Being totally immersed in learning electronics the last months have not spent much time with apps, Virtual Ans included... Hearing these videos it makes me sad as it is such a big difference in audio quality compared to the earlier version and want to start to use it and make music again!
 One of my favorite apps have now gotten a bigger update since some time. Was thinking about it like a month ago and at the same time was thinking what could be updated since the last update was so great. But yes of course it was possible and the two things that makes me excited is that it is now midi connectible not only for controlling parameters but also for using as a synthesizer with a dedicated synthesizer menu and that it is possible to set it for a better rhythmic algorithm. The synth engine is not only great for general textures being playable but it does keep in the right frequencies as well only playing the frequencies decided by the notes played and it can also be decided which length to be played looped in whatever way chosen. Midi mapping must be fantastic for anyone wanting to use Virtual ANS in a live setting or for live recording. Did not spend to much time with the new version yet but it seems to in general sound clearer and better than before. Overall mighty nice... But on a slightly sad note to get the new version having the older Virtual ANS it is not a free update and has to be purchased again. Think that it is justified with the new capabilities. Also have a feeling but do not know if it is possible to keep the older version working with the new update? In either case the PC/Linux?MAC version is still free so it is possible to test the new functions before deciding if to buy it. Will write a longer report on the new version in some days after spending some more time with it, specially using it as a synthesizer as it brings some new textures that is hard to get with hardware synthesizers or in software synths. Together with Spacecraft Granular (when it gets released) there is a big reason to use a mobile device for Hardware synthesists. Google Play: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nightradio.virtualans3 Virtual ANS is a software simulator of the unique Russian synthesizer ANS - photoelectronic musical instrument created by Evgeny Murzin from 1938 to 1958. The ANS made it possible to draw music in the form of a spectrogram (sonogram), without live instruments and performers. It was used by Stanislav Kreichi, Alfred Schnittke, Edward Artemiev and other Soviet composers in their experimental works. You can also hear the sound of the ANS in Andrei Tarkovsky's movies Solaris, The Mirror, Stalker. The simulator extends the capabilities of the original instrument. Now it's a full-featured graphics editor where you can convert sound into an image, load and play pictures, draw microtonal/spectral music and create some unusual deep atmospheric sounds. This app is for everyone who loves experiments and is looking for something new. Key features: * unlimited number of pure tone generators; * powerful sonogram editor - you can draw the spectrum and play it at the same time; * any sound (from a WAV file or a Microphone/Line-in) can be converted to image (sonogram) and vice versa; * support for MIDI devices; * polyphonic synth mode with MIDI mapping; * supported file formats: WAV (only uncompressed PCM), PNG, JPEG, GIF. * many new features compared to version 2.3; see the full list: http://warmplace.ru/soft/ans/changelog.txt Homepage, user manual and versions for other systems: http://warmplace.ru/soft/ans Known solutions for some problems: http://warmplace.ru/android Older Version ideas etc: www.musicalandroid.com/blog/category/virtual%20ans  Such great news. Must say that the most glaring omission from SunVox compared to the other full featured apps on Android have been Midi. With modular possibilities of SunVox it is possible to build endless sound monsters and it is now becoming a real something for anyone that is looking for a great synthesizer to connect to a midi keyboard and not bother about anything else in SunVox. Okay but that Vistual ANS is becoming midi controllable excites me even more! As it is hard to get to those textures in other ways and now they are playable! And Virtual ANS 3 coming... Mmmm Fantasizing right now. Lat update brought so much goodness that if this update is just a third of that (or just midi is enough to bring some droplets of jizz) it is huge (for me). He says working on it right now and Virtual ANS being first in line and not have been updated for some time now it is hopefully coming soooooon! Excitement central. Love Virtual ANS and am a big fan of Mr Nigthradio but... He did use Virtual ANS for some techno some time ago and like this it does not really work but the result are interesting in either case... It is hard to get beats prominent with the synthesizing method used in Virtual ANS which is hindering any beat heavy music to be fully realized in a satsfactory manner... But as there was some time since Virtual ANs got mentioned on this site and if you missed this app there is a big recommendation to check it out as it is one of the truly unique apps on the Playstore!
The album is an interesting project and this is what is said on the Bandcamp site:
Originally recorded and produced in 2012/13, this album is the product of experimentation with a software synthesizer know as "Virtual ANS" - a simulation of the ANS Synthesizer created by the Russian audio engineer and inventor Yevgeny Murzin in 1958. The software simulation was created by Alexander Zolotov, and has - since its original iteration coded for PC - more recently been made available as an Android/iOS app. This album was inspired by the preparatory sketches by and ideas of architect Lebbeus Woods for an installation exhibit. Using these sketches, and guided by the ideas detailed in his essay on the installation, I used the Virtual ANS to transform the sketches into sound, and then combined multiple layers of differently processed copies of each image to create these soundscapes. My goal is to create in the listener a deep, visceral, non- or pre-verbal experience of the ideas, as I understand them, conveyed in the earlier work by Woods. As Woods has written elsewhere: "If ideas were immortal, we wouldn't have anything to do. Because we die, and because knowledge can't be transferred directly, each person has to reinvent the form of ideas all over again. Our social existence is about helping each other to do just that." Lebbeus Woods died on October 30, 2012. He was 72. credits released December 29, 2015 James J Pyke - all programming, arrangement and production  It is a smaller update but as I love Virtual ANS anything that enhances the possibilities are great!
Still wishing for selected area to be loopable... but the new duplicate function will do until such a time. Play Store info: * additional UI language - Russian; you can change it in System Preferences -> Interface; * new drawing modes: * (lighting), / (darkening); * Xor, Add and Sub modes has been renamed to ^, + and -; * new operation in the Selection Mode: Duplicate (CTRL + D); * compressor has been added to the audio engine; * bugs fixed. Remember that it is for free on PC/MAC/Linux The parenthesis that it is new music genre is the title of the video and not my observation! Ha ha. Maybe it is a new music genre, just do not expect a big rush of musicians and producer to follow. One thing to observe and hear is the kick and how it is "painted" as one thing that have been hard is to get the low end and specially drums to sound okay in Virtual ANS. Here it sounds pretty good and with some mixing and mastering it could work. Remember that the same goes for Phonopaper so it is a idea for low end kick drums on paper! hmmm... maybe not to good but it is interesting to hear the attempt at making techno using only Virtual ANS... Have the feeling that it is no composed in Virtual ANS but it is precomposed and imported into Virtual ANS (just my guess...). Have done that sometimes and the result can be very good and do recommend to try it out with whole songs... it can be used as an addition or effect mixing the original and the processed ANSed version. So this is one of my favorite dark ambient musicians and he is a big time user of Android. Was going to report on this way earlier but being in and out of faster internet connection it somehow got side tracked inside the mess of my head... This one made entirely in Virtual ANS and as such it is interesting but in my opinion Virtual ANS comes into it's full glory as an addition to compositions or as an effect treatment of sounds... It is not bad by any means and it has got some nice mini reviews plus that it is pay what you wish on Bandcamp. And the most important thing is to hear how an album using only Virtual ANS would sound like. He wrote a article about using Caustic 3 for the album he made before this (the album is really good and is available for free, check the article for link) and you can read it here: http://www.musicalandroid.com/blog/dnp-writes-about-using-caustic-3-for-his-latest-release  This is definitively not something you see every day!
A good friend of mine have started a new art project and he is going to use some Android apps for some of the art work. This being the first post where he is using Virtual ANS and Pixivisor to great effect. We are good friends but if anyone else made this maybe I would have been even more impressed by the use and the ideas as my imagination would be able to run wild as who this person could be. Even if they are a little bit too out there for me and probably many of you it is still very good example of what is possible with these apps. We were talking about collaborating in some ways so there will probably be some posts directly from this artist in the time to come... To read the post: http://www.cosmokoroly.com/blog/invocation-of-legba-through-image-music-and-video-sent-through-the-ether 
If you read the information that is out there on the ANS synthesizer this will not bring anything new to the table. But it is cool that they talk about it:
http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/history-soviet-synth-ans Plus that they mention some other earlier experiments with sound from image that was used in film and it has been my intention to write about that subject for some time but... blame the summer and lack of focus! If you want to read more and have good links to more information plus also talking about the Virtual ANS app please go here: http://createdigitalmusic.com/2013/10/ans-amazing-eerie-russian-optical-synth-now-ios-links-links-vids/ Play Store link: Virtual ANS |
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