Madrona Labs bring you an inspiring and different palette of sounds available from their new Semi-Modular Synth: Aalto. They claim that Aalto (OS X and AU only at the moment, a VST and a Windows version are planned) is designed to let you create sounds that have been difficult or impossible to make with softsynths before now through the use of patchable and modular design of the synth.

The heart of Aalto is a Buchla-inspired complex oscillator, with FM, timbre and waveshape controls designed to enable a wide range of expressive sounds. These sounds are described as "malleable and alive," in part because they are made with dynamic calculation, not static wavetables. While this isn't a buchla emulation, it is more of a buchla inspiration based around the original 1970 Complex Waveform Oscillator that could have been bought and used as part of the comprehensive collection of synth modules brought to you by the legendary company.



A little bit of history on the oscillator will tell you that it used several innovative techniques for dealing with complex timbres. It features voltage controlled modulation of pitch, amplitude and timbre, multi-dimensional voltage-control of timbre space, phase locking, and automatic tuning. This section takes an ordinary sine wave and gives it rich harmonics using Wave Multipliers which are hard to describe, but in essence they take a waveform and add various types of harmonics unlike anything you have heard except maybe the Wave shape and Timbre controls on a Buchla Modular (for those lucky enough to own one). They "square up" the incoming signal and produce harmonic distortion modification to ring mod, frequency shift and sync, putting two different audio signals into these sections and then adding a control voltage produces sounds unlike any other module available. It is one of the signature modules in the Serge System and moves this synth into completely new sonic territory.

Buchla 259 Programmable Complex Waveform Generator Video



To my ears the default patch which, just uses the raw oscillator demonstrates how well the emulation has been done. Some purists may argue that sonically this is not as full or even anywhere near the sound of an original Buchla, but when squaring up the synth to even the likes of FXPansions DCAM Synth Squad, this raw oscillators themselves are very powerful, perhaps derived through the use of the internal modulation and harmonically produced distortion. These sounds are uniquely malleable and alive, in part because they are made with dynamic calculation, not static wavetables.

Just like the Buchla or any modular synth for that matter, Aalto is patchable and gives you a comprehensive ability to modulate and connect together pretty much any parameter to create anything from pulsating bass lines to heavy evolving soundscapes. In fact each voice has a separate, built-in sequencer with a patchable, independently controllable rate and offset that make it easy to achieve evolving, chaotic textures. Each voice also includes a lowpass gate module with a Vactrol emulation in the control path. A Vactrol is basically a light dependant resistor, the more light that shines on it, the more voltage runs through it. You could typically hook one of these up to anything you may be circuit bending and use your hand to block out the light to modify the voyage. The Vactrol equation in this case, slows down the response to incoming control signals through a complex nonlinear filter. You can turn the vactrol response down to instantaneous, or up to a pronounced ring. It is precisely this coding along with the inspiration from the Buchla 259 which makes this synth really something unique to play with in terms of its core sound and functionality. Following the lowpass gate is a patchable waveguide / delay module with a waveshaper and a peaking EQ built into the feedback loop allowing you to really distort and gain the input to output ratio. Because it has such short and controllable delay times, unlike a typical analog delay, it can be used as an additional oscillator or waveguide.

Here are 3 examples of the different areas you can visit with this synth's unique Oscillator.

1. Boards of Aalto


2. Distortion of Aalto


3. Sequenced Aalto


Aalto's filter is a state-variable topology with mixable simultaneous outputs allowing you to sweep through different filters, in this case low pass, hi-pass and notch and combine. Apparently the filters are tuned to have a similar range to an Oberheim SEM filter but with some more overall resonance! To my ears you can hear the added resonance to the filter especially when you push it hard with the waveshaping and add distortion as it gives you a much more pronounced 'weeeorrrww' when sweeping. Add more resonance to the filter (in this case with a Q) and you have a pretty awesome sounding filter, but it just doesn't grab you like those found in Synth Squad for example and I have yet to get it to self resonate which is a shame as I really like to produce percussive sounds using synthesis.



Interface

Getting around the synth couldn't be easier. Everything is laid out with plenty of space, having the main Envelopes and modulators along the top of the synth without he sound generators at the bottom. As I said before this synth work by patching together these different elements just as you would on a modular synth. This is very simple and it gives you a more related feel to the patch you are designing rather than using a basic static interface. What I mean by that is, you can decide how and when certain elements function and effect others, but it is all too easy to go crazy and add more and more cables until you have a complex mess of noise (which I like).



The Patcher area is the large dark central area surrounded by all the modules. It lets you patch signals from outputs of modules to inputs of modules. Signal outputs are the small circles and light up to show the current value of the signal. Signal inputs are the very small dials bordering the Patcher. These dials do not display signals. They allow you to adjust the amount of signal applied to an input. To make a patch cable, drag from an output to an input. You can move either end of a patch cable by dragging the ends around to a different input or output. You can delete a patch cable by dragging either end to where it is unconnected. The input dials control the amount of signal applied to an input. If multiple cables go to a single input, the signals are added together. The sum of all these signals is then multiplied by the input dial value. Most input dials are bipolar, meaning an input dial value can be either positive or negative.

Watch this video to see the basic operation of patching different components.



The other striking feature of the synth are the dials that are used to represent the different values. All of them are displayed with this semi-circular 'voltage' style shape which are backed up with the numeric values under each. When you modulate any of these parameters you are presented with a wiggly line as a way of communicating how much this parameter is being modulated by. There are two issues I have with this, 1. is that the the numeric values under/side each dial do not update as the modulation occurs and 2. the dials will jump to wherever the mouse clicks on them which can be very annoying (using the mouse wheel to change the values of the dials works brilliantly though).

Going back to the modulators, you are presented with a nice 16 step sequencer and from that you can trigger from the steps in either the height value or the toggle switches. Both of these have their own outputs as a voltage control as well as a second which you can delay to produce some interesting rhythmic effects. The [glide] knob controls the amount of glide, scaled with respect to the sequencer rate. At a glide of 0, the output steps immediately to the next value on each step. At a glide of 1, the value ramps linearly, reaching the next value at the end of each step. The three waveform buttons in the center snap the sequence value sliders to the preset shapes shown on the buttons which is a very useful little feature.

Watch this video as I set the Sequencer through its paces.



Envelope 1 is typically used for the amp and Envelope 2 is used for whatever you like but you can take modulation outputs from either and use them as you like and that's what I love about modular synthesis. Both envelopes have an input selector that chooses between MIDI input [key] and sequencer pulses [seq] as trigger sources. When [seq] is selected, pulses from the sequencer output are sent to envelope 1, and delayed pulses are sent to envelope 2. The graphs in each envelope module show the actual shape of the envelope over time. They are scaled to match the total duration of the envelope sequence. Envelopes have logarithmic attack and decay curves, and times are calibrated to correspond with the time at which the output value has traveled approximately 60% of the way of its destination.

In this video you can see how I use Envelope 2 to modulate the timbre of the Oscillator and the Sequencer to modulate the filter.



I was rather disappointed in the fact that there is only one LFO and I really felt as if I was soon running out of modulators and then having to share sources more than I wanted to. This is great in some respects as it makes you work with what you have and in the real world not all of us can afford several LFO's in our lovely synth racks. However as this is software based we should surely be offered a more wider range of possibilities. Perhaps this was part of the design concept and thus forcing you to work harder.

Conclusion
In terms of ease of use and as another 'tool' for those of us who get a little stuck in our ways with our usual synth VST's - I would say that this is going to be a synth I'm going to be using a lot more of. Perhaps though this wouldn't be my first choice for lushes pads or real intricate delights, instead I could see myself using this much more for sound design and quite abstract synthesis. The synth has its own built in reverb which at first I didn't like, but as I used it I found it to be a good match for most of the sounds I was using and I would definitely look at using this over an external one, it has its own character and its suited well to the overall feel of the synth. Opening up 4 or more of these made my computer stall due to the heavy CPU hogging that this synth claims over your system, and just to put that in perspective this was tested on an iMac dual 2.8GHZ Core 2 Duo with 4gig of RAM in Logic 9. It does state with this that they are currently working on this and should jolly well hope so too! I did find turning off the animated modulation on the dials helped keep things a little more under control.

Coming features

- Sequencer host synchronization
- Alternate tuning tables

Price
The full version of Aalto is available now for $99

... it is all too easy to go crazy and add more and more cables until you have a complex mess of noise (which I like)...

Product page

PROS

• Very simple GUI
• Very dynamic
• Excellent sound quality

LOVE IT OR HATE IT

• It is not for everyone, but the freedom it presents you with is fantastic.

CONS

• Currently a CPU hog - but this is being addressed
• Would like to have more Oscillators and LFO's
• Dials jump to wherever the mouse pointer is clicked

by Matthew Hodson
Matt is a sound engineer, musician, and academic lecturer. You can find him here

It seems that since I last reviewed a Tonehammer product, the company has been steadily growing in prowess and regard amongst the composing community, as shown by the rapid expansion of the credit list, which contains many recent top titles in Film, TV and Video Game, as well as a lengthening list of headline composers that endorse Tonehammer's products. As a company, Tonehammer takes pride in producing sample packages that while still excellently engineered, are a little leftfield - for example the bowed and plucked grand piano samples, lightbulbs, and the Whale drum. These excellent samples provide great depth to the composer looking for new organic sounds in their work.

The Emotional Piano is no exception. Many sampled pianos on the market today aim to recreate a piano as if you were to sit down on the theatre stage and play it. The emotional piano, while still being a recorded piano, has a very definite intended application. The creators Troels Folmann and Mike Peaslee claimed that they couldn't find a sampled piano that gave this particular ambience they were looking for - a soft, dark, resonant sound that is so often needed for scoring, and were determined to create such an instrument.

Emotional Piano is a download only 5GB sample collection from the Tonehammer website. Installation is easy and very clearly guided by the manual. It works with Native Instruments Kontakt 4 - if you don't have the full version, there's a free 'player' available, that doesn't limit you from using Emotional Piano to its full capacity.

Emotional Piano arrives in the Kontakt player as a library, with a cool thunderstorm image for a GUI. There are 5 main piano presets, (Master, Soft, Gentle blur, Jazz and Pseudo Granny) and 24 FX presets in a separate folder. They each have their own custom backdrop image; all moody dark images that reflect the sonic character of the piano.

Sound

The main presets, are from first play, very impressive. They live up to the claims of the creators with the dark, rich, soft sound. They sound like they are fairly close mic'ed, and maybe very very slightly compressed. This just brings out the resonant harmonics of the bass notes, and the wooden air around the top notes. I assumed that they'd just done some magic with the EQ to muffle the sound, but then you hear the high harmonics singing out of the bass notes to confirm that this is not the case.

The 'Master', 'Gentle blur', and 'Soft' pianos are just beautiful. I couldn't see how many layers of sampling were on each note, but they responded beautifully to dynamic playing. Their strength is in the softer playing - the depth and richness of the sounds are really enjoyable. I did a quick comparison to a couple of other notable piano sample libraries, and in the softer dynamic range, they're incomparable. The 'Master' piano is darker, and wide. The 'soft' piano is stupidly soft (imagine playing Thomas Newman-esque piano motifs in a room draped in cotton wool, with cotton wool in your ears), and the 'Gentle blur' is sort of in between, a nice blend of softness and resonance. Between the three presets, you can find the piano sound to fit every dark, brooding, menacing, romantic, or solemn scene you could ever need. Absolutely fantastic.

The other two presets, while still excellent, didn't fit the bill as well as the others. the Jazz piano was too bright to my taste, although it sounded great after a couple of EQ tweaks. The creators themselves write "Increasing the amplitude of the higher frequencies will absolutely produce audible hiss and a more shrill overall tonality." I found this on a couple of the presets where the high EQ had been tweaked up. The Pseudo-granny piano sounded like a honky Tonk being played on a warped record, which was again good, but I'd probably look elsewhere for that kind of sound.

Then there are the 24 FX presets. All really great sounding, and once again there is good attention to detail. They are subdivided further into FX, Ambience and Reverberant presets. Some of these instruments are extremely useful in their own right, and it's definitely not a case of just adding presets to make it seem like value for money. Some standouts to me were:

• 'Reverse piano'. The modulation wheel can be used to alter the length of the reverb tail ( the sound that you hear first) So an note can take an age to arrive, or slip in relatively quickly.
• 'Downsampled piano'. Again, the modulation wheel can be used to slowly downsample the piano - from full 24bit to crushed and wrecked small bit samples, with all the cool-sounding glitch in between.
• 'Spectral Bliss' - Making good use of a reverb preset, this is a shimmering organic pad with a beautiful piano on top.

There are also distorted pianos, pianos shoved through a Leslie, through a 'vinylizer' and placed in garages, cathedrals and bunkers. All great sounding.

The devil is in the details

Tonehammer's attention to detail is very impressive. There are elements to this sample player that I absolutely loved. The performance control parameters contain the usual ADSR envelope control, and basic EQ. On top of this there are Dynamic Velocity, Pedal Volume, High Damping and custom Convolution Reverb controls. All are self-explanatory, but excellent at adding that extra bit of detail. If you want the recorded sound of the sustain pedal being used louder or softer in the track, it's as simple as twisting the appropriate knob. Very important if you're playing a soft piano part! There are 21 Convolution reverb patches that you can choose for any preset. All of them are of good quality. I particularly liked the 4 Mystery patches, which sounded like... well I'm not sure what they sounded like. Kind of like a feedback loop on resonances and string sounds, which lead to the creation of these cool organic pad sounds that underlay the piano.

I really enjoyed the pedal sound. When lifting the sustain pedal, the notes had the high frequency ring of the strings being damped by the hammers. There's great attention to detail, which all adds to the human element that makes the sound so realistic.

Here's a track of the Master piano, written and played by the Tonehammer's own Troels Folmann.



It would be advised to have a fairly powerful computer to run this piano - each preset loads up almost 1 GB of RAM. With most computers nowadays, that won't be a problem. If you have an older computer, with not much memory at your fingertips, there are 'lite' versions of each main patch, running at about 340MBs

Conclusion

For those songs where you're looking for the sad, soft, loving, resonant sound; the sound that feels like you can reach out and touch the strings - this is the piano for you. I think there are better piano sounds out there for brighter, perhaps more classical sound. But that's not the intended application for the Emotional Piano.

Price
$149

There's great attention to detail, which all adds to the human element that makes the sound so realistic.

Product page

PROS

• Unbelievable resonance, warmth and depth from the samples
  
• Great attention to detail (adjustable Pedal noise)
  
• Great versatility, many options to change the sound, space, reverb etc
  

LOVE IT OR HATE IT

• If you're looking for an excellently engineered, warm, soft, rich, resonant piano for a good cost, then this is the place to get it. If you're looking for a bright, attacking piano for classical, or just looking for that all around piano sound, this might not be the one for you.

CONS

• Not much in the way of bright attacking piano sounds (As they intended)
  
• Works only with Kontakt 4 (you can get the free player, but will probably end up wanting the full sampler)
  

by Andy Dollerson

In a marketplace in which most softsynth designers are seemingly focused on developing “emulations” of classic vintage pieces, AudioDamage's newest synth offers something different: originality. Axon is really “out there.” The instrument involves a 7-voice FM percussion synthesizer controlled by a “Neuron” sequencer. This newly developed sequencing engine is what Audio Damage describes as “a seven-node hexagonal counter” - essentially a series of independently controllable arpeggio-nodes governed by a selectable central node.
Axon ships as an Intel-binary AU/VST for OS 10.5.1 and higher, as well as both 32- and 64-bit VST Instrument for the Windows platform. The instrument features MIDI output for control of external devices (VST only, no AU), greatly expanding the possible uses for Axon.

How does it work?

On first-run, Axon's presets generate unusual IDM-style poly-rhythmic synthetic percussive patterns. The instrument features an internal transport (Start and Stop) that can function with the host or independently. Each of the neural nodes controls a separate FM voice which is itself editable with filter, pitch, FM, and Timbre controls. These controls dramatically reshape the sound, allowing the user to morph from short, bunt percussive strikes, to longer pitched sounds. The interface also allows users to tune an individual voice to a specific pitch on the fly, which makes setting the various voices to different notes within the musical scale a snap. Each voice also features FM and ring modulation send and receive sliders for even more sonic manipulation.
In addition to the independent synthesizer controls, there are also integrated mixer, combo feedback/filter, and delay sections. The delay section is particularly useful for adding more depth and dimension to the rhythmic palette of sound. Back on the sequencer side, Axon's neural network has added sound controls. There is a “wire” view that allows users to configured the connection between nodes. In this relatively abstract view, nodes can be assigned to “transmit” or “listen” to another, wall the while communicating with tempo-synchronous “pulses.” Audio Damage themselves admit that Axon is a bit of an oddball and the wiring arrangement of the neural sequencer definitely takes practice to make full use of.
A feature that's curiously absent, is any sort of arrangement tool for creating distinct song sections derived from the same settings in Axon. The only way to switch from one pattern to the next (short of manually altering it) is to save each “section” as a separate plug-in preset (inside the host application) and switch between them. This method works, but some type of clip based pattern switching would be a welcome addition to the UI.

How does it sound?

Axon's FM engine is quite nice. The sound is clear, concise, and versatile. In addition to short percussive sounds, the engine is capable of emitting melodic sounds. The quality of FM synthesis featured in Axon is reminiscent of the very best hardware FM synthesizers of the late 80s. Given the high-fidelity sound quality, the most fun under the hood of Axon is in using a few nodes to create a poly-rhythmic percussion backing against wildly melodic, pitched synth sounds. Factory preset “Soupy Sales” is a good example of melody-percussion combination in action.
Here a short demo of Axon driving another instance of Axon by MIDI out.



Performance

In terms of stability, Axon plays nicely with Reaper on a 32-Bit Windows 7 test machine. Following Axon with a variety of other VSTi synthesizers posed no problems. Even considering the wealth of features afforded by Axon, the interface is surprisingly simplistic. Simply selecting a particular Neuron allows the user to freely edit all of the features of the corresponding voice right away.
Using the single-screen interface it is easy to arrive at any sound you can imagine.

Sending Midi Out

Another interesting feature is Axon's ability to route MIDI output to another instrument, which really opens up the sonic possibilities. It is important to note that under AU does not pass MIDI from one plug to the next, so this feature has no effect using the AU version of the plug. For Windows and Mac VST users, though, simply dropping a synth into the signal chain after Axon will allow the Neuron sequencer to “trigger” notes from the secondary instrument. This functionality adds instant “fun” to the already intriguing Axon. Here's a short demo of Axon driving an external VSTi via MIDI out.



Conclusion

Overall, Axon is a great buy at $59 (USD). The instrument is simple enough to “get” right out of the box. Still, to truly realize the potential of Axon, reading the manual is a must. The feature-set is much to abstract (and curiously inspiring) to really grasp within the context of a single setting. The sound of Axon is top-notch in comparison to other FM synthesizers (even some hardware ones). Axon steps out of the old molds of synthesizers of the past, and brings bold new concepts to the fold. Makers of IDM, industrial, and electronica will find Axon a welcome addition to their software arsenal. AudioDamage is known for unconventionality, and Axon adds to that heritage justly. The company has definitely earned points for originality and boldness with Axon.

Price
$59 (USD)

...Axon steps out of the old molds of synthesizers of the past, and brings bold new concepts to the fold...

Product Page

PROS

• Innovative, original design and sound
  
• Top-quality FM sound engine
  
• Easy, single-screen interface
  

LOVE IT OR HATE IT

• Axon is a breath of fresh air in comparison to other more "predictable" synths. If you are a user who can handle a little "mad science," Axon offers both fun and inspiration. Otherwise...maybe it's better to stick to the tools you're used to...
  

CONS

• MIDI out only works under VST (not really the fault of Audio Damage, though)
  
• No pattern arrangement features
  
• Definitely best enjoyed after a thorough reading of the manual
  

by Daniel T. Spear
Daniel T. Spear is a musician, writer, and engineer from Georgia. His website can be found here.

TouchAble is the latest iPad app to provide touch control of Ableton Live, or in their own words "Because Live has much more to offer, Touchable provides a complete control solution."
The "complete control solution" is quite a claim and I have to say I was pretty skeptical having had experience of the other available apps attempting the same/similar goal (more will be mentioned later about the competition).
However after only the first 30 minutes of actually using the app all my initial skepticism had disappeared.

Getting Started

The initial setup is extremely straight forward with clear instructions on installing the touchAble server software on your main computer running Ableton. This server links Ableton with touchAble on the iPad over a Wi-Fi network (this can include an adhoc network) and after the first time of setting up everything is pretty automatic there on after.

The app has two main areas, the first is the control bar on the right that allows the user to select which function they would like to use e.g. Clips, Mixer, Devices, Keys or Pads. The second is the main screen that changes based on the above selection. The great yet simple idea with this is the fact that you are given the option to choose whether all the main screen is devoted to a single function or split in two for multiple functions. Not only this but you can decide how this appears too either on top or bottom e.g. clip grid in the top half and the Mixer in the lower half. What is clear is that someone has actually thought about using this and the need at times for access to multiple functions.

Control panels - Clip Grid

The clip grid launcher section is intuitive to use with the colours and text directly from Ableton and the navigation is simple with varying scrolling speeds too. Whilst a clip plays a moving bar within the cell moves across showing the user where it is in within the clip, this also helps with keeping track of what clips are playing too. Along side these there are track clip stop, solo and arm buttons and scene triggering again with the Ableton colours and naming.


Mixer

Next is the Mixer section that again is simple yet well thought out and the user can quickly select what parameter is to be changed i.e. Volume, Sends A, B, C, D, Toggles and Pan.
The Volume and Send controls are responsive and I was able to change all 8 volume faders simultaneous so working with multiple faders works nicely too. One really nice feature I found in the Settings menu was the ability to ensure the volume faders can never exceed 0dB, this will come as a great relief for many DJ’s and live performers.
The mixer can be configured in two alternative ways (by the touch of a virtual button) to either show 8 tracks with two different banks of faders e.g. Volume and Send A or alternatively 16 tracks with a single bank of faders i.e. only Volume or Send A not both. The toggle selection looks remarkably similar to the layout of the LaunchPad with the ability to reset Volume, Sends and Pan and also options for muting, soloing, arming and the Monitoring for each track too.

Devices

The Devices section is next and this is split across the middle showing the tracks and each device (Ableton and VST plugins) in each half of the main window. You can scroll up/down, left/right to navigate both tracks and devices (this includes the Sends and Master), then simply select the device to be used. At this point the device will appear in the form of multiple faders, each fader having in bold type the parameter name and current value, you are given the option to display 8 large faders and then select banks (if more than 8 parameters) or 32 smaller faders. Initially on selection the app will determine what is the best format depending on the number of parameters in that device. The 8 fader format is nice and clear and perfect for a live situation, however I’m not sure this can be said for the 32 fader format but this depends on the person. If it were me I would simply wrap a device with more than 32 parameters into a rack and assign macros to the parameters I most want to use, this would reduce the number of faders dramatically and speed up the access through touchAble.
Another feature in the device section that in principal looks great is the native Ableton Device templates that mimic the Ableton Devices in appearance. At the time of writing (and the version being reviewed) the only device available was the ‘EQ Eight’ but this worked really well and made the experience highly intuitive. The options available for this device included being able to modify both gain/Q and frequency for all 8 filters simultaneously, changing the type of filter and switching filters on/off as needed. From reading the touchAble website more Ableton devices are to be added on later versions and this is one of the bigger selling points from a user perspective.
Lastly a final Device feature is the ability to switch devices on and off from the initial overview in the device section on up to 8 tracks quickly. Apart from the possibility that controlling a complex device with the more fiddly 32 faders will be of use in a live situation the Device section is particularly strong and well thought out.

Keys & Pads

The Keys & Pads section provide the user the ability to play melodies/chords etc and drum racks. These two sections use MIDI to trigger the devices and the MIDI routing is setup in Ableton as any other MIDI controller would be. The MIDI channels the Keys and Pads use are defined by the user on the touchAble server that is running before the app is used.
The keys have two single octave keyboards that the user can decide which octave each will play from C-2 to C8 and the keyboard is polyphonic too i.e. assuming the VST/live instrument is polyphonic.
The pads work reasonably well all things considered and the developers have built in the ability to change the velocity of the pads too which at least acknowledges the limitation of the touch screen. However if building beats using pads is a genuine need I would seek out a hardware controller for this whereas the keys are quire adequate for controlling VST synths.

Final features

Last but not least the last two features are hidden away discretely in the bottom right hand corner and these are the Clip and Transport control.
The Clip control allows the user to select a particular clip to manipulate, once selected the clip can be switched off, looping, pitch control and the start and loop length. The clip switching and loop on/off functions work as expected but I have to say the start and loop length does not work particularly well in terms of usability. Specifically both are controlled by faders and have a maximum value of 16 bars, the problem is using these with any degree of accuracy is extremely difficult as you can go quickly from 2 beats to 2 bars before you know it. A more elegant solution would be a grid based selection with various buttons determining the length in 1/16ths, 1 beat, 2 beats, bars etc. This would really make this section more usable and powerful.
The transport control is more straight forward and gives the user some good options such as setting both the Global quantisation as well as the record quantisation and switching the OVR button on/off.

Competition

So how does touchAble compare to its competition?
Well recently another app called Griid was released that is purely a clip launcher and works pretty well with some neat tricks in terms of navigation and overview of the the Ableton set. However at £14.99 this is expensive for a single function app although Liine who develop the app do intend to build further modules
The main challenger to touchAble is LiveControl that uses the TouchOSC app in combination with scripts that allow interaction with Ableton. Having used this combination several months ago and now comparing it against touchAble I think that LiveControl has a serious contender and personally touchable was much easier to get up and running in comparison to LiveControl.
However I have also used the TouchOSC app (in conjunction with OSCulator an OSC to MIDI routing software) and although it does not have the same degree of depth when controlling Ableton it does allow you to create an entirely unique MIDI controller with as many buttons, faders, switches etc as needed. These are then manually MIDI mapped within Ableton to whatever parameter you desire so this works as a simple but flexible bespoke MIDI touch controller that can have multiple pages and functions minus the clip launching. TouchOSC definitely scores points in this department against touchAble.

Conclusion

In summary touchAble is a serious contender for the best iPad app for controlling Ableton currently and the most competent attempt so far. It is easy to setup, has flexibility with respect to access to multiple controls and so far seems very stable. Having used this for approximately a week I am already boxing up my Launchpad ready for Ebay as touchAble has already made this dedicated hardware device redundant even at this early stage of development. I think this app could be improved with better control of the clip start and length and if they could add a separate page whereby users could build there own control surface especially for live performance situations (much like TouchOSC) this would definitely make it the iPad Ableton controller to beat by a long way.

Price
13,99 €

...a serious contender for the best iPad app for controlling Ableton...

Product page

PROS

• Easy to use
• Flexible
• Stable

LOVE IT OR HATE IT

• It could make your hardware controller redundant

CONS

• Some control features could be improved

by Phil Bilsby