As the developer of this, I obviously spent a lot of time with both versions. I find the Android version easier to use because the onscreen menu is only for switching between sequencer and instrument view, while all other functions that are not part of the core sequencer (load, save, export, help) are hidden behind the menu button. In the iOS version, all functions are present in the onscreen menu, although you typically use only two of them frequently.
Despite both versions using the same sound engine, there is indeed a noticable difference in sound quality between the devices. My iTouch sounds clean while the HTC Legend produces strong quantisation noise at low levels. It seems like it either has a 10-bit or even just 8-bit D/A-converter or a poorly programmed mixing engine. On iOS, nanoloop seems to have direct access to the audio hardware. On the Legend, nanoloop can run while music is playing in the background (which opens up nice possibilities btw), so there is obviously another software layer in between.
This may be different on other Android devices, the HTC Legend is a midrange phone with generally mediocre media quality.
5 comments:
I tried to post this earlier, but it didn't go through. I'm sorry if there is a double post.
I probably exaggerated the noise issue a little. The D/A converter is certainly not 8-bit, the quantisation noise is only audible at the lowest volume setting, only with slowly fading out sounds and only in a quiet surrounding. However, sometimes you want to make quiet sounds in a quiet surrounding and then it can actually be an issue. Just like the OLED screen can be annoying when you make music in the dark because you can't really dim it.
@oliver: I feel like I can get more distorted sounds out of the gain controls in ios, whereas even if I have the gain all the way up on NL4A, the distortion doesn't get too nasty. Is the gain behavior any different, or is this just my imagination?
@anon from the previous thread asking about parameter automation -
You can pick any parameter to automate by triple tapping on the instrument screen.
Tap the note icon in the sequencer to switch to parameter automation.
Volume is not selectable as an automated parameter because you adjust volume separately by double tapping a cell in the sequencer.
The distortion via gain is the same in both versions. If you get additional distortion, it must be some other limiting element in your audio path like the amplifier or speaker. I haven't compared the absolute loudness of both devices, maybe the iPhone produces a more powerful signal.
@ Anonymous
Thanks for that re automation, it definitely expands scope for noddling massively.
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