Is it possible to control two things by one knob on Mininova? Manual says that "The same source can control multiple destinations, and one destination can be controlled by multiple sources." but it looks like this is true only for some sources (like velocity and modulation wheel) not knobs.
Firstly I want to write that I really like this app. I always wanted some DAW that emulates Portastudio experience to the point that I started using DAW called Multitrack Studio (MTS for rest of this post) and I got actual hardware multitrack recorder (Zoom R16) both which I use often. I never used reel to reel tape recorder but tried Portastudio twice and this app really nails down that experience to the point that you need to wait for tape to rewind. Also - I find that reel animation really cute!
It's super intuitive and it has well thought out UI (including keyboard shortcuts). This is not standard for DAWs - these mostly feels like spaceship controls (or that scene from Airplane movie). MTS is another exception with intuitive UI.
Only thing which I did not understood (and needed to look into guide) was marker setting (and stopping on that). I am not sure if this is workflow from actual tape machine.
I am also not sure how intuitive it will be for people who never used actual casette (or reel to reel) tapes but I am old enough for this.
However I have some minor nitpicks here and there:
I got some crashes which is kinda expected for new DAW. I will send some reports later probably.
It seems that only VST3 are supported and only from one folder. While I can understand why VST2 are no supported (licensing nightmare!) I found that one folder somewhat limiting. But I can work around that.
Also this brings me to the lack of built in-plugins: I have new computer without much VSTs so I did not even had any reverb VST3. MTS has built-in effects and I use those all the time (hence not downloading any external VST effects). I am not sure if analog Portastudios (or equivalents) had built-in effects but digital multitracks certainly have effects (analog certainly had EQs).
Also I have noticed something wrong about level faders - there is not enough space between zero and -6 dB. I am not sure if this is exponential vs linear faders thing, but both my analog mixing board and digital multitrack have finer scale in this region (which is important when mixing). Multitrack recorder even has another +12 dB to boost already recorded signal which can be useful sometimes (not sure if this was possible in analog times).
When testing with Nil's K1V VST it crackles sometimes. It sounds like distortion and it probably is because when I tested K1 in MTS it also displayed distortion warning (but without actually distorting the sound - MTS has probably some additional headroom when mixing). I am not sure what is wrong here but it seems that there is a reason why most of the mixers has gain knobs and some VSTs don't have volume control on output.
I am also missing some UI elements - button to close the app :-D (it can be done in preferences) and some button to display guide/help (not needed much for me but somebody may be looking for this!).
Finally here is a link to short demo track I recorded with Tape16 (and aforementioned K1 VST). I will definitely record another.