ROLI Support

Something which may be useful to know, though ROLI doesn’t make it clear…

Sounds like the Noise app uses three separate sound engines: Equator, drums, SWAM.

The Equator one is the biggest by number of sounds and it includes all the polyphonic sounds as well as most of the monophonic ones (so, the large majority of “melodic” sounds). When AUv3 plugin support came to Noise, it was exclusively (and explicitly) about these sounds. Simply put, it made these Equator presets available in other iOS apps.

Buying Noise packs doesn’t provide access to these same sounds in Equator on the desktop but the full version of Equator does allow for a huge set of possibilities which aren’t available on iOS. As some have discovered (and reported in this thread) there’s even a way to use custom soundfonts in Equator for desktop.

The SWAM Engine is a recent addition to Noise (concurrent with the AUv3 version of Equator sounds, IIRC). Its sounds are exclusively monophonic and they’re really meant as faithful emulations of acoustic instruments, including a few articulations. Those packs come from the Audio Modelling catalog. They’re not available in any kind of AUv3 version, so you can’t use them outside of Noise.

The desktop versions of these packs are sold by Audio Modelling itself, for hundreds of US dollars a piece. No idea what agreement ROLI has with Audio Modelling (it came while Audio Modelling also struck a deal with Sample Modelling). AFAICT, there’s no obvious connection between iOS and desktop versions of these plugins. For instance, you can’t use Noise to play these sounds on the desktop as is possible with GeoShred. And there’s no way to start a Noise project with these sounds and finish it on the desktop using virtual instruments (as you could with Korg Gadget). You can export to soundfiles, though.

All signs point to drum sounds coming from a separate sound engine, distinct from Equator and SWAM Engine. These include groove kits and drum kits. A separate AUv3 for those sounds was added recently, so these sounds are now available on iOS, outside of Noise. It’s also disconnected from any desktop app from ROLI (maybe it relates to FXpansion, which ROLI bought a while back?). Frustration over the lack of desktop support for these sounds could be the topic of another thread.

So, none of the three sound engines used by Noise has a direct connection with a desktop app or plugin. It sounds likely that file exchange between Equator and Noise for those “melodic” sounds could work well, without much work on ROLI’s part, and would enhance our capabilities as creators. It’s possible that the sales of soundpacks create a marketing/political barrier to this but it doesn’t sound like a major technical issue.

It’s highly unlikely that ROLI could provide SWAM Engine sounds for the desktop, given Audio Modelling’s protection of its IP. It’d be most excellent to have them in AUv3 version on iOS. Not holding my breath on this one.

The groove and drum kits might not be too hard to port to desktops, but it’d require a separate plugin, with its own logistics. It might not be an overly complicated plugin (it mostly works by triggering and releasing sample playback, with very minimal modulation). But that could still be a complicated project, especially given the diversity of desktop setups out there.

(Wonder if the Strobe2 engine is available to Noise. That could make things even more difficult to track!)

YES 100000% I expected this was already a feature and was really disappointed finding out not.

Thanks, Red.  I continue to be happy to see Roli keeping us up to date on the status of these.

I mostly would like to bring my equator presets into noise, as I've made adjustments to the settings for touch that seem to be necessary for me to play effectively, and the noise presets cannot be similarly adjusted.

In a way, we got part of this feature through ROLI Studio, though the implementation doesn’t really address our needs.

like equator but don't want to gig with my MacBook - so end up using iphone/noise which is ok but can't make my own presets - must be a way to load none swam sounds into noise...so dam frustrating. Actually wanted a dedicated synth with its own sound onboard like the grand/studio rather than mess around with iPhones and laptops at a gig...sigh! now roli discontinued grand/studio 37...huge mistake...iphone and cables and blocks are a bit flaky for gigging..shame love seaboards

IMHO, I think of Noise as a performing tool. For me to just use presets does not cut it. I need to tweak the sounds to my preference.I love Equator but don't want my notebook computer on stage.

I am hoping that someday I can develop sounds in Equator and then play them live in Noise,

Thanks,

LooseBruce

PS is there any other option to play Equato rcreator  developed presets on an ipad?

Thanks, I haven't bought the ipad yet.