Anyone that regularly reads IntoMobile will know that I think the Groovemaker range of Apps are awesome – sitting in a perfect niche between recreational music, and professional music production – they are kinda like the guitar hero of mobile music production, but there’s real productivity in here too – it’s no game!
Recently, IK Multimedia, the creators of Groovemaker, released two new versions of the application – ‘Rock Ace’ (here) and Reggaeton (here). In this post, I’m writing down my thoughts on the ‘Rock Ace’ App, having used it quite extensively! More after the jump…
Download, loading, and opening tracks
Groovemaker isn’t the smallest of apps, but then again it’s got an fair amount of file-weight since it includes lots of really high-quality apps. I used iTunes on the Mac and then synced the iPhone as the fastest route to getting Apps installed. The App loads quickly once installed, and then the first time you open any of the included tracks, the App needs to unpack them. This takes a couple of minutes, but only happens once – then you are good to go!
UI and toggle buttons
The Groovemaker app uses it’s own UI – that is, it doesn’t rely on any Apple standard buttons, shunning them instead for a set of very specific and functional buttons on screen. Many of the buttons are toggle buttons, which flip parts of the screen to allow you to see a greater screen estate than what you have. I’d imagine if this was a PC/Mac app, it would fill a screen, but with the iPhone 320×480 screen estate, you have to optimise space! No matter, it all works very well, once you know what is where. Sensibly, the buttons that you need whilst you are ‘in the mix’ are a decent size!
Mode of Operation
Within the UI you can kick off an auto-assembled track just using the ‘Groove’ button, and then start changing elements from there – this is my preferred method of using the app, because you can jump in to using it just with one button – brilliant for the moments when you might have 10 mins spare.
On screen as you begin are also the eight ‘pads’, which are buttons that you can assign sounds to – the aforementioned ‘groove’ button might generate a tune using sample on say six of these pads, and then you can either choose to re-assign the sample that’s playing out, or mute/solo out either single or multiple pads – sounds complex? Nope, not at all, five minutes will see you sussing most of this app out.
Synergy of music
For me this is probably the winning part of the app – there must be 00’s of so sample loops within the application, sub-divided in to categories. Most people understand that for the average piece of music, you need beats, bass, rhythm, FX, and maybe a touch of vocals – and groovemaker makes it incredibly easy to cut these soundbanks in and out.
Moreover, the app is designed so you can pick any sound, without needing to pre-listen, and cut it in – knowing you won’t get clashes – because each sample is checked to sit nicely with others – as I said, synergy. I should make a specific note here about the Rock soundbanks – they really are superbly composed, and definitely sit well at the right bpm, instrument sets, and variety of things you might expect to hear in a Rock track – a great version of the Groovemaker app!
Other stuff
There’s much more to do than just going ‘in the mix’ and changing sample loops though – you can adjust the volume, pan, and speed of the track, jump between a series of auto-grooves (all auto-mixed for you!), and adjust all the usual options you might expect. You can even save your efforts!
Conclusion
Groovemaker Rock Ace continues the ‘awesomeness’ of the Groovemaker series of applications – if you want to do something more productive than spending some time spare time playing a game, and you like music, this is the place to come. Download the app, find a track you like, and then make your own mix – fantastic fun, and highly recommended!
Verdict: This app is the definition of ‘Awesome’ 🙂
Groovemaker Rock Ace / £5.99 [iTunes link]