Rock on! Meet 5 developers whose apps will make you a better musician
If you think you’ve got what it takes to be a violin virtuoso, a guitar hero or a singer superstar, but you’re lacking the tools and inspiration, think again.
These five Windows Phone Developers have created some of the best Windows Phone music apps to help you make the most of your talents. FaSolYa, BeatPhonic, Guitar Tuna, Sleeve Music and MeeDJ are all guaranteed to help and encourage the budding music maker in you. We had a chat with the developers of these beat-iful apps and asked them why we should tune into them right now.
Fasolya by Beelabs
The name FaSolya is based on a double meaning: “bean” in Arabic and the names of the musical notes “Fa” and “Sol”. The developers call it “a musical rhythmic platform game that takes [you] on an epic adventure full of excitement and mystery.” We think it’s great for studying different music styles for inspiration, as its five worlds are based on a variety of musical cultures, from the Middle East (desert world) to Mexico (lava world). Its hero is a happy little bean who collects musical notes by jumping through the worlds, which you can control hands-free by clapping or shouting.
Why and how is it helpful to musicians?
Tamer Qarrain from Beelabs, a musician and fusion music composer himself, says: “The goal of the game is to stay in tune with the music to gather as much points as possible: we have worked on an algorithm to make FaSolya a truly music driven game. Every obstacle, enemy and platform in the level has been synced with the music data, so the player will feel as if the whole game is moving to a certain rhythm. The action is completely synchronized with the music, too, so if you miss a jump or hit an enemy, you’ll be slightly out of tune with the music and lose points.”
BeatPhonic by Soundical
Beatphonic is your magical music-making machine with 24 high quality instruments and loops for different music styles, all of which have been designed by top professional musicians. Its user interface allows you to control the loops and instruments in real-time. You can also record your songs, upload them to SoundCloud, and share them with the world on Facebook.
Why and how is it helpful to musicians?
It makes music-making (and sharing) as easy as 1-2-3. “We wanted to develop a cool music app that sounds good all the time, while still providing a lot of control for adjusting the loops and instruments. We worked closely with professional musicians in designing and fine-tuning it and we are very happy with the end result,” says Jukka Rauhala, CEO of Soundical.
GuitarTuna by Yousician
GuitarTuna, built by guitarists for guitarists, claims to be the #1 most popular guitar tuner app in the world. It works for acoustic, 12-string, electric and base guitars as well as ukuleles, mandolins and banjos, so if you’re a guitar player, you have no excuse not to test it out. It works with a built-in microphone combined with award-winning audio signal processing.
Why and how is it helpful to musicians?
For one, it helps you play in tune, which is pretty much a prerequisite for any music success! What’s more, though, it is amazingly accurate, it has a metronome function and background noise cancellation, plus a game for learning your chords. If you’re ready to move beyond air guitar, this is an indispensable tool.
Sleeve Music by Orange Tribes
Ever missed a gig by your favourite artist just because you were too late to find out about it? That’s exactly what happened to Maarten-Jan Vermeulen from Orange Tribes, the company behind Sleeve Music. “We at Orange Tribes are all music lovers,” he says. “I was enjoying a break on Bali and missed a ticket announcement for an RHCP concert. When I returned it was sold out.”
Sleeve Music app was born “out of a deep passion for music,” to make sure that’d never happen again. It’s a music discovery app that lets you follow the artists you love for latest news and updates, as well as find new interesting artists, tunes and trends without endless surfing around the Web.
Why and how is it helpful to musicians?
Sleeve Music is brilliant for both listening and social sharing, helping any aspiring artist and music lover to keep on top of what’s going on in the music industry.
MEEDJ by joturl s.l.r.
MEEDJ is a DJ mixing console for mobile devices, the interface for which was developed with a professional DJ. It lets you load two audio tracks from your music library or OneDrive and start mixing them. There’s a whole host of features and possibilities, from jogging, pitching and applying audio effects to loops, as well as excellent sharing capabilities.
Why and how is it helpful to musicians?
According to project manager Janosch Lenzi, the app is perfect for “people who enjoy mixing tracks while having fun and fans and, at the same time, definitely need a simplified interface for mixing music.” He also points out the integrated social features and social engagement metrics, great for community building and showcasing your mixing skills to the world. “The users will also have personal profile pages on the Web soon,” Lenzi claims.
***
So there you have it, your five-app guide to making magic with music. Whenever you find time in your busy tour-schedules, please tell us which of these developers’ apps helped catapult you to global fame! Or if you think we’ve omitted an essential app for music makers, please share it with us. We’re all ears for your comments (and your music, too)!