Having just acquired a smartphone, I’m beginning to get an idea of what I’ve been missing out on all this time, but the good stuff is hidden amongst a large pile of ad-riddled junk. What music-related apps have you found that you wouldn’t want to do without on a new phone? I won’t complain if you also mention a few non-music related apps in a second list, but the music-related ones are where our interests should overlap most closely, so that’s the part that matters. (Feel free to mention music-related apps that can also be used on a PC or Mac and where a bigger screen improves their performance.) To set out the format for this, I’ll put a starter list of a couple of things in both categories that have caught my eye so far. My list is for Android apps.
MUSIC-RELATED:-
SynprezFM - synthesiser with a wide range of voices enabling you to make professional-sounding music from the start. It instantly had me creating music that could be used as background music in science fiction films, and I’m going to use it to help a friend who makes AI films and who struggles to find suitable music to put on them. The keys are very small, so maybe there are bigger devices that the app would be better used on.
ORG 24 - a very capable organ with three notes pressed at once starting up an accompaniment and changing it every time you hit another three notes, so this gets you straight into producing attractive music. Maybe there are better ones, but this one impressed me after I was underwhelmed with piano apps. Again the keys are very small, but I was still able to play decent music on it.
NON-MUSIC-RELATED:-
Stellarium - I already have this on a PC and it’s well known, but I include it here just because it helps establish the format for providing recommendations in this thread.
Monoposto - formula one game. I’ve never been interested in computer games and deleted all the ones that were pre-installed on the phone after giving them a quick go. I wanted to have a go at a driving game though as some of the skill you can gain there transfers to steering real race cars, and it’s been a real insight into learning the different circuits from the driver’s point of view, and particularly handling multi-apex corners - this will enable me to appreciate watching the real races a lot more, though I’ll have to pay to unlock most of the tracks.
I hesitate to say this, but I’ve only got a tuner app. I don’t have perfect pitch, but I do have strong relative pitch, so when I’m on my own I rely on the app to get the starter pitch I want (usually D), and from there I tune by ear (strings), occasionally checking in with the tuner app to see what’s changed on the instrument’s starter pitch during the process. Tuning will do that especially when bringing things in from way out of whack: tighten or loosen one course, and naturally the others will lose or gain at least some tension respectively, so corrections and counter-corrections must be made until everything’s right, and using the app to monitor the starting pitch is a big help in keeping things in line. It’s not that I’m a Luddite; having established the starter pitch, I need to “taste” the rest of the intervals for myself. I might as well use a tuning fork, right?
I suppose it sounds like a tedious thing, but I actually enjoy the by-ear tuning process, even with the problems posed by fretted instruments. The process of getting to the “land of beauty” is supremely satisfying for me. Playing, of course, is another matter.
Tunepal – hold it up, hit record, after a few seconds, it will analyze what it heard and try to figure out what traditional tune it was.
You can see someone using it here about 20 seconds into the video
The Google Play Store tells me that Tunepal is written for Android 7.0 “and up” but doesn’t work on my Android 12 phone. Newer phones are running Android 13 or 14, so David is probably out of luck as far as Tunepal is concerned.
I’m getting a message saying “This app isn’t available for your device because it was made for an older version of Android”, so I can’t try it. And it’s definitely using Android 13.
It’s because Google changed versioning required in the app store, starting Nov 2022. Since I downloaded it before then, I got in before this new requirement.
Starting from 1 Nov 2022, apps that don’t target an API level within two years of the latest Android release (API 29 and below) won’t be available to new users with devices running Android versions newer than your app’s target API level. This means that new users won’t be able to discover or install your app on Google Play
The app works on android 12 & up…but the dev would have to reupload it to the store with a newer API target to get past the issue.
considering it’s been in version 1.0 since forever, I’m not sure this is a priority for the developer. Wasn’t the dev a Chiffer? I seem to recall that from years and years ago but I can’t be certain.
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