Air

Okay, it's nothing earth-shattering, but still - thank you so much for thinking of us supporters from so long ago. Sure, it would be nice to have Audiobus support, or different moods, or ? Perhaps some other day. In the meantime, a little update is much appreciated.

I am a huge fan of "Ambience" and this doesn't dissapoint, but I feel like there should be a bit more user control. The sounds are fantastic, exactly what you would want and expect. They are "airy" but very present to the listener. You can either let the app take control of the sound making (which seems to turn out some pretty cool stuff), or you can manually control the sound creation process. Essentially, you can start a sample and it will run it's course. Naturally layering these samples if where all the fun comes in, but I couldn't help feeling like there could be more done in the UI. The iphone's multitouch capability begs to be used and a simple "tap here, tap there" app leaves a lot to be desired. I'm sure that a lot of time and work was put into crafting this app but I think that gesture would make an awesome contribution to the UI. I would like to be able to swipe to fade in and out effects or to dry up the reverb or even to fade in and out the sounds. An option to have the piano looping (similarly to "Ambience") would be great and it would be very cool if on the "Listen" mode you could adjust the frequency of changes, so that the piano could play more often or less often. Lastly, it would be great to see a min-max idea to randomization of the frequncy of when sounds are triggered. I think this is a cool app with potential and would like to see it supported with future updates.

Loved Bloom (5 stars) and loved Trope even more(5+ stars). Air somewhat disappointed me, although only by comparison with the first two Opal releases. In and of itself, the music is very soothing and the graphics are nice. What I found disappointing was that I was expecting this to be more of an "instrument" like Bloom and Trope. Air offers less control and variety of notes than it's predecessors. For instance, you have little to no control over the pitch of the samples. And the piano parts consist of two consecutive notes thus creating limitations of when you can trigger a sample in a graceful rhythm. To be fair, to get the most out of this app, don't judge it against Bloom or Trope; it is a somewhat different animal. If you are looking for a tranquil listening experience that allows some manipulation, this release would make a nice addition to your collection. The sounds are great, but after my experience with Bloom and Trope, I found this experience to be slightly frustrating.

I bought this as a way to "test the waters" for Bloom and Trope, the other Opal Limited music applications, since it is the cheapest of the three. I'm a long-time fan of Eno's style of ambient music and Air provides a nice, albeit basic, mix of textures and patterns - with a sleep function - that let's you block out the distractions of the world and find some inner calm and peace. It's a great accompaniment to chores large and small - in "listen" mode - and also a good way to relax at the end of the day - in "conduct" mode. My experience with Air will almost certainly lead to the purchase of Bloom and Trope (although I may wait until I get an iPad and go for Bloom HD). Definitely worth $1.99 if you like "Music for Airports". If you find ambient music annoying / pointless, stay away and save your money tho'...

I don't dislike this app, and I think at $2 it is a nice cheap music generator. That said, even at $2, I would not reccommend it to anyone, except maybe an avid Eno fan. Bloom and Trope offer a similar, and in most ways better, expirience. The main thing I do like about this app, however, is the addition of voice. While this app has a lot of potential, it needs some major improvements to be as good as Bloom and Trope. The first thing I noticed was the uninspired "playing" screen. It looks very crude & pixilated and the lack of change over the course of it playing is boring. There are a few interface options that need to be added as well. #1- Need to add the ability to control the volume of the piano and the voice seperately. #2- I agree with other reviewers that there should be an option to put the screen to "sleep" in listen mode. #3- There needs to better control over the speed of notes in listen mode. What would be nice is seperate controls for the piano and voice so you could have them each play at the speed you want.