Question newbie

I am quite an amateur when it comes to music. I mess around in Garage Band periodically and have never made anything of any worth.

I stumbled across this app several times and it looks intriguing, perhaps too complicated. I’m thinking about purchasing and wondered if it is an app that someone with no coding or music skill could benefit from?

Also are there any tutorials one could look at without purchase to see the learning curve it will require?

Thanks in advance,
Dan

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Have a look under Categories at Learn/Intro To Audulus Tutorials. There are several videos that will give you a good idea of what Audulus is all about. This would be a good one to start with:
https://discourse.audulus.com/t/so-you-just-got-audulus-what-now/201?u=stschoen

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It’s been the best learning tool to help me understand the audio synthesis world and has been the best tool available for me to use as a sort of swiss army knife for digital audio/musical needs. The forum community is always willing to help with any questions or problems you may run into as well. Can’t recommend it enough.

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Thx for the replies. I will check out your suggestions when I have a bit more time.

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I am only interested in the iPhone app. Does it have a keyboard, or do you need an external?

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There is a built in keyboard available on the iOS version, although an external keyboard makes it much easier to play. There’s not a lot of room for a keyboard on an iPhone (or iPad) :cowboy_hat_face:

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As @stschoen mentioned, there is a built in, but if you get into it (and you probably will, as this app and community are so incredibly helpful and fun to interact with, and have the potential to teach you all that you want to know about modular synthesis and sound design without having to spend thousands on hardware and lessons to learn how to use it), I would recommend that you pick up something compact, but with a lot of controls, like the Korg NanoKey Studio or the Arturia Minilab Studio, as they have not only the keys for playing, but also the buttons and knobs for controlling other parts of yours or others’ creations that you are utilizing for synthesis.

I have the Korg NK Studio, and it is just the right mix amount of “exactly what I need for Audulus” control, capability and portability (which is important for an iOS MIDI controller, if you expect to take it places with you). Also, the NKS takes batteries, and it is Bluetooth MIDI capable, which is another bonus for the portability and convenience! I hope you find what you’re looking for! :smile:

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Thanks @stschoen , not a neewbie but farely nooblish

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Determined to try Audulus IOS again after giving up over a year ago. Since then I’ve been cutting my teeth on Model15, Ripplemaker, iVCS3 and the 0-Coast. Now that I have a better idea of what I’m trying to do, I’m excited to learn Audulus.

I’m noticing that audio dies in Audulus if I switch apps and return, requires resetting the app.
Is this common? Is there a fix?

Also, how do you reset a patch to its original state? Seems that it saves whatever you do, including accidental cable deletions!

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Welcome to the Forum! It’s always nice to see a new face.

This is a known issue. As a workaround, in the options menu (wrench) turn on background audio. When background audio is off, the Audulus audio engine shuts down when you put the app in the background and doesn’t restart when you switch back.

Like most iOS apps Audulus automatically saves your work, however it keeps a complete undo history which can be used to undo accidental deletions etc. For complex patches, it’s not a bad idea to duplicate your patch before editing. In the patch browser, a long press on a patch will bring up a menu. that allows you to move, copy, duplicate etc. This issue has been raised by others and there is a feature enhancement request for a revert option for Audulus 4.

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Fantastic! Thanks for the helpful response. The ongoing community here is really what’s drawn me back to Audulus.

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As @stschoen mentioned above, there is an actually unlimited undo history, but as soon as you close the patch, the history is wiped clean and the damage is done, so it is best to make a backup copy in advance. Personally, I have begun taking modular components of patches that I find useful and think I will use again, and copy them out of the patch I am building so I can paste each singularly in a new blank patch and save that in my library, like any other thing you will see if you open the A3 library (those options that you see categorized were all once just part of a series of nodes that composed a patch, and modules were singled out as useful and made into the library we all know and love today :slight_smile: ) Then when I open the app each day, I try to always remember to start with a blank slate, and quickly build up, using the singular modules in my library as building blocks.

That is my work around, and it takes a lot of conscious effort (for me) to not open a completed patch and alter it as ideas occur to me, as I have destroyed and had to redo hours worth of work due to my own stupidity because of this easy misstep. As mentioned above, I am one of those that requested a ‘read-only mode’ for patches to offer write protection and save me from myself, but this will not be possible until A4 comes out. I hope my contribution to your inquiry helps a bit. Happy patching, and welcome to the community! :smiley:

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Thanks for the workflow tips!
Was listening to a podcast with Walker Farrel from MakeNoise yesterday, and he mentioned liking modular because he builds it up from scratch vs. sifting through preset folders.
I’m hoping to use Audulus in the former sense, building from scratch as you’re describing; essentially to build voices from the ground up that I can’t find in other apps.
I think it’s a matter of getting familiar with all the available nodes and what they do.

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To be honest, I got overwhelmed the first few times I tried to get into Audulus (I am a programmer and years and years ago wrote a lot of Max stuff). At some point, I was inspired to try again because I really wanted to explore Buchla-style synthesis techniques. That time, I started by wiring together already made modules in the great complete audulus forum library that @biminiroad posted.

I found it inspiring to wire together existing modules and then get my Audulus coding chops by customizing those pieces.

Somehow that got my juices flowing in a way that trying to build my knowledge from the ground up didn’t.

Everyone is different but thought I’d mention it.

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