Bellows: Shruti & Harmonium

Bellows is a shruti box, harmonium, Anglo concertina and bandoneon for iPhone and iPad, four reed instruments you play with your fingers and the bellows. On iPhone Duo, the hinge is the bellows: open and close the phone to move air, like a real squeeze-box. HOLD A STEADY DRONE • Tap Hold on the Shruti Box or Harmonium and the reeds keep sounding at a steady level and tone, with no pumping. On iPhone and iPad it is the easiest way to play a drone. • The screen stays on while Bellows is sounding. SING SA • Sing or hum one note and hold it for a moment: Bellows hears its pitch and proposes the nearest note as Sa. Move it a semitone up or down, set it, and the drone retunes. • The microphone is used only while Sing Sa is listening. The sound is analysed on your device and is never recorded, stored or sent. You can always pick Sa from the list instead. FOUR INSTRUMENTS • Shruti Box: Sa, Ma, Pa, Ni and upper Sa reeds, tuned in just intonation to Sa, in any of the 12 keys. • Harmonium: two octaves (C3 to B4) with Western or sargam note names, chords with several fingers, and Sa and Pa drone stops. • Anglo Concertina (20-button C/G): each button plays one note on the push and another on the pull, as on the real instrument. • Bandoneon (simplified): an easy-to-learn layout in which each button plays a whole tone higher on the pull. It is not the traditional Rheinische layout. A FULLER RESERVOIR SOUND • On the Shruti Box and Harmonium, pumping fills an air reservoir and the sounding reeds draw from it, so slow, gentle strokes build up to a full sound that carries on between strokes. The more reeds sound, the faster it empties. Sustain sets how long a full reservoir lasts. PLAY ON ANY IPHONE OR IPAD • Tap Hold, or drag the Touch bellows strip up and down to pump air while you press keys or buttons. • On iPad, each hand gets its own field. • Adjust sensitivity, sustain and note names in Settings. ONLY ON IPHONE DUO • The hinge is the bellows. On the concertina and bandoneon, closing plays the push notes and opening plays the pull notes, and faster movement plays louder. On the Shruti Box and Harmonium, opening and closing strokes both fill the reservoir. Turn off Air on both strokes in Settings to pump on one stroke only, opening or closing (closing works like a hand-pumped bellows). • Close to stop: closing iPhone Duo fades the sound out in about a quarter of a second and turns Hold off. When you open it again, Bellows stays silent until you start pumping. Closing the phone while Bellows is silent can make the Shruti Box or Harmonium sound briefly before it fades; turn on Silent close and that closing stroke adds no air, so it stays quiet. • On the inner display the two hands sit either side of the fold, with nothing to touch on the fold itself. • A counter shows your hinge cycles, this session and in total. NO SUBSCRIPTION, PRIVATE Bellows has no in-app purchases, subscriptions, ads or accounts. It collects no data, and your settings stay on your device. Tip: Bluetooth headphones and AirPlay add a delay that makes the bellows hard to play. The built-in speaker or wired headphones respond best.