Futuristic TC-11 Synth Dispenses With ‘Fake Hardware’ Interfaces

Bit Shape has introduced TC-11, a new software synth dispenses with fake hardware interfaces and instead goes wildly futuristic.

WIth TC-11, there are no on-screen knobs, keys, or sliders to fiddle with; all synthesis is driven by your multi-touch performance. Touch relationships like distances / angles / timings perform all the controller functions.

Every synthesis parameter can be controlled by any multi-touch controller. You can also use the iPad’s accelerometer, gyroscope, and even the compass to control your your synth patch.

Features:

  • 64 built-in presets
  • Unlimited user patches
  • Fully controlled by multi-touch / device motion
  • 21 modular synthesis objects
  • 22 oscillator waveforms
  • 3 controller modules: AHDSR, LFO, Sequencer
  • Email custom patches to your friends
  • Full display customization

Here’s a demo of TC-11 in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkko4fBwHmY

The TC-11 Synth Engine

TC-11 offers 8-voice polyphony. Choose from 22 oscillator waveforms, 3 oscillator types, 3 filter types, 4 effects, amplitude modulation and panning control.

TC-11 also offers programmable AHDSR, LFO, and sequencer modules.

TC-11 looks intriguing. It looks like the designers stepped back and asked the question “Why should a tablet synth look like 40 year-old hardware?” And if you ask that question, then what should a modern tablet synth look like?

Check out the demo video and let us know what you think. You can also download a PDF manual for TC-11 at the Bit Shape site.

TC-11 is $29.99 in the App Store.

Update: The developers have published a demo video and we’ve updated the post to reflect that.

31 thoughts on “Futuristic TC-11 Synth Dispenses With ‘Fake Hardware’ Interfaces”

  2. I’m interested, too.

    But I fear that we are heading into that time of year when all the companies introduce stuff that’s vapor ware or not really ready.

    1. thats SO true ^^

      but that also means, that i will wait for christmas offers, for everything i want to buy in the app store till its 2012 hehe

      i bet ims20 will be cheap around christmas, and a lot of other stuff i want to buy 🙂

  11. There’s a nice vid of it up on youtube. Looks pretty nice. Also, they say there is going to be some more in depth vids posted about it.

      1. for some reason whenever I try to link youtube vids from my ipad safari, or whatever I am using( facebook, twitter, etc), crashes

  12. also their site has a ton of info and a downloadable pdf of the manual….50 pgs long. If I don’t go broke at the dentist tomorrow I think I’m going to get this app.

  13. The expressivity looks nice, but there are some problems.

    1. On-screen distance and angle has very low resolution to control params.
    Delay time, pitch etc have wide range and require fine control. With fixed-position knobs it’s easy to apply dynamic scaling to inputs, so quick movement make large jumps, small movement for fine-tuning.

    2. When the controllers move around with your fingers, it’s hard to show any info about the current value. It’s always hidden by fingers and the hand.

    3. The multitouch screen gives no hint to fingers where you are in the controller space. The guy in the demo video he makes little random ditties, but could he play Twinkle Twinkle little star with the same ease?

  16. sorry, but this is no “musical instrument” its for sure innovative and fun, and sounds are funny too, but its a 30€ gadget … a 30 € app !!!

    in two years from now, expensive music apps will be 150€ haha

    and there will be still some guys like the one that makes nanostudio, that does everything by himself and sells it for 10€ 🙂

    1. ” sorry, but this is no “musical instrument” “, sorry but a musical instrument is anything that you can craft melody and/or rhythm with. I feel sorry for the devs that are undervaluing their apps. I would gladly pay a little more for nanostudio if I know it will keep the dev happy and give him incentive to continue improving the app over time. I do see the value in a pre-sale though and appreciate that animoog released at .99 US giving the less wealthy among us a chance to grab it a spectacular value and then tell everyone else how rad it is.

  17. Aa! Does it determine pitch from counting your fingers, when it would act a bit like fipple flute? So you could play it after all. If not that, then it would at least be musically expressive with sequencer doing the notes and player fiddling with the synthesis.

  20. I bought it a couple of hours ago. Totally rocks! I am hoping for some updates and expanded possibilities cuz this really has potential.

  22. mmm, ok, maybe not then, just trying to help..funny and rude how someone can press dislike on such good willed posts by myself..perhaps if the site moderators made it so that they can be contacted easily then no upset would have been caused and received either way? Looks like there is no escaping trolls, such a shame..

    1. If I were to guess, those two people probably felt your second post was a dupe. It reiterated what your first post stated. They did not down vote your first post. It’s very easy to misinterpret other peoples intent on the internet.

  23. Somewhere between apps like this and a traditional keyboard lies the real future interface for musical instruments. I really like a lot of what this app is doing, but it completely looses any sense of being able to craft something unique from what everyone else is playing, and then reliably re-create that performance easily and regularly while still allowing room for performance expression. Things like tilting the iPad to control a parameter range is pretty gimmicky and largely useless, but some of the touch stuff looks like new interesting thinking. But that would need to be overlaid onto some kind of reference grid for it to be truly appareling to me though, and I would want some feedback as to the current state of things. Otherwise it’s just fiddling around and making unreliable noise. The approach to dynamic sound modification already presented by Moog and a couple other companies is something much more musically useful. I would like to see these guys build from a starting point like that.

    Finally, this app is waaaaaaaaaay to expensive! I know you are trying to play the elite card, but seriously, it’s going to land you into an “also ran” category.

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