Guest Post: Soundprism App Review by Walt Ribeiro

SoundPrism is an app by Audanika that allows you to trigger, create, or play music notes based on a visual matrix.

It consists of 8 ‘master’ buttons (note up, note down, doublestop, triad, home, waveform, sustain, and layout), with bass lines and a ‘note matrix’. While it would of course help to know about music theory, you can still be introduced to new layouts, chords, and more from just toying around with the free version. But I learned that the app is not about the free version, it’s about the pro version. And it’s not about the iPhone version, it’s about the iPad version.

If you go into this app expecting to play piano, recording songs and more then you’re missing the point of this app. I made the mistake thinking it was a piano-playing type of music app with new sounds. But I learned it’s about the MIDI feature, and is to be used as a MIDI trigger, which is only available in the Pro version.

Basically, Soundprism is an envelope of built-in sounds and waveforms that give you a ‘visual trackpad’ that allow you to trigger sounds from your laptop’s sequencer, plugin, or VST. It supports Core MIDI or USB (iPad only). Being that I only had access to the free version, I can’t comment on the ‘effectiveness’ of the MIDI connection, delay, or experience.

As I said, it’s not an instrument, it’s a trigger – similar to a MIDI keyboard. What sets this apart though is the layout, which begins where a traditional keyboard ends. Imagine multiple keyboards stacked on top of each other tuned in 4ths, and the ability to play them one, two, or three notes at a time. But have fun trying to go from an Amajor chord to an Aminor chord, because the matrix isn’t laid out to work like that. For every downside of the note matrix, it’s also what makes SoundPrism unique when you’re in the studio.

The iPhone app feels a bit crammed, whereas the iPad app – based on pictures – seems to be much more intuitive and laid out with it’s landscape view, and also allows for MIDI transfers via USB, unlike the iPhone version.

The free version allows you to record your music as well as toy around with the sounds. To hear a quick sample, check out the quick song I recorded using the app. While recorded pieces are captured in the rare .m4r iTunes format, they sometimes become corrupt when sending via email. It would have been neat to have an option to save your pieces within the app itself (similar to T-Pain’s vocoder) and have a ‘recorded bank’ of your work or presets. Another downside was the ‘How To Play’ menu, which forces you to open up a browser webpage with the information (thereby leaving the app). It should really be a simple tutorial within the app itself, especially considering that the app needs to be wifi / usb / ad hoc with a sound library, because any interruption ruins the experience.

All that said, it’s a free app and therefore isn’t a risk to your wallet, but it doesn’t offer many desires unless you get the Pro version. If you want to play around with a few piano notes, kill some time, and make a few simple recordings, then check out the free version, but don’t expect too much. However, if you’re looking for a visual MIDI trigger, want to replace or add to your current MIDI trigger or keyboard, enjoy the built-in sounds, and don’t mind the limitations of the iOS devices hardware and size, then consider purchasing the Pro version.

Note: The website didn’t offer too much information regarding keymapping and other features, and also be cautious about using their built-in sounds for your published recordings (I’m not too sure what the license is for the pre-packaged sounds it creates, and couldn’t seem to find any info on it on their website. So make sure you use your own library and only use SoundPrism as a trigger.

Walt Ribeiro is the founder and chief arranger of For Orchestra and has previously written two SoundCtrl guest posts.