SpaceCraft Granular Synth 4+
Musical Instrument
Mark Watt
Designed for iPad
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- $9.99
Screenshots
Description
With SpaceCraft (MIDI, MPE, AUv3, IAA) you can transform any sound into a playable musical instrument via Granular Synthesis. You can create textures, soundscapes and arpeggiated rhythms from sounds such as your voice, ambient noise or the high quality built-in audio samples.
Tap the 'Input' button (top left) to record audio via your device's microphone or load a file from your device (access* to iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, Audioshare*** etc.). Experiment with turning everyday sounds into unusual instruments.
Save your creations and corresponding samples via presets. Also, tap the 'rec' button (top right) to record your performance (maximum 20 minutes). This is used in standalone only as the AUv3 host can be used to record the output.
Supports AUv3 and IAA (recommended to use in the effects slot to allow live input audio recording).
* NOT COMPATIBLE with GarageBand as AUv3 (but can be loaded as Inter App Audio (IAA) or via an effects insert in the GarageBand sampler, with no MIDI capability)
** iOS11 and above provides equivalent folder access to the built-in iOS 'Files' app. Note that iOS10 and below has limited access to folders (no Audioshare folder access for iOS10 and below)
*** Access to Audioshare files is done via the iOS files app
What’s New
Version 1.2.2
Changes in this version:
- Eliminated error 701 in AUM (note that this was a false error, SC is working fine and the error could be removed by tapping anywhere on the the screen)
- Updated the App Store description regarding compatibility with GarageBand
Changes in previous version:
- Infinite mode: continuous and uninterrupted granularisation of incoming audio in real-time. Grains are processed on the left of the crosshairs to allow practically zero-latency granularisation of incoming audio
- New LFO types: saw, inverted saw, triangle, square, random & smooth random
- Stereo phase: creates stereo effect by delaying left and right channels with respect to each other. Essentially converts mono input to stereo output (and can make stereo samples slightly more stereo)
- Course and fine tuning: allows full control of the pitch of the synthesis to compensate for any pitch discrepancy in the source sample
- Grain attack: allows grains to have slower attack response
- Reverb damping and reverb size controls
- Improved sound quality of DSP
- removed transparent filter as it was causing audio dropouts in some cases (transparent filter will be reintroduced once I can figure out how to fix it)
New Global Settings options:
- Option of Hann grain amplitude envelope (in global settings) giving smoother sound, especially when using higher frequency grains
- Option of Hermite interpolation in DSP algorithms resulting in better quality of lower-pitched grains
- Option of higher quality filter: smoother sounding filter when changing crosshairs
- Option to normalise audio input: automatically sets input audio recorded to maximum peak volume
- Option of transparent vs legacy filter: the transparent filter is a new feature (default) which removes the effect of the filter completely when the crosshairs is at the center. The previous (legacy) filter (slightly duller sounding when crosshairs are in centre) is included in case you want existing projects to sound completely unchanged
- Option to set MPE pitch bend range: select the appropriate setting depending on MPE hardware used (I.e. Seaboard, Linnstrument etc.)
- Optional MPE y-axis scaling multiplier: scales MPE y-axis to cover different range of the sample
- Option to disable channel pressure: disables channel pressure input when using MPE (can be useful for certain types of MIDI hardware)
Ratings and Reviews
Lives up to the hype
First, the interface lives up to the name. The user friendly xy pads and visual feedback make you feel like you’re piloting a spacecraft into new sonic territories, of which there are many you will find. Loading audio files is a breeze and you can load pretty long ones. I haven’t reached the limit. This leaves you with many many sonic possibilities within just one file. Very musical sounds, cool arpeggiator type thing to add even more rhythm to the sound. Honestly it’s hard to describe, but in the end, it’s a hell of a lot of fun to use and sounds great. The interface is such that there’s nothing to do but dive in and go crazy. Good times. Get it.
Developer Response ,
Thanks for the review :)
Its pretty good, but...
There are lots of grain synthesis aps out now so this one has some competition. How does it stand up? Pretty well. Like most of the grain synthesis aps, the audio quality is quite good. It has the usual features but adds a kind of “playability” that is hard to describe but easy to recognize once you get your hands on it. The new version’s ability to use LARGE audio files (something like 20 minutes long) sets Spacecraft apart as very unique and can be quite useful. So on these points it competes pretty well.
However, its integration into the Audio Units world is rather odd. You must use it as an EFFECT in AUM, for example, while it is clearly a source (an actual synthesizer capable of originating its own sounds). When used as an AU, only one of the two channels is available in any one slot. Being an AU, you should be able to launch more than one instance of Spacecraft. But sadly, that will not work. Doing so results in crashing both instances.
The other major problem at this point in its history is that the ap will not save your work; it has no ability to save presets. However, the developer assures us that this feature is coming in a future release.
If these things were fixed, my personal opinion of Spacecraft would go up to rate it at least at four stars because I could actually use it and really exploit its otherwise very good capabilities.
Developer Response ,
When used as as AU effect you can record audio from an upstream instrument or microphone via the import sound button. This is why it is currently an AU effect.
Also in hosts like AUM just resize or double tap the window title to see both blue and pink channels of spacecraft
Sounds great! Can't save or import anything on iOS 9 or 10.
I like this simpler-than-iDensity granular synth quite a lot. It is more immediately intuitive than Tardigrain without losing the wonderful unpredictability of granular synthesis in producing interesting, beautiful, arresting, terrifying sounds. The interface is one of the better distillations of granular parameters that I have seen so far on the App Store.
Unfortunately, Spacecraft does not truly support Audioshare; it supports Apple's Files app, leaving users on iOS 9 and 10 with only iCloud for sound import/export. Nor does it store presets internally. Those have to go on iCloud as well. I don't use iCloud, and don't see much point in uploading my samples there to redownload them into a single app when Audioshare has everything already here on my iPad. So for now, Spacecraft is a demo on my iOS 9-running mini. A really nice demo--I hope to be able to make better use of it soon.
App Privacy
The developer, Mark Watt, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
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Information
- Seller
- Mark Watt
- Size
- 108.2 MB
- Category
- Music
- Compatibility
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- iPhone
- Requires iOS 9.3 or later.
- iPad
- Requires iPadOS 9.3 or later.
- iPod touch
- Requires iOS 9.3 or later.
- Mac
- Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
- Apple Vision
- Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- Languages
- Age Rating
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2021 Delta-V Audio
- Price
- $9.99
Supports
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Family Sharing
Up to six family members can use this app with Family Sharing enabled.