Zebra3 for Android?

[skottish]

Android is extremely fractured and inconsistent everywhere across devices. I-stuff is at least predictable in what to expect per device. Personally, I'd stay the course and get products out instead of endlessly fiddling with platforms that are not designed for high performance, real-time applications. This is pro-audio after all.

[lunardigs]

I wonder if the current gen ARM processors could even handle Zebra. I have a MOD DUO, which has an A7, if I'm not mistaken and it does well for simple DSP. Although, some of the Calf stuff, like the multi-band compressor (really good plugin) makes it hit the ceiling.

[chk071]

And can you even use C code on Android? Serious question. Isn’t it all JAVA or is that info terribly outdated?

No i think officially it's still Java, you can use C++ but it has to be interfaced with Java at some point?

I'm not really a programmer, just an enthusiast.. so idk

AFAIK (not a coder as well), it can all be interfaced. There are frameworks for .NET languages to make Android apps, e.g. Same goes for other languages.

I agree with the posters before me though. I don't see the benefit. But, the devs have to know, of course.

[Ploki]

I wonder if the current gen ARM processors could even handle Zebra. I have a MOD DUO, which has an A7, if I'm not mistaken and it does well for simple DSP. Although, some of the Calf stuff, like the multi-band compressor (really good plugin) makes it hit the ceiling.

judging by Apple's A11 and A12 benchmarks, they should.

But i also agree with chk and posters - imo Zebralette would make sense, but Zebra2 seems way too convoluted to interface on a 10" screen with fat fingers and draging and blah

[mevla]

Maybe a showcase downsized synth, for exposure.

[glokraw]

As a showcase, all that would be needed would be a basic
preset player* , with very few controls, like SynthMaster Player,
or the Alchemy CM player. U-he hooked me years ago,
with Zebra CM (still on the CM dvd/file-silo )
Maybe add a web portal to sell some extra soundsets.

* I do realize nothing about coding is basic (no pun intended)
Cheers

[medienhexer]

Yeah, but then again, why showcase a crippled player version on Android when all you really want to do is develop a very flexible (semi-modular) powerhouse of a synthesizer for professional musicians? How does that investment make sense?

Android customers have shown to be less willing to pay for software than iOS customers. And even iOS customers would often not spend more than 9 bucks on something they can't demo beforehand. Let's not forget that even though WE know who u-he is, average Joe doesn't. So how likely is it that they buy a limited player first and then migrate to Z3 which is 10-25x the price of the app?

And besides, did they ever rectify the latency issues on Android? And what percentage of customers have access to a low latency Android device and the required Android version?

[Forgotten]

Android doesn’t really have much of a user base for music apps though, does it? Mobile music is mostly iOS.

[glokraw]

Android is extremely fractured and inconsistent everywhere across devices. I-stuff is at least predictable in what to expect per device. Personally, I'd stay the course and get products out instead of endlessly fiddling with platforms that are not designed for high performance, real-time applications. This is pro-audio after all.

Realizing this is all hypothetical,
if a dev only officially supported Samsung hardware, that could simplify things, with plenty of powerful target devices,
and some videos do exist...

"This is pro-audio after all."

'Pro-audio' is firstly, undefinable, and secondly, quite elitist.
Anyone who spends money on a quality product, has rightfully
entered the 'pro' playground. An accountant won't care
what percentage of customers are fiddling, producing indie,
scoring films, or performing in stadiums, as long as profits
are as expected. The public personna of a company
might enjoy having a large number of celebrity customers,
but it's not likely to pay off the Gold Coast beach house.

As for "endlessly fiddling", that's the price of success in life,
whether a coder, a luthier, a plumber, spinning a soccer ball,
practicing free-throws, controlling vibrato singing high-notes,
if one strives for excellence, it comes only with endless fiddling.
Cheers

[daily patcher]

Yeah, but then again, why showcase a crippled player version on Android when all you really want to do is develop a very flexible (semi-modular) powerhouse of a synthesizer for professional musicians? How does that investment make sense?

Android customers have shown to be less willing to pay for software than iOS customers. And even iOS customers would often not spend more than 9 bucks on something they can't demo beforehand. Let's not forget that even though WE know who u-he is, average Joe doesn't. So how likely is it that they buy a limited player first and then migrate to Z3 which is 10-25x the price of the app?

And besides, did they ever rectify the latency issues on Android? And what percentage of customers have access to a low latency Android device and the required Android version?

Samsung was the most reliable at one point, they had a low latency pro audio SDK that attempted some wacky stuff to try and match iOS in terms of latency. They even had a garage band competitor. Then they deprecated it and all that got trash canned. I wanted to support pro audio on Samsung devices at one point so I bought a synth, well turns out the devs had abandoned it and refused to update for newer screen resolutions. At least I got a refund for my trouble..

I learned the hard way that if I’m going to be screwed, let it be by one fruit instead of the pen of headless android chickens ( and a creepy overlord spying on my every move ).

[glokraw]

Android doesn’t really have much of a user base for music apps though, does it? Mobile music is mostly iOS.

That would be the point, a gazzillion target hardware devices,
priced well under the competing hardware,
and very little competition. If NI released a version of
Reaktor for Samsung tablets and smartphones, I'd be on
Amazon 'like ugly on a ape' (hat tip to Festus Hagin )
I'd then hit the play store for the android app for my
Fender modeling amp, in very short order

The Fender Tone app is demoed at 7:50 in this vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvRH9YEPCqM

Cheers

[medienhexer]

Yes, but the Fender app is just a remote control, no real-time audio processing required. And that’s going to be the audio app situation until a majority of the hardware developers’ design, as well as the core Android development focus on low latency audio. Otherwise, only the most high end Android devices may end up getting good audio performance.

The focus of most brands has been to try and match internet speed (next stop: 5G), RAM and CPU, ssd capacity and camera specs, as well as screen size and high dpi resolution to beat Apple on a specs-per-Dollar basis.

And enough people keep buying these devices for those features. The market for photo and video enthusiasts seems to be far greater than the market for real time audio. Otherwise, there would be more focused development on the audio specs.

[Kalee]

I doubt the mobile os market would be willing to pay full price for a single synth, when something like the KORG gadget software is considered expensive at 40 dollars.

There is kind of huge and active iOS community at audiob.us. I was kind of blown away when I found out about it, but its almost like KVR + gearslutz.

Something like MIDI implementation, let alone time signatures on iOS daws and sequencers is taking baby steps, and there is bugs on bugs.

[skottish]

Hi @glokraw ,

What I meant is that u-he is a professional audio company and if I were in their position, I'd rather stay focused on getting products out then dealing with more platforms.

[bmrzycki]

I can’t wait for Zebra 4 running on the occulus rift 3 and the ios watch 4.