By Brian Parker

The new Sound Wand app by developers Club 15CC takes the interface of their preexisting Sound Harp app, and opens it up to MIDI functionality with music software and DAWs. While the Sound Harp app comes stocked with a variety of sounds and scales to choose from, the Sound Wand app is a MIDI controller and must trigger sounds or samples within a computer or other device.

The setup for the Sound Wand app is a bit frustrating if you’ve never used a MIDI network, but Mac’s Audio MIDI Utility is a pretty straightforward tool for this process. Once the connection is made, a DAW (Logic Pro in this case) will recognize the iPhone as a MIDI device, and the Sound Harp is magically controlling whatever sounds you fancy.  

The accelerometer in the Sound Wand is essentially controlling parameters normally controlled by modulation wheels, such as tremolo and pitch, but these can be adjusted to suit the range and expression of the instrument.

A synesthetic series of colored bars correspond to note values, and sectioned areas on the iPhone screen trigger harmonies in fourths, fifths, sixths, and octaves when pressed.  The Sound Wand is not particularly accurate in triggering notes precisely, but seems to be intended more for moving up and down scales and applying expression to the notes within.

It is commendable that Sound Harp’s user interface is being brought to the professional level in Sound Wand, but the design may seem rather juvenile for serious musicians looking to invest in iOS control for their production setup.  The technology is sound, but the app straddles the line between a full-blown open-source controller, and a simple device for beginner musicians or music enthusiasts to play around with.

Comments

comments