ENSO (new iOS/VST/AU looper)

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Audio Damage Enso has just been released. Very excited about this product. There is an early bird discount on the VST/AU/AAX version, $59 instead of $79.

iOS version is supposed to drop some time today, and I believe it can run on iPhone, making it very ideal for portable looping on stage.

Full MIDI CC Implementation has me very excited.

It is quite feature rich:

  • Full Automatic Looping Engine
    Enso’s looping engine is simple to learn, but exceedingly powerful, with “one button” looping control, both host-synced and free time.

  • Dub In Place
    Enso can either work like a traditional digital looper, where the input is mixed with the buffer contents, then sent to effects, or like a tape looper, where the effects and speed changes are included in the feedback path.

  • Sector Crossfading
    Define four different start and end points. Crossfade between them, and overdub or re-record within them.

  • Effects Section
    Enso has user-controllable “tape style” saturation and hiss, high- and low-pass filters, and a stereo chorus for thickening and carving your loop.

  • Full MIDI CC Implementation
    Enso has an assignable MIDI CC page for controlling most features of the looping engine. It is tuned for foot control, but will work with any MIDI CC source.

  • Independent Play And Record Head Control
    Both the play and record heads have a through-zero speed control, from -4x to +4x, with text entry values and selectable inc and dec values.

  • Multi-Format Audio Loader
    Enso can load AIFF, WAV, Broadcast WAV, FLAC, MP3, and Ogg in any sample rate, bit depth, and channel configuration.

  • Buffer Save
    Enso can save its buffer contents as a WAV file.

  • Extra Long Loops
    Enso can record or load up to 10 minutes of audio (5 minutes in iOS version) in Long Memory mode.

  • Cross-Platform Preset Format
    Enso utilizes an XML-based preset manager, and optionally stores the buffer within the preset for easy asset management. Work between multiple systems without troubles, make a preset on your desktop machine and paste it to the iOS version with Handoff, easily share your creations with your friends, or make a preset bundle to sell, no asset management required.

  • Fully Resizable Hi-Dpi/Retina GUI
    Enso’s vector-based GUI is resolution-agnostic, and displays the same on every system and resolution. Easily resize the UI (per instance) to match your visual needs, from postage stamp to poster-sized.

10 Likes
#2

Very nice. Though I’ve been very put off by the UI size of Audio Damage apps. We will see.

(nomoreappsnomoreappsnomoreapps)

#3

All current AD VST/AU products have resizable GUIs

Just drag it out from the bottom right corner.

1 Like
#4

Here’s a link to the full walk-through video:

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#5

On my iPad mini anyway a lot of the parameters are super tiny and hard to work with. I think there are a number of ways they could have maximized app space but seems just ported the VST without giving it a second thought. But ymmv as always.

1 Like
#6

It looks like a cool app, but the price is extremely steep for what it is - at least in the iOS universe. With excellent looper apps such as Loopy HD around, I wonder how AudioDamage justifies the desktop pricepoint.

Not to say that it couldn‘t be worth it, just not a price at which I would want to find out.

EDIT: just saw that I misread and the IOS version is actually just 7.99, not 79€…well at that price sign me up for SURE!! :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#7

I love the sound of AD iOS apps, but agree wholeheartedly on the UI issues. If you’re after a more traditional looper you can’t beat Quantiloop IMO. Fantastic app that’s intuitive, powerful and has comprehensive midi support. It’s replaced my Pigtronix Infinity pedal.

1 Like
#8

Full MIDI CC Implementation
Enso has an assignable MIDI CC page for controlling most features of the looping engine. It is tuned for foot control, but will work with any MIDI CC source.

Quite keen on seeing how well this gets along with Digitakt. I can see a number of possibilities where a pairing of these two could get you into Octatrack territory.

1 Like
#9

This is now available in the iOS app store. Works great on a mix receive bus in AUM.

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#10

THANK THE GODS for its release, I’ve been refreshing since monday expecting this thing

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#11

  • How’s the UI? Are the parameters small, difficult to adjust?

  • How does it work as an Auv3? Can you have multiple instances each with 5 minutes loop time?

Honestly the midi control makes it very attractive.

#12

Yea, apparently its features and implementation really threw the app review process at Apple for a loop and some previously not defined goal posts for approval were discovered.
AD went through quite the convoluted process to get Apple to finally approve it.

Difficult on my iPhone SE but not impossible. It is resizable in AUM too.
iPad mini 4 interface works great.

After setting it up, using MIDI should be fantastic.
I plan to use my Akai LPD-8 Wireless with it on iPhone SE. Very portable.

$5.99 rocks and it’s already #3 in the App Store for its category.

#13

As Adam pointed out, a bit fiddly on phone, great on iPad

Works great as an Auv3. I had multiple instances going with no issues whatsover. Furthermore, I set up midi today (via NanoKontrol) and that was super easy and works great.

This thing is an ambient dream come true with midi control, sector play, dub in place (or not!) and play and record speeds/directions. Really well thought out and designed.

I set it up on a mix bus receive in AUM and can feed it different instruments that way.

2 Likes
#14

Here’s some noodling from last night/this morning:

4 Likes
#15

It’s now #1 in top paid iPad music apps!

2 Likes
#16

I am really digging the ability to stack the saturation and hiss with Overdub in Place turned off. When overdub is on, it degrades the loop in a very pleasing way similar to Cocoquantus.

1 Like
#17

great app, works beautifully on iPad, love the slowing down playback and recording features, nice UX, totally worth the €6.99

#18

UI is borderline unusable on iPhone but looks promising for iPad use.

#19

Been using it since today on iPad, do you guy have this issue:

When I loop say a 4x4 kick and hihat beat the first hit of the loop seems double as there is a peak in volume on the kick.

I have both set to measure and input is set to rec and stop.