u/Aggravating-Seat-926

This is one of my live looping improvisations, with the iPad mini adding a couple of extra sounds to the setup. The looping itself is done on a Boss RC-300 at my feet.

Hoverophone: camera-controlled theremin-like instrument
https://apps.apple.com/app/id6781463406

UVB-76: shortwave radio simulator, heard near the end
https://apps.apple.com/app/id6786464215

I made both for my own improvisations, but they’re both free.

I saw a Stylophone on YouTube and wanted to try one, but then the programmer reflex kicked in and I decided to build an emulator instead of buying the hardware. It ended up not quite being a Stylophone, more something inspired by it. You can try it here: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6784870429. It’s free, has no ads, and was made purely for fun.

I wanted the cheapest possible way to experiment with microtones in real time, without buying an expensive specialist keyboard, adding extra frets to a guitar, or ordering a custom instrument. So I made an iPhone and iPad app for myself.

It was designed first and foremost as a MIDI controller. I’ve tested it with GarageBand on both iPhone and iPad, so you can use it with the much wider range of sounds and instruments already available in music software. I deliberately didn’t try to turn it into a full synth, but I added three simple built-in sounds so it can also be played on its own.

The other part of the experiment is the keyboard itself. I’m trying different piano-based layouts for fitting 24 notes per octave onto a touchscreen. The challenge is to keep the keys large enough to play comfortably, cover several octaves, and still make the layout understandable to someone seeing a quarter-tone keyboard for the first time.

There are several layouts in the app at the moment, and animated transitions show how each one grows out of a familiar piano keyboard. I’m still not sure which approach works best, so feedback on the current layouts or ideas for other ones would be very useful.

The app was just approved for the App Store and it’s completely free, since this is mainly an experiment: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6789963675

I wanted to keep the familiar 12 TET layout and simply add the notes in between, instead of inventing a completely new keyboard. The regular notes stay where they are, and the quarter tones form the dotted middle row.

I tried quite a few different arrangements before settling on this one. To me, it feels like the most logical and ergonomic way to extend a regular keyboard to 24 TET.

I still have no idea how best to accompany it on a standard guitar, but I find the quarter tone melodies oddly addictive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL1GM3DywqI (this was literally my first time improvising with quarter tones)

I made a free iPhone and iPad app that listens to a song, estimates the tonic and scale, and shows the notes on a guitar fretboard, bass fretboard, or keyboard.

It is meant as a quick guide when you want to play along or improvise without guessing completely blindly. It will not always be perfect, especially with complex harmony (it gets just as confused as I do when it hears something like ANGINE DE POITRINE), but it should point you in the right direction.

Try it: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6787274044

I can usually find my way around simple music by ear, but with more complex tracks I often get lost. Sometimes I can guess the scale, sometimes I miss, and sometimes I just fall back to pentatonic and hope for the best.

So I tried making a different kind of tuner. Instead of showing one note at a time, it listens for a while and tries to figure out what notes seem to fit the music that is playing. Then it shows that scale or mode on keys, guitar, and bass, so you can quickly see where it is probably safe to play.

It’s not trying to generate tabs or transcribe the melody. More like a compass. It points you in a useful direction, and you still have to play and listen.

It is very much a weekend prototype. It sometimes gets the tonic wrong, and it can be confused by voice or messy audio, but with YouTube tracks it often gives me something useful after 5–10 seconds.

No release yet, just a video for now. I’m curious if this kind of thing would actually be useful to anyone else, especially beginners or people who jam by ear.

UPD: TestFlight beta is now available: https://testflight.apple.com/join/1Xy3dEev

Last weekend I made a free experimental app called Hoverophone.

The idea was to turn an old iPad mini into something like a theremin. Well, not exactly a theremin. I have never played a real one and have only seen them on YouTube, so I am not trying to pretend this is the same instrument.

It uses the camera to track your hand: hand position controls pitch, and volume is controlled by the distance between thumb and index finger. Pinch together means silence, open the fingers and it gets louder. I wanted to keep one hand free while still keeping the “playing in the air” feeling.

It also has optional note/octave grids, stereo panning from left-right movement, and a two-hand mode for playing two notes at once.

I am mostly looking for feedback from people who use iOS music apps: does this feel like a usable little performance instrument, or just a weird toy?

iPhone/iPad only for now. Free, no subscription.

https://apps.apple.com/app/id6781463406

I have wanted to try a theremin for years, but I have never played a real one. I have only seen them in videos, so I am curious how wrong or usable this feels to people who actually know the instrument.

Last weekend I made a free experimental iPhone/iPad app called Hoverophone. It tracks your hand with the camera: hand position controls pitch, and volume is controlled by the distance between thumb and index finger. Pinch together means silence, open the fingers and it gets louder. The idea was to keep one hand free, while still keeping the “playing in the air” feeling.

I am not claiming it is a real theremin. I am more interested in whether this feels like a useful theremin-inspired instrument, or whether it misses something essential.

https://apps.apple.com/app/id6781463406