Audio Modeling SWAM: Full Demonstration!

[bxbrkrz]

[diminished]

It's so nice to see and hear when the CEO of a music tech company has a musical background and lots of passion...

[Boombastix]

Interesting. I already decided to buy a TEC a few weeks back and try working with the Reaktor virtual models and Sakura. SWAM is a bit pricey, but sounds interesting though. I saw the strings are VM and the others are sample based, but made up differently from the usual, so more realstic maybe?

[joeyluck]

If you have interest in the SWAM instruments, I recommend picking up an MPE controller, like the Roli Seaboard Block. While that above video is a great example of all the expressiveness, it is simply much more intuitive and enjoyable to play with a controller like the seaboard IMO. While the legatos on a standard keyboard work well, it's not as fun as simply sliding between notes on a Seaboard and the rest of the "5D touch". No need for pedals to operate or knobs to turn with a Seaboard.

And if you have an iPad, the simpler versions of the instruments available in the Noise app are much cheaper. I did choose to get the SWAM strings VST bundle (so I'd have more control over settings), but I use the rest of the instruments via the Noise app on iPad (connected via lightning cables, which transmits MIDI and audio).

Alternatively, you can also use a Leap Motion (something else I picked up) to control the bowing gesture, pressure, etc.

And then there is the Pen2Bow for iPad

[bxbrkrz]

I agree. Different types of controllers would really be cool to see on their YT channel.

[Boombastix]

Thanks Joey, very helpful. So, down the rabbit hole…
* Leap Motion - first videos I saw made it seem a bit too Thermin style, and may not be the best for what I want. But for bowing of say Reaktor Serenade, it looks to work well. Quite impressive actually. And cost effective at under $100.
* Pen2Bow, I don't have a newer iPad and the difficulty to control pen angle as you move the pen back/forth or in a circle - with my LEFT hand, seems a bit too hard to be useful. Cheap if you have an iPad, other wise it gets expensive.
* Roli - the most expensive stuff, and Reson don't jive with MPE (but my Cubase does), AND they have released their Roli Studio VST - wow that thing looks very interesting. And you can access the Roli Noise packs from the iOS in the VST (but not yet SWAM), if they come then a SWAM module for $10 bucks is a steal. The Roli Studio comes with a great number of MPE presets, so that may keep me going for quite some time.
* "Free" virtual models. If you already have NI Reaktor there are MPE NI Reaktor models (e.g. Reaktor Serenade) and other VMs in Reaktor.
* Android apps - I need to look at those too, and what there is to map phone sensors to midi data. Probably works similarly to Leap Motion, but you hold the phone and move it.

Q: Do you get any use out of the Roli controls if you use Reason?

[joeyluck]

Q: Do you get any use out of the Roli controls if you use Reason?

With the SWAM stuff and anything monophonic, yes. The SWAM stuff plays well with Reason and the Seaboard. The Seaboard Block is not expensive like the larger Seaboards.