It's too big, complicated and DAW-like to be an all-in-one-closed-shop groovebox type thing but lacking in too many important features to be iOS's premier DAW. NS2 as a whole package is clearly not a great return for all that coding compared to what the individual elements would cost as single plug-ins. Ns2 includes effectively dozens of plug-ins, for the price of just one of them. Even the built-in fx could have been sold as for £/$/€10 as an auv3 multi fx package.

Add in a constant supply of IAP drum kits and there's a revenue stream. Slate could have been a £/$/€9.99 plug-in easily. They could have charged the same price for Obsidian as an auv3 as NS2 sells for today. In a parallel universe where NS2 was never released as a single product but as a suite of auv3 plugins (Slate, Obsidian, Piano Roll, Fx, Maybe also a Bare bones host with audio tracks and automation, etc.) I'd probably have spent many times more than the price of NS2 without getting everything that’s in NS2 today. it's still not going to appeal to everyone - DAWs are a very subjective commitment. Even if NS2 was perfect, had audio tracks, auv3 automation, etc. A DAW with missing features is cutting off a big chunk of an already small niche. You don't have to commit to anything in the way you need to commit to a DAW.Īnd if you do commit to a DAW it needs to be complete. Plus there's no barrier to entry for plug-ins. Need a nice tape delay for a song but don't have one, or the one you have isn't quite hitting the spot? The App Store has you covered.

It's easy to use and can be an impulse purchase for a specific task. But a compressor can be used in any host. The crazy thing is, many of us on this forum spend more on a single compressor than on NS2. Not the developer's fault but very bad timing for NS2. It's never been quite finished with auv3s and is only as reliable as the plug-ins it hosts. But NS2 always worked best when you use it natively. Many of us don't even use traditional linear DAWs anymore. The introduction of auv3s was literally a game changer. The barrier to entry is, relatively speaking, huge. People don't buy DAWS the way they buy delay plug-ins. It takes time to learn and even more time to before you really benefit from knowing the app inside out. It’s the app you are supposed to live in on the platform. In my easy-in-hindsight (but hopefully objective) take on this, NS2 was the wrong app at the wrong time for a single developer.Ī DAW is a huge commitment. IOS is a tough market for audio apps for sure.

Ns2 forums