Everyone knows that getting a band off the ground is tough work. Even after you’ve rallied your sister as a backing vocalist and phoned up that guy you remember playing bass in a school play when you were eleven, someone or something is inevitably going to let you down. Thank God then for the folks at Revontulet Studio. If you’re a musician, an Android user and you like flying solo, you’re in luck. They’ve just released the fantastic Walk Band, which, as the title implies, is essentially a band you walk around with in your pocket. Featuring a toolkit of virtual instruments, and staggeringly costing you nothing at all, this is a one stop shop for fun, simple music composition.
The amount of features and control you have over your compositions is comprehensive. The app features piano, guitar, a fully equipped drum kit, a drum machine, bass and a multi-track synthesiser, not to mention a huge amount of plug-in options for what essentially equals a full orchestra. Just to take one example, we‘ll look at the guitar. There’s chords mode for the full strum option. There’s solo mode for those sweet, sweet single note soarers. On top of that, there’s three guitar types of sound, nylon, steel-string and clean electric (as guitarists will know, a huge difference in sound texture between those three). You might be worried about a guitar solo sounding too mechanical; fear not, there is also a pitch bending mode especially designed for soloing, which allows you to achieve naturalistic, smooth tones.
And that’s just the guitar. Every instrument has a variety of complex options providing you with maximum sound control. There’s a touch-sensitive mode for the piano, or pitch control for the drum kit. ‘But drums don’t even have a pitch!’ the less musically-inclined might appeal. Revontulet know better. This should be a clear indicator of their commitment to making this app the best possible handheld composer device out there. You’ve got the option to plug in an external keyboard via USB too, and of course you can record your tunes and output them as you please, making it great for band members that want to work on separate pieces before reconstructing them into a formidable whole.
The 70,000,000 plus downloads speak for themselves. This is an app that no musician, aspiring or otherwise, should be without. The instrument sounds are realistic, the interface is slick and intuitive. If you’re sick of attempting to rally a band and frustrated with sitting on your unrealised masterpieces, or if you’re simply a musician who fancies a little practice on the go, you’d do well to check out Walk Band.
Jive your way over to the Android Store and wave a conducting stick at Walk Band for free!
