Excellent progress (watching closely). It seems like it could use some kind of open/closed parameter – as I was exploring, it almost felt limited in a legato sense. I had never thought about this, but you might want to consider some kind of polyphonic overlap so that when it is ‘open’ you don’t end up with gated tails. I almost feel like a velocity factor (where the impact directly effects the length of decay), could give it a more responsive feel.
Wow. That Sound On Sound article is in depth. Will read and let you know.
What kind of spectrum analyers are you guys using on IOS? I’ve been using the FabFilter Pro-Q 2 plugin in Auria Pro and then through Audiobus 3. It doesn’t refresh too quick but it displays frequency info nice. It seems like there is a standalone Pro-Q 2 app now as well. I use the MC Studio bundle if I want it snappy.
I use the Trace 1u scope on my rack for spectrum. Ever since I fried an iPod I am reluctant to hook an ipad up for analysis. It isn’t very colourful, but it does help cue the ears to specific subtle details.
As I mentioned above (re: skinny vs. original recipe), I really like how Dinky’s Taiko was designed in that it seems to keep you locked in usable sounds, but also has a wide range of tones and textures. I was learning about precision adders, offsets and whatnot today so I reread the Taiko manual.
It’s a brief treatise but the takeaway I wanted to share is that it seems like what opens up the percussive timbral range are very boring simple logic functions made parametric.
Once you have a look at the manual you will see what I mean. I had no idea it had so many waveforms (24). But by doing that and giving you control over start and end, there is a sense in which it is locked, but it also makes it alluringly shapable. There are other details you will see, where it is it clear that some smart engineering went down.
Also, instead of pocket vs. home edition, we may well think of ‘theoretical’ vs. ‘applied’ designs, or ‘research’ vs. ‘performance’ modules. Then it is no longer a size metaphor, but a use metaphor.