It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Erik’s work. Since his first app’s like shapesynth and Sinusoid right up to his amazing and truly unique FX apps like nils and frekvens (which you should seriously check out if you’re looking for iOS FX that are different from the norm).
But his inventiveness really knows no end. He’s experimented with integrating Sphero into his apps for motion control, and built and app for Gameboy called chord. I’ve also been experimenting with his chip / PocketChip / Raspberry Pi app phase, which is well worth a look if you have any of those devices.
Now he’s launched a new app for iOS. Tardigrain is a granular synthesiser for iOS that runs as a standalone app or as that can be integrated with your existing host of choice as an AU plugin. Sounds are created by taking smaller fragments of a sample and playing them back in a non linear fashion, with settings for grain size, direction, step size and more. Process the sound further through effects like reverb, wave shaper and sample crush.
Tardigrain supports connections with AudioCopy, AudioBus, Inter App Audio and AUv3. Plus all audio parameters can be modulated by MIDI, as AU parameters and by aftertouch on the build in keyboard.
Here are some of the key features of Tardigrain
- Audiobus and Inter App Audio
- AUv3
- Core MIDI, Inter App Audio MIDI and AUv3 MIDI
- Factory presets
- Record custom samples or import using AudioCopy
- Save and load state and samples
- Full modulation of audio parameters
Tardigrain is on the iOS app store now and costs just $4.99
You can see Tardigrain in action in this video:
And if you’re really interested, here’s Erik’s shapesynth app being used with a sphero:
And finally, one that I made along the same lines