The iPhone is surprisingly becoming a great platform for music-making apps of all sorts. 8Bitone, an audio sequencer for the platform, is proving to be another serious gem.
Developed by Japanese company Yudo, the software impressively mimics an 8-bit synthesizer, allowing you to fashion unique electronic sounds, the way you imagine an actual retro analog unit (e.g. Roland SH-201) will do. For the most part, the tunes you end up with sound like compositions out of an 8-bit computer or a Nintendo title from back in the 80s.
It offers three main modes, a piano roll screen, a sequencer and a full synthesizer (with a complete set of controls for almost every aspect of the sound, including oscillator, envelope and arpeggio). If you're familiar working with synthesizers (even really old ones), you should know how each of these should work - and the app does a flawless job of porting everything (you're limited to four tracks, though) to the software.
In case you're a non-musician looking for something to play with, you'll likely have a difficult time, as 8Bitone is designed to work as an actual synthesizer hardware. Yudo does offer plenty of tutorials, however, so you can get up to speed on the basics, if you wish to learn the trade.
For the most part, 8Bitone is a serious tool for actual musicians. Composing a full song will likely require a couple of hours - more, if you're downright adamant about getting everything right. You can save and load songs onto the iPhone, but it doesn't offer a native export function. Alternatively, you can connect the audio to the PC and record it from there.
Overall, 8Bitone is one of the most impressive music-making apps on the iPhone, packing a full old-school synthesizer into the handset. It's not the cheapest app at $8.99, but it's one cost serious musicians will probably find to be a bargain. Where else can you find a full-fledged four-track, 8-bit synthesizer that you can carry in your pocket?
They are kidding right! A musician wont even like their so called 8bit synthesizer and the app costs is $9. I wonder which musician will buy this one.
I don’t think any serious musicians would be considering this app. Although, they could only tell after trying it out and see how it works.
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