Tabletop is now free

[ghettosynth]

After playing with the free version, I think the entire concept is flawed. What benefit is it to array the various instruments that way? Feels like they came up with the name first, then made an app to match it.

I'd never arrange devices like this in a physical space, so the app feels like it's based on a slavish adherence to a bogus concept.

I can see where the inspiration came from, but I think that the bigger flaw is that the focus on "cuteness" limits play-ability. For example, the little drum machine takes up way more screen real estate than necessary forcing you to constantly switch to different parts of the table to play it, and the effects connected to it. I don't think that it makes effective use of the touch interface.

I was going to use it for a short live set, but, I found it a bit irritating, and the first time I sat down to jam with my complex patch it crashed about ten minutes in.

I've not found anything on the iPad yet that really hits that electronic music improvisational sweet spot. I think that figure is going in the right direction, it just has too many limitations.

[Dogboy73]

Agree with Ghetto. Tabletop is a bit cutesy & definitely very fiddly in use. It's made by the same people who made ReBirth for iPad. It almost seems like they've tried to do a desktop version of Reason! It has novelty appeal but in use it doesn't seem all that practical. Some of the pay for add-on devices look cool. I bought a few of the cheap ones. There's a synth that looks okay but its £6.99. With so much choice on iOS these days £6.99 for a synth add-on within another App seems a bit steep. I might have bought all of the add-ons initially if they were all around a £1.

[ghettosynth]

Agree with Ghetto. Tabletop is a bit cutesy & definitely very fiddly in use. It's made by the same people who made ReBirth for iPad. It almost seems like they've tried to do a desktop version of Reason! It has novelty appeal but in use it doesn't seem all that practical. Some of the pay for add-on devices look cool. I bought a few of the cheap ones. There's a synth that looks okay but its £6.99. With so much choice on iOS these days £6.99 for a synth add-on within another App seems a bit steep. I might have bought all of the add-ons initially if they were all around a £1.

I bought more than a couple, but I also didn't buy the $10 synth. I was planning on a minimal acid set and got enough of the instruments and effects to make that work, if it was going to work.

It seems almost that feature choices were driven more by how to make the in-app sales work than what would make a great system. For example, I get that you want to sell the little drum machine, but, putting drum sounds into the matrix synth would have made it (the entire system) much more useful. The mixers are the same way, knobs on one, sliders on another, but to use sliders you have to give up effects sends.

[funky lime]

I hate that 'free' bullshit when you really end up paying for something. I'd much rather hear someone describe something as exactly what it is - tell me it's the base system and you pay to add to it. Don't insult my intelligence by trying to tell me that something is free when it isn't.

Too much of that with the way apps are sold.

agreed.... but...

tabletop gives you more than enough devices to create songs without having to spend a penny. what you get for free is way more than some actual "paid-for" apps.

oh, the nerve... how when people give something away for free, people complain that it's not free enough!!!

guess i'll go back to making yet another song with my FREE tabletop app. heck, the matrix tenori-on-ish thing alone is well worth the $0.00 price of admission!!!

[ghettosynth]

I hate that 'free' bullshit when you really end up paying for something. I'd much rather hear someone describe something as exactly what it is - tell me it's the base system and you pay to add to it. Don't insult my intelligence by trying to tell me that something is free when it isn't.

Too much of that with the way apps are sold.

agreed.... but...

tabletop gives you more than enough devices to create songs without having to spend a penny. what you get for free is way more than some actual "paid-for" apps.

oh, the nerve... how when people give something away for free, people complain that it's not free enough!!!

guess i'll go back to making yet another song with my FREE tabletop app. heck, the matrix tenori-on-ish thing alone is well worth the $0.00 price of admission!!!

Let's be clear about my comments here, I'm not complaining that it's free. It's pretty clear that it's free because they think that's the best way to drive their business model.

Free or not, It doesn't really use the ipad effectively in my opinion. Sure, the matrix sequencer/synth is ok. But is it really that good of a concept? I mean, is it better than simply putting the synth,or the drum machine as a second page and allowing the user to program his own sounds?

I don't think that it is. It should just be a poly sequencer that you can use to drive the other sound generation devices. I suspect that the primary reason that their aren't drum samples in the matrix is because it would compete with the drum machine. Perhaps there are technical reasons, however, it's not like that's a difficult problem to solve.

[funky lime]

you are right in that it doesn't really use the tablet interface in any kind of innovative or even interesting way. and indeed its design is geared toward enhancing its in-app-purchases. this is the iOS way lately, and unfortunately. i guess i didn't expect anything revolutionary when i downloaded it; rather, i expected a variety of simple modules i could use together in creative ways and that's exactly what was delivered.

i just feel that the included devices, being absolutely free, comprise a more than adequate virtual studio in which to dabble. the focus being really on the free part of the equation. i got hours of enjoyment out of it before i really even considered the in-app purchases.

undoubtedly there is an app that does what you describe. this is not that app. i feel tabletop's beauty comes from combining simple, straightfoward components in a fun way, and considering you have 11 capable devices to use without paying a penny, the possibilities are nigh infinite already.

revolutionary? no.
original? no.
feature-rich? no.
fun? yes.
straightfoward? yes.
useful? eh.... yeah.
free? bonus!!