...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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More good vibrations

Almost a thousand downloads and 4.5 stars after one day. Not to bad for a first app, and such a simple one too.
Reading the comments it seems to work well, but a few reported problems indicate that I need to further emphasize that that this small piece of software is a button widget only, there is no regular user interface that opens on installation or on click. There is just a widget added to the home screen menu. Put the widget button somewhere, touch it to start the vibration, touch it again to stop.
So, that being said, such an app obviously makes for quite uninteresting screenshots. But here they are, directly from the app market.

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Good vibrations

The smallest and most efficient vibrator control on the Market. Family friendly and workplace safe, it is guaranteed to give you Good Vibrations.

No application needed, just a widget that enables and controls the vibrator of the phone. Why you would like to do that is none of my business. Use it for whatever you fancy. For example:
* Quickly drain the batteries if you don't like to carry the extra electrons around and want to reduce weight.
* Excite the catalyst when inventing cold fusion or stirr the aqua regia for your alchemy.
* Use the phone as a pneumatic drill to get rid of annoing concrete things in your neighbourhood. Given enough time this app will bring down barriers between east and west, north and south, rich and poor, unite religions and cultures and give world peace. But please read the product disclaimer and don't hold your breath.
* Buy a lot of phones and duct-tape them to your office stool and you've made your own Shiatsu massage chair.

Please download this free version. Don't wait for the paid upgrade, as it might be called Shake, rattle and roll, be optimized for tablet, iPad, iTable, iMat or whatever, while offering enhanced user experience, off the chart performance and the-sky-is-the-limit functionality, inducing sensual arousal and earthquaqes. Or not.

Note: Good Vibrations is a widget only, there are no separate application or configuration menu. After reading some of the comments from users that fail to see the difference, here is a short explanation: After downloading and installing there will not be any new icon amongst the applications on your phone, but if you open the menu to add a widget to your homescreen (exactly how this is done differs between phone models) you will find it there. Just add the widget to your home screen and enjoy. Plain and simple, for your pleasure.

Don't hesitate to contact the developer for support, via mail or the comment field below. So far the widget is shown to work on all tested phones.

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