Upcoming Symphonix Evolution Features for Beginners

One of the aims in designing Symphonix Evolution was for it to be a tool that beginners could use to understand the relationship between music notation, the piano keyboard, and the pitch of the sound.  We're pleased to announce that the next update will focus on ways to make the app even better for those who are learning about music, or for teachers who want to extend the use of the app into their classrooms.

Here's a screenshot of what it looks like when you turn on the new "Beginner" modes:

A number of new features are visible here:

• Highlighting middle "C" in yellow, so it's easy to know which part of the keyboard is visible
• Notes are labelled
• Notes that are playing are shown in red

Each of these functions can be activated separately, so even advanced users may find them useful.

We'll log more posts over the coming weeks as we add new features and work towards version 1.9!

Symphonix Evolution - 3 Day Sale

To celebrate the launch of the New iPad we're setting the price of our flagship Symphonix Evolution app to US $0.99 for 3 days only, from 16th March 2012 to the end of 18th March.  Grab it while it's on sale!

Retina Display Support coming to Symphonix Evolution

We couldn't go past the retina display on the new iPad!  Here's a view of Symphonix Evolution running in the original iPad and iPad 2 and zoomed to double the size so you can directly compare - click on the image to show it at full size:

And here's the same portion of the screen running on the Retina display:

We're still tweaking the graphics and redrawing various gadgets and fonts (if you look closely you'll see some lines aren't yet lining up at the high resolution), and at this stage we'll be releasing an update within a week of the iPad's launch that takes full advantage of the new display.

Symphonix Evolution: We've got Rhythm!

Symphonix Evolution continues to evolve.  We're currently working on an integrated Rhythm Maker (drum sequencer) so that you can create and add your own percussion sequences!

You can save your rhythms and drag them into any song you create, and even use percussion sets for external MIDI devices.  Symphonix Evolution allows the resulting patterns to be repeated throughout the track, or looped for a set number of times.  It is even possible to add "stop", "pause" and "resume" events into your song so that you have fine control over pattern playback.

The next update is not far away and the Rhythm Maker will be available soon!

Symphonix Evolution 1.87 has been submitted to the App Store

The next version of Symphonix Evolution has been submitted to the App Store for review.  As mentioned previously, this version adds support for Dropbox file sharing.  The rest of the update focuses on bug fixes and general improvements to usability and stability.

Here's a "heads up" on the enhancements:

• Files can now be opened or saved from Dropbox
• It is now easier to locate files by filtering between All Files, Symphonix files and MIDI files
• Double tap in the Selection bar to select a measure, triple tap to select the whole song
• Touch the Measure button on the main toolbar to Go To a Measure
• Added Go to Measure button to the Sheet Music View screen

These bugs have been fixed:

• After saving in MIDI format with lyrics, the file was not able to be loaded
• The song file could be corrupted if duplicating or splitting tracks containing beamed or tied notes
• Cut and paste operations could cause incorrect display of beamed notes
• The client could crash when attempting to go to a measure
• The Clear button on the Track Management screen did not operate correctly

The ability to quickly select a Measure or the whole Song makes it much easier to hear playback of a single Measure and addresses one of the functions that have been most requested by our users:  Simply double-tap above the measure and then tap the Play button.

We're now busy updating the Player app to bring it up to the same feature level as the main Symphonix Evolution app - More about this soon!

Dropbox Support is Coming Soon

We're pleased to announce that the next version of Symphonix Evolution will include support for Dropbox!

Dropbox makes it possible to create a shared folder on your Mac or PC, and access it seamlessly from inside Symphonix Evolution.

After the app has been linked to your Dropbox account, the shared folder looks and works just like the iPad's local storage so you can save or load MIDI or Symphonix Evolution files directly to Dropbox.

In version 1.87 you'll see a new button on the File Open and Save screens that allows you to switch easily between "local" and "Dropbox" folders.

With Dropbox you can save a file in Symphonix Evolution and immediately open it on your desktop PC for further editing.

Let us know if you have any ideas for other features you'd like us to add to the app in version 1.87, and we'll see what we can do!  (Version 1.87 is currently scheduled to be released in February 2012).

Symphonix Evolution continues to improve...

Well, we've been busy over the last few weeks!  Firstly, a second small update to version 1.86 is waiting for the App Store review process.  1.86.2 fixes a number of small issues with notation as well as some bugs with time signature changes.  It also adds a few small enhancements:

• The new Track Summary view now has "Play" and "Stop" buttons so it's easier to hear the changes you make.
• We've added a button to the Track Preset selection so it's possible to hear the instrument sound at time of selection (this feature was inadvertently removed in version 1.85 and we've made sure it's back)
• A new "Soft MIDI Thru" mode has been added to the Settings screen.  When this mode is turned on, received MIDI input is automatically sent to the MIDI output on the channel of the currently selected track.  This allows a MIDI controller to act as an input device for a separate MIDI output device.

You should see 1.86.2 some time in the next week or so, depending on how long it takes to be reviewed.