# IPad control for major sample libraries - UPDATED Sept 2011



## whinecellar (Jan 9, 2011)

Fellow VI Control composers, I'm happy to announce my first two iPad controllers for the TouchOSC platform:

*ar•ti•cu•lāt :
Complete articulation control for major sample libraries*

Imagine not having to remember countless articulation keyswitches and controllers for all those libraries. Imagine having a consistent & informative interface for them, labeled with musical terms like staccato, marcato or pizzicato. Imagine having controllers at your fingertips for features like portamento/glissando speed, effect bypass, Kontakt scripts and more. Imagine no longer! Thanks to ar•tic•u•lāte, this is now a reality for major libraries including L.A. Scoring Strings, East West-Quantum Leap Symphony Orchestra, Project Sam Symphobia and VSL Appassionata Strings, with more on the way:

Product page: http://www.whinecellarstudio.com/home/articulate2.html

*Antidote :
Advanced parameter control for the Access Virus™*

No other synth on the planet sounds like an Access Virus™, and none other is capable of such musical mayhem. Yet with all of its knobs and real-time control, there’s still room for improvement. Enter Antidote, a new TouchOSC™ control surface for iPad. Antidote puts almost every synthesis parameter of the Virus on the iPad; furthermore, it makes them all _touchable_. Now you can grab several elements at a time that are otherwise buried in endless LCD menus and automate them all simultaneously; or use Antidote’s X/Y pads to sweep filter cutoff and resonance at once - under just one finger - while also manipulating oscillators, envelopes, LFO’s, you name it. With previously unattainable sound-sculpting ability, Antidote is definitely a cure for the common Virus:

Product page: http://www.whinecellarstudio.com/home/antidote2.html


*FAQ*

*How much?*
$20 for ar•ti•cu•lāt
$15 for Antidote
or $30 if you buy them both together ($5 bundle discount)
...I wanted to keep these affordable yet offset the cost of the carpal tunnel surgery I'll likely need after the ridiculous amount of time spent in TouchOSC Editor 

*Cross-platform?* Well, almost. These two bundles contain everything you need to get up and running within minutes, at least on the Mac side of the fence. The crucial component that makes it plug & play is the OSCulator mapping profile (OSCulator takes incoming OSC-formatted messages from the iPad and translates them into MIDI so your sample libraries can make sense of them). However, OSCulator is Mac-only until the next major release. In the meantime, Windows users can make use of everything else but they will need a Windows alternative to OSCulator to map the incoming messages to MIDI. At the very least, Windows users still benefit from all the hard work that went into building the actual TouchOSC layers.

*Why TouchOSC and not a standalone iPad app?* Because we all have our preferences and I wanted you to have options. When the color coding matches your scoring template, it adds to the ease of quickly finding articulations or instrument groups. Using the TouchOSC platform allows you to make changes that better suit your preferences or workflow. And to be frank, I'm a composer, not a software developer - I don't have the time or desire to learn iOS programming!

*What exactly does ar•ti•cu•lāt control?*

_Every keyswitched articulation in the following libraries:_
- EWQLSO Gold/Platinum XP Strings, Winds & Brass (developed for the Kontakt version for backward compatibility, compatible with PLAY legacy version patches)
- VSL Appassionata Strings (Basic & Extended)
- Kontakt's factory content VSL strings
- Project Sam Symphobia 1
- Audiobro L.A. Scoring Strings (both Lite/First Chair and Full versions)

_It also provides dedicated controllers for these functions:_
- Toggle switches for Symphobia's octaver, legato, repetition, EQ & reverb
- L.A. Scoring Strings' portamento/gliss speed, velocity limiter and toggle switches for the tuning & auto-arranger scripts (reassignable)
- 36 blank buttons assignable to any MIDI controller, computer keystroke or key combination (key commands anyone?)

*What do I get with these bundles?* For Mac users, everything you need to be up and running in within minutes, assuming you already have TouchOSC, OSCulator and an iPad. Same thing for Windows users except that you'll need to map the controllers to a Windows OSCulator alternative until they release a Windows version. Here's what comes with either bundle:

- TouchOSC layers for above libraries and/or Access Virus
- OSCulator profile (Mac only at the moment)
- Custom Kontakt multi & script for LASS
- Custom Matrices for VSL Appassionata Strings
- Complete documentation

*Requirements*

- TouchOSC for iPad ($4.99 in the App Store)
- TouchOSC Editor (free at www.hexler.net/touchosc)
- OSCulator for Mac OSX (Windows version to follow - donationware)
- Any combination of the above sample libraries
- Apple iPad with a WiFi connection to your host computer
- Native Instruments Kontakt 4.1.1+ for L.A. Scoring Strings support
- Access Virus B/Classic or later for Antidote users (most parameters will control an original Virus as well)

Well, there you have it. I hope these can be as helpful to you as they've already been to me!

Make great music,


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## autopilot (Jan 9, 2011)

Awesome Jim! 

Congrats and I look forward to buying this when I buy my Gen 2 ipad as soon as it's released!!


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## noiseboyuk (Jan 9, 2011)

Yeah, looks great!

Have you considered a simplified keyswitch version for the iPhone?


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## whinecellar (Jan 10, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Mon Jan 10 said:


> Have you considered a simplified keyswitch version for the iPhone?



Well my friend, with almost 400 keyswitches and 800 labels, I'm afraid there would be some difficult choices involved in what to include and what to leave out! If you have any ideas I'm all ears though 

Thanks guys!


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## futur2 (Jan 10, 2011)

*Re: iPad control for major sample libraries - now available!*

this sounds great! so i only need an ipad :shock::mrgreen:

their website says "Next major version of Osculator will be compatible with Mac OS and Windows." do you have any idea when this is likely to happen? when it happens the pad is mine!


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## whinecellar (Jan 10, 2011)

Dragonwind @ Mon Jan 10 said:


> Nice! Is this customizable at all with custom labels for adapting to a different setup or is it locked?



Hey Chris,

No, it's not locked at all. In fact, this is why I went with TouchOSC - I wanted you to be able to customize it according to your preferences. I also filled all the blank spots with unassigned buttons (36 of them for now, with room for more on a few pages). See *"Why TouchOSC and not a standalone iPad app"* in FAQ above.

The whole idea behind this is to save you the ridiculous amount of time it takes to build this yourself - TouchOSC Editor could be a lot friendlier


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## chimuelo (Jan 10, 2011)

*Re: iPad control for major sample libraries - now available!*

This is excellent Jimbo.
I appreciate the time you spent on this.
OSC is the future for such stuff, and you're up in the mix.
20 bucks is a steal BTW....

Ciao


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## whinecellar (Jan 10, 2011)

*Re: iPad control for major sample libraries - now available!*

Thanks my friend... hope it's a worthwhile 20 bucks


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## noiseboyuk (Jan 10, 2011)

whinecellar @ Mon Jan 10 said:


> noiseboyuk @ Mon Jan 10 said:
> 
> 
> > Have you considered a simplified keyswitch version for the iPhone?
> ...



Weeeellll.... I'd have thought a heierachical approach could work? A page for the libraries you use, press one, and then the keyswitches for only that pop up. Maybe even tabs at the top for switching... that might be too crowded though.


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## whinecellar (Jan 10, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Mon Jan 10 said:


> I'd have thought a heierachical approach could work? A page for the libraries you use, press one, and then the keyswitches for only that pop up. Maybe even tabs at the top for switching... that might be too crowded though.



Yep, that's exactly how the iPad version works. Problem is, there are around 80 keyswitches for each library (over 200 just for EWQLSO) - there's just no practical way to get it all on the iPhone unless you split it into LOTS of pages/TouchOSC layers - but then you'd spend half your time switching pages & layouts rather than getting any work done.

The other thing I noticed even on the iPad version is that I pushed it to the limit - any more than 5 pages and TouchOSC starts to get really sluggish. Hopefully that will improve on later versions and/or the next gen. iPad hardware...


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## noiseboyuk (Jan 10, 2011)

whinecellar @ Mon Jan 10 said:


> noiseboyuk @ Mon Jan 10 said:
> 
> 
> > I'd have thought a heierachical approach could work? A page for the libraries you use, press one, and then the keyswitches for only that pop up. Maybe even tabs at the top for switching... that might be too crowded though.
> ...



Oh, ok - sorry I was missing a step between library and patch, wasn't I? I guess you'd need to select, say, the patches you use in SO, and have that as an SO menu, then click through to the patch itself (so only one patch per page). So it could go:

Library
Section
Patch
Keyswitch page.

Gee, that's a lot of menus... perhaps the most logical thing would be to make up a custom quicklaunch favourites page, just for the keyswitches you use a lot.


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## whinecellar (Jan 10, 2011)

noiseboyuk @ Mon Jan 10 said:


> Gee, that's a lot of menus...



Couldn't have said it better myself 

The iPhone screen is great though for smaller controller sets. In fact, next up is a set of DAW commands that I think address some areas nobody else has thought of - they could be quite handy!


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## chimuelo (Jan 10, 2011)

*Re: iPad control for major sample libraries - now available!*

That last remark has made my mind up.
I use Monomes so I am quite an avid fan of OSC and parallel MIDI.
I now ask you for advice since I do not own an iPad.
Should I wait for the newer version I saw at CES, or should I just buy now and get going.
This is truly a convenience as I have already a very capable way to control my entire rig in realtime.
But having this with such excessive additions means I can finally buy a controller with better action for customized scripts designed for my particular needs.
I must say that the KS88 is still the best MIDI controller for live work, nothing else comes close, but a VAX77 w/ an iPad and OSC sure looks good to me.

What Say You Jimbo...?


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## whinecellar (Jan 10, 2011)

*Re: iPad control for major sample libraries - now available!*

Well I gotta tell you chimuelo, I was about to pull the trigger on some Monomes or something similar, but I hated that there was no provision for labeling anything. Then the iPad came out and I thought "aha - that's the solution." And sure enough, this is what I've wanted for years but it wasn't possible until now; the Euphonix MC was the closest thing with its touch screen, but it's a lot smaller, 3x the price and infinitely less customizable than an iPad.

Anyway, as for now vs. later on the iPad itself, I'd say wait it out a few more weeks until you know when the new one will ship. Personally I couldn't care less about the cameras - I bought mine specifically for TouchOSC and it works perfectly. All the other features are just gravy.

And if you're at all tech-savvy, designing your own TouchOSC controllers is pretty dang cool. Just watch out forò    ¬¿Å    ¬¿Ó    ¬À,    ¬Àê    ¬Á    ¬ÃÒ    ¬ÃÛ    ¬Ãæ    ¬Ãú 


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## sevaels (Jan 10, 2011)

*Re: iPad control for major sample libraries - now available!*

Only thing cooler is your avatar :D 

Thanks man!


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## whinecellar (Jan 11, 2011)

*Re: iPad control for major sample libraries - now available!*



EvilDragon @ Mon Jan 10 said:


> whinecellar @ 10.1.2011 said:
> 
> 
> > and none other is capable of such musical mayhem.
> ...



Just my take obviously!
o-[][]-o


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## whinecellar (Jan 11, 2011)

*Re: iPad control for major sample libraries - now available!*



sevaels @ Mon Jan 10 said:


> Only thing cooler is your avatar :D



Ha! I dunno, I think we're in the running for a tie my friend...


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## lahdeedah (Jan 13, 2011)

*Re: iPad control for major sample libraries - now available!*

Wow. Just, wow. I need an iPad immediately. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that Antidote would work with my beloved Virus B! =o


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## whinecellar (Jan 13, 2011)

*Re: iPad control for major sample libraries - now available!*



lahdeedah @ Thu Jan 13 said:


> Wow. Just, wow. I need an iPad immediately. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that Antidote would work with my beloved Virus B! =o



Here to serve, my friend. And of course it just so happens I developed this using a Virus Classic 

As mentioned elsewhere, it should be compatible with more recent models but obviously any newer parameters won't be covered. Unless of course someone wants to buy me a Virus TI...


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## IFM (Feb 20, 2011)

*Re: iPad control for major sample libraries - now available!*

Finally ordered my copy, thanks for doing this!


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## whinecellar (Feb 20, 2011)

*Re: iPad control for major sample libraries - now available!*

Hope you enjoy it Chris! I hope to have the full version LASS multis done soon too, FYI


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## whinecellar (Sep 7, 2011)

UPDATE September 7, 2011:

Happy to announce I've finally gotten around to creating the necessary Kontakt multis for LA Scoring Strings FULL VERSION users (my original release included support for LASS Lite/FC users only).

So as of today, my TouchOSC™ bundle includes support for all keyswitched patches in these libraries:

- EastWest Gold/Platinum XP strings, winds & brass (legacy Kontakt versions, also compatible with the corresponding patches in the PLAY versions)
- LA Scoring Strings (both Lite/First Chair and Full Version)
- Symphobia 1
- VSL Appassionata Strings Extended

All necessary files are included: Kontakt multis & scripts, TouchOSC layouts, VSL matrix files, OSCulator routing file & complete documentation.

Thanks!


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## pablo1980 (Apr 28, 2012)

Hi Jim, I am thinking about the virus layout...

The question I have is: can you get bidirectional info to the ipad? I mean, if I record in cubase some automation, and the press play, does the ipad reflects the changes? (I couldn´t get that to work yet)

I would be incredibly useful to have a patches librarian for the virus in the ipad...do you think that´s even possible?

thanks Jim, this is incredible work!


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## whinecellar (Apr 28, 2012)

Hi Pablo,

Yes, theoretically it's possible to have two-way communication with these TouchOSC editors, but it would be a huge undertaking. It's also dependent on the user's setup (DAW), whether you use OSCulator, Core MIDI, etc.

Bottom line: unfortunately these editors barely sold enough copies to pay for my iPad, and I just can't afford to sink more time into them other than fixing any issues, and so far I haven't heard of any. Of course if I do add any functionality I would certainly post free updates. You are also free to modify these as you see fit, as long as you don't distribute the results without permission.

Thanks for your interest my friend - glad you're enjoying the work!

Cheers,

Jim


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