Mail of the Month - March

One of the interesting things with writing software that people actually use (as opposed to what many of us programmers do for a living) is the mails. I get ideas, problem reports, feature requests and questions on a daily basis. Keep it coming!
I will collect some useful or otherwise interesting conversations under the Mail of the Month headline. With a little luck and some input from you it may result in an interesting FAQ.
The first mail I'll publish here is a little special. As some of you may have noticed, the GoodVibrations app is extremely simple, but at least I put some effort into the Market description. I tried to be funny, making up some pretty unlikely use cases. Or so I thought, until I got this mail:

I would like it if the vibrations widget would keep vibrating after the screen times out or is locked.
My father paints houses and his new phone is waterproof. I was thinking that if he dropped this phone in a bucket of paint he could rinse it off but it might be hard to get the paint out of the tiny microphone and speakers holes and maybe the crevices. So after quickly rinsing most of the paint off in the sink or with a hose, he could set it to vibrate and put it in a bucket of water for 5 or 10 minutes. It would probably work like an ultrasonic cleaner but slower and dissolve the paint.

Why didn't I think of that...

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Da Da Da for suits

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.

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The Real Fakebook

Well, it definitely took a lot longer than expected to get this app ready, approved and published on Amazon. But now it is time to proudly present:  the Real Fakebook.

• All the tunes you need – in the pocket.
• Preloaded with chord progressions for more than a thousand classic jazz standards (perfectly legal, as it is chords only – no melodies).
• Import songs from other programs.
• Include pictures from the phone's camera.
• More than 1500 Spotify and YouTube links to classical recordings of the preloaded songs.
• Compact, only 600 kB for app and 1200 songs.

I know you love your well-worn Real Book, doggy-eared at all the right places, sharpie-corrected at all the wrong, stained with coffee and beer...
Still, the Fakebook gives you all the tunes you need. In the pocket. And it even looks like The Real Thing.
Fakebook comes preloaded with chord progressions for more than a thousand of the classic jazz standards from The Real Book ed 1,2,3,4,5... Easily add and edit your own songs or import from other formats (e.g. iReal b / iRealBook). Include your precious originals or paper-napkin fakesheets using the phone's camera, import stored photos or scans from the web.

Fakebook is the ultimate tool for practicing. The app includes more than 1500 Spotify and YouTube links for the preloaded jazz standards. Add your favourite links or stored mp3 to any song. Or use the built-in metronome, which synchronizes to the tempo you choose.

Compared with other similar apps:

• Chord syntax, style, font and looks like the original Real Books.
• Extremely compact (the app including 1200 songs is only about 600 kB).
• Local storage, no Internet access needed.
• Low requirements on resources, no strange permissions.
• Runs on almost all phones and pads with Andoid 1.6 or above.

You get all this for the lowest price currently allowed on the Android Market. Why? Because I want as many as possible to try it out and provide feedback. Because I need help with deciding what songs to add (yes, I take requests). And because there is a long list of features that will be added, I may need help with prioritizing:

• Song lists.
• Transposing.
• Integrated editor.
• Zooming/adjustable font size.
• More import formats (abc, xml, ChordPro, others?)
• AirTurn wireless pager support
• ...?

For each upgrade and major new feature added, the price will increase. But, of course, all this will come free for those that download now and help with input to the further development. The introductory price on Amazon will also be used on Android Market and Google Play once published there, but for a few weeks this is an exclusive Amazon app.

Please note: Fakebook is completely legal as the bundled songs are chord progressions only, intended for jazz improvisation. The app does not contain any copyrighted material, such as melody lines. Skrivarna Software strongly support musicians and composers rights to get paid!

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A few things to celebrate

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.

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...and then some

So, at last, my first paid app is published both on the Android Market and on the Amazon Appstore. No big deal really, and no big price tag, but I hope this version of the Andronome Metronome will be useful.

As with the standard Andronome, the plus version delivers:

• Sample-accurate metronome ticks.
• Loud enough sounds, also for real practice environments.
• Clearly visible screen indication and...
• ...really large BPM numbers (visible from a distance, e.g when lying on the stage floor).
• Tempo adjustable between 20 and 240 BPM.
• Start and stop via touch screen, hardware buttons, headset.
• Tap tempo directly on screen.

But also:

• Subdivisions (eights, triplets, sixteenths...)
• Selectable time signatures (with first beat accent) from 1 to 15/4.
• As many user presets as your phone memory allows.
• Optional beat vibration.
• Keypad for quick and exact tempo entering.

This metronome is the professional choice, giving the working musician exactly what is needed. As elegant and simple to use as the standard Andronome metronome, but with the extra plus!

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Andronome updates

A few updates have been published on the Android Market since my last post here. No major changes, but a few nice optional ways to use the app and some important improvements "under the hood". The version is now 0.9.5:

• Menu buttons for enabling/disabling sound and blink.
• Made sure tempo setting is stored between invocations.
• Form-and-fit for larger screens improved.
• Usage screen only shown once (at first start-up) and on request.
• Reduced memory allocations (less footprint and better performance).
• Some internal restructuring to allow for future enhancements (looking forward to version 1.0.0...).

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Andronome – professional metronome for musicians

Andronome. Totally. Professional. Metronome. For free. 'Nuff said.

The musicians metronome - simple, professional, accurate.

Andronome is designed to keep time, and to do it well. Simple in appearence and use, it contains the most precise metronome engine available. But no cluttered user interface and no unnecessary bells or whistles.

With Andronome you'll get:

• Sample-accurate ticks.
• Clearly visible screen indication.
• Tempo adjustable between 20 and 240 BPM.
• Start and stop via touch screen, hardware buttons, headset.
• Tap tempo directly on screen.
• Large BPM numbers (visible from a distance, e.g when lying on the stage floor).
• ...and that's about it!

This metronome is made to be the professional choice, giving the working musician exactly what is needed. No more, no less. And completely for free! (No, there's no catch: no hidden fees, no advertising, no time limits.)

If you for some reason think you need more features, please check out the other metronomes available on the Android Market. There's plenty of choice out there. Andronome will be kept simple. And free.

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How to use the Andronome metronome

There are often several ways to get at the most important functions of the Andronome metronome. Most users will prefer to use the touch screen, like this:

• Tap the screen once to start the metronome.
• Long press (touch and hold) the screen to stop.
• Adjust the tempo by swiping the finger over the screen. Fling or swipe up to increase the BPM, down to decrease it. The tempo change is proportional to the velocity of the swipe.
• Tap the tempo on the screen, Andronome will adjust to the tapped tempo.

You may also use the menu to start, stop and set tempo. Or the hardware buttons. And why not try the remote control on your headset?

You may also use the menu to button and press play/stop. Tempo is adjusted via a slider control and the short usage welcome screen can be shown.

If you have a headset with media control the play/pause button will work as expected. If the headset has a volume control, this will work too.

Phones with real hardware buttons are supported like this:
Up/down will change the tempo while the middle/fire/OK button plays and pauses.

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Andronome Engine – making Android tick

Android is a great platform. For the end user there is a huge variety of phone models (yes, you can actually select between more than black and white...), pads, TVs and other cool stuff. For the app developer the Java language and nice API makes for a fun and easy development environment. The business model lets you publish anything you want, good and bad. For free. For better and for worse. And hardware manufacturers as well as kernel hackers have a lot of open code to play with.

However, for us musicians Apples iOS still have a huge advantage: Android does not support realtime applications, especially audio with low latency requirements. And unfortunately this is only partly due to garbage collecting Java, so writing native code is only part of the solution. But the Android OS developers seem aware of the problem, and the Linux kernel can do better than this, so I'm sure the problem will eventually be solved. But we're not there yet.

In the meantime, let's play with what we got!

Introducing: The Andronome Engine -- a simple way to provide audio cues with sub millisecond accuracy and synchronised visual feedback. As I said, the Android OS still has some way to go and the performance will depend partly on the phone hardware, but rest assured that the Andronome Engine offers the best possible tick-per-buck available today.

Currently the Andronome Engine is used in the Rude drum training app and (of course) in the Andronome metronome. But there is more to come, so stay tuned.

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Ruder than ever

Yet another release, thanks to valuable user comments:

• Phone stays awake while the metronome is running.
• Increased amplitude of the audio samples. (In plain English: the clicks are LOUDER!)
• Improved response of metronome engine.
• Reduced size of app somewhat.

Play, practice, have fun.

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A Rude update

Finally, the update to Rude 0.7.1 is ready. In short this version is about:

• A few rudiments corrected, to be in accordance with the  standard rudiments as published by PAS.
• Completely rewritten metronome engine, with sample accurate sound.
• Rudiment selection also via menu, as requested by users (thanks for the feedback!).

The big thing here is the new metronome engine. While still a work in progress this is something that will evolve and become very useful, I think. 

As always, Rude is downloaded from the Android market. Enjoy!

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Nostalgia at it's finest -- presenting the VL-Tone synth

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 and enjoy! But note that this software is still a beta. It is tested on a few phones, so it should work quite well, but don't hesitate to contact me via software(at)skrivarna.com if something seems strange. I will do my best to fix bugs quickly!

Currently known limitations:
* ADSR. This version of the app is a sample player, not an emulator. This makes it more or less impossible to program your own sounds. Maybe emulation for ADSR programming will be included in a later version. Maybe not.
* The sustain and decay of the samples are currently a bit rough (to say the least). Will be fixed when I get the time.
* The sequencer is not included right now. If enough people encourage me to implement the step sequencer in the next version I will.* The LCD display is not of much use.
* The samples contain all the noise and distorsion from my original instrument. And I suppose this is the way it will be, at least for the sounds. But maybe the demo and the rhythm pauses could be cleaned up a little by adding a noise gate. Also, the s/n ratio could be increased with some gentle compression.
* Would it be interesting to have a choice between the lined samples presented here, and some captured with the internal speaker and a mic? I suppose that would add more character to some of the sounds. Let me know!

Now go out and play!

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Facts, figures and video for VL-Tone

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:

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Rude drum training

In the eternal quest for world domination and software monopoly, following the instant success of GoodVibrations, Skrivarna Software proudly presents the Rude drum rudiments trainer.
Well, to be honest, this app is rude in more than the obvious, the-name-sounds-like-rudiment way. This is beta software, and I need your help with testing it. I will state it again and again, this is a beta version.

However, what it does is this:

• Show notation of all 40 official rudiments, with name and number according to PAS.
• Visually indicate where you are in the pattern, synchronized with the built-in metronome.
• Allow tempo adjustments between 20 and 240 BPM.
• Navigate quickly and intuitively between rudiments and tempos, with support for most input methods (including media buttons and screen swipes).
• Link to textual descriptions and instructional videos showing all the patterns individually, on pad and examples applied to drum set. The videos and examples are published at rude.skrivarna.com.

What it doesn't do:

• It does not attempt to play the rudiments with the built-in midi sounds. No offense, but in this case your phone sucks. Rather than trying to program a midi sequence to faithfully reproduce a buzz roll or flam, the app opens videos of professional performances with a single click.
• Everything might not work correctly on all platforms. It is a beta. Maybe I said that already?

You'll find the app on the Android market.

Note that this is a beta version (I did point that out, didn't I?), released in public to get some feedback and help with testing. I have only a few real phones to test on, so I would really appreciate comments on how this small app behaves, looks and performs on different Android versions and hardware models. If you mail me at software (at) skrivarna.com I can get back with updated versions or questions and answers if needed.

Of course, any suggestions on additional features, improvements and corrections of the actual contents are very welcome. Use the software (at) skrivarna.com mail for this as well. I have tried to proofread the rudiments against the sources available to me, but I have most probably made a a lot of mistakes. Please help me to correct them. This is also true for the examples at rude.skrivarna.com, please send me a mail with any comments.

And yes, I am aware that some of the rudiments, official or not, have different possible interpretations in how they are played and notated. In most cases I have used the most common form (as far as I understand), but there is also a trade-off in making the notation viewable on a small screen and making the underlying code somewhat maintainable. If you have a strong opinion on this and think I have made the wrong choice, don't hesitate to contact me. I will do my best to be as correct as possible.

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Rude users guide

To suit the many different users and androids out there, Rude can be controlled in a few different ways. See which ones you like the best.

The obvious one
Use the menu button and press play (to play/pause), reverse (to change rudiment to the previous) or forward (to change to the next). Tempo is adjusted via a slider control and examples are opened at the touch of a button.
Some settings are also available only using this menu.

The iWay
Use the touch screen and swipe up to increase tempo, down to decrease it. The change is proportional to the velocity of the swipe. Swipe left to go to the next rudiment (like if you are paging through a book). Right will page you back to the previous one.
A quick tap on the screen starts the metronome, tap again to stop it. Long press opens the browser with the examples of this rudiment.

The convenient control
If you have a headset with media control the play, reverse and forward buttons will work as expected. They will play and move you to the previous or next rudiment. If the headset has a volume control, this will work too.

The hard way
Phone with real hardware buttons are supported like this:
Up/down will change the tempo.
Left/right will change the rudiment.
Middle button plays and pauses.

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