Moo Outdoes Himself With Band

Posted by Eric March on April 19, 2008 at 1:39 am

By now, I’m sure you’re all well acquainted with our resident muso Moo, he of MooCowMusic, purveyor of such musical brilliance as Guitarist, Drummer, and Pianist, and the reason that iBand exists and is grabbing the spotlight. Perhaps you’ve used his virtual instruments yourself — in a band of your own, or for personal composition on the go, as there’s nothing quite like being able to whip out your iPhone or Touch and jot down musical ideas while you’re out and about and nowhere near your instruments.

Well, Moo has another treat coming up for you. The ultimate treat, you might say. It’s called “Band,” and its intention is to be just about whatever you want it to be: A piano, a synth, a drum machine, a bass guitar, and a recording studio all wrapped up into one sweet little package. I could gush on and on about it here, but Moo really says it best in the drool-worthy feature list, which you can peep after the break (along with some sweet screenie action):

Feature List

Multiple instruments
- MooCowMusic:Band places no restrictions on instrument type. Drums, bass, guitars, keyboards can all be played and recorded into one song from the same application.
- There is also no limits on the instrument interface graphically, enabling not only standard instruments but also unusual, outlandish, or completely novel instruments to be created.

User-designable instruments
- All instruments in MooCowMusic:Band are defined as properties text files, making it easy to create your own instruments to use within the app.
- Each instrument comprises:-
- A full-screen image to use as a backdrop for the instrument.
- A number of Wav file samples.
- Additional (optional) images to use as overlays to show that a key is being pressed.
- A properties file defining a number of “Triggers” (rectangles of the screen) that will play a sample and display an overlay when pressed.
- Instruments are packaged into a folder, making it simple to share them with others.
- Each instrument can have up to 50 Triggers, making complex interfaces possible.

Recording and Playback
- Any instrument can be recorded, or overdubbed onto a previous recording.
- The only limitation is note polyphony (a maximum of 20 samples playing concurrently).
- Each instrument has an overlayed panel at the top of the screen containing all the common controls for recording and choosing an instrument.
- Via a settings menu, the user can erase any mistakes by:-
- Erasing the whole song.
- Erasing the currently selected instrument from the song.
- Erasing the last 10 notes recorded.
- Erasing the last note recorded.
- After erasing, the user can go back and overdub replacement notes onto the track

Metronome
- To aid in timing, a metronome is available which can be enabled or disabled during recording.
- The metronome tempo is configurable, as is the number of “beats per bar”.

Advanced audio engine
- Up to 20 note polyphony.
- Samples stop when you lift your finger, allowing more expression via sustain.
- Configurable Attack stage of playback allows samples to fade in gradually.
- Configurable Release stage of playback allows samples to fade out when you release the note.
- Samples can be defined to loop for as long as the key is pressed.
- A global volume control for the application allows you to mix the sound with other sources.
- Each instrument has a separate independant volume control that can be modified while the song is playing.
- Each instrument can be independantly muted.
- Each instrument can be “soloed” (mute all other instruments and just allow this one to play).

If you aren’t doing a most excellent impression of Homer Simpson slavering over a donut, wait ’til you check out the screenies:

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Would you like a bib now?

Before you ask where, you need to know when — and that part we don’t know yet. Moo hasn’t given a release date, but count on a few weeks at least. And don’t bother asking to be a beta tester; he doesn’t need any.

You can discuss Band (and anything else related to Moo’s genius) at the MooCowMusic forums or this iPod Touch Fans thread.

(Source: iPod Touch Fans)

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