iPhone App Directory

Some first impressions

I had some time on the train this morning to check out a few new apps and new versions of apps, so I thought I'd combine them all into one post.


Destiny
This is a little keyboard app that I mentioned yesterday. It has about five sounds, all of which are crisp and clear. The keyboard works well, although there is only one octave and no way of scrolling up or down octaves. I think it is a good start for this app and I hope it gets developed. It would be good to see more sounds and the ability to move up the keyboard initially. I'd hope perhaps for some form of recording as well later on.

Bedrum
This drum machine app has had some pattern bank features added to it. These work well moving from one pattern to the next at the end of the preceding pattern. Some form of chaining would be good in the next release.

Digidrummer
This is a very simple drum pad app. It has had some new sound banks added to it, and they sound very good. Yo be honest, I really like this little app, the interface is nice and it is just fine for punching out some drum beats during an idle moment. I think it would be nice to see a record function, or some way to pass a set of beats out to bedrum.

PASY01
This is an accelerometer based synth app which has had some new wave forms added. I have to admit that I had very little time to play with this app today, and it is quite difficult to do it justice on a busy train as really you need to move your arm around to work it. Gestural music can seem a little strange in public. However, from what I could tell it sounded good. I'll give it some more attention soon.

Gamesalad alpha now closed

GameSalad, the people developing a 'non-programming' environment for developing iphone game apps have closed their alpha programme. It'll be interesting to see how this develops and I'll be keeping an eye on their blog.

iStylophone - More info


Various sources have had news about the iStylophone app from The Very Cool Software Company. It appears that the app should be released at the beginning of December for $5.95, which is cheaper than the real thing (although you need an iPhone first of course).

Also, the Very Cool Software Company says this about their forthcoming app:
The app is being developed entirely in conjunction with Brian Jarvis (the inventor of the Stylophone) and his son Ben Jarvis of Dübreq, it is indeed a faithful reproduction of the original with some cool bonus features (3 tones, bass, mid and treble and 3 different skins to match and a very special 'Record' function),

Finally, the Very Cool Software Company also plan to launch other music apps, but as yet no details.



tags technorati :

Jam: Have you met Miss Jones


I think that this application has to get an award for the strangest name I've seen so far for either a music application or an iPhone app (please let me know if you disagree).

According to the developer's site this is what the app is all about:
Sick of not having anyone to jam or practice with on popular Jazz Standards? Sick of those play-a-long CDs that you have to pan to the left or right? Wish you had more control to cut the bass OR drums OR piano OR lead?

Jam will change the way you practice your music. Play-a-long with real musicians - controlling how loud each musician is, or whether they are playing at all.

There are four different tracks. If you don't want the piano, simply turn it off. If you only want the drums, no problem! If the lead is too loud, you can turn it down or off without affecting the volume of the other instruments. You can change everything live, while the track plays, without ever worrying about them staying in sync!

These are REAL recorded musicians. No computer-generated backings which don't help your feel. It is so useful if you are a musician but even non-musicians can enjoy live mixing jazz tracks.

Interesting idea, and I think I can say that no one's done something like this before.

Alleygate first look

I posted on Alleygate from phaseArray just the other day. I've had a few minutes to play with it now and I thought I'd put down a few observations.

As I said before Alleygate is a mono gate. It uses the left & right input channels - one is input signal, one is gate signal. When the gate signal drops below zero the input signal will be entirely muted. In this respect it is has two states:
on or off.

Using the plug in is as simple as any of the other plug ins, and it works fine. I used it on a couple of tracks that I'd already made and it gives very interesting effects. I especially like the wet/dry control. I had no crashes in the short time I used the plug in which is a good sign.

I'm hoping that phaseArray release it soon so others can try it out.



Pete Cole says that Mixtikl is coming soon ...

Pete has posted more about the development of Mixtikl on his blog. It sounds like Mixtikl is almost ready for beta test, and the release is looking like November, which is great.

Destiny ?

This is an odd name for an application I have to admit. 'Destiny' is billed a s 'Digital Wave Micro Synth'. It boasts 5 patches currently. They are:

- Bellcell
- Piano
- Trance
- Mogfog
- Drums

According to the app store listing more patches will be appearing in future versions.

Digidrummer 1.1


Digidrummer has had an update which includes new sounds that you can play on you iPhone / iPod Touch.

tags technorati :

Palm Sounds Live

Thank to those who commented on the live video I posted, and thanks to MatrixSynth for picking it up too.

One commenter asked about an app used called Palm Buzzer, well here's the link to it at PDASSI, I hope that's useful.

Bedrum: updated to 1.1


Bedrum has been updated to version 1.1. New in this version is a set of pattern tabs which allow you to have multiple patterns and switch between them in real time.

tags technorati :

Styletap update

StyleTap has been updated to version 1.1.012. Not big news I know, but one of the fixes is for NinerPaint which is one of my favourite Palm art / animation applications, so it will now run on Windows Mobile, which is excellent.

tags technorati :

GrooveStep public Beta 2

GrooveStep moves into public beta 2. This version is a bug fix version with no new features.

Run WinMo on iPhone OS?



Brighthand have this post on what is effectively 'Boot Camp' for the iPhone. It sounds great. However, I expect that you won't be able to use this with Apple's explicit consent and will need to jailbreak the device first, which is a shame since effectively they set the precedent by developing boot camp in the first place.

tags technorati :

Brighthand on new ALP powered device


Brighthand talk about this new smartphone which runs the ALP OS which was originally to replace palm OS before Palm decided to work on their own 'Nova' OS platform. ALP (access linux platform) has had no devices so far, so this will be the first. Here's some more detail:
display: a 480-by-854-pixel, 3.5-inch touchscreen with haptic feedback. It will offer a wide variety of wireless options: quad-band GSM, tri-band 3.6 Mbps HSDPA, Wi-Fi b/g, and Bluetooth 2.0. This ALP-based smartphone will have a processor from TI and either 16 GB or 8 GB of internal storage. The Edelweiss will also include a GPS receiver, 3.2 MPx camera, tilt sensor, and 3.5 mm headset jack. All this will go into a device that 4.5 inches tall, 2.2 inches wide, 0.5 inches thick (115 mm x 56 mm x 12 mm) and 130 g.


tags technorati :

Kinoma 4 free version released

According to PalmInfocenter Kinoma have released a free version of their media player software for Palm OS.

Stylophone on your iPhone (via MatrixSynth)


This post on MatrixSynth looks like these apps might be a lot of fun. The developer's site doesn't give anything away as yet, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.



tags technorati :

Palm Sounds Live



I've finally got around to putting this up. If you have videos of live shows, please let me know so I can post them at Palm Sounds.

4 Tracks Lite 1.3 coming


The next version of 4 tracks lite is on the way. The new version has something called a tape library included. Sounds interesting.

tags technorati :

PaklSound1 version 2.0 released


PaklSounds has been updated to version 2.0 with some new features that were in the short lived PaklSound Deluxe.

Synthesizer 1.1

Synthesizer for iPhone has been updated to version 1.1. Not much in this upgrade. I had hoped they would make it available for the Touch, but no luck there.

RJDJ may be coming to the Touch?

At the moment I can't get to the RJDJ site, but when I last did there was a post which mentioned that they were looking at a way of making their app available to the iPod Touch as well, which is good news.

tags technorati :

New Bhajis plug-in: Alleygate


phaseArray who released the first non-chocopoolp bhajis plug in Corrosion are about to release a new plug-in called Alleygate.

Alleygate is a mono gate. It uses the left & right input channels - one is input signal, one is gate signal. When the gate signal drops below zero the input signal will be entirely muted. In this respect it is has two states:
on or off.

Setup should be easy: pan one signal one way, the other another way. Send them both to the plugin. You can adjust which channel is the gate signal alongside dry/wet in the plugin parameters.

Apologies for the very poor quality pictures. They were done in a bit of a hurry.

I haven't had a chance to test out this plug in as yet, but I hope to very soon and I'll post more as soon as possible.



Make your own solar theremin


As with so many things I stumbled over this site by chance. I do like the idea of a solar powered theremin, especially one that sits in a mint tin, so I may add it to my list of projects that are not as yet started.


Of the two videos below I especially like the second one with the solar theremin going through the effects unit.





tags technorati :

Cybersonica social anyone?

I got an events email from Cybersonica and noticed that at the end of the email was this:
If you make your own music or audiovisual work with interesting technology, are keen to play your music live (as opposed to just pressing play in Ableton Live) and would like to perform at Cybersonica Social then we'd like to hear from you. Contact us at social@cybersonica.org with some personal info and links to your music, videos and images and we'll check it out and get back to you. If you're interested in helping us to document these events or generally want to get involved then get in touch too.

It would be great to get some handheld music going wouldn't it?

tags technorati :

Bloom video



Brian Eno's Bloom app running. It is quite nice to play with, but also limited.

Bloom at the iTunes App Store

tags technorati :

Help with circuit bending links

I know there are a few readers are into circuit bending so I thought I'd ask a favour of you. Could anyone recommend some good links for forums / groups where I can get advice and help without feeling like too much of a newbie?

Also, if anyone can suggest any good soldering irons for a beginner that would be really helpful.

Thanks.

Things I'd like to see on the iPod Touch / iPhone

Having had my 1st gen iPod Touch for a little while now, there are a few things that I think it could do with to make it more useful, not only as mobile music device, but also as a PDA.
  1. The launcher. Grouping apps and their icons into categories or at least some form of grouping other than the little dots that indicate where you are would be good. Palm OS and their categories system is simple and effective. I really think Apple needs to address the way that apps are handled.
  2. The iPod Touch and mics. Of course I would say this, but I think that Apple should allow the use of 3rd party mic adapters through the dock connector. I mean, why not?
  3. Hardware add ons? How about some hardware like a keyboard for instance? Using a keyboard with the device would make it really useful, and let's face it, there are plenty of existing manufacturers who would love to see into this market.
Ok, those are my issues with the device (so far). Here are some other things I'd like to see:
  1. Some form of programming environment onboard the device. Something along the lines of iziBasic for Palm. Of course an app like that would work much better with a keyboard, or with code completion.
  2. An environment like PixiLang would be great too.
  3. SunVox for iPhone OS would be really interesting.
I doubt that these will happen any time soon, but I thought I'd get them down to see if anyone agrees.


tags technorati :

It doesn't get more handheld than this



adafruit industries offers the drawdio kit which will turn a pencil into a mini synth! Here's what their site says:
Drawdio is an electronic pencil that lets you make music while you draw! It's great project for beginners: An easy kit with instant gratification! Essentially, its a very simple musical synthesizer that uses the conductive properties of pencil graphite to create different sounds. The result is a fun toy that lets you draw musical instruments on any piece of paper.
Runs on a single AAA battery for many hours (even 'nearly dead' batteries will work)
Use any pencil - mechanical or plain. The kit comes with a 2B pencil, the softer the lead the better
Ridiculously fun for all ages

CDM interview on RJDJ


CDM has some interesting background on RJDJ and maybe some hope on a mic hack for the iPod Touch.

tags technorati :

RJDJ Released, but only for iPhone not iPod Touch


This is a big blow. I was really looking forward to RJDJ, but it is only available for the iPhone and not the iPod Touch.

tags technorati :

TrakAx in the Top 10 Windows Mobile App

M3 Digital World have voted TrakAx Mobile as one of the top 10 windows mobile applications.

I don't disagree at all. However, I'm still left wondering what has happened to the next version of TrakAx?

tags technorati :

Korg DS-10 launches in Europe today

Nobuyoshi Sano would like you to send pictures of the DS-10 in shops in europe as it launches today.

I'd like to see some pictures too.

MIDIfy your VL-1


This is a very cool kit from Highly Liquid that was posted to Synthtopia today. I mean, why wouldn't you want to add MIDI to a VL-1?

I don't think that $40 is a bad price either. All I need to do now is get a VL-1!



tags technorati :

Concretedog MIDI to circuit bent drum


Concretedog Highly Liquid MSA/R from concretedog on Vimeo.

I always like to see stuff that other people have built and this makes me think of loads of ideas that could be experimented with using a kit like this from Highly Liquid. Check out Concretedog's blog for more and watch the video.

iLounge round up of iPhone image manipulation apps


This is a really good round up of image apps. I've been looking at a number of these for a while and haven't been able to make up my mind as to what is useful and what isn't. So when iLounge come along and do that for me it is really handy.

Cosmovox 1.2


Cosmovox has been updated to version 1.2. Amongst the new features are:

- Hold note by holding the saturn button
- New scales added

Cosmovox at the iTunes App Store

tags technorati :

miniSynth 1.1

miniSynth has been updated to version 1.1 which is a bug fix.

miniSynth available at the iTunes App Store

tags technorati :

Korg DS-10 US release date moves back

According to MatrixSynth the US release date for the DS-10 has moved back to the 14th of November now. It was originally mid-October.

Apple to host iPhone Tech talk World Tour


Interesting news from Apple Gazette that Apple is hosting something like a mini WWDC to developers on a variety of iPhone related subjects.

The session cover a range of topics and would be useful to experienced developers or those new to the platform.

tags technorati :

Kinoma Player EX 4.5


A new version of Kinoma Player EX 4.5 has been released according to PalmInfocenter. Here's what;s been updated:
Support for the Orb streaming media service is now built in so you can access your own personal media library nearly anywhere. Kinoma has also improved the internal bookmark capabilities for streaming content and improved much of the youtube functionality. In addition they have made some power management tweaks for better power savings and improved compatibility with lower rate mp3 files.

SrutiBox: 1.1 coming very soon

According to the Srutibox blog the next version should be on the app store very soon indeed.

tags technorati :

Bloom: first look


CDM have posted on Bloom, the new generative music application from Brian Eno, which is handy as I pretty much agree with CDM's views on this app.

I have to say that I only spent about 15 minutes playing with it this morning, but it was interesting and quite an absorbing application to play with.

I think CDM are right in saying that it is probably aimed at more casual users though.

Bloom at the iTunes App Store

tags technorati :

Haplome connect 1.1 available

There's a new version of Haplome connect available together with a short tutorial on how to get it running.

4Pockets: Handster Awards 2008

4Pockets has won several awards including one for their Virtual Recorder application.

Let's hope we see some updates on their apps and even new applications soon?

Gamesalad blog


I posted the other day about GameSalad who are developing an application for building games and deploying them to the web and iphone platforms. Well, having had an enormous response they've set up a blog which you can find here.

Bloom

This app has just turned up on the App Store and it sounds quite interesting. This is what the web site says about it:
Developed by ambient pioneer Brian Eno and musician/software designer Peter Chilvers, Bloom explores uncharted territory in the realm of applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. Part instrument, part composition and part artwork, Bloom's innovative controls allow anyone to create elaborate patterns and unique melodies by simply tapping the screen. A generative music player takes over when Bloom is left idle, creating an infinite selection of compositions and their accompanying visualisations.

"Bloom is an endless music machine, a music box for the 21st century. You can play it, and you can watch it play itself." - Brian Eno

I'm going to give it a go and see what it is like.

Bloom at the iTunes App Store

tags technorati :

ITM gets 10,000 downloads of MIDILab in 4 days!

ITM have a story about the fact that they have had 10,000 downloads of their MIDILab app in the last 4 days. Which is incredible really.

Haplome looking for beta testers

Haplome is after beta testers if anyone is interested in taking up the offer.

Mixtikl update

Thanks to Pete's comments about Mixtikl:
When Mixtikl comes out, maybe you'll need a new "trans-platform" category. :)
BTW, when you see list of features that we've packed-in to Mixtikl for first release, it is pretty mind-boggling. :)
Mixtikl should be entering Beta in a week or two; we'll hopefully then be in a position to launch it a few weeks after that. We'll keep you posted! :)

I can't wait, and he is probably right, I will need a new category!

No more pandora!

Pandora is all sold out!

Wow, I didn't expect it to happen that quickly!

A new Noise IO video



A new video from Noise IO, but no news on a final release date as yet.

tags technorati :

3 Things to look forward to before the end of 2008

As the days get shorter and the weather gets colder here are three things I'm looking forward to before the end of 2008:

Mixtikl
The long awaited successor to miniMIXA is due around the end of this month. Combining MIDI, loops and generative music all in on trans-platform package seems almost too good to be true.

Noise.IO
There's been so much hype about this app that I really hope it does live up to expectations after all. With a release date that started off at the 25th if August it still hasn't arrived as yet, but I hope it will soon.

PianoFly
miniMusic have been very quiet since July when they announced a delay to PianoFly. I'm hoping that it will make it out soon along with the other apps they've been talking about.

So, plenty to look forward to in the rest of 2008, and who knows what else might turn up?

3 to get Noise IO before the release


According to the Noise.IO new site 3 lucky forum members will get a free copy of the app 3 days in advance of the release, although still no news on when that might be!

tags technorati :

Voice Changer


This app looks like it might be the beginnings of a little vocoder on the iPhone?

tags technorati :

SunVox voting

Palm OS and iPhone are the strongest votes on the future of SunVox so far.

Tell Palm Sounds about your releases

If you have mobile music related releases on the way then please let Palm Sounds know about them and they can be featured on the blog.

Just email:

palm dot sounds at mac dot com

Ordering for OpenPandora closes just before noon (Europe)

If you wanted to order at OpenPandora you have until just before noon (UK / European time).

Stylophone and PaklSound1?



Strange?

tags technorati :

Cosmovox plays Amazing Grace



Nice!

Cosmovox at the iTunes App Store

Another iPhone Synth?


I just found this on YouTube. It seems to have been posted a few weeks ago, but I'm not aware of anything like it at the moment on the official app store.

Any clues?

tags technorati :

Crash course in miniSynth


Yonac have a miniSynth crash course posted at their site which is helpful.

I've spent a little time playing with miniSynth now, and it is quite enjoyable to use. I'm especially interested in the help screen which says that miniSynth's big brother is coming soon!!!

miniSynth available at the iTunes App Store

tags technorati :

RJDJ news


More news from RJDJ. They've decided to change the way they're going to distribute their contect as follows:

1. We are releasing two RjDj applications. “RjDj single” and “RjDj album”
2. RjDj single is a full RjDj player bundled with one scene for free.
3. RjDj album is a full RjDj player, bundled with 6 scenes for $2,99
4. We updated the app already and hope we will get through apple’s review process fast.

Read more at their site.



tags technorati :

Synthesizer


Here's a synthesizer app for the iPhone called Synthesizer. But, beware. This app is just for the iPhone and won't load onto an iPod Touch, which is a shame as I can't see any reason why it shouldn't work on a iPod Touch!

cellDS 1.3

cellDS is updated to 1.3. This update adds MIDI support using DSMI.

tags technorati :

Noise.IO Synth: More details emerge ...

More info from the Noise.IO forum, and thanks to Craig for pointing me in that direction.

It seems that the price for Noise is increasing from the original $6.99 (correct me if I'm wrong on that) to around £14.99. Now, from what I can make out from the screen shots and videos it seems worth it, so I'm not too bothered, but I do hope that they keep developing it.

Also, Noise have been talking to the people at BeatMaker about some form of integration. Now that would be interesting.

tags technorati :

Mobile Music Application Directory update

I've finally got around to doing this. The directory has been updated to include a lot more iPhone applications. I haven't updated the palm or windows mobile apps, but I may get around to that soon.

If I've missed any then please let me know.

ProTransport


I missed this when it came out. ProTransport is from the same people who released ProRemote at a price of £85. ProTransport is a lot cheaper at only £4.99.

PaklSound1 version 2.0 is coming soon

According to the PaklSound site there is a new version of PaklSound on the way, and to demonstrate this the PDF for the manual is available already.

ITM MIDILab updated to 1.1

iTouch MIDI gets updated to version 1.1. More interestingly the update on the app store says:

Coming soon ...

- ITM DJ
- ITM Modular

Now, both of those sound interesting ...

tags technorati :

Nintendo DSi Announced




Nintendo announce their new version DSm and it has some nice features:
  • Overall size has been reduced -- DSi is 12% or 2.6 millimeters slimmer than the Lite.
  • Comes with an external 0.3 Megapixel camera (for 640 x 480 pixel pictures) and a VGA camera located on the hinge, directed towards the user. You'll be able to edit pictures using the touchscreen.
  • Full music playback functionality, including adjustable pitch and playback speed. 
  • Both screens have been expanded to 3.25 inches.
  • SD memory card slot is included, and there'll be on-board memory also.
  • Will ship with an built-in Nintendo DS web browser.
  • DSi will allow users to download games from DSWare, a new service that operates with Wii Points -- or, as they are now known, Nintendo Points.
  • Logging onto DSWare for the first time will grant users 1,000 free Nintendo Points.
  • DSWare comes in four pricing categories: free (!), 200 Nintendo Points, 500 Nintendo Points, and 800 Nintendo Points.
  • Will come in lovely matte white and matte black. Begone, foul fingerprints that have taunted us so!
  • And finally, it launches on November 1st in Japan, and will cost ¥18,900, or roughly $179

Let Palm Sounds know about your gigs

After posting about Concretdog's show the other day I thought I'd just write something to say that if you have a show or a release please send it in so it can be published on Palm Sounds.

Computer Music on DS-10 and ITM

For those in the UK the October edition of Computer Music has a piece on the Korg DS-10 and also a very small article on the ITM group of apps for the iPhone / iPod Touch.

Noise.IO Synth: Update 1.10.08



Another update from Noise IO Synth. Their latest video gives some insight into how complex this app is going to be.

Their new site will be up from Friday the 3rd.

tags technorati :

Bedrum: Drum Machine for iPhone / Touch


Another new app today is Bedrum. A nice looking drum machine app. Again, I haven't had a chance to play with this so far but as soon as I do I'll let you know what I think.

FMScreen for iPhone / iPod Touch


Another new music app today appeared on the App Store. FMScreen is described as:
FMScreen turns the iPhone into a musical instrument: an FM Synthesizer. Play, improvise, compose. Imagine the Theremin's younger relative, only it fits in your pocket. Tap and slide your fingers on the iPod Touch/iPhone's screen to generate sounds, control their frequency, duration, timber and amplitude.

An FM Synthesizer generates simple waveforms that interact to create complex sounds of varying timbre. The interaction with the screen of the iPhone allows controlling the frequency of a sine wave (carrier), and the the amount of modulation (richness of the sound). The amplitude/volume of the sound is controlled by the inclination of the iPhone /iPod itself.

I've only had a very short time to play with this, so I'll post something more detailed when I get more time.

tags technorati :

Cosmovox 1.1

Leisuresonic have released an update to their iPhone music app Cosmovox. This update contains:

- Accelerometer control of volume
- 16 new musical scales
- Wider portamento range
- and more ...

Cosmovox at the iTunes App Store

iBand pictures


Some good pictures of iBand in concert over at their site.

I wonder if they'll start using some of the newer instruments that have come out for the platform?

Apple drops NDA (via CDM)

Lots of people have reported this story so I will too. CDM have a musical interest in the story and are encouraging developers to talk about their experiences.

As far as I can see this can only be a good thing.

But what I really want to know is will this mean the possibility of Mixtikl coming to the iPhone?

tags technorati :

Use your Kaossilator as a MIDI controller



Check out this post at MatrixSynth

tags technorati :