Category: Mobile Applications

I’m a big fan of mobile applications. It started with the Palm OS and Windows Mobile, and has continued with iOS and Android. Who knows where mobile apps will go to next, it’s a journey, and an interesting one at that. If you’re looking for more on mobile apps then also check out the menu sections for pages on specific apps and things I’ve done with them.

Apple Watch music apps

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I have been looking for Apple Watch Muisc apps since I first got this device. However, to date I have failed to find anything that really ticks the box for me.

There are some though. I can’t say that there aren’t. Here’s what I have been using so far.

Wotja

If you don’t know this app, Wotja is a generative music app for iOS, macOS and Android too. What’s more it works on Apple watch. Having said that, the Apple watch app is effectively a remote for the iOS app. Whilst that works fine, and what’s more is actually quite useful in many ways, I had really wanted something that actually made music on the Apple Watch.

Holonist

Another app that works effectively as a data connection for the iOS app. Again, this is fine, and in fact very useful as the Apple watch app collects a lot of data that is then translated into usable information for making music. But it doesn’t make music on its own. Which is a bit of a shame.

And there is a Holon as well, which is good in of itself. Sort of like Holonist’s little sibling and it does actually make sound, but it connects to the iPhone version.

Shazam …

Of course, there is Shazam and I have used it on my Apple Watch. Whilst it is a music app in many people’s eyes, it doesn’t really fit that category for me. But it is handy to have.

So what am I actually looking for?

Well that’s the real question right. What am I looking for in an apple watch music app? That’s the question really. I think that ideally I’d like an app that allowed me to actually make music on my apple watch independently of anything else.

I can imagine that if Allihoopa had continued that their Figure app might have been a good candidate for just such a thing. The Figure interface could have scaled down to a watch app I think. That would have worked and could have been a good way to start something on a watch then move to an iPhone or iPad and then beyond.

So where does that leave me? I doubt very much that anyone is going to make such a thing, not for just me anyway.

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And the plants are singing to me

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If this doesn’t mean anything to you then don’t worry. I have to admit it’s a very obscure niche. Sonifying the bio data from plants might seem odd, esoteric even, but to me it’s something really interesting.

I remember seeing MIDI Sprout on Kickstarter, but felt that the price point was prohibitive. However, I always felt that it was something that I wanted to try out. So I watched for one on eBay, and finally one came up at a reasonable price. So I bought it and it worked beautifully.

The little video is with a coffee plant. My plan is to try the MIDI Sprout with a range of different plants to see if there are noticeable differences in each plant’s musical output. As and when I do I’ll post the results. Probably with video too.

https://videopress.com/v/WZ6Gm1AJ?preloadContent=metadata

However, this isn’t the only kind of sonification project I have on the go, but more of that another time.

Endlesss, collaborative music making on iOS

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I’ve been playing with Endlesss for a little while now. A few weeks anyway. To begin with I wasn’t sure quite what to make of it. Now I’m beginning to realise that I’ve only just scratched the surface and that there is a huge amount more that I can do with it, and also that I can do with others, after all, it is collaborative.

The idea of Endlesss is really simple. You create what Endlesss calls ‘Jams’. Each jam is like a track, except it isn’t. It is much more than that. A jam consists of ‘riffs’ (or it may be ‘rifffs’, I’m not sure). Each of these is like a moment in time when you add something to the jam, and as you build these up, adding instruments etc, you get a journal of sorts showing how this track (I use that term simply for ease) has developed and changed.

Here’s what the journal looks like

In isolation that’s pretty interesting in itself. But the more impressive feature is that you can take any point in the journal and then take your jam in a different direction. For me this is probably the most interesting aspect of Endlesss.

Endlesss Journal view

As you can see there are a number of different iterations of this jam and they’re grouped by date. This makes taking ideas in different directions very easy.

Pages: 1 2

The wonderful world of Griff

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The excellent Griff application for Windows Mobile

This is a little journey back in time to before there were iPhones, and when PDAs were big. Ok, not big perhaps, but prevalent to a degree. Back then there were a few applications (we didn’t call them apps back then), that were for music, but, to be honest, they were few and far between. Also there was no standard architecture for things like plug ins on mobile. So it was an interesting time.

One of the most interesting and advanced was Griff. It was a Windows Mobile application, and it had a unique architecture, at least in terms of mobile applications. Griff was essentially a sequencer with a plug in architecture allowing it to be highly extensible.

There was also a reasonable number of these plug ins too. Mainly synths, but also samplers and drum machines. It was very cool in a world before iOS music making.

Whilst it’s not completely abandoned, the web site is still there. It isn’t what it quite was, but you can still find things, and you can still download things I think.

Whilst it’s understandable that Griff is no longer a going concern I still feel a little wistful about it. I remember first discovering it, although I was late to the party. It was a real revelation, and I actually bought a more powerful Windows Mobile PDA to be able to use it.

This is a good project for these times. Especially if you have an old Windows Mobile PDA hanging around. As I do!

So I’m at CDM now

Posted by on in Admin, Mobile Applications, MusicLeave a comment

I’ve been meaning to mention this and just haven’t gotten around to it as yet, at least not here anyway. So, PalmSounds is kind of on hold as I’ve moved writing my mobile content to CDM now. I think it’s a good move. It means that mobile music content will hopefully get a much bigger audience, and as things move and converge I believe CDM will be a better place to see that through.

So NinerPaint is coming to iOS 

Posted by on in Mobile ApplicationsLeave a comment

Art Made with NinerPaint for Palm OS (10)
Art Made with NinerPaint for Palm OS (9)
Art Made with NinerPaint for Palm OS (8)
Art Made with NinerPaint for Palm OS (7)
Art Made with NinerPaint for Palm OS (6)
Art Made with NinerPaint for Palm OS (1)
Art Made with NinerPaint for Palm OS (2)
Art Made with NinerPaint for Palm OS (3)
Art Made with NinerPaint for Palm OS (4)
Art Made with NinerPaint for Palm OS (5)

NinerPaint was a totally amazing app for Palm OS. It was one of the best Palm OS apps around. Now it’s coming to iOS, and, it’s coming back to Palm OS as well. This is brilliant news. As soon as it’s available I’ll let you know.

Actually the old PalmSounds mobile music app directory is quite handy for old Palm OS apps

Posted by on in Mobile ApplicationsLeave a comment

That and the Palmorama library which has a lot of good stuff in it too. Of course a lot of those apps have gone and a lot of links lead to non-existent web sites, but then it was made in 2007, so what can you expect?

App Inventor getting updated

Posted by on in Making things, Mobile Applications, TechLeave a comment

I haven’t used Android App Inventor in age, so when I got an email from MIT telling me about what they’re doing with it, it came as quite a nice surprise, especially as they’ve got new stuff planned for it, such as …

  • Better support for multiple screen sizes and densities (responsive design).
  • The Backpack provides a way to copy and paste blocks between screens.
  • The App Inventor Gallery lets you exhibit and share your apps for collaboration and remixing.
  • App Inventor Services (coming soon) lets you create apps that can run in the background.
  • App Inventor Extensions (coming soon) let advanced users augment App Inventor’s capabilities without limitation by
  • creating and sharing new components.
  • The Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) component lets you build apps that control BLE devices, and experiment with mobile apps and the Internet of Things

All of which will be quite interesting to have a play with. The other cool thing in their email was Thunkable. Which is a version of App Inventor which is run by a commercial outfit. I think I might have a try of that soon.

Now is probably a good time to get back to trying out App Inventor anyway. I did play with it a long time ago, with a view to seeing if it could be used for audio apps, but really it couldn’t. I wonder if any of the new features coming to it will help with that?