Rude Practice Pad

The Rude Practice Pad is the perfect drum training tool. From student to pro – there is always something you can work on in this selection of drum rudiments and hybrid rhythms. From phone to pad or tablet – this app adapts and provides large, crisp notation together with easy search and navigation. From silent night to full band practice – select visual indication, metronome or play along with a selection of real snare drum sounds. From school to self-studies – the many ways to list and sort, together with up to date suggestions and video lessons makes this the best tool for any drummer. And it's social too.

The Rude Practice Pad app will:

• Show and play all 40 official drum rudiments, with name and order according to PAS (Percussive Arts Society).
• Show and play 100 of the most common hybrid rudiments.
• Let you select different snare drum sounds for the playback. 
• Realistically reproduce even flams, diddles and press rolls, thanks to the new sound engine and sample player. 
• Visually indicate where you are in the pattern, synchronized with the built-in metronome.
• Navigate quickly and intuitively between rudiments and tempos. 
• Suggest rhythms to practice, including a “Rudiment of the day” feature.
• Sort and list rudiments according to the essential, original, standard, the quadrants etc.
• Share rhythms via mail or Bluetooth. Post on Facebook. Tweet on Twitter.  
• Keep the tempo using the most accurate metronome engine available on Android.
• Allow tempo adjustments between 20 and 240 BPM.
• Link to textual descriptions and instructional videos showing all the 40 official rudiments, on pad and examples applied to drum set. (The videos and examples are published at rude.skrivarna.com.)

Still it is small (less than 0.7 MB including all images and sounds!), requires no strange permissions or Internet access, is easy to use and – not to forget – affordable.

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Mail of the Month - November

Two nice, but still balanced, Fakebook comments from Google Play:

This is getting to be very good!

For the price this is amazingly good. I'm very happy. The default "Real Book" font is very hard to read on my Galaxy Nexus but the ability to change to a more readable font AND adjust the size makes it perfect for reading - especially in landscape mode. 

Only complaints: "Paging" through the book - either by swiping or using the "next" button is inconsistent. You don't get the next alphabetical tune - it seems to skip through some but next time you page from the same place you get different ones. Fortunately there is an index list and a search mode. 

I haven't tried importing tunes or the editor yet but hopefully a future upgrade will also include the ability to edit the tunes installed with the software. I don't like that I have to install Spotify on my phone to listen to the tunes. Not sure what a viable alternative would be, though. 

Other than that I highly recommend this app.

And:

Good for price.

This thing looks great and it has a lot of tunes. It's so much easier to have and carry around for practicing than a real book. 

I'd like to see music options other than spotify because it's kinda inconsistent on working. And a good feature with the irealb was that is had playback so you could hear how things went together with playing a solo over the changes so that would be nice to have but overall for being so much less money especially this is great!

 

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The only way is up!

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!

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Mail of the Month - October

Just for my bragging pleasure, two nice comments on the Rude Drum Trainer app:

Excellent app
This app is the perfect rudiment training tool. Even has an adjustable metronome and video links for examples of each rudiment.

Nice
As a drummer that never got around to learning all the rudiments, I find this the only music app that I have found so far that I would actually use.

And, to compensate, a very useful remark from a guy named Daniel who really should have remained anonymous:

My mum could queef over it

I must admit I had too look it up, but though still blushing I really have no idea what Daniel or Daniels honoured mother mean by this. Could the one star rating be a clue?

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Mail of the Month - September

Kind of cute comment on the Andronome Metronome on Google Play:

A simple yet most friendly creature

With a stroke hither or thither, this kind little beasty speeds with excitement or slows to a calmer pace. With a gentle, held touch, (you may croon "hush" or "be silent" while doing so), little beastie quietens, ready to be aroused by the next touch.

Who says you cannot have a personal relation to a piece of software?

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Fakefont specimen

The greatest improvement in version 0.9.5, and certainly the most requested by the Fakebook users, is the ability to change font. The chords page can now be presented in one of four typefaces, optimized for different environments and users.

Select a font that suit you, in the Settings menu:

The original Fakebook font, similar to the handwritten style of the early Real Book editions. As a musician, you feel instantly at home with this font -- but it must be admitted that it is not always easy to read.

The Jazz Ink font preserves the familiar handwriting theme, but in a slightly more compact and easier to read style.

The Sans Serif font requires the most screen real estate and not all phones can afford this. So, while probably easiest to read individual chords, the complete fake sheet may suffer if not four bars fit in a row.

Sans Narrow aims to fix some of the problems with the Sans Serif font, while still retaining the legibility.

Also, note that both the Sans presentation styles abandon the traditional Real Book notation of "-" for minor chord and uses "m" instead.

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Mail of the Month - August

Guess which of the apps that inspired this review:

Just adorable...hours of fun!
- Love to drain my battery by hiding under cushion in mother-in-law's favorite chair......"what is that thing i feel....are WE having an earthquake?" (no, "we" aren't, but YOU are!.)...."i feel funny in my pants..." (yes, and you LOOK FUNNY in your pants.)...and "something is wrong with my butt!" (that's possible, but i do know something is definitely wrong with your HEAD!). so on and so forth....
...thanks, dev!

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Mail of the Month - May

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?

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Mail of the Month - April

This months Mail of the Month will consist of snippets from some user mail conversations - a short Fakebook FAQ:


> I purchased the fake book for android today. When I open it I cannot
> scroll through the tunes. What am I doing wrong?
There are several ways to change tunes:
* Swipe left/right to "turn page". The faster you swipe, the more songs will be skipped.
* Use the menu button and then press previous/next.
* If your phone has hardware buttons, pressing left/right on these.
* If you have a headset with buttons, these shall work as well.
* The simplest way, if you know what you are looking for, is to press the menu button and then the "browse" button. In this dialog you can search any way you want.
* The same dialog is available when pressing "search", if your phone has a dedicated button for that.


> Can you switch between C instruments and Bb? 
Transpose is planned for the next release -- both global (for all tunes, e.g. for wind or brass) and local (adapting a single tune, e.g. to suit the singer). Actually I have a long list of features waiting to be added, but I wanted to get the app out there for you all to try and to provide some feedback. So your response is most welcome and I hope to release the next version in a few weeks.


> The first thing I found uncomfortable is the lack of zooming and
> changing the font size.
I know. Actually, the possibility to change the font size and to transpose (individual songs as well as the entire book for e.g. an Eb sax) are the first additions I'm working on. They will both be included i the next release, planned for the next week or so.


> Spotify isn't supported in my country yet. Which literally disables all the
> possibilities of listening to sample tracks added on the app.
Sorry to hear that -- Spotify is great! But honestly, my ambition was to add also YouTube links for a lot of the tracks, which simply wasn't possible with 1200 songs in the first release. I will definitely look into adding alternatives to Spotify (like YouTube), but it is so time consuming that I cannot promise it will be prioritized in the first updates. 
However, I'm thinking of adding a "Search YouTube" option for the Play function, that would automatically search for the tunes name. It would simplify somewhat for the musician, not needing to switch app and manually type the name, and still be possible for me to implement (not needing to listen and find the best version 
of 1200 songs...). Hope that is OK for a start?


> I did read the forum of irealbook but only to find out that I will have to
> spend another 10 dollars to get irealbook in order to import irealb
> song lists. Not only the matter of money but also my phone being
> quite old, not enough memory to install that app.
Note that Fakebook is in no way related to iRealBook. (Actually I wrote the app because i thought iRealBook was too expensive and it wouldn't run on one of my old phones.) So no other purchase is necessary. But Fakebook does import iRealBook tunes! Just click on one of the song links, e.g. on the iRealBook forum, and the chords will be imported and the song added to the Fakebook database. It will also import complete iRealBook song lists, adding all songs as well as storing the list info in the database. 
However, the Fakebook app can only show the songs at the moment, the playlist features are not yet implemented. When they are (they are on the prio list), Fakebok will also be able to use the previously imported song lists, e.g. from iRealBook.  

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Get the Real Fakebook now

Since a few days the Fakebook app is available for download on Google Play and the Android Market. It's the same app and the same description as previously published on Amazon. It's also the same, ridiculously low price during an introductory period.

Get it now, get it cheap and get me some feedback!

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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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