I know there was an easier one that I heard isn't so accessible called
voiceband, but how would one even think about playing this touch guitar
without site?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Esther" <mori...@mac.com>
To: "9577AAC0-42E6-47A8-BF18-EC3BEC9823B7:ABMailRecent"
<viph...@googlegroups.com>; <macvisionaries@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2012 10:02 AM
Subject: ThumbJam music app on sale for $0.99 through Monday
Hi All,
ThumbJam, an iOS music performance app, is on sale at 86% off its regular
$6.99 price for four days (today, Friday June 15, 2012 through Monday June
18). Anyone who has or has considered Garageband on the iPhone, iPod
Touch, or iPad, and any educators who are exploring iPad apps for music
education purposes should be interested in this app. The developer has done
a fantastic job with the latest version of Thumbjam in implementing the
direct touch feature that allows you to use this app to play and record
music with VoiceOver turned on.
You have an extensive choice of instrument sounds that you can select from
the "Sound" button in the top left corner. The app starts up with a default
instrument preset of "Electric Guitar", but you can browse through an
alphabetical list of all available sounds, or change the tab setting after
double tapping "Change Instrument" to "Category", for example, to browse
through instrument options by heading (e.g. "Acoustic", "Bass", "Brass",
"Guitar", "Keyboard", "Percussion", "Strings", "Synth", or "Woodwind"). You
can also download new sound/instrument samples that you can add to your app,
and select from a huge range of scale types.
Apart from the instrument and scale selection from the "Sound" button in the
top left corner of the screen, you set your main options with buttons along
the left side of the screen, starting with "Key controls" just below the
"Sound" button. You can hide the sidebar buttons after you configure the
app. The "Prefs" button in the bottom right corner has a switch button to
turn the "Show Sidebar" to "off". On the iPad, with its large playing area
that I prefer for using this app, I generally leave the sidebar buttons up,
for easy access to recording button options and toggling on/off a metronome,
as an alternative to using the "Loop" button in the top right corner. To
hide the main corner buttons for "Sound" (top left), "Loop" (top right),
"Edit (bottom left), and "Prefs" (bottom right), you can double tap the
"Edit" button in the bottom left corner and then double tap "Hide Menus".
The three other buttons in the top left, top right, and bottom right corners
will disappear, and the "Edit" button in the bottom left will now be
announced as "Menu". To bring back the corner control buttons, do a double
split tap on the "Menu" button in the bottom left corner. (Touch the "Menu"
button with one finger, and double tap on the screen with another finger.)
This application has a staggering number of features and configurable
options, but can also be used immediately in a very simple way. There's
also extensive help and support information both at the developer's web site
and the associated user forums, and in the help information built into the
app. Access this from the "Prefs" button at the bottom right corner, double
tap the "Help" entry to bring up the "ThumbJam User Guide.
ThumbJam was recommended by a few users on the macvisionaries list two years
ago and was subsequently discussed a few times on the viphone list. At that
time, while the controls were announced, they weren't labeled as buttons,
and you had to turn VoiceOver off to play music. Even then, users found the
variety of sound effects that could be generated (tremolo, vibrato, pitch
blends, etc.) simply by finger action, sliding touch along horizontal or
vertical directions, or tilting the device, was quite impressive. Version 2
brought correct labeling of controls, but left out a few headings and labels
that were previously announced (like the selected instrument and the scale
and key -- these are now correctly announced since version 2.1; either do a
two finger flick down or flick right from the "Loop" button in the top right
corner, and you'll hear the instrument announced. For the scale and key,
either do a two finger flick down or flick right twice from the "Prefs"
button in the bottom right corner, and you'll hear scale and key announced.)
Version 2.1 introduced direct touch. When VoiceOver announces "Play area"
(when you touch the center of the screen, or the right edge of the screen
between the "Loop" and "Prefs" button), you can just start "playing" your
instrument by directly touching the device without any need to disable
VoiceOver.
There's a review of ThumbJam up at the AppleVis site. I believe that Victor
Tsaran has been working with the developer, and may be able to comment on
the detailed use of some of the other features, like recording.
I highly recommend this app, especially at the limited time, discounted
price of $0.99.
HTH. Cheers,
Esther
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