Audio Toolbox vs OttavaBassa

Audio Toolbox is a suite of audio analysis tools for the iPhone and iPad. It comprises both audio waveform generators as well as a highly accurate Fast Fourier analysis engine, an audio oscilloscope and various frequency detection and tuning tools. The Tone Generator allows you to create anything from a simple sine, triangle, square, or sawtooth waveform as well as white and pink noise. It also supports log and linear sweep tones with definable range and level and complex wave construction using sine waves. The later is great for teaching audio theory with its DTMF and complex tone generation tools you can build complex waveforms and then analyse their component parts using FFT and the oscilloscope. Build DTMF, triangle, square or saw waves using multiple sine waves etc. The Audio Oscilloscope allows you to analyse directly from the tone generator or microphone. The scope features both free running and single shot modes with adjustable triggering options. The single shot mode automatically starts and stops capturing when short bursts of sound exceed a threshold. The oscilloscope also features a simple measuring tool to help measure duration and frequency of a waveform. The FFT Analysis section provides both Linear, Logarithmic as well as 1:1, 1:3 and 1:6 Octave modes. There is also an SPL meter complete with LEQ options and A/C weighting, log and linear Spectrograph and Mixer EQ modes for setting up audio mixers. All screens support 10x zoom, full screen and pause modes to aid analysis. There are also specific modes to detect peak frequencies, musical notes with cents offset, perfect for instrument tuning. Definable calibration tuning allows you to tune +/- 40Hz. Features: •20Hz-22KHz Tone Generator. •Sine, Square, Saw, Triangle, Sweep and MultiTone options. •Accurate 8K Fast Fourier Analysis. •32bit / 44KHz floating point audio sampling. •Standard ANSI/IEC A and C weighting curves. •Up to 64x oversampling. •Smoothing (alternative to averaging). •Automatic noise cancellation. •Automatic peak note / frequency and octave display. •Narrow band Linear and Logarithmic scalable displays. •Spectrogram display with Log and Linear Modes. •1:1, 1:3 and 1:6 octave display modes. •1:1, 1:3 and 1.6 Mixer tuning modes. •SPL (Sound Pressure Level) display. •Max, Min and Peak level capture. •LEQ Mode (Equivalent Continuous Sound Level). •Variable definable decibel scales. •Touch screen display of nearest point with frequency and decibel readout. •Audio Oscilloscope - Free Running and One Shot modes. •0.1 to 1000Hz timebase. •0.25-50x scope Magnification. •Definable trigger (leading and trailing edge). •10x zoom and full screen modes. •Pause facility freezes the live trace to aid analysis of data. •Camera Roll capture facility. •Export and Email CSV data from FFT or Scope. •Built in web server for transferring files. •Capture peaks over time facility. •Works on both iPhone and iPads.

OttavaBassa has been designed for guitarists looking for a simple all-in-one plugin solution for making their guitar sound like a bass. This means you could use your standard guitar to play bass lines on recordings and during live performances. OttavaBassa is an “Octaver” effect that takes your incoming note and transposes it down by one octave putting your instrument into the range of a bass guitar. In addition to the octave-down effect itself, OttavaBassa also includes a simple EQ voiced for controlling the important low and high bass guitar frequencies, as well as built-in effects for drive, compression, stereo chorus and a simple speaker cab filter. “Ottava bassa” is a music theory direction that literally translates as “low octave” or “octave below”. It is commonly abbreviated as “8vb”, hence the icon. OttavaBassa is an AUv3 effects plugin that can run standalone, or in any AUv3 compatible host such as Logic Pro, GarageBand or AUM. OttavaBassa currently runs on iPadOS / iOS (iPad & iPhone) and macOS (Intel & Silicon) and is available as a Universal Purchase from the Apple App Store. If you’re planning on using OttavaBassa on Mac / desktop, please ensure that your favourite DAW / host supports AUv3 (not just AU). PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY! OttavaBassa has been designed specifically for use with guitar. This means that pitches below the low E string (82.4Hz) will not be handled well. Sorry bass players! OttavaBassa will perform at its best when it is given single notes played reasonably cleanly and accurately. It is not a monophonic pitch generator in the true sense, but multiple input notes (aka chords) might result in “warbles” in the processed signal. OttavaBassa uses a pitch detection method that will introduce audio latency, i.e. a delay between input and output. Please note this is not to be confused with audio interface latency, so you cannot “fix” this by changing buffer sizes or sample rates in your host app. Currently OttavaBassa has a latency of around 25ms. So whether OttavaBassa will work for you, depends largely on your playing style and whether you can live with the inherent latency. My personal perspective: I would never make a plugin I wouldn’t use myself. In fact I made OttavaBassa because I needed an Octaver for my own iPad-based live guitar setup, and I couldn’t quite find what I was looking for. I find that OttavaBassa sounds good to me, and feels responsive enough in the context of a live performance, adding bass lines to guitar loops for example. I wouldn’t do a gig without it! I thought hard about making OttavaBassa publicly available because I’ve seen many Octaver plugins get terrible reviews from folks who don’t really understand that the latency and tracking limitations can’t really be magicked away with clever coding! While I am aware of more sophisticated pitch shifting DSP advances that significantly reduce latency especially, I believe this comes at a CPU cost. So while OttavaBassa does use a less sophisticated pitch detection method than “state of the art”, this does mean it’s pretty light on CPU (i.e. around 6% running on an M1 iPad in AUM). And of course, just because it was designed for guitar, doesn’t mean OttavaBassa won’t work on other audio sources - it can sound pretty scary on vocals for example! Just be mindful of the limitations mentioned above regarding pitch range and tracking, e.g., maybe don’t put an entire mix through it and expect amazing results! Thanks for reading to the end :-) -Rob