Fun little Sequencer for mobile artists
The Pianist app is one of the better musical programs that I have seen for the Iphone and Ipod Touch. It is very basic and allows you to put together simple tunes on the fly. I just wish that it had a feature for actually seeing your notes after playing so that you can better edit them. Instead you are given the option of erasing last note, last five notes, last ten notes. The ability to scroll across the keyboard is nice considering the size of the Iphone/Ipod Touch's screen. It would be nice if there was an option to make the keys a little smaller so that you can get to those notes that are out of range of the screen. Over all this is a good, simple program for recording and playing piano.
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Excellent tool if you accept its limitations
It should come as no surprise to anyone that in trying to shove a grand piano into a roughly 4 inch wide space, something is bound to be sacrificed. That said, I'm initially impressed by this program. For six dollars, amateur and professional alike can block out the next number one hit, including creating a skeleton with chords. This is a giant step up from what I used to have to do, which was carry around a mini tape recorder so that I could hum a few bars when I came up with something I liked. Now, I can tap out a few bars and hear it played back to me with a minimum amount of effort!
All that said, anyone looking to jam on their iPhone may find themselves a little disappointed. You only can fit one octave at a time on the screen, so it can be difficult to play more than a very basic number without having to perform some finger acrobatics. Also, I notice a bit of a lag, so this program is not suitable for creating performance quality music. On the other hand, for $5.99 it's an amazingly fun toy for kids and adults alike, and it opens up a tremendous amount of possibilities for the budding songwriter who finds him or herself with a few minutes of creative time while on the go. I truly recommend this program to anyone interested in playing and composing music. If the publisher can fix the lag issue and add an export feature, I can see this being the next Garageband.
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Great app!
Good value for cost, not only fun but useful for jotting down melodies on the fly! Would just add a way to transfer saved files in a format compatible with composing programs (e.g. MIDI).
Great App
Brilliant little piano. More useful to me than Band, as it has a much higher quality piano sound, and the larger keys are easier to play by far. You can shift by half-octaves, so you get a more useful range, and with overdubbing and get quite complex performances happening.
Nice idea, but very crash prone.
Nice idea, and I would have given it 5 stars, but it does keep crashing on my iPhone, and I've seen several reviews for this program with that same issue. Ironic that none of the free apps I've used crash, while this is the first app I've purchased and it crashes. Hopefully they'll provide an update soon.
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Issues
Good Software
Issues:
1. Annoying delay after playing chords
2. Sliding Keyboard Selector on the top of the screen should have an option to jump full octave only. This would greatly simplify quick octave selection.
Piano on iPod
I don't play any instruments but this was too cool too pass up, a full 88 key piano on your iPod. It sounds fine to me and even the keys seem to have a nice "feel". I had to try this app on the iPod's touch interface and it does feel even better than I expected. I'm a guy I usually wear a size large glove and the key spacing feels ok to me. You can record and edit (hey cheating) performances but I wish there was a built in teaching tool. I guess I could get a book or fire up the laptop but that seems almost comical. God forbid I should take lessons from a human being that's a little too far out there.
So all you talented pianists, does this work for you? Can you actually bang out a reasonable tune across all the octaves? I'd like to know.
So all you talented pianists, does this work for you? Can you actually bang out a reasonable tune across all the octaves? I'd like to know.
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Brilliant, except...
1. When playing with two thumbs and headphones, the jack is in the way. Please allow landscape from either way the phone is turned.
2. Needs MIDI export via email (audio export would be a good start). MIDI editing would also be sweet!
MOO-COW-MUSIC ROCKS!
Both 'Band' and 'Pianist' are beautifully designed and implemented applications that take full advantage of the iPhone's large multi-touch display. They are lot's of fun to play with and encourage musical creativity. Further development could make the iPhone an excellent device for musicians, composers & producers to get creative ideas down while not in the studio. It would be great to see a multi-track audio/MIDI sequencer that can export, email or upload MIDI and audio files for use Logic, SONAR or another DAW application. It seems the iPhone's OS is capable of handling the task, and those at MOO-COW-MUSIC have certainly shown an ability to create beautiful and functional mobile music applications. I can't wait to see the next release . Keep up the great work MOO-COW!
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A great idea
This is a wonderful little app for trying to pick out that one tune you're working on. Hopefully future versions will bring a two-octave interface forward.
