Can anyone who owns all/some/most of the ios synths in the subject title comment on the differences and/or overlap ?
I own Waldorf Nave already ..... what's the deal with Wavemapper & Wavegenerator ? what's the difference between those two ? is there any point getting both ? which is 'better' ? is there any point in getting either of them if I already use Nave ?
I added Infinite to the query just in case ...
cheers
Differences/Overlap between PPG: Wavemapper , Wavegenerator, Infinite and Waldorf: Nave ???
-
Korg Supporter Korg Supporter https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=386399
- KVRAF
- 1902 posts since 4 Oct, 2016
I have played with WaveGenerator before using Nave. WaveGenerator sounds more buzzy and sparkly (if not as sparkly as PPG Wave 2.2v), but it suffers aliasing on very high octaves (which is why there is a second audio mode). While Nave has no aliasing, it sounds kind of clean or dull to me. WaveMapper's wavetables sound the same as WaveGenerator's, but the use of samples is better than Nave's analysis capabilities. Sure Nave has a more complex filter and on-board effects, but I find WaveGenerator and WaveMapper more fun to use. The PPG apps also have loopable envelopes, MPE support, and WaveGenerator had FM features that Nave lacks. I highly recommend PPG Infinite because of its wild additive morphing features and the fact that it doesn't alias at all. PPG Infinite is way better than Nave.
-
Korg Supporter Korg Supporter https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=386399
- KVRAF
- 1902 posts since 4 Oct, 2016
I forgot to mention that all PPG apps have AUv3 support while Nave might be abandoned
-
- KVRer
- 1 posts since 21 Sep, 2017
I actually have all four.
Nave:
It has the easiest learning curve but I agree that it's probably abandoned. Shame because I got some very interesting sounds out of it. I found that the strength is to use the standard oscillators as a foundation and work with the wave tables on top of that. I sill work with it some, but until Waldorf shows it some love so it works with newer hardware I don't want to get too committed to it.
Wavegenerator:
Steep learning curve if you are new to wave table synths, but I am still working on it though hasn't really clicked with me so I'm not spending much time with it. The Edit page covers Wave, Spectrum, and path editing and is really well laid out. Three oscillators, but you are stuck using the same wave table for all three. The rest of the signal path is pretty standard for any synth.
Wavemapper:
I actually prefer this over the other soft synths I have.
About same learning curve as Wavegenerator. The new thing here is "mapping", this page is divided up into a grid that you can assign "collections" such as Pan Flute or Sitar. Each functional group (oscillators, filters, etc..) has it's own icon that you can move within the grid, so for example you can put the OSC1 icon on the Pan Flute and the OSC2 icon on the Sitar allowing each oscillator to have it's own wave table. You can move the icons around during performance for dynamic changes. The rest of it is like the Wavegenerator as far as signal chain goes.
Infinite:
VERY steep learning curve, I'm still working on it. This one is very different from the other two on how sounds are modified. I'd suggest watching Wolfram's youtube videos on it since it's very hard to describe. Infinite has a routing matrix that allows some pretty tricky modulations which help create more dynamic sound.
There are many good videos about each of these apps on youtube.
Of the four apps, I would recommend PPS Wavemapper first. Once I got a handle on the UI I have had more fun with this one than the others.
Personally I hope that Nave has not been abandoned, I like it a lot but like I said earlier, I don't want to be dependent on an app that may not work on the next revision of iOS.
I wish that PPG had wave editing more setup like Nave. What I like about Nave over PPG is that you can select specific regions to work with. By that you can select a small X/Y range within the wave form and work on just that. PPG you only work on the X axis of either one Y frequency range or ALL of Y frequency range. It would be nice if there were some way to get it more like Nave. THere are some other little things about PPG but I don't think they interfere with working on a sound as much as the wave editing limitations do.
Nave:
It has the easiest learning curve but I agree that it's probably abandoned. Shame because I got some very interesting sounds out of it. I found that the strength is to use the standard oscillators as a foundation and work with the wave tables on top of that. I sill work with it some, but until Waldorf shows it some love so it works with newer hardware I don't want to get too committed to it.
Wavegenerator:
Steep learning curve if you are new to wave table synths, but I am still working on it though hasn't really clicked with me so I'm not spending much time with it. The Edit page covers Wave, Spectrum, and path editing and is really well laid out. Three oscillators, but you are stuck using the same wave table for all three. The rest of the signal path is pretty standard for any synth.
Wavemapper:
I actually prefer this over the other soft synths I have.
About same learning curve as Wavegenerator. The new thing here is "mapping", this page is divided up into a grid that you can assign "collections" such as Pan Flute or Sitar. Each functional group (oscillators, filters, etc..) has it's own icon that you can move within the grid, so for example you can put the OSC1 icon on the Pan Flute and the OSC2 icon on the Sitar allowing each oscillator to have it's own wave table. You can move the icons around during performance for dynamic changes. The rest of it is like the Wavegenerator as far as signal chain goes.
Infinite:
VERY steep learning curve, I'm still working on it. This one is very different from the other two on how sounds are modified. I'd suggest watching Wolfram's youtube videos on it since it's very hard to describe. Infinite has a routing matrix that allows some pretty tricky modulations which help create more dynamic sound.
There are many good videos about each of these apps on youtube.
Of the four apps, I would recommend PPS Wavemapper first. Once I got a handle on the UI I have had more fun with this one than the others.
Personally I hope that Nave has not been abandoned, I like it a lot but like I said earlier, I don't want to be dependent on an app that may not work on the next revision of iOS.
I wish that PPG had wave editing more setup like Nave. What I like about Nave over PPG is that you can select specific regions to work with. By that you can select a small X/Y range within the wave form and work on just that. PPG you only work on the X axis of either one Y frequency range or ALL of Y frequency range. It would be nice if there were some way to get it more like Nave. THere are some other little things about PPG but I don't think they interfere with working on a sound as much as the wave editing limitations do.