Check out the latest and greatest in apps for your iPhone with our monthly app roundup.
Discovr for iPad
Discover new music using interactive music maps.
I love discovering new music. While I have my favourite artists and albums, I reckon the best type of music is fresh music. As such, I’m always looking for easy ways to find new music online.
Discovr is a handy helper. While Aweditorium has received a bit of press lately, I find it fairly limited in the music that it shows you. What if I feel like targeting a particular genre?
Discovr is great at this. You start by typing in an artist that you like (or selecting one that appears in your music library), and the app branches out similar or related artists. Click on one of them, and another web branches out, showing artists related to them. If an artist relates to an artist already on the app, the web joins up, allowing you to see connections to artists that you already know.
It’s been described as a visual version of Pandora Radio.
If you decide that you like an artist, double-tapping on their icon brings up an artist bio, as well as links to blog posts, places to buy the music, and any YouTube videos available.
Music discovery apps are hardly new, but this one offers an intuitive interface and compelling experience.
$3.99 > Jammbox > discovrmusic.com
GIFVid
In a time when old is new (see Wayfarers, LOMO, fluro), it seems fitting that an iOS app is released that allows you to re-create the corner-stone of nineties web design: the animated GIF.
I originally dismissed this app, as I didn’t see the value of creating GIFs away from a PC. Then I took a look at the
GIFVid tumblr site that compiles submitted GIFs, and I remembered just how fun it is to watch looped, jumpy video.
Pure awesome.
$2.49 > Eiji Nishidai > eijiandtom.com
8Bitone+ MICRO COMPOSER
Combining the retro and music themes seen above, I present to you 8Bitone+ MICRO COMPOSER, a surprisingly powerful tool that allows you to create music just like they did back in the NES days.
The app has three modes for composition: “synthesiser” to create the base sounds; “piano-roll” to compose a track; and “sequencer” for assembling the tracks.
For anyone with experience in digital composition, these are all familiar, but for the novice, training videos are available at
bit.ly/idsUPG.
$3.99 > Yudo Inc. > bit.ly/ecYXvB
Soundrop
Rounding off the musical selections in this month’s column is Soundrop, a music creation app that will appeal to anyone with a taste for ambient or minimalist music.
Basically, balls drop from above and you draw lines to bounce them off. Each line, when hit, will make a sound. The length of the line determines the tone, with longer lines making deeper tones.
The Pro version adds in multiple instruments, changeable gravity and ball physics, multiple ball droppers, and the option to save your setup.
Free ($2.49 upgrade) > Develoe > develoe.com/soundrop