Skrivarna Software

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.

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 simp...

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...).

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 me...

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 hardwa...

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...

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.