Stress Free is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
Train your breathing to synchronize at 6 breathes per minute optimizing maximum stress relief and relaxation. Use this in the car, before bed for 5 to 10 minutes. Promotes relaxation, deep quality sleep and restfulness.
soundTable for iPad Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
iPad Integration Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
A few weeks ago, I wrote a review extolling the virtues of iSequence, a sophisticated new iPad app that allows musicians to construct full-scale songs from their touch screens. That app could be overwhelming to a first time user or a novice musician, but now soundTable fills that void by providing a simplified interface and learning curve for beginners wanting to create interesting electronic sequences.
As its name implies, all controls in soundTable are manipulated from one master screen. You can easily search sound banks to find the beats, synths and other sounds you want, then drag them to the middle of the screen – the “table” – where their volume, speed and direction can be manipulated using circular turntables that surround each individual sound. As you drag sounds to the main table, they “attach” themselves visually to a master control at the bottom of the screen. These attachment lines are actually representations of sound waves and they can be manipulated by attaching additional effects to them. Ultimately, you’ll likely have a half dozen or more mini turntables on screen at once, so it can get a little confusing and often difficult to fully control.
To be fair, though, the interface in soundTable is interesting and unique and easy enough to begin with. It would help if the developers included a comprehensive help file with the app, but you will have to settle for the info button, which merely describes what each set of buttons represents. That’s certainly enough to get you going, but as users continue playing with the app they are probably going to want more and better explanations.
The sounds available in soundTable are pretty standard, but fortunately the developers have included many, many more available for download free. You can sample each sound and decide if you want it, so you don’t have to litter your iPad’s precious drive space with unwanted sounds. Hopefully there will be additional sound packs released as the app reaches maturity. At only $0.99 for the app, I wouldn’t mind paying extra for more sounds.
Graphically, soundTable really impresses. With a variety of virtual turntables and sound waves going at one time, the interface of the app looks something like an art piece. It remains to be seen (and heard) what the most ambitious of users will be able to sonically do within the confines of the iPad’s screen.
At this point, soundTable is more of a toy than apps such as iSequence, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It represents a good first step for those just now venturing into the ambient unknown.
[ soundTable for iPad Review is a post from 148Apps ]
O-Gawa Review is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
iPhone Integration Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Re-use Value Rating: 2.25 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 2.58 out of 5 stars
What is O-Gawa? Well, it’s….ummm….it’s a lot of things…and nothing. Sorry to get all philosophical on you, but this is a distinctly Asian app, and in many ways it confounds traditional descriptions. It’s part art piece, part toy and part musical instrument, and more. As if you couldn’t already tell, it’s also one of the more confounding, experimental “things” I’ve seen on the iPad.
O-Gawa is inherently confusing, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. If confusion holds too many negative connotations for you, think “discovery learning.” On first starting the app, it’s absolutely unclear what to do. There’s a pattern of what looks like dots in the center of a black screen; the only other things immediately apparent are a tiny blue dot and a tiny green dot. Like Alice stepping through the looking glass, your only path forward is to step out into the unknown and randomly touch the screen.
Doing so starts an incessant beat, which can easily be tracked by watching the dots in the center of the screen light up in sequence. Touching these can reset the beat or make it skip certain sequences. Oh, and those green and blue dots? They control volume and a phase shift effect, respectively. You only learn about any of this through direct experience with the app. There is no help file or any text guiding you. See what I mean about needing to be philosophical when approaching this app?
There is more to the app than just this one basic screen, however, such as a settings/beats-per-minute menu and the ability to change drum/beat samples to one of 15 variations. There’s also an editing mode, where you can customize your chosen beat in a variety of ways, and a very difficult to see control bar on the right hand side of the main screen that allows you to hold a particular beat or reverse the sound entirely. Again, there are no instructions on how to do any of this. The only way I was able to get anywhere was simple trial and error. If you are someone who frustrates easily, this might not be the app for you. I’m honestly still not sure what some of the virtual buttons do, but that hasn’t kept me from playing around with them.
I suppose O-Gawa could be used by someone who wanted a visually interesting way to manipulate beats in a club setting, but even though it has already seen several improvements and design iterations, it still seems more like a plaything than a serious tool. That doesn’t mean it isn’t fun, but even at the relatively slight price of $4.99, the fun/frustration (take your pick) just isn’t worth it at this point.
[ O-Gawa Review is a post from 148Apps ]
iPhone App Review: Ambinator is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
Ambinator is an app that plays high quality ambient sounds for the purpose of meditation, relaxation, or background noise for traveling. This app is simple and straight forward with the features that it offers the user.
By using this app I notice how much time must have gone into the idea and implementation of the Ambinator. It has a floating ball in the center of the screen that maneuvers around the screen to cause the sounds to evolve and change over time. You can also manually maneuver the floating ball to mix the sounds up at your continence. The Ambinator has preloaded arrangements that you can listen to or you can customize the sounds by adding from a bank of individual sounds. One big positive thing that I notice about this app is that the sounds are very high quality and it is not just a loop of the same old stuff over and over.
One big con is that this app costs $1.99 and that is about $1.99 over what it should be. There is absolutely no reason that I saw that this app couldn’t be free and simply make money from its sponsors. This reason alone would cause me to not suggest this app for the average user.
This app is well put together and well thought out. I was not impressed however with its seemingly unwarranted price. I would only recommend this app to someone who really enjoys ambient sound generators and is looking to drop and unnecessary $1.99.
- Controls look and function good
- Sounds are customizable
- Ambient sound is high quality
- Cost is overboard
I give this app a 4/10 because no matter how good it sounds it is WAY over priced for an app of its category.
SoundHound is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website
iPhone Integration Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Utility Rating Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 4.06 out of 5 stars
SoundHound is one of those apps that you aren’t going to use everyday, well most people won’t. If you are familiar with Shazam, it’s a similar application — one that lets you use the microphone in your iPhone to recognize music that’s playing. SoundHound takes that concept further though, recognizing not only recorded music, but also humming and singing into the mic. Rather uncanny how well it works really.
Here’s a video overview of SoundHound from the developers:
The use of the app is pretty simple — touch the large “What’s That Sound?” button and play music, sing, or hum into the microphone for a few seconds. Once the recording is done, it takes just a few seconds for the sound to be recognized. From there you are given a list of possible songs. Each of the songs you can get more info about and many you will be able to play clips from.
In this latest iteration, SoundHound easily beats out Shazam. For one, it’s much faster than Shazam in song recognition. Also included in this update are some interesting statistics. You can view what other people are searching for and see what’s popular. SoundHound is highly recommended if you are looking for a music recognition app, though if you already have that other one, I’m not sure that SoundHound offers enough for the casual user to justify buying it.
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