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Rapid Tab by Secret Base Design - Released

edited July 2021 in General App Discussion

https://apps.apple.com/app/id1345154822

Description:

The latest iPhones and iPads are fast enough to detect pitch quickly; it's why so many guitarists use tuner apps on their phones. Rapid Tab takes things to the next level; using an advanced Fourier Transform analysis, coupled with harmonic sequence analysis, the app can determine the pitch of any note quickly and accurately.

The fast pitch detection is combined with a full featured tablature editor; use your guitar or bass to jot down the notes from a solo you're figuring out, or a riff you came up with. You can keep your hands on the instrument and just play, instead of searching for a pencil and paper. The app is fast enough to transcribe in real time, as long as you're not shredding like Yngwie Malmsteen. Sorry, Yngwie.

With any pitch-to-MIDI system, there is a bit of latency, and some glitches in the note detection. To get a perfectly timed take, with rapid fire notes, transcribe by playing slowly and cleanly, then clean up any errors with the tab editor. Rapid Tab features an innovative tap-to-play approach, which can play back the notes in your tab as fast as you can tap the on-screen button. Unlike conventional guitar MIDI controllers, where you're limited to soft ambient pads to back your notes -- you can use the playback feature to get precisely timed notes with sharp attacks. Tap away, Yngwie.

Rapid Tab has full MIDI support; you can use the app as a MIDI controller. There's also a built-in SoundFont synthesizer, with hundreds of tones to choose from.

The app will export to PDF, MIDI, and MusicXML. You can import your transcriptions into Logic Pro, Reaper, GuitarPro, and hundreds of other DAWs and sequencers.

More details and demonstration videos are available at www.rapid-tab.com.


Details:
Universal: Yes
Minimum OS version: 13.0
Rated: 0 based on 0 votes

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Comments

  • Confused what does it do?

  • @NimboStratus said:
    Confused what does it do?

    Looks like a midi guitar / Bass app that writes tab as you play. Interested in seeing how well this thing tracks. I have a Fishman Triple Play hardware midi tracker and have Midi Guitar 2 and both have their uses / issues.

  • Looks like a pitch detecting app. They used to have something similar that could detect the pitch of your guitar playing and convert it to polyphonic midi.

  • I'm curious about the latency on this one, which is an issue in Midi Guitar 2.

  • The fretboard is backwards

  • @u0421793 said:
    The fretboard is backwards

    Maybe its a hendrix simulator?

  • edited July 2021

    The app will go into open beta in a day or two -- I'll drop a link here.

    It's a pitch-to-MIDI app, like our old app MIDImorphosis, and similar in some ways to MIDI Guitar. The app has a built in tab recorder; play guitar, and the notes are jotted down automatically. There's also plenty of tab editing features, so you can copy/paste notes, make chords, change pitch and strings, and so forth.

    Latency in pitch-to-MIDI is always a problem (I've got a Fishman TriplePlay on one of my guitars -- it's really really good, but even that has some latency). We're side-stepping latency by cheating a little bit -- a button on the display will let you step through the notes from the tab, triggering them over MIDI one tap at a time. The general idea is that you work out the melody line or chords slowly, cleaning them up with the tab editor as needed. Then, when you're ready to record a take, you just tap the button on screen to get the rhythm, timing, and velocity right. I don't think I've seen anyone else do this -- when it occurred to me, it seemed like the most obvious trick ever.

    You can create "songs" in the app -- separate files. Each song can contain an arbitrary number of riffs, where the riff is just a set of notes or chords on the tab. The app will export MIDI files, PDF tab transcriptions, and I'll add MusicXML shortly (which GuitarPro can import).

  • It’s been a bit since they’ve put out anything but interested to see what happens.

  • @SecretBaseDesign said:
    The app will go into open beta in a day or two -- I'll drop a link here.

    It's a pitch-to-MIDI app, like our old app MIDImorphosis, and similar in some ways to MIDI Guitar. The app has a built in tab recorder; play guitar, and the notes are jotted down automatically. There's also plenty of tab editing features, so you can copy/paste notes, make chords, change pitch and strings, and so forth.

    Latency in pitch-to-MIDI is always a problem (I've got a Fishman TriplePlay on one of my guitars -- it's really really good, but even that has some latency). We're side-stepping latency by cheating a little bit -- a button on the display will let you step through the notes from the tab, triggering them over MIDI one tap at a time. The general idea is that you work out the melody line or chords slowly, cleaning them up with the tab editor as needed. Then, when you're ready to record a take, you just tap the button on screen to get the rhythm, timing, and velocity right. I don't think I've seen anyone else do this -- when it occurred to me, it seemed like the most obvious trick ever.

    You can create "songs" in the app -- separate files. Each song can contain an arbitrary number of riffs, where the riff is just a set of notes or chords on the tab. The app will export MIDI files, PDF tab transcriptions, and I'll add MusicXML shortly (which GuitarPro can import).

    Dope. Would love to test it out. Thanks @SecretBaseDesign

    I love the description you provided, very interested indeed.

  • Midi export, and/or midi out count me in.

  • Allrighty.... Public link for folks to test things out. Still some graphic tweaks to do, and the undo/redo on the tab editor can get confused if you switch between riffs (known bug, just have not squashed it yet). Give the app a spin, let me know if something is broken, or doesn't make sense!

    https://testflight.apple.com/join/RXAxH9i6

  • I’m well intrigued to see what this makes of my playing, especially with the slightly bizarre tunings I’m currently messing with...

  • @Krupa said:
    I’m well intrigued to see what this makes of my playing, especially with the slightly bizarre tunings I’m currently messing with...

    The app is assuming guitar standard tuning at the moment. I've got a configuration screen that will let you change the tuning, number of strings, etc., but it's disabled until I get the UI cleaned up a bit. Should be available in next beta version, maybe a week or so from now.

  • @SecretBaseDesign said:

    @Krupa said:
    I’m well intrigued to see what this makes of my playing, especially with the slightly bizarre tunings I’m currently messing with...

    The app is assuming guitar standard tuning at the moment. I've got a configuration screen that will let you change the tuning, number of strings, etc., but it's disabled until I get the UI cleaned up a bit. Should be available in next beta version, maybe a week or so from now.

    Cool, hopefully I’ve got a new (to me) guitar coming tomorrow, partially so that I can keep one in irregular tuning and one in standard (also for the humbucker/coil mix 😁)

  • @u0421793 said:
    The fretboard is backwards

    It’s made for left-handed iPads.

  • @SecretBaseDesign said:
    The general idea is that you work out the melody line or chords slowly, cleaning them up with the tab editor as needed. Then, when you're ready to record a take, you just tap the button on screen to get the rhythm, timing, and velocity right. I don't think I've seen anyone else do this -- when it occurred to me, it seemed like the most obvious trick ever.

    I'm excited to try this tonight. Your description of the workflow sounds like how I want to create music. "Work it out slowly, clean it up, get it perfect..."

    And I would love to record my guitar song ideas as tabs and MIDI. It's nice to see somebody working on making the creative process more convenient.

  • 6ch version?

  • How does it do with chords? Single-note lines are easy enough to play in with Geoshred or velocity kb. It’s harmonies where I could really use the guitar as midi controller.

  • Wow. Really cool! Thanks for the link!

  • WRT the on-screen fretboard....

    I know some apps do it differently, but they make zero sense to me. Lowest pitch string on-screen is the lowest-pitch line on the tab. Moving left to right, pitch increases, as it does when I hold the guitar (right handed), or play keys on a piano.

    With the pitch detection, you'll need to have the iPad facing away from you if you play left-handed, unless you're in Australia, in which case you need to turn your amp upside down. ;-)

  • A few quick thoughts after giving the Test Flight a spin. Wow was my guitar out of tune. Make sure you tune up first or you won't be tracking the right notes. This is definitely works for transcribing/ step recording. I don't think it is intended for live performance. It does an admirable job of tracking single notes if you are precise although like most midi guitar apps it will occasionally pick up unwanted string noise and try to convert it to notes. Could definitely use a sensitivity setting. There are some clever transcribing tools that took me a second to figure out. On the Tab (?) screen next to the record , erase, and undo buttons there is a button to shift the note if you want to correct / change it, a button to shift the string (so you can specify if that A is an open A string or the fifth fret on your E string) a button to group notes ( so you can create chords ) and a button to ungroup notes ( for individual note editing if you've grouped notes ). Definitely worth a look if you are a keyboard averse guitar player looking for a way to transcribe your playing with the usual caveats involved in pitch to midi. Comes with a pretty impressive amount of sounds in multiple categories.

  • Will it vanish as fast as the other apps?

  • @dermichl said:
    Will it vanish as fast as the other apps?

    Which other apps? I seem to remember a conversation about removing Visual Synth, but it's still there.

    It's a valid concern, but "Do you promise to set aside $100 every year to pay Apple?" isn't just a matter of one's moral character.
    But it would still be nice for musicians, if developers would view their yearly fee as a commitment to the community.

    Y'know, @dermichl ? :D I just hope musicians can learn to understand the mindset of a solo dev, even if we don't apply the same standards that we apply to a punk band's casette demo. We need powerful and reliable tools, but they're all being created by movie trailer voice ONE MAN...WHO DARES TO GO....WHERE NO OTHER MAN.......

  • New beta version, please read description in TestFlight it seems they are trying to locate 1 person in particular on an iPhone se iOS 14.2, because of a crash case. If you are that person please reach out to them. Thanks. Just spreading the word, hoping someone gets the message.

  • @Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr said:

    @u0421793 said:
    The fretboard is backwards

    It’s made for left-handed iPads.

    That option should be selectable.

  • @SecretBaseDesign said:
    The app will go into open beta in a day or two -- I'll drop a link here.

    It's a pitch-to-MIDI app, like our old app MIDImorphosis, and similar in some ways to MIDI Guitar. The app has a built in tab recorder; play guitar, and the notes are jotted down automatically. There's also plenty of tab editing features, so you can copy/paste notes, make chords, change pitch and strings, and so forth.

    Latency in pitch-to-MIDI is always a problem (I've got a Fishman TriplePlay on one of my guitars -- it's really really good, but even that has some latency). We're side-stepping latency by cheating a little bit -- a button on the display will let you step through the notes from the tab, triggering them over MIDI one tap at a time. The general idea is that you work out the melody line or chords slowly, cleaning them up with the tab editor as needed. Then, when you're ready to record a take, you just tap the button on screen to get the rhythm, timing, and velocity right. I don't think I've seen anyone else do this -- when it occurred to me, it seemed like the most obvious trick ever.

    You can create "songs" in the app -- separate files. Each song can contain an arbitrary number of riffs, where the riff is just a set of notes or chords on the tab. The app will export MIDI files, PDF tab transcriptions, and I'll add MusicXML shortly (which GuitarPro can import).

    Sounds like a great tool. :sunglasses:

  • @SecretBaseDesign said:
    WRT the on-screen fretboard....

    I know some apps do it differently, but they make zero sense to me. Lowest pitch string on-screen is the lowest-pitch line on the tab. Moving left to right, pitch increases, as it does when I hold the guitar (right handed), or play keys on a piano.

    With the pitch detection, you'll need to have the iPad facing away from you if you play left-handed, unless you're in Australia, in which case you need to turn your amp upside down. ;-)

    Right on and thank you so much for doing it this way from the beginning. A right handed player looking down, and all the tab notation in the world has the lowest pitched strings at the bottom and the highest pitch strings as the top. It took ages for some other apps to come around and at least give the option of setting the string pitch layout properly.

  • @fprintf said:

    @SecretBaseDesign said:
    WRT the on-screen fretboard....

    I know some apps do it differently, but they make zero sense to me. Lowest pitch string on-screen is the lowest-pitch line on the tab. Moving left to right, pitch increases, as it does when I hold the guitar (right handed), or play keys on a piano.

    With the pitch detection, you'll need to have the iPad facing away from you if you play left-handed, unless you're in Australia, in which case you need to turn your amp upside down. ;-)

    Right on and thank you so much for doing it this way from the beginning. A right handed player looking down, and all the tab notation in the world has the lowest pitched strings at the bottom and the highest pitch strings as the top. It took ages for some other apps to come around and at least give the option of setting the string pitch layout properly.

    I only saw this thread today so missed the testing opportunity, but this description sounds spot on.

  • edited July 2021

    @AndyPlankton said:

    @fprintf said:

    @SecretBaseDesign said:
    WRT the on-screen fretboard....

    I know some apps do it differently, but they make zero sense to me. Lowest pitch string on-screen is the lowest-pitch line on the tab. Moving left to right, pitch increases, as it does when I hold the guitar (right handed), or play keys on a piano.

    With the pitch detection, you'll need to have the iPad facing away from you if you play left-handed, unless you're in Australia, in which case you need to turn your amp upside down. ;-)

    Right on and thank you so much for doing it this way from the beginning. A right handed player looking down, and all the tab notation in the world has the lowest pitched strings at the bottom and the highest pitch strings as the top. It took ages for some other apps to come around and at least give the option of setting the string pitch layout properly.

    I only saw this thread today so missed the testing opportunity, but this description sounds spot on.

    After thinking a bit -- the penny dropped on the "left-hand" guitar comments. When I hold my guitar (right handed), and look down at the fretboard, I'm seeing it upside-down from the way the audience would look at it. The low E string is at the "bottom" (with my head looking down), pitch increases as I move to the right.

    From the audience perspective -- they're looking at the fretboard with their heads "right-side-up." The low E string is at the top, and pitch increases as you move left.

    My fretboard is designed the way I think most guitarists look at their fretboards -- from how it is while playing, not while standing in the audience.

    Anyway... The open beta is still going -- anyone who wants to give the app a spin can grab the link. This build will stay active for another 85 days or so, and I'm thinking about keeping the open beta open indefinitely. Apple will allow up to 10,000 "open beta testers," and this may be a good way to let people try out the app without dropping cash. I've always wanted to have a try-before-you-buy option, and this might be the next-best thing.

    The current version in Beta is likely the release version. I've got to do some more videos, app store screen shots, and work on the user manual, but code-wise, I think it's ready to go.

    https://testflight.apple.com/join/RXAxH9i6

  • My fretboard is designed the way I think most guitarists look at their fretboards -- from how it is while playing, not while standing in the audience.

    Perfect. Really excited for this app.

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