Skrivarna Software

Tomorrow, Wednesday April 5th, the international trade fair for musical instruments, sheet music, music production and marketing will open in Frankfurt. Skrivarna Software will be at Musikmesse , meeting musicians and other developers, discussing Fakebook Pro and other apps. See you there!

Though simple, and created mostly for novelty and nostalgia, the VL-Tone app has for a long time been one of the most popular synth apps on Google Play. Some user comments say why: VL-Tone On My Phone! I still have my VL-Tone from when I was a kid and this app is a superbly crafted salute to it. In fact, with the touchscreen its effortless to jam out, compared to working those old clackity keys... well done! Most fun I've had since I found the vst plugin  One-liner history lesson: With Casiotone, they made wonders, Midge Ure, Frank Tovey, Martin L Gore, Billy Currie.  And the balanced review: Very solid Not stupid, not awesome.

Ending a great year with some really nice mails and comments, this time about the small VL-Tone synthesizer : Still the #1! best performing keyboard app!! Very responsive and realistic VL Tone voices. Great work. Heh! My girlfriend hated when I would ask to borrow her VL. I spent more hours with it than I did makin' out with her. Shows where my priorities were. This app takes me back, but now I gotta hit eBay to find my own. Nostalgia Thanks for this. An uncle of mine had one in the early 80's. This retro-app works good! Gonna use it in my home studio, no lagging, plays like the real deal. Sounds true to the original.  Highly recommended! Once again i have to thank you for this app.It is really usable. I listen a lot of internetradio (Fail's audio workshop @ Shoutcast) and when some cute little instrumental comes by I take your app and try to figure out some melody.  Since the VL1 is a one-note pony (no chords) you HAVE TO figure out a melody.. Not an easy t...

To my surprise both the Fakebook and the Andronome+ apps have made it to the best seller lists in Amazon Appstore . At the time of this writing Fakebook is on number 6 and Andronome+ on number 15 in their categories. In  Google Play  the competition is tougher, but Fakebook still makes the top 100 music apps list most of the time. What can I say? Thanks! Speaking of different app stores, a BlackBerry Playbook user noted that I haven't really advertised that Fakebook is available on the BlackBerry App World . Well, it is. Actually, VL-Tone and the Andronome Metronomes are also available, but due to some BlackBerry trademark policy the metronomes have been renamed Enginome and Enginome+ on App World. Again, thanks to all of you that use the apps. And special thanks to those who take the time to comment, star and review them. It is appreciated!

So, in the tradition of full disclosure, let's continue this user mail series with some ... well ... opinions about the VL-Tone app. First a (translated) Google Play review: The totally unnecessary CASIO VL-Tone keyboard was a little funny in 1981. Today it is no longer interesting, just as this app ...Nostalgia, when you hold us ...! And then, from the BlackBerry App World, short and concise: Why did you bother even creating this?

So, the day after Amazon Appstore approved Fakebook , it is time for another app, another market and another platform! Today the BlackBerry Playbook version of VL-Tone was released on the BlackBerry App World . No big deal really, the functionality, look and sound of the synth is the same as before. That is, the same as the original Casio calculator from the early eighties. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see what the more business oriented BlackBerry audience can do with it.

OK, it's not world peace, a cure for cancer, end of famine, or anything  really  important. But on a more personal level this weeks highlights include: One-year anniversary of Skrivarna Software's first app on the Android Market . 50.000 downloads of the VL-Tone Synth app. 100.000 downloads in total. (Well, actually that probably happened some week ago, but I missed it. This week the total number of downloads is more like 110.000!) Release of the Fakebook app, Skrivarna's most ambitious project so far. To celebrate this, Fakebook will be available for an incredible low introductory price, the minimum allowed on the Amazon Appstore . Yes, Fakebook is submitted for approval to Amazon and will premiere there. Keep an eye open there or on this site, and I'll let you know when it is available for download. What it is? Well, for those that will be interested in using the app, I guess the name and the icon says it all.

Come on, just admit it! You are a little nostalgic and fondly remember the good old days when a man was a man, a mouse a mouse and a synth ... well, when a synth was a pocket calculator or the other way around. Casios strange VL-1 instrument sold 1,000,000 units between 1979 and 1984. Trio, the German band, used it to record their huge hit "DaDaDa", and bands like Human League, Devo, The Cars followed suit. And 30 years later it is still backing tracks by Moby and Fergie. But you don't have to search Ebay to enjoy playing the "Fantasy" sound over a nice "Rock-2" blip. Now you can have the "Unterlanders Heimweh" demo tune right there when you need it, feeling a little lowlandish homesick. The VL-Tone app contain the factory presets and rhythm patterns in all their distorted and noisy glory, carefully sampled from an original Casio VL-1. Never have so few bits been sampled by so many for so little, to paraphrase Churchill. So, download a...

Here's some more info for those interested in the history of VL-Tone:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_VL-1 http://www.hollowsun.com/vintage/casio_vl1/ http://weltenschule.de/TableHooters/Casio_VL-1_PT-1.html http://www.polyvalens.com/vl1/download/casio_vl-tone_manual_uk.pdf http://steveffisher.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/casio-vl-tone-vlt-1-mini-keyboard-calculator-sequencer/ And of course ... the song :