Welcome
A feature you should not overlook: importing of chords through Twitter. If you know the chords, you can play the song. We're trying to make it as easy as possible for guitarists to share chords (just search Twitter for the hash tag #sbdlg).
Here's also a video review from TheSoundTestRoom.
Version 1.2 of Voxkit is out, with support for Audiobus!
An update to MIDI Control is now available! This version supports Audiobus recording! A 4-star "killer app" rating from Apps4iDevices!
Welcome to Secret Base Design. We're an independent software development group with a focus on music applications for iOS. The team includes a part-time Computer Science professor, a part-time Film and Animation professor, a licensed architect, and a few programmers. The architect had an awesome name for her firm, so we stole that.
Most of us are veterans of the video game industry (Activision, Knowledge Adventure, Vivendi Universal), and all of us are musicians. As a team, we're trying to put together apps that are useful and innovative. Here's what you should check out.
- Spectral Eye is a free, universal app that visualizes the Fast Fourier Transform of incoming audio. By arranging the FFT in a spiral, frequencies that are an octave apart are lined up. No ads, no nagging, just a handy tool to understand sound better. Everyone seems to love Spectral Eye, and we think you will too. If you want to have an idea of what Secret Base Design is about, check out that app first.
- Live Guitar, a MIDI guitar controller app, with support for both Audiobus and JACK, and sharing of chords through Twitter. There are a number of apps that have a fretboard where you can tap out notes; Live Guitar has this too, but the main focus is on chords. There's a simple method to fret a chord (the iPhone and iPad are not shaped like a guitar neck, so we're not trying to fake a real fingering); you can pick individual strings, or strum, and have good control over volume. iOS devices are good for synthesizer keyboard parts; Live Guitar adds the warmth of stringed instruments.
- Audio Midi Connect, an app that converts live audio signals (or recordings) into MIDI. Initially intended for transcriptions, it's fast enough to control synthesizers with slower guitar lines. It works with any instrument that can produce a stable pitch, and vocals if you avoid vibrato.
- Midi Control, provides multiple keyboards and full Virtual MIDI support, so that you can play a variety of different synthesizer apps on iOS, all at the same time. They keyboards also rotate, allowing two people to play using just one device. There's Audiobus recording too! The current version is a big update from the prior one; if you haven't seen MIDI Control recently, you should check it out.
- Voxkit, a sound-triggered MIDI drum controller. With sequencers, dropping drum hits into a grid can result in something that sounds mechanical and repetitive; Voxkit was designed to be played "live." Tap on a desk, clap your hands, beatbox -- the app picks up the tone, and converts that to MIDI notes. You might record your drums with an iPhone -- but you might not want it to sound like they were recorded with an iPhone!