Has anyone used Werkbench for the iPad?

http://www.bolasol.com/werkbench/

The website describes it as a Beatbox/loop pedal/drum machine. It looks like a fun app with an interesting interface. There are some good demo videos, but I haven't seen much in terms of reviews of actual performance. I would love to hear some impressions if anyone has experience with this.

Love it, strong for 1.0 release, and a standout in a crowded field. I was a Little slow to get the subtlety of the interface, but it Surprised me in a positive way once I saw the "how-to" video on the website. Choose several steps in your beat, then instantly sample anything, based on a threshold, and each of those steps contains your audio, and you immediately audition what you've sampled. So fast and intuitive and creative. Change pitch or volume on each step. Copy steps. Envelope control.

As it goes with these types of apps, I'm always wanting odd meters and user defined pattern length, but the amount of novelty and speed available will have me using this a lot. Esp since you can export your audio, save patterns, etc.

Thanks so much for your reply. Does it allow you to save and load samples from other sessions? Can you import samples? Thanks!

You can save and load patterns, which includes your recorded samples.

No independent loading of samples.

I love that constraint, as it forces you to 'roll your own', or use material you've already generated.

+1 to that! Werkbench is the rare example where a constraint actually counts as a feature. It definitely forces you to have a "record your own" ethos and as a result, you tend to seek out interesting sounds that might not have occurred to you before. I'm putting together a track now that uses an 115-year old piano as percussion, vocal loops, a child's concertina, and a mbira

Thanks for the replies. I went ahead and bought it. I'm running it on an iPad 3, and while it's fun, I haven't been able to get a clean sample. Each one has a pop and click at the beginning and end of each sample i record. I've tried adjusting the threshold, and playing around with the envelopes helps, but it's more work than i'd like to put in to get a clean sound. To contrast, I am able to get very clear and clean samples using iMaschine.

Otherwise, this app is a lot of fun.

Hi folks,

WerkBench developer here.

Really glad to see that folks are embracing this odd app! I hope it helps a lot of people make cool music.

I'm currently working on an iPhone version. Still figuring out if it will be universal or standalone. It all depends on how many of the iPad features I can get into the slower phones.

DrApostropheX:
I want to hear that track!

thedemographic:
The envelopes are definitely fast enough to cause a click. As you said, adjusting the the attack and release will fix that. That said, I'll make sure to improve the windowing during recording in the next update to get rid of the clicks. I noticed that low/sustained tones suffer from it more than percussive sounds.

I'm definitely open to more notes and thoughts as this progresses! I'm reachable via: werkbench () bolasol.com

Cheers,

Karl

I hadnt noticed any clicks but then again i've only made percussive sounds so far.

Thanks for checking in, Karl!

The big request I'd have for Werkbench would be stereo panning (on a per-step/sample basis, if possible) and better management of saved presets -- perhaps a folder-based system, to make it easier to sort through them. I like the idea of having the samples saved with the preset, but as I make more and more of them, it becomes more difficult to scroll through the list.

AWESOME app. Keep up the great work.

Hello, Karl.

Thanks for your reply--I really appreciate that you took the time to address comments here. I want to add that with the shorter percussive sounds, the recording is very clean, and there's been nothing with the app, as it currently stands, that gets in the way of a very creative and fun experience.

I've had a lot of fun playing around with Werkbench. The custom scales and low-pass filter, in particular are very well implemented! I would highly recommend this app to anyone.

It would be pretty handy to be able to save everything that is currently in all banks on both sides and all settings as the one preset to be able to load again.. Maybe a 'global' save option?

I just want to say that this app is amazing! I've been playing around with this and a Korg Monotron, like that video demo, and I think the potential of making music with this combined with an analog synth is just ridiculous.

I want to try it with an Arturia Minibrute...

Anyway, I just saw that version 1.1 is coming out soon and it has a lot of really cool new features like per sample delay and panning. I can't wait to try it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0UpwGazzVU&feature=player_e mbedded

The music making potential of this is crazy compared to other beatbox apps.

how have I not run across this app. I need to buy this immediately. can you export audio easily? when's that update with the tune-able scales coming out?

Hi All,

As Storms pointed out, the next version is due any day now. We've added a quite a few new features (including some that were suggested in this thread!):

--Panning for each step.

--Hi-pass/low-cut filter for each step.

--Decay for each step. The decay scales to the global hold and release values so they still have an effect.

--Increased the sample time by a bit.

--Doubled the polyphony on the iPad 2 and 3.

--Added a global save option that saves all banks and all of the settings for delay, tempo, swing, etc.

I did not add folders exactly, but the global save stores loops in groups of 8 that can be loaded individually at any time. That should help a bit with organization.

Oh, and you can delete loops now!

Note:
It does not have a delay setting for each step as mentioned in a previous post. Maybe in the future!



Cheers,

Karl
Bolasol, Inc.

Hooray! I can't wait for the new update! Werkbench is definitely the most organic and inspiring sampler I've ever used. It puts the "fun" back in.. uh... fun-damental harmonic frequency, I guess.

http://soundcloud.com/victor-lams/stuff-at-my-house