is a tool for recording (or importing) sounds, turning them into seamless loops, and then polyphonically play them using MPE or MIDI.
CONTROL: The onscreen keypads can be latched, turning them into 2-dimensional faders for controlling various modulations. Additionally, software and hardware MPE controllers can be used (or normal MIDI, in a pinch).
WORKFLOW: The entire process from sampling to playing was designed to be a fast and fluid as possible. Speed > features.
Mononoke
Mononoke is an unconventional synthesizer, designed to compose evolving soundscapes and musical textures.
What sets Mononoke apart from other synths is that its voices (4 in each section) can be routed back into each other in multiple ways, creating all sorts of overtones and pulsating resonant frequencies. Sometimes harmonic, sometimes weirdly atonal. Sometimes clear and delicate as icicles, sometimes harsh as metallic blades, sometimes soft as fresh snow. This interaction between voices helps fuse all layers together into a coherent musical landscape.
The synthesizer engines (each of the two sections has its own independent engine) have relatively simple controls, which influence a complex system of many invisible, interconnected LFOs. But this is not your bread-and-butter general purpose synthesizer: think of Mononoke as one huge FM synthesizer where each voice is an independently playable operator. Together all operators contribute to a single soundscape.
Complex soundscapes can be created live, using the 8 performance pads which let you modulate each voice independently in several dimensions. Your interactions with the pads will also be sent out as MPE/MIDI (when loaded as an AU plugin in a compatible host) so you can record and tweak your session. The onscreen pads can be latched individually so some voices can be used as drones, while others as can be added and removed as extra sonic layers. The pads are fully integrated in the Audio Unit plugin.
Mononoke is designed as an AUv3 plugin, with advanced Audio Unit features such as MPE input and output (!), a fully exposed array of AU parameters for automation and all the connectivity and scalability you can expect from modern plugins.
The standalone mode is basic (just meant for jamming and creating presets) and does not offer any connectivity, so if you want to use Mononoke in conjunction with other apps and effects you’ll need to load it into a host, such as Garageband, Audiobus, AUM or Cubasis.
Hammerhead Rhythm Station
The little shark is back. After 25 years, the new Hammerhead is a fresh, mobile reinterpretation of the classic software drum computer that started it all.
Hammerhead is still simple, fun and playful. It still feels like a little 90s groovebox. Except this time it fits in your pocket, it integrates in your plugin ecosystem and comes with a lot more creative possibilities…
Hilda
Hilda is a Complex Oscillator Synth, inspired by the most interesting aspects of both west-coast and east-coast synthesis techniques. You’ll find a wave folder, lowpass gate, and audio-rate modulations, but also a 12-mode filter and traditional VCA circuit. All parts of the instrument are carefully circuit-modelled to sound as analog (or digital, where applicable) as possible. It’s like a best-of-all-worlds semi modular synth, but without the patch cables.
The unique mix of different synthesis components adds up to a unique sounding electronic instrument, which can be used as a playable synthesizer, a MIDI sequencer and an audio effect for external audio – or any combination of those three.
Fluss
Fluss is a sonic playground designed by Bram Bos and Berlin-based musician Hainbach to let you explore granular synthesis in a hands-on way. The playful touch UI invites anything from live performance, experimentation to learning and mastering the granular concept.
You can import your own WAVs (standalone & AUv3 Instrument plugin), Record audio (Record effect plugin) or live-process sound (Process effect plugin) to create anything from drones and granular echoes to moving microtonal audio textures.
All sliders and XY pads are linked to a physics model which lets you flick and throw them around. Minimise the friction for endless bouncing motion, as an innovative substitute for traditional LFOs and modulation. There was never a better reason for using a touchscreen for music.
Like a shimmer reverb, except it feeds the processed audio back into the grain engine. This lets you create an endless loop of pitch-shifting spaciousness, turning even the simplest of sounds into massive woolly mammoths.
Ruismaker Noir
A different kind of drumsynth. Ruismaker Noir presents a hybrid approach between synthesized drums and rhythmic bass sounds – coming together in the fully integrated step sequencer. Throw in a nasty, dirty personality and you get something really new for the iOS platform.
Although Noir has a monophonic synthesis engine, the clever interplay with the sequencer and plethora of pitch/velocity modulation options can make it sound like many different sounds are playing, seamlessly blending into each other.
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