Anaphobia

Destro: first screenshot (in progress)

rosenql — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 20:14:37 +0000

Below is the first screenshot of the iPhone/iPod UI of Destro. It’s still a work in progress, so some things still might be missing (e.g. a nice background image) or will be changed in the near future, but it will at least give an impression of what to expect. Destro will have three main screens and a couple of secondary screens and help screens. Below is the first main screen, that shows the main synthesizer controls. The second screen will feature the keyboard from AnaMini as well as the drum synth controls. The third screen will feature the sequencer controls (looks a lot like AnaMini) and track selection.

What you can see here (from left to right, top to bottom) are the controls for oscillator, distortion, lfos, adsra, filter and finally the global controls. A brief explanation of each control will follow below. In general, anything that’s a highlighted shade of green indicates it’s tappable/swipeable.

Oscillator

By tapping on the wave icon, you can select wavetype of the oscillator. By swiping/turning the knob you can detune the oscillator up/down to one octave.

Distortion

By swiping/turning the knob, you can set distortion threshold.

LFO

Tapping on one of the header labels will switch LFO (there are two LFO’s, one that modulates OSC frequency, and a second that modulates filter cutoff frequency). Tapping the wave icon will select the wavetype of the LFO. Tapping the sync icon switches the synchronization of the LFO between the available synchronization options. LFOs always sync to tempo.

ADSRA

Tapping on the header selects the ADSRA: for the amplifier, the filter, or the noise generator. Swiping any slider up and down will change its value. There are sliders for envelope attack, decay, sustain, release, and amount.

Filter

Tapping on the filter type will switch filter type. Three filter types are available: low-pass, high-pass and band-pass. Cutoff frequency can be changed from 20-11000 Hz by turning the left knob. Turning the right knob modifies filter resonance.

Global controls

Global controls are present on every screen. From left to right it shows the help button, the setups button, the settings button and the start/stop button.

That’s it for now, more screenshots will follow in the upcoming days/weeks, so check them out and let me know what you think!

Destro: first screenshot (in progress) is a post from: Anaphobia

Destro: 3-track, fully customizable drumsynth added!

rosenql — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 19:20:35 +0000

I guess a lot of people are probably getting tired of me saying Destro will be done ‘soon’. I already mentioned I’m working on a lot of projects, and most of them make my living, so Destro usually is last in queue. So only a complete idiot would expand the functional scope of Destro, right?

Well, that’s exactly what I did! Besides the already announced features, Destro will be adding a 3-track, fully customizable drum synth in the mix! I’ve added a bassdrum, hihat and snaredrum, none of which are sampled, but all are generated by the Anaphobia synthesis engine, which means they can be tweaked and tuned to your perfection.

I’ve created a couple of sample preview tracks, so go ahead and listen to them and tell me what you think of them!

Destro synth and drums preview 1

Destro synth and drums preview 2

All that is left now is to expand the UI on top for the drum synth modifications and update the UI for iPhone 5. Furthermore, I’ll add some nice presets. After that, it’s a bit of more functional and performance testing and then I think it’s time to release version 1.0!

I hear a lot of people asking for audio export/exchange support, especially AudioPaste and AudioBus. After version 1.0 is out the door, audio integration is on the top of my list for a 1.1 update. Other things on my agenda are stereo output, and MIDI master functionality.

Destro: 3-track, fully customizable drumsynth added! is a post from: Anaphobia

Mo’ hardware, mo’ problems

rosenql — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 20:30:05 +0000

Yesterday I received my brand new iPhone 5. While I am extremely happy with the device itself, it throws a nice spanner in the works as far as Destro is concerned. It appears I have quite a lot of work to do in the UI front. Not difficult, but with the little time I have at hand these days it will add some time to make things look nice and smooth on all platforms. Current status of Destro: synth engine is done, MIDI is done, WIST is done, UI needs work, preset setups/sounds need implementation. But I’m still moving along, though slowly.

Mo’ hardware, mo’ problems is a post from: Anaphobia

SimpleXMLArchiver released as open source

rosenql — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 18:13:31 +0000

It’s been quiet here for some time, but no, I’m not dead. As mentioned previously, I was going to opensource my archiving/unarchiving routines to make archiving/unarchiving complex object trees much simple for everyone.

Today I have put the stuff on GitHub, so let me know what you think of it!

Destro is still on the way and going strong BTW!

SimpleXMLArchiver released as open source is a post from: Anaphobia

Destro: Noise generator + ADSR + HP filter in action!

rosenql — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:17:14 +0000

Hi all, I recorded another sound sample that I made using Destro. This time it’s just the noise generator with the ADSR and the resonant HP filter applied, which makes for a nice hihat-like sound. Of course, when Destro is out, you will be able to recreate this sound exactly, as well as any other sounds I have posted.

Let me know what you think of it!

Destro: Noise generator + ADSR + HP filter in action! is a post from: Anaphobia

Destro: final specifications for 1.0 and additional sound sample!

rosenql — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:15:51 +0000

Been busy with a lot of things lately, and fortunately, Destro was one of them! It’s coming along quite nicely, and I’ve determined the final specifications for 1.0. The updated specs can be found over here. I’ve added another one of Destro’s sound samples over here. Expect more in the near future!

Destro: final specifications for 1.0 and additional sound sample! is a post from: Anaphobia

Objective-C object trees to XML and back with two lines of code

rosenql — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 20:24:42 +0000

While working on Destro I got really fed up with NSKeyedArchiver. It’s a huge PITA to create a domain model, then spend at least four times the amount you spent on making the domain model on boilerplate code to be able to archive/unarchive your classes. Unlike Java, where serialization is a matter of implementing a tagging interface (e.g. no behavior), in Objective-C you must specify for each property how exactly you want to serialize/deserialize it. You must specify the property’s type as well as the key under which to store it. And then do it again for the retrieval part. In 99.999% of the time, I want to serialize a property as its own type (you know, the one you already specified in your interface definition). The same applies for the key under which to store it: I simply use the property name (you know, the one you also already specified in your interface definition). Besides not having a default archiving strategy, there is also no editor support whatsoever for this in XCode.

Now wouldn’t it be nice if you were to simply have a method where you stick in a random object (tree) and get an XML string out? And to have another method where you put in an XML String, a Class type and then have that method repopulate and reinstantiate the whole object tree? I investigated some of the XML parses/frameworks, but none seem to be able to parse/generate a tree properly (not without first populating the tree with objects yourself or knowing the exact document/object structure in advance). Time for some extension then!

It took me a few hours (not spent on Destro itself, but I find this very much worth the effort), but I now have exactly such a class. It features two methods:

+(NSString *)objectToXml:(id)objectToEncode;
+(id)xmlToObject:(NSString *)xmlString targetClass:(Class)targetClass;

The first method takes any object (tree), and traverses it using the Objective-C runtime (introspection/reflection, or whatever you wish to call it), creating an XML tree in the process. The result is a nicely readable and portable XML document string.

The second method takes an XML document string and parses it into the specified target class. Again, it uses the Objective-C runtime to traverse the object, instantiate objects and fetch the corresponding elements from the XML document using XPATH.

Both methods are based on Googles excellent GDataXML, which is in turn based on libxml2. I still have to implement a few datatypes, make the code more robust, and clean up the code a bit, but expect this to pop up on a public source repository near you very soon!

Objective-C object trees to XML and back with two lines of code is a post from: Anaphobia

Destro: first sound

rosenql — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 20:18:52 +0000

Here’s a little sound clip I made with Destro, which will give a little sneak peek and short impression of what’s up to come!

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Destro first sound clip

Destro: first sound is a post from: Anaphobia

Anaphobia Destro: progress!

rosenql — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 18:57:43 +0000

Work on Destro is progressing quite nicely. The synth engine is almost done and in final stages of testing. So what will be the new Destro features as opposed to Anaphobia Mini? Destro will add the following features:

Noise generator;
Foldback distortion unit with adjustable threshold (autoscaling);
ADSRA (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release, Amount) for oscillator amplifier;
ADSRA for filter cutoff frequency;
ADSRA for noise generator amplifier;
Tempo-synced LFOs (syncable at 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 notes).

I’m still considering to add some additional features (like more waveforms for the oscillators), but I’m not sure these will make it into the initial release or an update. Keep watching this blog for additional information.

On top of the added features, it will feature a revised synth UI, as well as several under-the-hood changes. The sequencer UI will remain the same as Anaphobia Mini initially, but I will revise it completely in an update.

That’s it for now!

Anaphobia Destro: progress! is a post from: Anaphobia

Anaphobia: Feature update

rosenql — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 17:49:24 +0000

So, I’ve been a bit quiet here lately, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been doing nothing! Right now, I’m working on a couple of features that will probably make it into Anaphobia in their own incarnation: Anaphobia Destro.

Destro is a raw, grungy, monophonic analog synthesizer, featuring the same quality sound as AnaMini. On top of that, it adds tempo-synced LFOs, ADSRs for filter and amplifier, a noise generator and a scaled foldback distortion unit. It will become available on the App Store for a very low price. Of course, it will also feature all the features of Anaphobia, like (virtual) MIDI synchronisation, a step sequencer and much, much more!

Keep watching this space for more info!

Anaphobia: Feature update is a post from: Anaphobia