XPad vs SightSage

XPad is a professional sound module app and Audio Unit v3 plugin with focus on modern pad sounds for iPad. Goal was to get the warm and vibrant sound of analogue synths onto the convenient platform of an iPad and combining those sounds with the benefits of state of the art digital features while still preserving that analogue tone and feeling. Glissando XPad introduces a new way that we were developing for our apps to achieve realistic large interval Glissando. You can glide a tone continuously e.g. from the lowest octave up to the highest octave and vice versa, in any desirable speed and without causing an artificial impression to the listener. We were also thinking about how to improve the usability aspects for playing Glissando in a much more intuitive & convenient way for a keyboard player, while still preserving the player's full control. Foremost this app allows you to mix Glissando with regular polyphonic notes (e.g. chords) simultaneously or switch between these playing styles quickly at any time without leaving your hands off the keyboard. For instance you might be playing and holding a chord with your right hand while playing a Glissando slide with your left hand and punching through the right hand's chord from an octave lower than the chord, up to some octave higher than the chord. Tone Width Replicating some analogue boutique pad synthesizers is nice, but what about having a huge stack of them? That's where "Tone Width" control comes into play. Especially the important pad sounds of this app allow you to morph the sound with the "Tone Width" knob in real-time steplessly between a very thin and clean sound up to a huge and fat tonal sound as if an army of pad synths was working under your finger tips. Sensible Control Controls for the individual sound aspects is good. But it should be in a sensible way. Nothing is hard wired here. Every sound of this app presents controls that make sense for the individual sound. All controls presented are always fine tuned to the individual elements of that sound. You can alter all controls remotely by MIDI e.g. with sliders at your keyboard. The most important controls for each sound are mapped to things that you are most likely using anyway at your keyboard. For instance all sounds use the Aftertouch information of your keyboard to bring more dynamic behaviour into the sound even while just holding some notes. And just grab your modulation wheel at your keyboard to bring in some more variance. Never Lost XPad offers up to 462 sounds, but don't worry, it never lets you down and always assists you finding just the sound you need in a glimpse. You can quickly search for sounds with any combination of several criteria like sound characteristics, articulations, controls and more. Connectivity Like all our apps, XPad is very easy to use and start with. Just connect your keyboard with your iPad and you are ready to go. And of course if needed, you can simply tweak the setup, e.g. use a Bluetooth MIDI wireless connection to your keyboard instead of a cabled one, restrict MIDI input to certain devices or apps, connect to other apps with Inter-App Audio or use the sounds of this app as Audio Unit v3 plugin directly in the DAW app of your choice. Recorder The app comes with a built-in MIDI recorder that allows you to quickly record your musical ideas. You can share them as audio files with other people or transfer them as MIDI files for further work e.g. on your Mac. Sound Sets XPad is divided into 14 optional sound sets of different sound categories and provide up to 462 sounds in total. Even though the app is focused on pad sounds, this is not all this app has to offer sound-wise. The "Atmo" pack for instance contains atmospheric sounds for generating very emotional sound bases and backgrounds e.g. for film and entertainment. The "Perc" sound set contains drums and percussive sounds. The "Silicon" sound set covers synthesizers also offside the pad field, and much more.

Have you ever wanted to be one of those people who could take a piece, sit down at a piano, and begin playing right away? But when you tried to do that you'd find yourself forgetting - was that a G or an A, is that Ab Minor or Ab Diminished, what is the second inversion of a C chord again? SightSage is for you. SightSage is a music flashcard trainer built for musicians who want to read faster, recognize chords instantly, and know their notes cold. The app is easy and intuitive to use and offers flash cards for the full set of connections between notes, chords and their names, music as it appears on a staff, and the positions on the piano to be played. Users can choose to go between any of these combinations, improving the areas that are important to them. Choose any two formats — staff notation, chord names, note letters, or piano keys — and the app quizzes you from one to the other. Want to name chords from the staff? Identify a chord by the keys it lights up on the piano? Learn chord names based on the notes that make them up? Set it up in a few taps and go. The app is great for both beginners and more advanced pianists, starting as early as simply identifying notes on the piano, all the way to recognizing complicated two-handed jazz chords, with many stops in between. The free version covers music essentials for beginners. SightSage Pro unlocks the full library catalogue — advanced voicings, extended harmonies, and multi-octave reading across both clefs. Pro is a single one-time purchase, and with its wide-ranging library you can use the app from when you start reading Mary Had a Little Lamb, all the way to mastering Chopin, and still find exercises that are challenging and useful. No subscription required, pro is a one-time payment.