I’ve just pushed a major update to Musical Pro with a new UI and a bunch of requested changes that I’ve been getting emails about.
The new UI (which is currently in the Piano, Keyboard, and Metronome and is heading to all parts of the application) adds a toolbar to the top of the screen that provides access to all the common settings that were previously hidden away in menus. It allows you to see at all times what settings you are using and seamlessly modify them in overlayed popups.
The Piano is now grand. You were previously limited to only 3 preloaded octaves, but instead octaves are loaded on demand as you scroll along the piano (so there may be a slight delay when trying to use an octave for the first time). There are now buttons to make it easier to scroll by a single note or octave at a time (the existing drag/drop on the mini piano is still in place as well). Instrument loading time should be greatly improved (or in some cases eliminated), as the last 16 instruments are cached on the SD card. This means you can seamlessly switch between instruments using the new UI toolbar.
The Keyboard gains the same improvements as the Piano with regard to instruments (faster and easy to switch) as well as a change in how octaves are handled. Previously, the two available octaves had to be sequential, but you can now choose octaves independently for the top and bottom keyboard. Octave selection is available in the toolbar, and as with the instruments, they can be changed seamlessly. In addition, the way the keyboards handle touch has changed, allowing you to play both at once (if your phone supports multitouch).
The Metronome, which was completely overhauled in the previous release earlier this month (making it more reliable and steady), has been updated with the new UI. Settings (BPM, subdivisions, time signature) are available in the toolbar, and the remainder of the screen has been filled with an animated metronome image. There is also a dedicated Start/Stop button now, since there had been some confusion about how to get it to turn off (since it continues automatically in the background if you do not stop it, allowing you to use the metronome along with other instruments or applications).
There are some other insignificant changes that shouldn’t cause any problems. Preferences (like vibration) have been unified into one list (now also accessible from the main menu). The multitouch wizard has been removed (it should now automatically use the best multitouch your device supports). Finally, I’ve added Google’s new Licensing Verification Library to help prevent piracy–this means that the application will verify with the Android Market whether or not you have purchased it. If you’ve bought the application, you shouldn’t notice this at all, but if something goes wrong, please contact me and I’ll do my best to fix it. I’m not a fan of DRM, but my analytics imply that potentially up to 90% of devices (for sure over 1/2) running Musical Pro have not paid for it, so I’m going to give it a try.
Over the next few days, I will be releasing an updated version of Musical Lite that brings it up to par with the changes I’ve made in Musical Pro. My current plans are to leave the basic feature set of Musical Lite the same (no choice of instruments or octaves, no WiFi, etc) with the exception of drums and multitouch will I believe will be added to Musical Lite. In addition, I will likely be placing a Google Adwords ad unit on the main menu screen. I will be making the old version without ads available on my website for free for anyone who would like to remain ad-free, but this will disqualify you to receive any new updates to the application (including the improvements listed in this post).