[larose]

Hi,
as professional saxophone player I always searched for an app which would help me to improve my skills. I never found one which satisfied me, so I made my own app. I would like to share it with you.
iPracticePro is an app for iPhone and iPad to practice intonation, chords and chord progressions for all instruments, but especially for saxophone players because saxophone players get additional information about fingerings and reed adjustment.
You can play drones with different sounds (440Hz-444Hz) also in random order, same with chords (such as ▵7, 7, -7, ø7, o7, 69, ▵7#11, ▵7#5, ▵7#5(11), ▵7#9, 7sus4, 7susb9, 7#11, 7#5, and many more) and chord progressions (such as II-7 V7 I▵7, II V7alt I▵7, II-7 bII7#11 I▵7, IIø7 V7b9 I-7, V7 I▵7...). Standard fingerings, false fingerings altissimo and quarter tone fingerings are displayed in the app...
By the way, the app is in German AND English.

You can check it out here:
http://www.steffenlaroseweber.de/ipracticepro/english.html

Here´s the link to the AppStore:
https://apps.apple.com/app/id1491146332

 

[Carl H2O]

Looks promising!

 

[larose]

Thank you...check it out.

 

[PoorButSaxy]

Just downloaded the app. One thing that I noticed immediately when skipping through the functions: In the chord progressions mode the length of the chords is determined by metronome (bpm), while in the single chord mode the length of the chord (if random order is activated) is determined by a time setting (seconds). In my opinion, it would make more sense to use bpm here as well. If I want to use the random function for ear training, it would be much more useful to be able to have a chord for X bars at Y bpm.
Otherwise it looks promising. Il try practicing with it tomorrow.

 

[Atratr]

I installed it too but i need more time to learn it. First thing i didn't like was the empty space between chords. Anyway is the kind of app i would use to practice lot of things. I will let you know my suggestions to "fix" or "add" to the app.
Also would appreciate if you explain about the process of creating the app. I sometimes would like to have some sort of software for specific training, would love to know if is something i could do for myself.
I have some programming knowledge.

Great work, thank you.

 

[larose]

Just downloaded the app. One thing that I noticed immediately when skipping through the functions: In the chord progressions mode the length of the chords is determined by metronome (bpm), while in the single chord mode the length of the chord (if random order is activated) is determined by a time setting (seconds). In my opinion, it would make more sense to use bpm here as well. If I want to use the random function for ear training, it would be much more useful to be able to have a chord for X bars at Y bpm.
Otherwise it looks promising. Il try practicing with it tomorrow.

Thank you for your ideas. Originally the drones and the chords are made without a specific time or specific form, just like a sound which is changing sometimes. But I think about it. I would be interested if you miss that feature after you practiced with it a couple of times.

 

[larose]

I installed it too but i need more time to learn it. First thing i didn't like was the empty space between chords. Anyway is the kind of app i would use to practice lot of things. I will let you know my suggestions to "fix" or "add" to the app.
Also would appreciate if you explain about the process of creating the app. I sometimes would like to have some sort of software for specific training, would love to know if is something i could do for myself.
I have some programming knowledge.

Great work, thank you.

Thank you. The space between chords: you mean silence between the chords? In progressions? Technically a little "silence" between chords is necessary because you need to fade the volume of the chords to 0, otherwise you will hear a pop sound.
I´m saxophone player in the hr big band.
https://www.hr-bigband.de/index.html
... and I started six month ago with programming there app. I had no knowledge of programming before. So, if you want program something specific for you, go for it.

 

[Atratr]

Thanks for letting me know!! I think i would take a look at that, interesting! What platform, software did you use?
A while ago i discover that Apple had some programming software for apps, but i didn't invest time later in it.
About the space, yes, i meant to say the silence between chords. Sorry for my limited english.

 

[Carl H2O]

Bought it and like it so far. I haven’t used it more than a couple of hours but it surely makes things I want to practise much easier. As an example, I do not have to switch between apps for tuning and chord or chord progressions. The organ is great but some of the other sounds are lacking a bit, I think. Nevertheless, well worth the small cost IMHO.

 

[Atratr]

Is there a way a software like that could use audio files from the iTunes library or just mp3s loaded into the program? Supposing that you had the chords recorded on a decent piano, with different voicings, etc..
The app is great by the way, i think i am going to use it a lot.

 

[larose]

The language is Swift and the software is called Xcode. The silence will be shorter in the next version

 

[larose]

Thanks for letting me know!! I think i would take a look at that, interesting! What platform, software did you use?
A while ago i discover that Apple had some programming software for apps, but i didn't invest time later in it.
About the space, yes, i meant to say the silence between chords. Sorry for my limited english.

The language is Swift and the software is called Xcode. The silence will be shorter in the next version

 

[larose]

Bought it and like it so far. I haven't used it more than a couple of hours but it surely makes things I want to practise much easier. As an example, I do not have to switch between apps for tuning and chord or chord progressions. The organ is great but some of the other sounds are lacking a bit, I think. Nevertheless, well worth the small cost IMHO.

Thank you Carl, it's hard to find good sounds which are allowed to use...

 

[larose]

Is there a way a software like that could use audio files from the iTunes library or just mp3s loaded into the program? Supposing that you had the chords recorded on a decent piano, with different voicings, etc..
The app is great by the way, i think i am going to use it a lot.

Of course, you could use files from the library within an iPhone App.
It's nice that you like my app

 

[Atratr]

Thanks Larose!
I asked about the possibility of using audio from the library for quality sounds. But sure these files could be saved inside the software and ordered and then be called for different exercises.
In my library i have a playlist of chords, which are played for a minute with different voicings, sustained. Then in another playlist i have piano notes alone, different ranges, each one is hit and then naturally shut up, each note with the decay is about 10 seconds. I could think of all kind of different exercises, specially for ear training, that could be programmed this way.
Not much spare time, but i would take a look at Xcode and Swift. A while ago i began a Swift tutorial on my iPad, using an app for beginners. What sources did you use to learn? youtube?
Thank you.

 

[larose]

Thanks Larose!
I asked about the possibility of using audio from the library for quality sounds. But sure these files could be saved inside the software and ordered and then be called for different exercises.
In my library i have a playlist of chords, which are played for a minute with different voicings, sustained. Then in another playlist i have piano notes alone, different ranges, each one is hit and then naturally shut up, each note with the decay is about 10 seconds. I could think of all kind of different exercises, specially for ear training, that could be programmed this way.
Not much spare time, but i would take a look at Xcode and Swift. A while ago i began a Swift tutorial on my iPad, using an app for beginners. What sources did you use to learn? youtube?
Thank you.

I bought a book to learn Swift But you should make sure that you are allowed to use these sounds...of course only if you want to release the app in the AppStore later.

 

[Carl H2O]

Thank you Carl, it's hard to find good sounds which are allowed to use...

Yes, I understand that - and the sounds provided gets the job done, no doubt about that.

 

[larose]

Since I have time to code now I brought a very big update to the App Store featuring a metronome with odd meters and a lot more...enjoy.

 

[larose]

I installed it too but i need more time to learn it. First thing i didn't like was the empty space between chords. Anyway is the kind of app i would use to practice lot of things. I will let you know my suggestions to "fix" or "add" to the app.
Also would appreciate if you explain about the process of creating the app. I sometimes would like to have some sort of software for specific training, would love to know if is something i could do for myself.
I have some programming knowledge.

Space between chords is gone. Right?

 

[Atratr]

Space between chords is gone. Right?

Way better. Although i haven´t used the app lately today i did not find nothing annoying. Also the odd meter metronome update is great.
Maybe you could add some kind of rhythm patterns on the comping chords, just as we can enter beat patterns on the metronome? Just to contribute a suggestion.
Great app!