Working on Fiddlewax over the past 2 years has been an incredible experience. I’ve built dozens of experimental instruments to explore new ways of making music and packaged up the best ones as fine-tuned iOS apps.
But what really brought me here was a desire to help more people make music and not be intimidated by many of the trappings of traditional music education and instrumentation. Learning key signatures, practicing scales, and reading sheet music are all great skills, but they too often get in the way of talented would-be musicians' first steps.
Each medium for making things comes with its own set of constraints and opportunities. The digital realm is particularly unique, as it offers the ability to ship a product to hundreds of thousands of people around the world at nearly zero cost.
Of course, the greatest constraint of digital things is that they are trapped inside hardware, and in the case of mobile apps, that hardware is very generic, flat, and small. So it seemed wise to embrace the fundamental nature of screen-based interaction, rather than make instruments that attempt to look or work like their tangible, affordance-rich cousins.
But what apps lack in physical feedback they gain in their ability to dynamically change. Any note can be modified to fit within particular keys, scales, and timing grids in realtime. Instrument timbres and dynamics can be swapped or replaced with anything you can imagine. Riffs can be infinitely looped, merged, and layered as you play.
The culmination of my efforts was put into Firo (shorthand for Fiddlewax Pro). Firo is a digital “band in your hand” instrument where everything is accessible from a single screen so you can focus on creating music from any perspective. Start with drums, push-button chords, or structured notes, then add loops, improvise a solo in a pentatonic blues scale, add basic effects, or experiment with various tempos, sounds, and layouts. Save songs, hookup Firo to other apps via MIDI or Audiobus, and export files for use in other powerful music tools. It’s intentionally designed from end to end.
I’m super proud of Firo and all it can do; it’s not a cheap toy or a flashy trick. Firo is a digitally native musical instrument that enables anyone to create their own music, from scratch.
Fiddlewax hasn’t been just a side project for me; it’s been my full-time job for the past two years. And integral to running a successful business is keeping it afloat financially. While Firo has been a profitable app (with its glory days in the top iOS app rankings and tons of great reviews), the overall revenue isn’t quite enough to justify dedicated development.
That said, my desire to help more people make music is stronger than ever. So instead of flipping the business switch to off, I’m deciding to set the price to free on all Fiddlewax apps. If the $20 price tag got in the way of you trying out Firo before, I hope you’ll finally see for yourself what it’s all about.
I wish all the music makers out there my very best. Keep playing and sharing your songs with the world!
Getting started with songwriting can be difficult and intimidating; it’s like trying to be a poet, a singer, a drummer, and a composer all at the same time.
For new musicians, or those just looking for a fun challenge, I suggest starting out by writing jingles -- a short slogan, verse, or tune designed to be easily remembered, especially as used in advertising -- instead of full songs.
Jingles are a great way to try your hand at putting together different musical elements without getting pulled into the deep end. With just 15-30 seconds of audio to work with, jingles encourage you to try out a funky drum rhythm, a wandering melody, or a strange set of lyrics without getting frustrated or feeling bummed out if it doesn’t sound good.
Creating jingles can be a fun exercise for musicians to take their first steps into songwriting without feeling judged. And since they can be created in just a few minutes, I encourage you to try making jingles in classrooms with students, as a daily exercise at home, or with friends just for kicks.
Here’s how to get started.
HOW TO WRITE A PRODUCT JINGLE
#1. Select a random product to use for your jingle. I suggest using something like RandomAmazonProduct. Using a random product opens you up to think about things you wouldn’t otherwise consider writing a song about.
#2. Take a minute to generate a few thoughts, words, and stories related to the product that might be helpful in creating a short song about it. Write them down.
#3. Choose a musical starting point. You can always change things as you go, but it’s helpful to get started in the right direction. Consider the key (happy, sad, mysterious, etc.), scale (often important for the melody), tempo (how fast the rhythm moves), and main instrument.
#4. Create your song. I find it handy to keep a notepad around to jot down lyrics, and then create a loop with some chords, bass line, and/or drums to create a musical foundation in Firo.
#5. Optional: Record your song, bring it over to the desktop (such as GarageBand on Mac), dial it in, and share it!
JINGLE EXAMPLE 1: DOG COLLAR
1. I went to RandomAmazonProduct, and found the East Side Collection Polyester Academy Argyle Dog Collar, 18 to 26-Inch, Chocolate.
2. Next, I wrote down some related words and thoughts.
Argyle, pup, dog, chocolate, ownership, pet, woof, bark, poop pickup, happiness, best friend, paws, leash, tail, wag, shih-tzu, adjustable, polyester. It's funny to see people picking up poop. Maybe this collar is about making you forget how bad that is. For the scene, I'm thinking this is a dog-in-the-park kind of jingle.
3. Based on the product and thoughts, I chose a musical starting point.
- D Major (D is for dog, Major is simple and happy)
- 110 bpm (a slow, happy jog with the dog)
- Pentatonic (all the notes go well together, easy to create a nice melody for singing)
4. I opened up Firo and created a few quick loops with chords and drums.
I like using the guitar sound on the low end of the keyboard to act as a vocal melody that I can add lyrics to once it sounds good. Hand claps are cheesy, but they felt right for a happy dog-in-the-park commercial. Lyrics should start by setting the scene and end on the punchline about "poop pickup". I'm thinking that the first time through is singing, the second time is just a commercial voice over sales pitch.
Lyrics:
Walking in the park with my little dog, shih-tzu,
His tummy starts to rumble and I know just what he's gonna do.
Wags his tail, barks three times, but everything changes,
Poop pickup, I don't care,
his collar makes life happier.
Voiceover:
Get the East Side Academy, Argyle Dog Collar now. It's adjustable from 18 to 26 inches to fit any dog. Available in Chocolate at your local pet store. Warning: do not let your dog eat chocolate.
Here’s the raw recording after about 5 minutes of playing around:
SoundCloud: Firo Quick Jingle - Argyle Dog Collar.
5. With most of the musical elements in place (~80%), I decided to take it a step further. I dragged the MIDI file into Garageband and adjusted some of the instruments. Then I recorded the vocals. That's it!
Here’s the final jingle after adding the vocals and adjusting the tracks in GarageBand:
SoundCloud: Firo Quick Jingle - Argyle Dog Collar w/ Lyrics.
JINGLE EXAMPLE 2: ORGANIC TEA
1. Again, I went to RandomAmazonProduct; this time I found the The Territory of Tea Organic GABA Oolong (4 oz).
2. Next, I wrote down some related words and thoughts.
Tea, leaves, strong, organic, raw, nature, strong, brew, cup, oolong, territory, sip, lumps of sugar, milk, stir, spoon. Tea is such a laid back experience, but "territory of tea" sounds confrontational and intense. For the scene, I'm thinking: walking through a hidden land, it's almost dangerous how good this tea is. be careful!
3. Based on the product and thoughts, I chose a musical starting point.
- A minor (mysterious, common rock key)
- 140 bpm (driving tempo)
- Pentatonic (all the notes go well together, easy to create a nice melody for singing)
4. I opened up Firo and created a few quick loops with chords and drums.
Lyrics:
Territory of Tea, the finest brew in all the land.
Territory of Tea, organic leaves, rolled by hand.
Territory of Tea, it's been t'oolong since you kissed my lips,
Territory of Tea, ya keep me going as my filter drips.
Here’s the raw recording after about 5 minutes of playing around:
SoundCloud: Firo Quick Jingle - Territory of Tea.
5. Similar to the other jingle, to create the final track I dragged the MIDI file into Garageband and adjusted some of the instruments. Then I recorded the vocals.
Here’s the final jingle after adding the vocals and adjusting the tracks in GarageBand:
SoundCloud: Firo Quick Jingle - Territory of Tea w/ Lyrics.
A FINAL NOTE ABOUT JINGLES
Don’t be misled by the silliness of writing jingles. By trying your hand at songwriting and experimenting with different chords, styles, and perspectives you’re growing your skills as a musician.
Jingles are also a great equalizer since anyone can do it. While a professional musician certainly has a lot more in their creative toolbox, you may be surprised how often unexpected and interesting melodies or chord progressions come from people who are just starting out.
Over the past few years there’s been a strong undercurrent pulling software engineers and interaction designers toward mobile app development.
With so many mobile devices and simple pricing models built into each app marketplace, developers can simply create a good app, upload it, tell their friends, and sit back with a warm cup of tea while users come running over to try it out.
But the reality of app development is a different story. Besides a few outliers, most developers aren’t making much (less than 0.01% are considered financially successful). Even getting users to download a new free app is more difficult than you might think (hint: there are so many new apps everyday and users are overwhelmed).
SO MANY APPS
As much as we’re led to believe that app development provides a level playing field (where the best ideas win), the corporate heavyweights still predominantly hold the reigns with large marketing budgets, developer resources, and brand recognition.
Sure, there are a few success stories of independent developers making it big, but for the most part these celebrated successes are just lucky people who stumbled upon the right thing at the right time. That’s because all current app marketplaces encourage popularity ranking (for example, “Top Charts”); once you’re near the top of the list it’s easy to stay, but getting there is nearly impossible.
The other path to success is to get your app featured in the marketplace by the app store’s curators. This is a complicated dance of proving that your app is worthwhile, talking to the right people, and strategizing how the app is priced to make it beneficial to the marketplace and encourage more downloads (since they get a cut of the sale).
With just a few dozen prominently featured apps (and over 1 Million apps in both the Apple App Store and the Google Play stores), getting on top is almost impossible without playing games and getting a lucky break. That's right; the big indie app revolution is just as selective and far fetched as being a professional musician or novelist.
STRATEGIES
One aspect that wasn’t clear to me before I started developing apps was just how many games are played under the radar. I’ve received countless emails from people offering tricks and tips to create fake news articles, guarantee downloads, and engage in similarly rotten tactics to make it to the top of charts and get noticed. All of which I’ve turned down, of course.
But all those emails were there for a reason -- most app developers are stuck in a similar situation. They’ve built something they believe in, and for whatever reason it’s not making it into users’ hands.
That left me, as I’m sure it does for many developers, with more traditional forms of marketing and advertisement (gasp!) to spread the word.
I’ve always been weary of ads in general -- I think if something is important and helpful for people to know about, it should be news (not paid advertisement). But a few months ago, after noticing that things had slowed down a bit, I decided to venture into basic advertising. I talked with a few different groups, but overall it was a bust and it left me feeling like a pawn. It was an interesting experiment to dip my toe in the water, but definitely not my cup of tea.
Each time I’ve tried something and hit a wall over the past two years of app development, I’ve made a point of stepping back, learning from the mistake, and experimenting with something new. By sharing them with you, my hope is that it will make the app marketplace more accessible to all developers (especially the little guys and gals).
So what to try next?
EXPERIMENT
The latest Fiddlewax experiment was to set the price of Firo (normally $19.99) to free for 45 days.
Money is an important part of any business to keep it going. But as I’m sure any craftsperson can attest, money isn’t the only consideration. We create things with a purpose, and it can be demoralizing to feel like the long hours and hard work gets lost in the noise of everything else.
With Firo (then called Fiddlewax Pro) sales tapering off to a slow trickle, I knew I needed to shake things up. I was feeling the craftsperson blues from the overall lack of users, so I asked the friendly folks in the Audiobus forum for any suggestions they might have.
After some design updates, bug fixes, and a name change, it was time for the big experiment. What would happen if I set the price to free for 45 days?
RESULTS (ongoing)
Making the app free was a big risk, but I really wanted to branch out and get Firo into the hands of more young people. After nearly 9 months in the App Store, the total number of users was around 600 (I’ll let you do the math for just how “lucrative” developing apps has been for me as my full time job). That’s an okay number (for a paid app), but it’s peanuts compared to the larger audience that I’d hoped would experience it.
I’m happy to share with you today that in the first two weeks of being free, Firo has received more that 142,000 downloads! That’s over a 200x increase in exposure to users who wouldn’t have otherwise been able to try out Firo and share their feedback.
The real magic so far has been the days when the app breaks into the Top App charts, where it then receives even more exposure by users who are only looking at popular apps. It’s a strange cycle of exposure leading to more exposure (and one that I hope app store designers carefully consider as the markets continue to grow). It’s like a bonus level in a game that’s hard to get to, but once you make it, you’re pretty much guaranteed to score some points.
I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome so far. More people are making more music with Firo than every before; all without awkward ads or questionable app store gimmicks. And of course, there’s still 30 days left!
Naturally, the next big experiment will be to see what happens after all the dust settles in the beginning of August.
BEING BETTER THAN GOOD
Firo has been in active development for 1 year with multiple rounds of user feedback and updates to dial it in. I strongly believe that all of those tedious changes have slowly pushed it from being a good app to a great app, and that has played an important role in its continued success (it’s currently the only 5-star app in the top 25 music apps).
Said differently: You might guess that an app that’s 80% as good as a great app would make about 80% as much money. But in a market with perfect competition (the user can easily get one app instead of another), why would anyone ever not choose the great app?
Sure, there are niche market reasons (such as a very specific feature) or pricing strategies that might sway some users, but that will only get you so far. After an app’s newness wears off, it’s either strong enough to stick around or it will slowly fade away.
There’s always room for more improvement, so if you have thoughts or suggestions, be sure to leave a comment below or get in touch directly. Thanks for all the feedback so far -- it’s the users that have helped to make Firo great from the very beginning!
Firo (or Fiddlewax Pro in case you missed the name change) has come a long way over the past 9 months.
And after multiple rounds of feedback from musicians and a long series of app updates to dial things in, Firo has finally reached a level where it can fully deliver on its promise of being a go-to app for creating new music.
But as powerful as Firo is, the $20 price tag that has come with being a “pro” app has certainly limited the overall audience of potential iPad musicians. And that’s a serious bummer.
We also think Firo could be a great tool for education; it’s simple enough for anyone to play around, and it includes deeply integrated music theory that opens new doors as students learn. Of course the price tag also gets in the way there, too, since it can be difficult for teachers to use paid apps in their classroom (often requiring funding justification and logistical overhead).
So to celebrate Firo’s new level and open it up more broadly to new musicians, we’ve decided to make Firo completely free through the end of July. This isn’t a light version or something watered down with ads; it’s the complete Firo experience for you to explore and create new songs.
Happy music making!
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P.S. We’re always looking for ways to make Firo better, so with a new influx of users we’re hopeful that we’ll also gain lots of new insight. If you have specific thoughts or suggestions, drop us a line anytime.
After a recent round of feedback from iOS music makers looking into how to improve Fiddlewax Pro, one issue kept coming back up -- the word “fiddle” in the name was confusing (many thinking that it was some kind of stringed instrument). Fiddlewax Pro is also a mouthful to say and not so easy to remember.
So we came up with something short, sweet, and to the point. Say hello to Firo!
Firo is just a shortened name for Fiddlewax Pro (the first and last two letters), but it’s also an opportunity to continue evolving the app without the explicit baggage of being a “pro” app.
The latest Firo update in the iOS App Store also includes some big changes to how the app feels (brighter colors, cleaner interactions, and less clutter), while retaining all its previous speed and capabilities.
For those who already have Fiddlewax Pro, the name should change to Firo the next time you update the app.
Getting the music out of your head and into an instrument can be a tough challenge. Even if you can hear or sing the notes, the process of figuring out what fingerings or positions those notes correspond to can take time and interrupt your creative process.
Fortunately, Fiddlewax Pro just got an update that should make those troubles a thing of the past by adding "visual pitch detection" -- a simple way to highlight the corresponding notes on the keyboard as you sing along.
The update also includes MIDI Input (a highly requested feature from existing Fiddlewax users), as well as a new advanced quantization mode that lets you snap notes into different grid sizes as you progressively record each loop.
What's New in 2.2:
Realtime visual pitch detection lights up corresponding notes as you sing. Hold down the "keyboard mode/zoom" button to toggle it on and off (watch the video above to see visual pitch detection in action).
Move samples between loops by dragging its record button left/right to another loop. If you want to retain the original loop (i.e. copy instead of move), just hold down the original loops record button after you've move it ("undo" it).
Advanced quantization mode -- select between global quantization (default), and last recorded which lets you set the quantization for each loop recording as you go.
Virtual & Core MIDI Input! This one has been a long time in the making, and there are likely still a few kinks to work through (especially with hardware input), but give it a try and let me know if you run into anything so we can make it rock-solid for the next update.
Bug fix: iOS7 state saving was crashing (a strange error related to showing the text keyboard when naming a file).
Fiddlewax Pro is available for iPad in the App Store. Read more detailed information in the Fiddlewax Pro Guide Book and listen to audio samples on SoundCloud.
Fiddlewax Pro is designed and developed by Adam Kumpf at Fiddlewax LLC. For press inquiries, contact us.
Since posting the iPad Clothespin Piano a few months ago, I’ve received a lot of interesting questions about what other interfaces could be built using a similar approach.
So I took a day and stepped away from code to think about what basic materials and tools are needed to let you dig in and start creating 3D capacitive touchscreen interfaces.
You can see the full write-up and directions about how to create your own iPad Inventor’s Kit on Instructables.
We all love playing with touchscreens, but some us (especially kids) can get sucked into the graphics and finger swipes for hours on end, thus totally forgetting about the richer physical ways of interacting with the real world.
Have no fear! The iPad Inventor’s Kit will come to the rescue and give you everything you (or your kids) need to start making new gadgets that go beyond your touchscreen to do awesome and exciting things!
And here are a few quick examples that each took less than a minute to build. Hopefully they’ll get your mind thinking about some crazy new interfaces to make with everyday materials already lying around your house.
For all those creative types out there that made a resolution to create more music in the new year, we'd like to help.
We've heard from a lot of users that they often start out be trying Fiddlewax Blue (since it's free), then progress to Fiddlewax Yellow ($2.99), and finally go all in and use Fiddlewax Pro ($19.99).
So today we're introducing the Fiddlewax Pro Suite iOS bundle which combines both Fiddlewax Yellow and Fiddlewax Pro for the price of Pro alone.
And the great thing about bundles is the overall price takes into account what apps you've already purchased. That means that if you've already downloaded Yellow, you can get Pro at a discount. And if you jumped all the way to Pro without getting Yellow, you'll now get Yellow for free!
You can jump directly to the Fiddlewax Pro Suite in the App Store here.
As a developer, feedback is important. Knowing what users want, what they struggle with, and what they love all play a big part in what gets developed (or debugged) next.
But tag clouds and star ratings aren't enough -- the real insight comes from the text reviews and comments. So I created OpenSentiment, a simple text visualization that combines data from multiple sources and presents them together in a single display.
Numerical data from reviews and downloads provide helpful insight, but the real treasure trove lies in the softer, squishier, and more subjective comments and written reviews. Making sense of free text can be both tedious and difficult -- how do you compare words and phrases to draw higher-level conclusions about what's most important?
Furthermore, the data often comes from different places. For apps, there are App Store reviews, Twitter comments, forum posts, Facebook discussions, etc. All of which live in their own little isolated bubble.
OpenSentiment lets you combine lots of different streams of data into a single spreadsheet, then save it as a CSV (comma separated value) file and drag it into the browser to see how it all compares.
Central to OpenSentiment is a modified version of sentiment.js, which parses English free form text and calculates a number that roughly corresponds to how positive or negative the text is. Essentially, sentiment.js has a big table of words and maps a score to each one (positive numbers for complimentary words, and negative numbers for criticism). Additionally, it also checks for negation when a word such as "not" is found before the key word (for example, "not nice" is the opposite of "nice").
All interactive visualizations are built using the amazing d3.js library, which uses interactive svg graphics to dynamically present data. The main visualization is a double-ended word tree, which shows a common word in the center and common phrases that come before and after that word on either side. Clicking on any branch searches all text and finds matches that include those phrases, and then highlights and presents them below.
To combine multiple data sources, all entires in the CSV file follow a generic format that spans across forms, users, questions/keys, and responses/values. Each row is then automatically type checked and determined to be text, numeric, or an enumeration (a selection from a list of possibilities).
You can also see the sentiment alongside the left of each comment, color coded from green to red. This enables you to quickly find comments that stand out as particularly negative/positive.
OpenSentiment is a work in progress and aims to be an insightful way to explore user feedback. I've used it here with Fiddlewax app review data, but you can easily try it out with your own social data. Just drag in a CSV file in the appropriate format, and it'll automatically build an interactive visualization for you to explore.
Visualize Your Own iOS Apps
And if you are curious to check out reviews for other iOS apps, OpenSentiment can now fetch current reviews automatically on load. Simply add "#ios,APP_ID_1,APP_ID_2,..." to the URL.
Here's an example of OpenSentiment with iOS review data dynamically fetched for all Fiddlewax apps.
OpenSentiment is released as open source on GitHub via the Creative Common 0 license (public domain) except where otherwise noted, so use it as you wish.
The response to making Fiddlewax Blue free has been incredible, with 40 thousand downloads in the last week alone!
So here's a quick update to address some of the feedback from users so far.
What's New in 1.4
Learning hints indicate notes in the active chord as you play.
Smoother analog chord and note transitions for more expressive sounds.
Improved audio routing (addresses issue when phone ringer is silenced).
Minor bug fixes.
If you're someone who loves to listen to music but never really played an instrument, why not give Fiddlewax Blue a try? It's completely free and who knows, you might be a lot more musical than you thought.
Fiddlewax Yellow is a realtime vocal harmony generator, effects processor, and audio looper all rolled into one.
And with the latest update, you can now connect Fiddlewax Yellow to other apps via Audiobus and Inter-App Audio. Layer on additional effects and record Fiddlewax Yellow's output directly into other apps to integrate with your creative workflow.
The user interface has also been tweaked to make it more enjoyable with faster feedback and a softer color palette. And it runs great on the latest iPhone/iPad devices so you can take Fiddlewax Yellow wherever you go.
What's New in 1.1:
Audiobus and Inter-App audio integration.
Design updates for improved usability.
Better sharing integration via iOS apps.
Audiobus remote play/pause.
Performance improvements for latest iPhone / iPad.
Fiddlewax Blue Is Free for Education (and everyone else)
Fiddlewax Blue is an instrument that lets you quickly create music and explore songwriting from any skill level.
While recently the majority of effort has gone into Fiddlewax Pro, it seemed important to go back and bring our first app up to speed with some bug fixes, interface improvements, and compatibility with the latest iOS and iPhone/iPad devices.
Fiddlewax Blue helps musicians visualize the relationships between notes and chords. This makes it great as a learning tool for both people just getting started and more experienced users who want to dig in deeper to music theory. And since you can record your own sounds to create new instruments, it's also a fun way to explore instrumentation and tone color (especially for kids).
Fiddlewax was started to create musical instruments that help people better express themselves through sound. Central to that mission is a desire to get more people excited and learning about how to make their own music, and Fiddlewax Blue is an instrument that aims to do just that.
With the growing influx of iPads and iPhones in schools, it's time we opened up Fiddlewax Blue to the larger audience of musicians and students who are often limited to using only inexpensive apps due to budget constraints.
In fact, a lot of schools need special financial permission (or even grants) to purchase educational apps, and that kind of overhead keeps many apps out of the classroom. So to get around all that red tape, we've decided to make Fiddlewax Blue completely free!
Even if you've never played an instrument before, we hope you'll give Fiddlewax Blue a try and make some music yourself. It's super easy to get started and you may be surprised how quickly your own chords and melodies come together.
And if you like it, please share your excitement with local schools and organizations that you think might enjoy it, too. Together we can encourage more people to create music and amplify their inner voice.
Happy playing!
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If you're new to Fiddlewax Blue, here's the full description.
Learn about chord progressions, scales, instrumentation, harmony, music theory, and composition, both in the classroom and on your own. MIDI output lets you connect to other apps and desktop software as you play.
Progress through eight levels: from a simple palette of common chords, to more advanced chord inversions, seventh chords, out-of-key accidentals, chromatic riffs, and even microtonal sliding chords and analog note-bends. There’s also a campfire mode with common major, minor, and seventh chords so you can quickly play along with any song that has chord notation.
Fiddlewax Blue also lets you choose from eight built-in instruments (including true piano, guitar, and xylophone samples), as well as four user instruments you can record (just whistle, hum, or tap on something around you) for an endless supply of sounds to experiment with. And when you’re ready, play and record your song to save for later, import into other programs, or share with your friends.
Feature overview:
8 play modes from simple to advanced (6 - 48 chords).
Realtime MIDI output via WiFi and MIDI file saving.
Virtual MIDI support (send MIDI out to other iOS apps).
Realtime audio scope (time, frequency, and octave modes).
Great for all experience levels, from beginners to experts.
Precision interface optimized for 10-finger multitouch.
Uses device language (English, Spanish, French, or German).
Fiddlewax instruments are designed from the ground up to enable anyone who enjoys music to experiment, play, and create their own songs without formal teaching or instruction.
Beginners can have fun by fiddling around with how notes, chords, and samples sound together. Over time, the hints on each key (note name, chord degree, chord type, etc.) become a powerful way to learn about music and compose phrases or songs.
Every aspect of Fiddlewax puts music first. The simple interface helps musicians focus on what they’re creating; there are no ads, faux-wood textures, or frivolous interaction to distract from the creative process.
Fiddlewax takes the best of both physical and virtual instruments to create something totally new. Full 10-finger multitouch support and maximum playing area provide for seamless digital interaction, while under the hood, samples are processed and routed as analog signals with variable frequency and timing.
When I introduced Fiddlewax Pro two months ago, I knew there was something big inside waiting to be explored. The edges were still rough, but the overall approach to music making and interaction were unlike any other instrument on the market.
Instead of polishing out all of Fiddlewax Pro's rough edges based on what I thought it should be, I decided to release it to the broader community of musicians who were eager to be early adopters so that I could directly respond their reactions as the instrument took shape. It was important to me to make something that wasn't just skin deep, but that truly fit the needs of musicians from top to bottom.
Over the past two months Fiddlewax Pro has received significant user feedback, and subsequently updates, to address what musicians want most. Musicians from around the world have grown in their support for Fiddlewax Pro and many have already made it a part of their workflow to create new music. Their enthusiasm has propelled its development forward in new and fantastic ways.
And with that, I'm happy to introduce the redesigned and updated Fiddlewax Pro 2.0 -- music sketchpad and MIDI Controller.
Fiddlewax Pro 2.0 incorporates the best of both worlds: Fiddlewax's music-first vision and the specific needs of musicians who want to save, share, import, and export audio throughout their workflow. It's a music sketchpad that enables you to quickly transform the ideas in your head into songs you can hear and share.
MORE EXPRESSIVE FOR SONGWRITERS
The size and range of all playable areas of Fiddlewax Pro have been fine-tuned to give you full control over notes and velocities as you create music. Every pixel has been pushed to give maximum playing area within clearly defined expressive regions.
The sizing of each key takes into account the precision of your hands' fine motor skills, which are capable of making adjustments much smaller than you might expect (consider the space between guitar strings). With this in mind, the space between keys is minimized (for quick transitions) and the total playable keys on-screen are maximized (for greater tonal range).
Beyond playing, you can also record sessions with or without microphone audio to add vocals as you compose. Adjust tempo and pitch beyond common values to explore interesting textures and add in filter and reverb effects to simulate different acoustic environments.
Fiddlewax Pro now also enables you to load entire general MIDI SoundFonts (.sf2 files) to replace Fiddlewax's default instrument sounds with your own bank of presets -- mapped to drum kits, instruments, or both.
And if you're looking to create a truly unique sound, sample overrides allow you to replace an instrument with any audio file (.m4a, .mp3, .wav, etc.) or microphone recording. Your custom sample is then mapped to the keyboard for pitched performance and also gives you full control over attack, release, gain, and offset parameters.
MORE INTUITIVE FOR PLAYERS
Fiddlewax Pro has been designed to help musicians focus on what they're playing, while also indicating how notes are related. Press a note and all other similar notes light up. Play multiple notes and see realtime feedback labelling the chord that was formed. Press a push-button chord and see the corresponding notes highlight in the keyboard.
This holistic integration ensures that you can easily move around the instrument as inspiration strikes without ever missing a beat.
Loop indication has also been improved to leverage preattentive processing (read: intuitively simple) in a circular format. This enables you to be peripherally aware of each loop's state and more easily keep things in sync.
And when you're stuck, the redesigned info overlay helps you quickly figure out what each part of the instrument does, allows for advanced settings, and links to the Fiddlewax Pro Guide Book when you're looking to dig in and learn about a feature in greater depth.
MORE CAPABLE FOR EXPERTS
Many expert users requested additional control over MIDI and Audiobus to integrate Fiddlewax Pro with their existing workflows. These features are hidden by default, but contextually turn on as you enable more advanced options.
To simplify advanced mapping configurations, Fiddlewax Pro now shows MIDI output channels beside each instrument when MIDI output is enabled. MIDI also works seamlessly with local iOS apps, WiFi, and Bluetooth so you can just turn it on and start playing.
Additionally, expert MIDI mode can be enabled from the Advanced Settings to give direct control over the volume of each MIDI channel. Want that bass line to be a bit louder? Just press on the instrument's icon and slide upward to increase its volume.
Integration with Audiobus has a few new tricks up its sleeve, too. State saving is now included to give Audiobus experts more control over their process and easily recall configurations. You can also quickly start and stop loops from outside Fiddlewax Pro when connected via Audiobus using the remote play / pause trigger.
Fiddlewax Pro 2.0 opens up a lot of new possibilities, and I look forward to hearing what musicians create with it next.
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Fiddlewax Pro is available for iPad in the App Store. Read more detailed information in the Fiddlewax Pro Guide Book and listen to audio samples on SoundCloud.
Fiddlewax Pro is designed and developed by Adam Kumpf at Fiddlewax LLC. For press inquiries, contact us.
Multi-touch screens are great, but when it comes to playing music on them, the lack of physical keys can be a drag. So instead of writing code today, I decided to round up some household stuff and make a piano keyboard that tricks the iPad into thinking it's being played by your fingers (with the help of some clothespins and aluminum foil).
It's quite easy to make a capacitive piano interface, and all told it cost me less than $5. All you need is some wooden clothespins, foil, markers, tape, rubber bands, stiff cardboard, and some patience to cut and piece it all together.
I found that not writing code was a great way to get my creative juices flowing again.
If you spend most of your time behind a computer keyboard, I highly recommend it -- maybe it's time for you to take a break and get your hands dirty.
This is what it's like to sit down and play with Fiddlewax Pro. The rhythms build, the melodies linger, the harmonies grow, and the mood evolves.
Oh, and of course there is an occasional wrong note, but that's just one of the challenges of playing a real musical instrument -- it amplifies what you put into it and doesn't force things to always fall neatly within the key.
It's been one full year since 'we' started Fiddlewax and I must admit, it's been a heck of a ride.
Start-ups are often surrounded by perpetual excitement, trendy tech news, and high-rolling investor buzz. But by design, that hasn't been my experience at all, and it seems worthwhile to explain it in a bit more depth. For those of you who may be creating a bootstrapped business and want to know what a real start-up is like without all the silicon valley hype, this is for you.
But when I finally ventured out to the bay area and talked with some companies, my impression totally changed. Sure, there were a lot of super talented people doing cool things, but most of what I experienced generally felt like theater and hype. The design houses were selling 'innovation' instead of actually innovating. The coffeeshops were buzzing with people talking about their big ideas instead of actually pursuing them. And the strategies I overheard were focused on convincing a few key VCs to buy in and bankroll the venture instead of taking it on directly.
Now, clearly this isn't true for all of silicon valley, or even the tech start-up scene in general. But it really left an impression on me and greatly shaped my philosophy around how I think about start-ups and entrepreneurship. If you are sitting on such a great idea that deserves tons of funding, why not invest yourself first?
GETTING STARTED
I had a great job at TEAGUE (an awesome design firm in Seattle) prior to jumping ship into start-ups. As cool as my day-to-day seemed (building hardware and software prototypes of new products and experiences), it all felt too indirect for me. I saw great ideas fall flat on their face because of a single bad meeting, and mediocre ideas rise to the surface because of a catchy title or graphic. The people and work were both fantastic, but the detachment from end-users and the fussy nature of corporate decision making was a serious drag.
So I, along with a fellow designer--the super talented Matt Wolfe--decided to put our hands directly into making what we thought was most interesting. We built dozens of prototypes and launched a few fledgling services. Our design and development process was super fast and agile. And being strong believers in the open web and new browser standards (WebGL, WebSockets, and WebAudio at the time), we focused on realtime creative tools that ran in the browser. Things like a collaborative code editor, collaborative musical instrument, topic-based realtime discussion, realtime raw news feeds, multiplayer games, DOF-changeable images, redesigned paper notebooks, and an unalarming alarm clock.
But nothing took off immediately, especially from a financial perspective. The numbers involved were always hard to predict, and the accepted payment models were full of catch-22s (get lots of free users by being beautifully designed and ad free, then make money with ads or pro services). Our hacks would get press on big tech blogs, but once we transitioned over to anything that involved payment, the write-ups would fall away. And on top of that, I ended up moving which meant we had to collaborate remotely (9 hours apart). We kept the fire burning as long as we could, but the agile nature and drive of our work was hard to keep going amidst the time difference and lack of success. So we called it even and started looking for what we should each do next.
All of which led me to start Fiddlewax. I knew I wanted to focus on creating musical instruments and directly interact with the people using them. Going solo wasn't easy; there was lots of humble pie as I realized how much Matt had been shaping the design of everything in subtle but very important ways. But that's where I was a year ago today. Picking up the pieces of a first start-up "failure" if you can call it that, and trying to make sense of what I could learn from it.
THE PHILOSOPHY
Most companies start with a mission statement, a hot new product, and a demographic. But that's not where my head was at with Fiddlewax. I didn't want hype, I wanted a solid foundation.
When you start a company, there's a beautiful moment at which you realize "I get to decide how I want to run this ship." That's both empowering and scary. There aren't pension plans and healthcare and salaries to rest on. The consequences are real, both to you and to the mark you leave on the world. So I started with a philosophy and built up from there.
Make creative tools that are both true to the medium and push the art forward. A computer screen is not wood or a guitar string. Don't just mimic things that work; learn and build upward.
Stay small. You're not Google, Apple, Microsoft, or Oracle. You're a team of one (currently) and that is both an advantage and a weakness. Be true to that.
Share as openly as possible. Build trust by proving worth and diligence, not by asking for it. Treat users as peers. Sharing is caring.
News is the honest way to get new work into the world. Ads are paid attention, and that feels manipulative. If news won't cover you, perhaps you aren't making something intrinsically useful and compelling.
Evolve to stay relevant and financially sustainable. Don't sell out, but also don't get stuck on something that's not working.
Note that for the most, these all sound pretty reasonable. But they are also quite counter to the much admired tech start-up approach. It essentially rules out big VC funding, paid ads, big teams, secret sauce planning, and trying to be bought out.
THE TIMELINE
As with most start-ups, the initial idea and direction evolved greatly as the pieces came together.
In an ideal world, I'd love for Fiddlewax to run entirely in the browser on any device. So that's were it started. I had been working on a project with Matt called BandFu which I was super excited about, but it never quite came together. I took it all apart and started trying to figure out why it failed, then rebuilt it from the ground up as the first prototype of Fiddlewax.
It was super cool, and I was excited about it. But realistically I had to admit to myself after two months of development that it ran into many of the same issues BandFu had. Using it via the desktop didn't lead to very expressive music because of the limitations of keyboard and mouse. And on the phone and tablet, the audio capabilities were inconsistent, sluggish, and quirky.
And on top of the hurdles of creating compelling expressive audio in the browser, there was also a financial disconnect for users where everything was free on the web. Compared to other pay services, where $9.99/mo can buy you access to practically any movie you want, it was incredibly difficult to connect the financial dots on such a new, niche webapp.
So the question became clear -- what is working well and how can that become the focus? The answer was undoubtedly multitouch interaction and consistent, fast device hardware. In particular that led to iOS apps where I could access low-level audio components, super fast touch interaction, and provide a consistent user experience across all devices.
The last 10 months have been almost exclusively centered on developing for iOS. Naturally I don't like being boxed in to a single platform, but I also admit that it's nice how consistent things run across all devices. The hardware is fast and the experience can be finely tuned.
Fiddlewax Blue was the first iOS instrument I created, with a series of interfaces built to help new musicians quickly create chord progressions and melodies.
Then came Fiddlewax Yellow, an instrument designed to leverage the human voice with instant harmony, effects, and looping.
But the real dream I've been working toward is to integrate all the fundamental music-making sounds and capabilities into a single instrument, Fiddlewax Pro. I wanted to knock down the walls between drummers and pianists and guitarists and songwriters. Music is awesomely complex, but it's also greatly inter-related and intertwined. Bridging the gap across instruments and theory opens the door to more people making more music that expresses more of what they want to say.
Fiddlewax Pro has been live for about a month now. The response has been positive, but it's still very small. It's finally reached a point that I think it deserves more attention (and I think it's a good sign that I find myself getting distracted just playing it instead of working). But, I'm sticking by my ad-free policy. If it's worth it, people will spread the idea. If not, it signifies that I need to keep pushing on the design and the code to bring it farther along.
SO, YOU'RE AN APP DEVELOPER?
Let me be clear, I am not an "app developer." I'm here to create new creative tools and musical instruments, as well as I possibly can. My background is in circuits, low-level embedded code, mechanics, design, and interaction. I don't want to make apps, but I do want to make great instruments; the hardware in well designed tablets and phones is hard to compete with in terms of performance and price, so it wins out.
I'm making apps because it's the best path for right now to make new types of instruments real. That's what I'm truly passionate about. I love the bigger idea of helping people create new things and express themselves. Apps are a means to an end, not the end itself. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox here, but it's something I feel strongly about (in case you couldn't already tell).
MONEY MONEY MONEY
Everyone's quiet about money with new businesses because it's somehow taboo to talk about. If the numbers are too small, it looks bad. If the numbers are too big, people make a fuss that you're charging too much. It seems like a lose-lose situation.
But I believe other entrepreneurs should know what it really like to start a bootstrapped start-up. I have nothing to hide here. I wake up every weekday (plus weekends sometimes) and work 9-12 hours a day. I write code, push pixels, sketch out ideas in my notebook, create videos, answer questions, test, debug, and deploy. I enjoy what I do, but it's definitely a job.
So how much does it all pay? Well, so far I haven't broke even yet on expenses alone (server costs, business fees, domain names, and a computer). That's all without any compensation for my wages, which have been $0.00/hr since day 1.
But let's get more real here. Money is on everyone's mind somewhere when it comes to starting a business. And somehow software/online businesses are seen as essentially free! While you don't have to open a storefront or pay for booths and tables as you would for a new restaurant, the opportunity cost (the money you would be making otherwise) is very significant.
When I started Fiddlewax, I decided that $5000/month would be a good bar to set. That's still quite low compared to what a competent software/hardware developer makes in a US tech company, but I figured that it'd be enough to live quite comfortably and raise a family, even if the hours are crazy.
As a business, I've decided that the expenses come first. My "wage" is withheld until the business is well in the black, and then I can start paying myself. I'm not there yet, but I'm still pushing hard to get everything in order.
SHOW AND TELL
While I'm somewhat hesitant to share dollars and cents, I've decided to be fully transparent and do just that.
Want to know what it's really like to run a one-person, online bootstrapped start-up? Here's what it looks like for Fiddlewax after 1 year.
Fiddlewax Public Accounting Spreadsheet
I hope that makes the financial side a bit more real. At the time of this writing, the company is $1,423 in the whole, with $55,000 withheld (read: back wages. I have yet to pay myself). Gulp.
So "yay!" I created a start-up built on what I believe in, but "ooooffff," it still has a long way to go.
LESSONS LEARNED
I've learned a lot over the past year about the ups and downs of running a bootstrapped startup.
But there are three fundamental lessons that stand out that would have been great to internalize beforehand. These aren't business school tips or marketing tricks, but rather a few larger perspectives to keep in mind as you go.
One lesson is practical, one is abstract, and one is philosophical.
Value isn't linear. You may have a really cool idea and think that just getting it out there will at least get you some press and initial sales. But besides the quick spike you might get from a trendy hack, as a product you will still be at zero. That's because digital marketplaces make competition so flat that minor differences can determine whether your product sells or not. Take time to get the important things right. Then polish it to the highest degree. Hacks and prototypes are awesome, but people want great things that really work. If your product isn't in the top 15 for its category, you're probably not going to earn a livelihood from it.
Don't lose heart. That sounds cheesy and simple, but so much of what works and doesn't work has to do with what keeps you going. For everyone else, your "big idea" is just a quick blog post or news item. Staying on track and determined is key to the success of your business. It takes time for people to really understand what you're doing, and for you to learn from them how to dial in your product. Don't be blindly stubborn, but also don't just bend in the breeze. Stay steadfast in what made you decide to create your start-up.
Keep your edge. Every start-up has an edge to leverage; it's that set of things that allows you to work differently and produce different results than others. But over time, the weight of running a business and getting your product out the door can cause you to put heavy processes in place and become set in your ways, so take some time early on to articulate what your competitive advantages really are. Naturally, many of those advantages can feel like weaknesses at times. But your edge is what makes your venture unique and rounding off the corners will only make you more like everyone else.
ONWARD
Well, there you go. That's the first year at Fiddlewax.
Thanks to everyone who has been following and playing along. All the feedback, questions, and ideas are the fuel that keep this machine running.
