Topic: So Excited

I bought a dog this month, and ran out of money paying for all his shots and stuff.  So when I saw this app in the store, I literally scraped the bottom of my penny jar just to buy it.  No seriously, I counted pennies and went and deposited them in the bank just to make sure I was covered to buy this app.

All I can say is WOW.  I left a 5 star review this morning (which I don't think has appeared yet), with a few crits.  But the more I play with it, the more I'm blown away!  This is the app that I've been waiting for to be able to create music on my IPod Touch!  I begged the guy at MooCowMusic to do something even remotely like this (because he has something that you can use to compose music in his Guitar app), but he didn't want to.  However, even then, I never imagined something as powerful as what you've created.

The accelerometer sustain petal is genius, btw.  Why don't other piano apps do that?  So simple, so smart.

I think the sound samples need a lot of improvement.  The only one that I like is Grand 2, and even it needs help.  This is my biggest criticism.

I like how you can adjust volume on the fly by tilting the device.  I think the intention of this feature was to add expression, right?  There's one small problem, though.  When you tilt the device, it adjusts the volume for all sound.  This isn't realistic to piano expression, where some keys can be louder than others depending on how hard you press them.  But this feature is so close to being brilliant.  May I suggest that the volume adjustment only apply to the keys that you press after the tilt, and allow keys that were pressed prior to continue their sound at the prior volume?  I think that would simulate the true effect of expression pretty closely.

Anyway, thank you so much!  I love this app.  I can't put it down!  Which is bad, because I need to work!  The only other app that has effected me like this is Beatmaker, so you're in good company.  I love your Guitar app, but it pales in the shadow of PianoStudio!

Last edited by jlivingston (2009-06-25 14:22:40)

  • fargo
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Re: So Excited

Congrats on your new dog! Just picked up a puppy a couple months ago: what money the vet doesn't get goes into replacing things he chews up.

We saw your AppStore review, thanks! And thank you for the five stars.

To address your points:

We recorded three pianos using high end recording gear:
- Steinway Model O
- Yamaha Clavinova
- Wurlitzer upright

We hope to include other piano selections in the future, and are open to suggestions.

Regarding the volume control: I believe it already works the way that you are requesting. If you have the setting of "tilt" for controlling volume then you should find that note/chord buttons are played at the current "tilt" volume and stay at the volume during sustain, even if you tilt to another volume. In other words with volume to full you could play one note, then tilt to minimum volume and the next note pressed will play softly while the previous note's sustain will remain loud.

Note: since a phrase has volume control for each individual note it doesn't respond to the tilt volume.

Last edited by fargo (2009-06-26 08:05:15)

Re: So Excited

Thanks fargo:

Regarding the piano samples: I actually did a direct comparison with MooCowMusics Pianist last night, which I always though had pretty decent samples.  Turns out your samples sound as good or better.  I don't know what I'm hearing.  I guess the fact that you can ACTUALLY PLAY your app brings out some limitations of the device itself.

Regarding the volume control: Once again, you're right.  I just did some tests, and found that keys that you press before augmenting the volume do in fact stay at their original volume.  I think that when I originally tested the feature, my ears were expecting something closer to the very detailed expression I can get when actually laying my hands on a piano.  Again, I think this is a limitation of the device.  Then again, maybe I just need practice.  It's brilliant that you guys thought of that, by the way.  I love it when developers are way ahead of me.

I'm also aware that you can get even more detailed control of expression when creating phrases, which I think is awesome.

I'll be amending my review.  I gave the app 5 stars because, although I wanted to give some courteous criticism, even with any problems or limitations that it may or may not have, it is still miles beyond any other piano app.  Thanks again.

Last edited by jlivingston (2009-06-26 08:35:20)

  • fargo
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Re: So Excited

We appreciate the feedback. We'll be adding more features over time and are always open to suggestions (and compliments!).

-Jerry