#tonepad

TonePad

yuriplus_demo

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impromelody

2024.3.24

(Team TurtleDucks)

LIMIT YOUR IMAGINATION TO SET IT FREE - Using "Tonepad"

Often, the most daunting claim that a proponent of a new musical technology can make is that "the only limit is your imagination"!  To have limitless possibilities at one's disposal might seem to be a worthy point from which to start a process of free-form play or experimentation, however,  for the purposes of more structured musical activity, a limitless horizon can be intimidating to say the least.  (The story of the incapacitated centipede trying to remember how to walk comes to mind.)  To focus the creative impulse it is often best to limit the range of options at our disposal.

Even a severely limited musical palette can serve to focus the mind to a creative end by providing a starting point which serves to "refract" possibilities - as light is refracted through a prism.  Today I'd like to introduce you to some of the creative musical possibilities I've found to be inherent in a fun app for the iPhone/iPad called "Tone Pad".  This app has a very limited feature set: only a single sound is available and the interface is  based on the simple organisational principle of a 16x16 grid arranged with pitches represented vertically (a D pentatonic scale) and sequence steps represented horizontally (as left-to-right grids).  Patterns can't  be readily  recalled, so sequencing of the patterns is not easily achieved.  And, tempo is fixed.  So, what is to be achieved with such a simple musical tool which is, in all honesty, little more than a musical toy?

Let's begin by listing our limited musical resources:

- A five note pentatonic scale (d, e, f#, a, b) spanning three octaves

- Polyphony up to 16 notes

- Tempo is 81 bpm

- Patterns can be flipped, rotated, shifted and shuffled

- And, thankfully, patterns can be saved.

Several possibilities reveal themselves within the interface itself, and beyond that there is usefulness in combination with other tools:

- Ostinatos are easily created.  (You could argue that's all the program does.)

- Tonality is consistent and can be expanded upon to imply other key centres and tonal ambiguity.

- The 16 step cycle can be easily subdivided into cells to create compound time signatures.

- By recording the output of the program into an audio editor (I prefer and recommend the open source "Audacity") the resultant waveform can be readily edited and recombined since the individual sequence steps are easily identified.

With 2-pitch subsets, the following chords and scales are implied:

- As and Bs yield D6, B7, Bm7, Bm7-5, Dm6, Esus4, A wholetone

- Bs and Ds yield Bm, G, D6, Em7, G#m7-5, E7, B dim

- As and Ds yield D, Dm, Dm7, Asus4, Bbmaj7, D dorian

- As and Es yield A, Am, Esus4, C6

- F#s and A yield D, F#, Bm7, Gmaj9, F#m7b5

- Bs and Es yield Em, G6, E, Bsus4, Cmaj7

- Bs and F#s yield B, Bm, D6, F#sus4

- Ds and Es yield E7, Em7, G6, Bsus4, D wholetone

- Ds and F#s yield D, Bm, Gmaj7,  F#+, Em9, Cmaj7#11, D wholetone

Rhythmic subdivisions of the sixteen uniform steps into discreet rhythmic cells can suggest a complex metric structure.  Possibilities include:

- 3+2+3+2+3+3

- 2+3+3+3+3+2

- 3+2+2+2+2+2+3

- 3+3+3+3+2+2

- 2+2+2+2+2+3+3

- 2+2+3+3+3+3

Evaluation

TonePad is the easiest and the coolest way to make any kind of music you like. It helps you discover an inner musician in you which would be the gateway to the creativity. You can create songs by just touching the screen and seeing notes light up. You can even share these unique creation created by you with all your friends!

TonePad features a clean minimalist user interface with a full 16x16 matrix. The sound quality remains excellent regardless of how many notes are playing at the same time.

You can save unlimited number of songs on TonePad. The current song is also saved automatically on exit. Sharing your music on TonePad is the easiest of all. You just have to press the Upload button and give your friend the song code.

TonePad makes making music much more addictive as because it lets you make TonePad ringtones and share those with your friends…..so you can get them hooked on musical crack, too.  

TonePad is known as a pad full of tones. You simply press them in a random fashion and it creates a synthesized tune for you. You can change the colours the bubbles appear in addition to saving your chosen composition. Similarly you can download the work of others to see how they’ve faired with the musical tool.

If you want to use either your own creations or those you’ve listened to as ring tones on your iPhone, you’ll need to spend a whopping 59p to upgrade to the Pro version of the app to do so. It’s a great way to while away the time waiting for something to happen.

Opinion

I find TonePad very fascinating as it lets out your crazy inner music skills. It helps you in a lot of things. For example, it can help you when you are stress. By randomly touching the screen, you are not only creating music but letting all the tension out! If you know how to tap on the iPhone screen, you can make beautiful melodies with the TonePad Pro app.

TonePad Pro simplifies music making, by removing every bit of confusion and painful complexity from the process. TonePad Pro is audibly pleasant, yet it is also visually a treat to look at. As your notes get picked up by the loop they illuminated and emit a glow that radiates away from the center in colorful waves.

You can even go into the settings and customize the 3 types of colors for the foreground, background and the pulse color to create some seriously customized songs.

You hardly need any musical knowledge at all with this app. You'll have yourself writing catchy jingles in no time at all. All you have to do is draw on the grid, filling in the dots. It's already set up in a suitable scale for you - that will work.

TonePad is by far the most original app we have seen and it is greatly recommended. You can whip out new ringtones in a blur and go crazy coming up with cool melodies.