The Last of the Mobile Music Alphabet: X, Y, and Z

X is for Xewton Music Studio


Xewton is an amazing composition tool. Xewton is a brilliant canvas for composing and arranging. Xewton has a good range of instruments and now an in-app purchase store for a bunch of other instruments. A great app.


Y is for ?

I drew a blank with Y, there wasn't one piece of mobile software or hardware that begins with Y

Z is for Zoozbeat


Zoozbeat is a really interesting concept and I think it helps make mobile music more accessible to a lot of people. Their Jackson 5 apps have had a really good response and hopefully they'll build on that in the future.


So, there's the end of the mobile music alphabet. It has been a lot of fun to write, and I hope that you've found a few things along the way that you haven't heard of before. I will be doing a sweep up of the apps I've missed during the month.

Thanks for an amazing May

As May comes to a close I thought I'd say a big thank you to all the developers who've given promo codes, dropped the price on their apps, donated software for competitions and made special patches.

The response to Palm Sounds turning 4 has been truly amazing and overwhelming. I hope that Palm Sounds will still be around in another 4 years.

If you can, spread the word about Palm Sounds. Link to the blog, tweet about Palm Sounds, whatever you can do.

Most of all though, make mobile music and tell people about the apps you're using and how amazing they are.

Thanks for a great may, thanks for all the kind comments from you all. I really appreciate it.

There's just one thing left for me to do and that's to finish the mobile music alphabet, and that's coming up very soon.

DJ Apps page updated

I've just updated the drums and DJ directory page. The main update was to add DJ Player Blue Edition to the DJ section.

Updates will happen a bit more regularly soon.

miniSynth Pro Promo Code Give Away CLOSED

Sorry, Should have posted this earlier but it slipped my mind. This promo code give away is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered. Winners will be notified soon.

Yonac at the app store:

iSequence Tutorial: Sequence Editor

MultiTrack 2.0 submitted to Apple

MultiTrack 2.0 has been submitted to Apple! Can't wait to see the new version! As a reminder here's what's coming up.

• Non-destructive editing
• Looping
• Copy/Paste
• Bounce
• Email
• Soundcloud
• Undo/Redo
• In-app upgrades/help
• iPad
• Some surprises!

MultiTrack at the app store:

Disquiet on Buddha Machine's Roman Holiday

This'll be interesting.

DS10 Track 49

From home of the DS-10.

PatternMusic interview

Good things coming to Bleep!Box

Some good things coming to Bleep!Box in the next version.

• User backgrounds
• iTunes document sharing

BleepBox at the app store:

Chris Carter's Kaoss Mods

Nice gear. Very Nice indeed.

Dirty Electronics workshop and performance with Chris Carter and John Richards

A bit late in letting you know about this event. Sounds great! Dates: May 31 - June 3 from 10:00 - 17:00.

O-GAWA for iPad

Terminator Theme Played using Wivi Band

Via Matrixsynth.

Wivi Band at the app store:

Making of an iPhone app

This video, via TC Electronic, takes a look at how they made the TC Electronic PolyTune tuner pedal into an iPhone and even an iPad app.

Via Synthtopia.

ZeusDraw Mobile review from Fingerpainted

Here's a very full review of ZeusDraw Mobile from Fingerpainted. Well worth the read if you're into mobile art.

Thingamagoop 2 Revision 1

Some revisions to the Thingamagoop 2 kit:

• The three jacks on the side have been removed and an 1/8″ CV jack has been added to the top.
• CV jack is now output only. It no longer requires an adapter but there is no input CV. You can still mod it to have an input if you’re so inclined.
• The programmer jack has been dropped. There were some communication issues with different types of Arduino programmers. You can still interface the Thingamagoop 2 with an Arduino board by soldering four wires to the pcb.
• 9V jack has been dropped and replaced with a $2 dongle that attaches to the 9v battery snap."

Not sure how I feel about these. The Arduino connection was a real benefit in my mind, though I still haven't got around to ordering a kit, as was the CV in.

Via Matrixsynth.

AC-7 DAW update

An update for this AC-7. Here's the detail:

• Fixed Pro Tools HUI errors
• Updated time code to support more DAW software - Reaper, Final Cut Pro, SoundTrack Pro etc.
• Updated fader and jog wheel code for better response

AC-7 DAW Control Surface at te app store:

Visible Pocket Oscilator (via Matrixsynth)

Visible Pocket Oscillator from Unearthed Music on Vimeo.

Via Matrixsynth.

Made with ThumbJam

ThumbJam at the app store:

Thingamagoop 2 vs Beatles ???

Beatles + Dexter Salutti from arthur joly on Vimeo.

miniSynth Pro Promo Code Give Away!

Today I've got 3 promo code for miniSynth Pro to give away. To enter the competition all you need to do is to answer this question.

Where did Robert Moog receive an electrical engineering degree?

Send your answer to palmsounds.comp@me.com by 12 noon GMT tomorrow the 31st of May.

Please remember that promo codes only work in the US version of the iTunes app store.

Yonac at the app store:

Mixtikl stability update available

The Mixtikl 2.1.0.18 update has been released. This update delivers much improved stability and is currently going through the Apple approval process for iPhone and iPad users.

FunkBox to be a universal app

Excellent news about Funkbox, it will be a universal app for iPhone and iPad too. Looking forward to that.

FunkBox Drum Machine at the app store:

Shruthi-1 proto

Shruthi-1 proto, v0.2, greeting me with fat wobbly bass by mutable.instruments

AudioTools update

An update for AudioTools. Here are the details:

• iPad graphics issues fixed
• Generator slider issue fixed
• Memory leaks fixed
• Added new in-app purchase module: THD+n
• Added new in-app purchase module: Impedance Meter & Impedance Sweep
• Added new in-app purchase module: VU Meter

AudioTools at the app store:

Childhood Remixed Opening Night

Looks like people were having a lot of fun. More at Pixelh8's blog.

Monotron Video

Drum Track8 update

DrumTrack8 gets a small update. Here's what's new:

• Various crashes fixed.
• Optimized Memory Consumption and Panel Switching speed
• Note to Users : Please send us your crash logs for us to make DrumTrack8 the more stable possible !

DrumTrack8 at the app store:

Aphonium promo code give away CLOSED

Thanks to everyone who entered the promo code give away. This is closed now so please don't send any more entries in.

Aphonium at the app store:

Sunvox update

Sunvox gets an update:

• added new controller in the "generator": "Duty cycle" (only for rectangular waveform);
• WAV/AIFF/XI preview in the "load" dialogs of the "sampler";
• animated visualization of the state of the "sampler";
• 24bit WAV support;
• fixed bug in the "FM" synth;
• performance optimization.

Sunvox at the app store:

Monotron Packaging

Matrixsynth has this post with nice pictures of Monotron's in their packaging which I hadn't seen before. Apparently these were on eBay but have ended now.

microDAW for iPHone

Another audio editor for the iPhone. Looks nice, but there's already stiff competition for in this area from apps like Monle and AudioForge.

microDAW at the app store:

Sync Thing in a GB, 2 GB Sync (via Matrixsynth)

Via Matrixsynth.

Brighthand on iPhone OS4

A lot of detail in this review of what's coming in OS4. Nothing much really surprised me, but I don't think I knew about the BT keyboards before reading this.

Hard Soft Synth via TCTD

HSS3f demo from Gijs on Vimeo.

Looks like an interesting kit. Via TCTD.

Groovemaker D'n'B for iPad 50% off

I thought I ought to alert anyone who is interested in this app to the fact that it currently has a sale with 50% off at the moment.

Groovemaker apps at the app store:

ArtStudio 2.0 for iPad

ArtStudio for the iPad gets a big update:

• new design, more compliant with Apple Human Interface Guidline
• added brush type: DODGE/BURN with the following options:
• - shadows/mid-tones/highlights
• - normal/colorize
• added brush setting slider: jitter
• improved quality of brush that need texture rotating
• added new shape: polygon (open and closed)
• added opacity slider on drawing canvas
• shapes moved to separated popover
• tap and hold layer thumbnail to display layer options
• "quick menu" displayed after three-finger tap
• possibility to keep color swatches when loading an image
• real-time colorized RGB sliders
• color editing - tap old-color rectangle to restore old color
• new filter icons
• size of Airbrush increased 2 times
• better stability

ArtStudio for the iPhone

iPad DJ // TouchOSC (Part 1 of 4)

TouchOSC at the app store:

Pulse Code make AFX free

Some of you might remember this app. When it first came out it was quite amazing, but by today's standards it is really just a toy.

AFX at the app store:

Reforge update

Reforge gets an update. Here's what's new:

• Support for the latest versions of audiocopy and paste.

Reforge at the app store:

Moonbuz on TouchOSC editor update

I have to admit that this update to the TouchOSC editor had just passed me by completely, so I was glad to find out about it from Moonbuz's blog.

And the post goes on to talk about the next version of TouchOSC and the Android port too.

Is it a drum machine or an interactive album?

CreativeApplications featured this app called Shapeless: The Drum Machine. I like the idea and the concept, but I'm not sure that the drum machine is the ideal interface for an interactive album.

You decide.

Shapeless at the app store:

Symphony App on SoX

This might be of use to a few people. The developer of Symphony posts about ditching Audacity for SoX to get granular control over audio files.

Musical Images for iPhone

Musical Images gets an update with more instruments. Better zoom functionality. Refined graphics.

Musical Images at the app store:

Palm Sounds Big Birthday Competition

Anymore entries for the Palm Sounds "Strangest Place You've Made Music" competition?

To enter, all you have to do is email in a picture of yourself making music somewhere strange. It could be high up, under the ground, in a jungle, but please, no pictures on the toilet!


The best picture (as judged by me) will get a copy of Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking which is a great book on circuit bending an electronic music making, and I will happily send it to the winner wherever they live in the world.


So send in your pictures as soon as you can this week. Each one sent in will get featured on the blog as well!