NanoStudio 2 For iPad Now Available

Blip Interactive has released NanoStudio 2 for iPad.

NanoStudio 2 a major update to the original NanoStudio mobile DAW. According to the developer, it ‘takes a quantum leap with a massive range of extra features and a new audio engine delivering truly professional sound quality’.

The app is designed to be a complete in-the-box solution for production, enabling you to develop your initial musical ideas right through to a final master. It’s also a full-featured host for external Audio Unit (AUv3) instruments and audio/MIDI effects. A library of all your AU instruments and presets is maintained so they’re in one place – tagged, searchable and just as accessible as NanoStudio’s own internal instruments.

Features:

  • Fully fledged song editor with tempo and time signature tracks, arbitrary track grouping/nesting, track lanes and no limit on the number of tracks in the song
  • MIDI and automation editors
  • A sample editor capable of efficiently handling audio files up to 2 hours long
  • A mixer which also supports track grouping and nesting, unlimited insert effects, configurable audio and MIDI sends and pro-style latency compensation
  • 11 built-in quality effects including reverb, sidechain compressor/expander, EQ with spectrum analysis, look-ahead limiter, delay, exciter, chorus, flanger and phaser.
  • AUv3 audio or MIDI effects can be used in effect chains, just like internal effects
  • Mixdowns up to 32 bit/96kHz and export file formats including wav, aiff, ogg and M4A
  • Support for mixing down track stems in a single operation and/or just a region of the song
  • Ableton Link support
  • Sharing with the iOS Files app, Dropbox, AudioShare, iTunes File Sharing, AirDrop, email, and song import from your iTunes music library
  • Built-in WebDAV server for full control and backup of your files
  • 8 In-app purchase sound packs including multisampled acoustic instruments

Pricing and Availability

NanoStudio 2 is available now for US $29.99.

27 thoughts on “NanoStudio 2 For iPad Now Available

    1. and there is beatmaker 3, auria pro, gadget etc…plenty of choices.

      i dont get it though, help me out here:
      what is with all this insecurity, having to defend a certain app and denigrate another?
      does it make you feel good or something?

    2. A comparison of Cubasis 2 and Nanostudio 2 is completely fair.

      They worked for seven years on this app, and in the meantime there have been a significant number of other DAW-lite apps.

      On the other hand, there’s no point in minimizing the 2825 different subtractive synths there are. That’s just a type of app people seem to love to make. Likewise, NanoStudio has a big fan base, and NS2 will likely bring some subtle differences in sounds & workflow.

  1. I dunno. Matt hit it out of the park with the Obsidian synth. The synth and sampler in Cubasis, while serviceable, aren’t spectacular. The workflow in NanoStudio 2 is head and shoulder above Cubasis, as well. I read Matt invested a lot of time streamlining the production process and it shows. Now an argument can be made for Beatmaker 3 but the sequencer in BM3 is an absolute mess and it takes too many touches and a lot of travel to perform simple tasks. So, again, the sequencer in NanoStudio shines.

    1. You probably can explain, how the sequencer in NanoStudio “is head and shoulder above Cubasis”, which I regard as quite a bold and questionable statement. And on top of the general disagreement, for a Cubase user like me, Nano Studio, nice as it may be, is not even worth calling an option, due to the well working cooperation between Cubasis and Cubase.

      Anyways, I welcome the competition, because it will push development on all sides.

      1. Hi, Jim

        If project compatibility with Cubase is your primary criteria then I agree Cubasis is the best choice.

        It is my opinion NS2 has a more efficient workflow. In NS2 when events are selected in the automation and part editors, drag handles appear that allow you to move, change the length, transpose, or scale the selection. To transpose an event down one octave in Cubasis is three taps: open the transpose operator (in the project toolbar at the top of the screen); select the transpose value; then accept the change. In NS2 it’s one: touch the octave transpose drag handle and pull down. While Steinberg did an excellent job maintaining the look and feel of Cubase in Cubasis, a boon for their desktop users, this familiarity sacrifices efficiency. The extra taps add up. And with Cubasis an operation always seems a tap too far.

  2. Tried many times to get into Cubasis as it is, to me, the most similar to a desktop counterpart. It just hasn’t clicked with me since I’ve had it when first introduced to iPad some years ago. I actually was quite productive and satisfied with the results I got with the old iSequencer from bleepstreet (remember that?). Now I’ve been very satisified with the Bratmaker 3 driving my external gear and softsynths on board my iPad. Sure, it has its kinks which I won’t go into here b/c of time constraints. The original NanoStudio was admirable but I didn’t get the passion many got out of it…I just didn’t see it. This looks to change my perseption though.
    One more generation of IPad Pro, full realization and widespread developer implementation of the AUv3 paradigm, give me the BEST Ableton Live-like performance orientated sequencer and I will go tablet as a primary centerpiece.

    1. I still use iSequence by Beepstreet.
      One of the things I love about my ipads is I can use all types of stuff and not be locked into one app for anything. FWIW, I still use stuff on my old first gen iPads.

      Will add this to my iOS arsenal. (Side Note: Really looking forward to Aphelian Labs new release).

  3. the way updates were handled in nanostudio one makes me think twice before getting this one.
    how do the synth sounds compare between the two, anyone?

  4. Interesting
    I loved using the first one
    Also when i didn’t have a full desktop computer at hand a time ago, and instead had an old iPod Touch with this app, gave me hours of fun and made me a bit creative in my production tasks

    Killer little app

    Glad to see it growing into the future

  5. No introductory offer? I bought too much of this stuff recently . 30 euros and then 6 euro in app packages i find too much for now.

  6. Looks nice. I’d give it a shot if it was a universal app.

    I only buy universal apps like gadget so I always have it with me for spontaneous moments on the train, in a waiting room, etc.

  7. Despite the fact that I play live for years solely on ipads+hardware synths, I still have my doubts about ios daws, because I rely heavily on hotkeys and muscle memory with both midi and audio editing in the studio. And most interfaces fail to keep the balance between precision and useability in knobs. I talk about a problem with lifting a finger off the knob after finding a perfect position. It’s almost always going to move a little bit because the center of a finger moves when you lift it. Whereas in daw setup you simply unpress a mouse button. And option to dialing a number via keyboard (like in ape apps) is just… slow. I love ios workflow, but only the dawless part of it. For me a daw should be fast, precise, prosumer-oriented and customiseable.

  8. However I would love to find a very simple ipad daw, just for fast and easy multitrack recording and rudimental editing. Or even without editing.
    All i want is to be able to plug in my ipad to an 8 channel audiocard on location, press record, stop it and postprosess it back in the studio. Any suggestions?
    Everything I’ve tried out yet doesn’t deliver (i.e. promises multitrack but actually records only one track at a time) or is an overpriced and overcomplicated mammoth with 2 gigabytes of undeletable content I will never use.

    1. You can do live recording easily by connecting your multi-channel interface (for me PreSonus 1818vsl) and using AUM. Simply select channels in aum’s hardware input, add any effects, and record. AUM saves the stems to AudioShare and from there you can do whatever you want with them…

      1. holy crap, i’ve been using AUM for routing for ages and never noticed it can record multichannel tracks. My life was a lie. Dude, you’ve just changed my workflow) Thanks.
        I guess we all sometimes miss a major feature even in a software we thought we knew.
        As my grandma loved to say: always read the damn manual!

        1. Ha! I know what you mean about reading the manual, grin. I’m always saying I’ll do that real soon now! I’ve learned so many amazing things you can do with AUM mostly from youtubes by audiobus forum members…

  9. Nanostudio 1 was, by far, the most used music app on my ios devices back in the day. Matt (the developer) somehow managed to build an all-in-one app that had an incredibly productive workflow. I can’t do much comparing between it and Cubasis because even though I did buy cubasis, I found the interface clunky and just never managed to get much done in it. Nanostudio, on the other hand, got me going all the time. Support for Nanostudio wasn’t at all bad, and to be honest it didn’t need much support, the guy build SOLID apps, and Nanostudio literally NEVER crashed on me – but it stopped working when Apple removed all support for 32 bit apps. Matt made it clear at the time that he was already 3 years into the development of Nanostudio 2 and it just wasn’t logical to take away from NS 2’s development time to update NS 1 to make it 64 bit. It also wasn’t a simple process since he does a lot of low level coding for all of the included effects. Hardly anybody on the forums blamed him for it, and we all supported the development. ALL NS 1 projects that we had we could still work on and export on the desktop NS that Matt had always provided for free anyway. Needless to say, a ton of us have been anxiously awaiting the release of NS 2, and now that it’s here, I got my hands on it as soon as I could. First impressions are that it’s pure gold.

  10. I like the layout of the old version more, the sound, there is something I dont like about it. Its too much a edm bangersound and so are the patches. The samples sound too slick, not warm and natural. I prefer the old version.

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