A few nights ago, I got a basic OpenGLES2 application using libpd, playing a synth defined completely in the *.pd file. What this means is something like Mugician where the synth can be totally rewritten (and updated by users after the app has shipped)! I presume that the signal processing is much more efficient than my custom code. Pd is also a sound/synth designing standard.
The only downside is that I used OpenGLES2 again for the user interface, which means that a lot of nice things I would have to say no to, to keep complexity down. It has awesomely low latency, but no readily available solution for fonts, etc. Mugician for instance can only draw lines and triangles, and has nothing in its design to support windows menus, etc.
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Please at least read this, or at least the section that describes controls, or DO NOT download Mugician. Contact me if you like Mugician, bu...
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
expressionpad - an alternate path down reality
I just discovered this app, which is basically what everyone is asking me to turn Mugician into:
http://www.topappcharts.com/375225937/app-details-expressionpad.php
Other than some touch handling subtleties, it's pretty much what I would end up with if I listened carefully to what people ask for and changed Mugician. I am sure that I will find MIDI useful for the more ordinary stuff that I do, in spite of its stability issues in MIDI mode. So, this demonstrates that I am doing the right thing and sticking to my microtonal guns, and not worrying too much about the cries for MIDI; as this is almost the same instrument minus the subtle microtonal story - it has good latency too! Here is a video of me pushing it around, to show low latency, not stuck in any particular scale, etc. The sound engine isn't fantastic, but much of the sound of an instrument actually comes from its ergonomics; unless you don't actually know how to really *play* it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nOcEG8Xtn4
This developer also charged what I am often told that Mug
ician could command for a price. But I haven't heard about this app, and it has existed since JUNE. That's hard to believe, as I have obsessed over Mugician and played almost everything in the store that's worth playing.
I have my doubts that he sold enough for this obscurity to be worth the trouble. I have made a lot of very cool friends, and have some major label artists on my permanent record.
Oh, and the day after I made a video for it, it shot up in the rankings from #1700 something to #60! (it maxed at #13) (You are welcome sir!) :-) Pretty good considering that it's not being maintained right now.
http://www.topappcharts.com/375225937/app-details-expressionpad.php
Other than some touch handling subtleties, it's pretty much what I would end up with if I listened carefully to what people ask for and changed Mugician. I am sure that I will find MIDI useful for the more ordinary stuff that I do, in spite of its stability issues in MIDI mode. So, this demonstrates that I am doing the right thing and sticking to my microtonal guns, and not worrying too much about the cries for MIDI; as this is almost the same instrument minus the subtle microtonal story - it has good latency too! Here is a video of me pushing it around, to show low latency, not stuck in any particular scale, etc. The sound engine isn't fantastic, but much of the sound of an instrument actually comes from its ergonomics; unless you don't actually know how to really *play* it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nOcEG8Xtn4
This developer also charged what I am often told that Mug
ician could command for a price. But I haven't heard about this app, and it has existed since JUNE. That's hard to believe, as I have obsessed over Mugician and played almost everything in the store that's worth playing.I have my doubts that he sold enough for this obscurity to be worth the trouble. I have made a lot of very cool friends, and have some major label artists on my permanent record.
Oh, and the day after I made a video for it, it shot up in the rankings from #1700 something to #60! (it maxed at #13) (You are welcome sir!) :-) Pretty good considering that it's not being maintained right now.
Friday, January 7, 2011
ProjectRnL and Jordan Rudess - Most Awesome iPad vid
Hey, navigate here at your friendly Apple, Sony, or Android phone store and click this link from one of their nice, large screen computers, then walk over to another computer and do it again:
http://www.youtube.com/v/I5oXtFAThuw&loop=1&autoplay=1
Nobody thought you could do that on an iPad!
http://www.youtube.com/v/I5oXtFAThuw&loop=1&autoplay=1
Nobody thought you could do that on an iPad!
Monday, January 3, 2011
SuperCollider OSC
SuperCollider is a framework for making OSC based synthesizers. It is low-level so that you really can write the synth dynamically and send it to the device to be played. I downloaded the SuperCollider distribution for OSX, and clicked on the SuperCollider binary. Here's a bit from the example, where I am typing in a command-line that is a client to the synth:
//boot the synth server that we will send messages to
s.boot;
//Define a simple synthesizer called "sine"
//that just puts out an 800hz wave to the left channel
//... write this definition down for later use
(
SynthDef(
"sine",
{ arg freq=800; var osc; osc = SinOsc.ar(freq,0,0.1); Out.ar(0,osc); }
).writeDefFile;
)
//send it to the synthesizer
//highlight all code typed so far and press shift-return (the real 'enter' key).
s.sendSynthDef("sine");
//tell the synth to play the sound!!! - but set the pitch parm to 440
s.sendMsg("/s_new","sine", x = s.nextNodeID,1,1, "freq",440);
//to shut the synth up, press command and '.' at the same time.
Wow! SuperCollider is 10 years old, and is now an open source project that has been ported to multiple platforms (I believe ARM is one of them). Judging from its age, it seems probable that it performs well; possibly other than not taking advantage of special FFT acceleration; iOS4.2 supports Accelerate.Framework. If you could embed the SuperCollider server into an iPad instrument program, then you can make it a straightforward synthesizer that's easily re-programmable. Given that OSX supports this sort of use case with its multi-tasking, it might even be possible to just get somebody to ship a SuperCollider server and let the iPad instruments just use it as yet another OSC source.
Is this crazy? Is anybody doing it? This would be the way forward if there are no major performance issues. Under these circumstances, app developers would mostly just write OSC apps and tell you to point at something external like Ableton if you have it, or to the embedded SC server if you need to run stand-alone.
Oh, and... I was looking for SuperCollider books online. One is scheduled to come out in March 2011. Books, especially first books, coming out on a computing topic are good signs on what is coming next.
//boot the synth server that we will send messages to
s.boot;
//Define a simple synthesizer called "sine"
//that just puts out an 800hz wave to the left channel
//... write this definition down for later use
(
SynthDef(
"sine",
{ arg freq=800; var osc; osc = SinOsc.ar(freq,0,0.1); Out.ar(0,osc); }
).writeDefFile;
)
//send it to the synthesizer
//highlight all code typed so far and press shift-return (the real 'enter' key).
s.sendSynthDef("sine");
//tell the synth to play the sound!!! - but set the pitch parm to 440
s.sendMsg("/s_new","sine", x = s.nextNodeID,1,1, "freq",440);
//to shut the synth up, press command and '.' at the same time.
Wow! SuperCollider is 10 years old, and is now an open source project that has been ported to multiple platforms (I believe ARM is one of them). Judging from its age, it seems probable that it performs well; possibly other than not taking advantage of special FFT acceleration; iOS4.2 supports Accelerate.Framework. If you could embed the SuperCollider server into an iPad instrument program, then you can make it a straightforward synthesizer that's easily re-programmable. Given that OSX supports this sort of use case with its multi-tasking, it might even be possible to just get somebody to ship a SuperCollider server and let the iPad instruments just use it as yet another OSC source.
Is this crazy? Is anybody doing it? This would be the way forward if there are no major performance issues. Under these circumstances, app developers would mostly just write OSC apps and tell you to point at something external like Ableton if you have it, or to the embedded SC server if you need to run stand-alone.
Oh, and... I was looking for SuperCollider books online. One is scheduled to come out in March 2011. Books, especially first books, coming out on a computing topic are good signs on what is coming next.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Every Commentary for 1.7.5 worldwide
Apple's interface makes it really, really hard to read all comments from all over the world; especially if including comments for any older versions. Non-US comments go unnoticed by me for a very long time. I am missing historical version comments (all the "bad" ones were for 1.6, but in the US most bad comments also mentioned that this was used on stage for 1.5). I care to some degree what others think, but judge based on my own results, the skill level of the people who do like what I am doing, and their results. This is my own playing, 4 overdubs:
Also note that this instrument came out in late April. Many thousands of people have Mugician and commented on it a long time ago in previous versions. These comments below don't even start until September.
The comments don't capture the uncommented ratings, which tell a more mixed story. I know all of the flaws in a deep way, so I have a love/hate relationship with my own instrument. If you look at most apps, they are a pretty good mix of good and bad written ratings. Unless there is something seriously wrong with the app, the unwritten ratings are usually significantly lower; possibly signifying the number of people who just don't understand the app and rated it upon an unceremonious uninstall. Bad written ratings seem to signify not just a dislike, but some actual anger at the developer, which is sometimes an otherwise happy user who feels broken by an upgrade.
Ironically, 1.7.5 is the buggiest release in some ways, but got the best response. I never found or heard about any real bugs from the time 1.7.5 was released for iOS3.2 until upgrade. Obviously 1.7.5 was only tested on iOS3.2 because of when it came out. But iOS4.2 causes bugs that never manifested before, probably related to the underlying environment supporting multi-tasking now. But here are all written 1.7.5 comments good and bad for the whole world, with ratings:
France:
Excellent - ★★★★★
by Frushtuk - Version 1.7.5 - 23 January 2011
Perso j'adore le genre! Merci car en plus il est gratuit.
Excellent - ★★★★★
by Frushtuk - Version 1.7.5 - 23 January 2011
Perso j'adore le genre! Merci car en plus il est gratuit.
Waouh - ★★★★★
by M.arie. - Version 1.7.5 - 31 December 2010
J'aime beaucoup. C'est une super application !
Superbe. - ★★★★★
by Rogntudjuuuuuuu - Version 1.7.5 - 09 October 2010
Superbe.
Germany:
Es ist ein echtes Musikinstrument - ★★★★★
by life's so dutyful - Version 1.7.5 - 01 February 2011
Mugician ist eine der wenigen Apps mit der es wirklich möglich ist Live-Musik zu machen! Die meisten Musik-Instrument-Apps scheitern daran dass sie versuchen wie bekannte Musikinstrumente auszusehen und dabei komplett auf einen praktischen Nutzen verzichten. Es gibt z.B. einige Rythmusmaschienen bei denen es leider nicht möglich ist das Tempo in Echtzeit anzupassen (um zu einer Band oder CD zu spielen). Sämtliche Trommelapps sind nicht einmal als Spielzeug geeignet da die Anschlagsverzögerungen viel zu gross sind. Mugician geht da einen anderen Weg und ist ein echtes Musikinstrument. Es reagiert sehr schnell und nutzt die gesamte Oberfläche zum polyphonen spielen. Chromatisch oder Microtonal (Glissando). Es ist neben Gitarre, Keyboard und Bass mein viertes Hauptinstrument geworden. Ich übe fast täglich darauf zu spielen und ganz nebenbei verbessert sich dadurch auch noch mein Gitarrenspiel. Wegen dieser App alleine hat sich der Kauf des iPad gelohnt! DANKE!!!
Pompeii - ★★★★★
by Gust@v - Version 1.7.5 - 27 January 2011
Pink Floyd let's greatings. Or Jean Michel Jarre at the Docks of London. Painted Music by Fingers. Fantastic.
Es ist ein echtes Musikinstrument - ★★★★★
by life's so dutyful - Version 1.7.5 - 01 February 2011
Mugician ist eine der wenigen Apps mit der es wirklich möglich ist Live-Musik zu machen! Die meisten Musik-Instrument-Apps scheitern daran dass sie versuchen wie bekannte Musikinstrumente auszusehen und dabei komplett auf einen praktischen Nutzen verzichten. Es gibt z.B. einige Rythmusmaschienen bei denen es leider nicht möglich ist das Tempo in Echtzeit anzupassen (um zu einer Band oder CD zu spielen). Sämtliche Trommelapps sind nicht einmal als Spielzeug geeignet da die Anschlagsverzögerungen viel zu gross sind. Mugician geht da einen anderen Weg und ist ein echtes Musikinstrument. Es reagiert sehr schnell und nutzt die gesamte Oberfläche zum polyphonen spielen. Chromatisch oder Microtonal (Glissando). Es ist neben Gitarre, Keyboard und Bass mein viertes Hauptinstrument geworden. Ich übe fast täglich darauf zu spielen und ganz nebenbei verbessert sich dadurch auch noch mein Gitarrenspiel. Wegen dieser App alleine hat sich der Kauf des iPad gelohnt! DANKE!!!
Pompeii - ★★★★★
by Gust@v - Version 1.7.5 - 27 January 2011
Pink Floyd let's greatings. Or Jean Michel Jarre at the Docks of London. Painted Music by Fingers. Fantastic.
Cooler Synthesizer - ★★★★★
by Danny the Fool - Version 1.7.5 - 27 December 2010
Die Bedienung ist zwar gewöhnungsbedürftig... aber das ist bei allen Musikinstrumenten so. ;-) Hier wird einmal nicht versucht, ein ungeeignetes Bedienkonzept auf den Touch Screen zu bringen, sondern es werden die Möglichkeiten des Interfaces mit etwas eigenem ausgenutzt. Tipp für Leute, die zu faul sind, die Doku zu lesen: Rechts unten den Finger über das Vorhängeschloss nach unten ziehen, um die Einstellungsmöglichkeiten freizuschalten. Die sind sinnvollerweise sonst gesperrt, damit man nicht aus Versehen seinen Sound komplett umstellt. Wer da mal ein weig rumgedreht hat, merkt schnell: Ein Spielzeug ist das hier nicht, jedenfalls nicht mehr als eine E-Gitarre eins ist.
super instrument - ★★★★★
by Pitsoft - Version 1.7.5 - 14 November 2010
sehr intuitiv spielbarer Synthesizer, bin noch am Entdecken -hierfür hätte ich auch bezahlt! Danke!
Italy:
Fantastico! - ★★★★★
by ghiekorg - Version 1.7.5 - 25 September 2010
Assolutamente da avere. Iper consigliato a chiunque suoni!
Russia:
the best - ★★★★★
by zvukofor - Version 1.7.5 - 09 October 2010
the best live performing instrument in a class, especially for guitar players
Spain:
A musa! - ★★★★★
by Openmusicspain - Version 1.7.5 - 25 September 2010
This is the kind of app that adapte perfectly to the iPad surface. I play the recorder and use different devices to colour the sound, I will definitely use this great musical instrument in my concerts. Very glad to have stumbled upon it. And wath a pleasure being able to slide smoothly from one sound to another really understanding that music is a question of hearing a not a mechaniccal pressing of keys. Thank you very much for all your efforts.
UK:
Effort = rewards - ★★★★★
by Number 452 - Version 1.7.5 - 12 February 2011
Worth the cost of the iPad alone (ish). This is a great instrument and totally suited to the iPad. I love it. Like any instrument, you have to practice a bit, give it some time but has great potential. Coming to a stage near you soon no doubt.
Totally awesome - ★★★★★
by Zebs22000 - Version 1.7.5 - 12 February 2011
Words fail. Just download it if you have the slightest musical bone in your body. Can I press the 5 stars twice to give it 10 :-)
Top marks - ★★★★★
by - Version 1.7.5 - 21 January 2011
Support page explain the controls, just had a quick five minutes playing with it after that....which turned into an hour. This app and Morphwiz are amazing. Enough of typing this review im having another blast on the app! Dp
One Of The Best - ★★★★★
by Peri Urban - Version 1.7.5 - 04 December 2010
I love this app. Given the multi-touch capabilities of the iPad, there are precious few apps that make full use of them. I love the facility to alter timbre within each cell as you play. And it's astoundingly easy to create great sounding lead lines. This is one of the very few apps that responds to the human touch convincingly, and that makes it a precious gem amongst dull pebbles.
Yup, that's fixed it! - ★★★★★
by Rymix - Version 1.7.5 - 25 September 2010
Mugician has been through several iterations now, some for the better and others...less so. I think this latest update is the best yet. A wide range of sounds is possible, and best of all for me: the latency is down. I tend to play this instrument like a lead synth, so lots of fast, funky solos with a clean voice and not that much polyphony. This update makes my style of playing better and easier than ever. I don't go in for the ambient thing, so I can't really comment on all the sweepy, swoopy sounds this thing can make, but I expect that they're as brilliant as everything else. I think the only thing I'd like from a future update is finer control over volume/articulation/attack. It can be difficult to achieve expressive playing at times. Excellent fun, but beyond that Mugician is an extremely capable, serious music-making app. Try it today!
USA:
Fantastic - ★★★★★
by µαяί ♪ - Version 1.7.5 - 27 December 2010
Really great effects, fun, and a true iPad instrument with lots of potential, unlike the tiny keyboards that can only play a few notes.
Awesome music app - ★★★★★
by Legion303 - Version 1.7.5 - 25 December 2010
This app sounds amazing and is actually very intuitive if you take the time to play around with the various settings.
So Cool! - ★★★★★
by audio-addict - Version 1.7.5 - 14 December 2010
This is such a great app! Lightning fast, stable, and can be used in so many ways. I definitely would like to use this live once I'm more proficient. If you're not familiar with synths and stuff I imagine it'd be a little hard to understand. But with a little experimentation it's quite easy to figure out.
A 'real' iPad instrument. - ★★★★★
by Earl C Grey - Version 1.7.5 - 01 December 2010
I'm reminded of The Chapman Stick. You can try and describe Mugician as a cross between a keyboard and a string instrument, But that's not entirely accurate, and doesn't do it justice. Mugician is it's own musical animal, and as with picking-up anything beyond a Kazoo, it can bring you joy, as well as frustration. But with patience and persistence, you can make Mugician your own. You can solo around on the thing like Keith Emerson, do fretless arpeggios till the cows come home. The possibilities are literally endless. It's my favorite music app. Nothing else touches it. And it's free! But if you expect it to sound good without spending time practicing, it will sit on your iPad gathering dust, taking up room like grandpa's vintage Strat in the closet. Personally, I hope you don't download Mugician. I want it to be 'my' secret weapon in my musical arsenal. ...Why don't you just download one of the pretend iPad instruments instead, like 'Seline', and leave the practicing and headaches to crazy anal-retentive players like myself? (While were at it, I'll give you a few bucks for that vintage Strat, and take it off your hands too!). ;) An amazing instrument, not a toy. Thank You so much. I love it! Earl Grey ;{D>
Incredible - ★★★★★
by Mr. Wannabe - Version 1.7.5 - 27 November 2010
This is one of the coolest apps I've seen yet. Once I installed it, I couldn't quit playing with it. This has opened up a whole new world of electronic music for me and I'm looking forward to seeing more from the developer.
Very Impressed.. - ★★★★★
by fishanderson - Version 1.7.5 - 20 November 2010
I'm very impressed wtih this interface.. It's versatile, and fun to play with..
One word for this app - Superb - ★★★★★
by DnzDM - Version 1.7.5 - 18 November 2010
I play the guitar and this is something that caught my attention immediately. It's amazing in the revs that it produces, the best part, it's on a touch screen. Thanks Rob !
cool - ★★★★
by jonzo - Version 1.7.5 - 10 October 2010
I got the app and spent a long time on it. I tried to play the final countdown. it would be better if it had more instruments to use
Nice Update But Missing The Organ Sound! - ★★★★
by pran1 - Version 1.7.5 - 25 September 2010
Very nice update, but in 1.7 the organ sound u got when both the purple sliders were full and the red slider on zero were absolutely amazingly fantastic! Missing that great tone when both purple sliders r on full and red is zero on 1.75! Apart from that nice update!
Bravo! - ★★★★★
by salo - Version 1.7.5 - 25 September 2010
I've been a happy user of this app since way back on the day it was released (could see immediately it was an insta-buy) but this latest version is the best yet. I guess it's the latency difference, it feels even more responsive and musical to me now. Love it, thanks to Rob Fielding for creating a cool new instrument.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Mugician Used On Gorillaz "The Fall"!
It's definitely in "Revolving Doors" (track 2). I suspect it's in track 3 and 10 as well. Somebody with better ears or inside knowlege could fill me in better. Many of the apps in the list aren't even instruments, and most of the other instruments are classic piano-style synths. So, I feel really good about this development. Validated.
http://thefall.gorillaz.com/
I'm sticking to my story that the layout is the keyboard layout of the future. I'm pretty sure of it. Most musicians are guitarists, but all current electronic instruments are written for pianists. This layout is chromatically and microtonally "isomorphic", which means that it has as much symmetry as you could ask for to simplify the instrument. It also gives a very wide octave range for the very tiny iPad surface without creating other problems as a side effect.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Underoath's Disambiguation Album
Mugician finally appeared on an album on a major label.
To my great surprise, it's one of the top metalcore bands; the very intense "screamo" genre. And one that happens to be Christian at that, the most extreme metal I have ever heard come from a band that makes this claim. So, it's unique in a lot of ways. This band recently lost a drummer that was equated with the future of the band, but the album is *extremely* well received. It had a pure 5 star rating last I checked. The night of its release, they were hosting headbanger's ball on MTV2.
I lucked out and got in contact with Chris Dudley before they came to my state.
I travelled four hours to their show, where he comped me for tickets for my wife and myself. After the show we went out for dinner to mostly talk about the state of iOS based instruments, and exchange ideas.
This is clearly a band that is rising in stature, and basking in the glory of a good release!
So, I kid you not when I say that this is an instrument designed for the real world. This does get used live and in the studios of people that make music for a living. Whatever Mugician's shortcomings, I always get kudos for stubbornly sticking to being expressive under the fingers. People that use this on stage give me kudos for cutting out the visual bull that will only be taxed back in latency. Other instruments will give you a gaggle of sampled sounds and on-board effects. But I suggest you think of it like an electric guitar before you run it through a pile of effects that you have chosen for the tune at hand.
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