Kraftwerk iPad App

I thought that this comment on the Kraftwerk app post was really worth bringing out for everyone to read. Thanks to Garloo for this comment / review:

In general I think this is kind of a great app. Kraftwork has always kind of been a conceptual art project and that is reflected in this app which is a bit of a think piece. It automatically creates music. You have some control over some variables or can make some of your own sequences using Kraftwerk generated samples. The images and interface is pure Kraftwerk Future-Retro looking in it green glowing design.


The app is large and takes a while to download. It is controlled by 24 time zones each time zone has 16 samples with 16 pitches in a 16 by 16 sequencer. You can change time zones by touching another time zone on the map and getting different sounds or they will change on the hour. There may be some other sample changes going on in the background with samples because there seems to be some changes over the hour as well but this may be a subjective observations. The sounds sound great and there may be a lot going on in the background of this app to effect them.


The Music has no vocals or percussion. It could best be described as Ambient but is more like a constantly generated movie soundtrack if the movie was being shot in some kind of futuristic worlds fair. Some of the hours are unsettling others evoke different feeling and emotion in the listener. It is minimalist and not so melody based.


In some ways this app is kind of a perpetual Kraftwerk making music as a random machine. I think that the rest screen is of a very pixilated digital Kraftwerk band.


There is a Kaoss style pad where you control pitch and speed/bpm, the pitch seems to also achieve a filter style effect, by pinching you can add or remove echo. A rotating wire-frame Kraftwerk band comes forward or back in the “room” and rotates slower or faster with speed. You can also control these parameters from another screen with slider controls.


You can always reset to the standard Kraftwerk setting by hitting reset or save two settings of your own.


I think you could consider the app a kind of self generating Kraftwerk album (as a music box) as opposed to a music making tool (although you can do that too). I like it a lot and check in on my computerized Kraftwerkers who are always playing some new sounds for me to hear. This is a very great idea of a record that is a program of music generation. I look forward to the next Kling Klang app I think this will be like Kraftwerk music much imitated new way of making music.