The Final Three Tracks I Produced in NS2
Can't believe NS2 will soon be sunsetted, but I just wanted to share here my love of Nanostudio2 by showing the final three tracks I produced in NS2.
A French Touch-styled rework of a friend's amazing piece of music.
An Industrial-styled piece of music serving as revenge on this one jerk and his girlfriend I once called friends.
A slow and brooding Minimal Techno track I created for a client. This commission alone was the cost of NS2 and all its IAPs put together (prior to them going free).
Thank you for the memories @Blip Interactive ❤️
Comments
i like the last one a lot ! nice dark mood ! Really like how kick sidechan makes those string "breathing" .. good work !
NS2 is not dead.. just becasue it disappears from Appstore doesn't mean we can't do with it tons of great music in upcoming years until Apple doesn't kill it for good with some update.
Head up, it's not the end of world
I’m getting AUv3 once NS2 gets killed
Thank you Dendy. Good mate.
I know that mate.
It's why I had recently converted to Cubasis 3 after months of searching for an alt DAW, and also why I purchased Groove Rider 2. I just hope that someday Obsidian will be made AUv3. It's truly a powerhouse synth!
Which AUv3s mate?
What kinds are there?
All kinds really. Which AUv3s would you be in the market for? Synths? Romplers? Reverbs and other effects?
Also, which host do you plan to switch to?
Oh! I thought AUv3 was a name of a DAW!
So AUv3 isn’t a host?? Lol
What are some good alternatives to NanoStudio?
Cubasis looks promising… I still like the style of Nanostudio better than other DAWs
Oh dear god, I just realised you meant AUM! 😂 My brain is a tad slow today. I do apologise.
First of all, do you use iPhone or iPad?
Well, my time is limited today @ollie so I'll try to give as best an answer as I can give.
If you're on an iPad, it's definitely difficult to top Groove Rider 2.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/groove-rider-2/id6480135731
Caveat is it can only load AUv3 effects on the send and master channels. However, you can load AUv3 instruments in the parts for a sound source. It only has 3 IFX per part, but each layer in a part can be routed to the first IFX (which goes into the second and then the third), the second IFX (which goes into the third), or the third one. Then again, IFX can flow one into the other in serialised fashion, or run parallel to each other.
GR2 has a wavetable synth, a basic subtractive synth (which is surprisingly powerful), and a soundfont player (which is very handy for me since I've accrued many soundfonts over the years). Its piano roll is extremely similar to NS2's piano roll, except that in GR2 you also have probability functions.
It also comes with a drum rack (but only can have four instances of drum rack per project, but that's okay. I usually have kicks and toms on part 1, claps and snares on part 2, and hats and cymbals on part 3.
It also has many other great features and a streamlined workflow to make creation easier. If you need more infos, there's the manual.
https://www.jimaudio.pro/grooverider2/GrooveRider2_Manual.pdf
And a video series by Leo (SoundForMore).
And this video series by Doug (TheSoundTestRoom).
Reason I'm loading you up with all this info is GR2 does cost 35 quid! Pretty expensive for an iOS app, but trust me. It's worth every last bit of money.
That said, GR2 isn't a DAW but rather a glorified groovebox with many DAW elements interspersed. It's extremely handy. Took Mr. Pavloff a while to release the damn manual, but after skimming through it I realised I already knew 90% of what's in GR2 already thanks to Leo's and Doug's videos.
By the way, GR2 features something no other app on iOS can do - it can mix between projects in a DJ fashion! I don't mean mixing two finished tracks of audio, but rather the projects themselves! (Although you need AudioShare to record the live audio output since Mr. Pavloff has yet to implement that.) GR2 also has a clip launcher ala Garageband, Logic, Loopy Pro, etc in case doing live mixes is your sort of thing! Has a nice timeline and automation as well!
And if that's not enough, Mr. Pavloff has coded internal integration of Pure Acid and Poison-202 so they needn't be loaded as plugins. Then again, I find myself loading Poison-202 as an AUv3 instrument since the Poison-202 integration is just a preset player. Pure Acid however has better integration, including its flexible drum machine (besides the 303 bass)!
Of course if the limitations of GR2 don't appeal to you, and/or you're on an iPhone, I've found Cubasis 3...
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cubasis-3-daw-music-studio/id1207839273
...to be a decent alternative to NS2. Of course, Cubasis 3 doesn't have a drum rack inside of it (I really wish Steinberg would add something like Groove Agent to the damn app 😂 ), but Koala Sampler suffices as a drum rack given it has EQ per sample and other amazing features unlocked by Samurai Mode!
That said, Cubasis 3 is my go-to DAW for any professional client work I do as well as for Ambient. It has a shedload of sounds and effects unlockable by IAPs, including Halion sounds, FMClassics, NeoFM, etc. (Seriously, Cubasis 3 has rendered most of my romplers obsolete.) It's the most professional DAW software on iOS not behind a subscription paywall. And it works on iPhone besides iPad.
Speaking of subscription paywalls, I did put Logic Pro for iPad through its paces, and honestly I found some bugs. The biggest pain in the butt was the fact that Logic would forget plugin settings. I set up Poison-202, and Logic eventually reset the parameters. Logic even forgot the parameters of its own built-in limiter. And when I used the AI Mastering Assistant, Logic for whatever reason rendered my audio with the stereo channels reversed. (Left was right, and right was left.) Not worth a monthly fiver imho. And Logic is iPad only. (Well, there's the Mac version too, but the Mac version is far more stable or so I heard.)
Korg Gadget 3. Gadget is a very expensive buy-in, especially if you want all its IAPs in addition to the external Gadget-compatible apps and their respective IAPs. But, I have went all-in on the Gadget ecosystem over the course of a decade (f-ck, I'm old!). I do enjoy cracking that app open once in a while, although oftentimes I find the results to sound a bit cheaper than what I could produce in NS2, Cubasis 3, and GR2. But that said, Gadget works on iPhone and iPad.
Avoid N-Track Studio like the plague. You thought Logic on iPad was buggy? Holy crap, N-Track is far worse at remembering plugin settings and such. 😂😮💨 I'd say it works on iPhone and iPad, but barely.
I haven't really gotten along with Audio Evolution Mobile. Not because it isn't stable. In fact, I'm unsure as to its stability, because its UI is a nightmare to navigate. Many things hidden behind icons rather than short descriptive words. Definitely not my cuppa.
Drambo, the "big D-word", haha. It's very stable and works great as an AUv3 host, as well as works as an AUv3 instrument plugin and AUv3 effect plugin. Then again, there's the chance you could suffer from "options paralysis", but if you have no problem with that, Drambo may be right for you. I'd get it anyways to use within a DAW/host of your choice.
AUM is a nice host, but it's more of a glorified mixer than a DAW or groovebox. It's great for more live performances of Ambient and such. iOSTrackon from the Loopy Pro Forum used AUM for many live performances of his very noisy experiments.
https://youtube.com/@_iostrakon2935?si=jyffTAf4xru30S_v
You can find many examples of his usage of AUM on his channel.
If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. Keep in touch.
Wow you really know your stuff! Thanks! I’ll be using cubasis 3 (though it comes out to be $150 after iap)
Excellent choice. Yeah, $150 is a bit of an investment, but worth it. Occasionally there are sales by Steinberg in case you can hold out for some of the IAPs.