Trope

I love all of Eno’s & Chilver’s generative music apps; Bloom, Bloom: 10 Worlds, Air, Scape, Reflection and Trope, and would urge that you explore all of them. I sometimes “compose” on Trope, which means playing it as a musical instrument by tracing shapes or lines with one’s finger on the screen, but I more often let it “play itself” by choosing the “listen” option. The always unique displays of abstract, multicolored forms become truly dazzling and hypnotic. Do you know the abstract paintings of Wassily Kandinsky? Imagine those coming to life, the colors and shapes constantly changing and moving. Also, I frequently sleep to the sound of Trope playing itself. I turn the screen off and set the volume at a barely audible level when I do this. Try it. You can set the built in timer to stop the app after you’ve drifted off, but I like to let it play straight through the night (I do this with Bloom and Air, as well). I bought Trope when I was using an iPhone 4s. It always performed perfectly for me, and now it’s performing perfectly on my iPhone X. It’s a marvelous app.

I listen and watch this app make music. I find this more enjoyable than a music service simply because it can shuffle the many moods and generates unlimited music. Each song being different and never the same. I use this more than any other music app, including my music subscription services!! I don’t make music with it, I just listen and let it come up with its own things. Simply amazing. Between this and reflection I have more ambient music than my iTunes library! Ha!

Was uncertain since app hasn’t been updated in 3 years; however, it works fine on my iPad Pro with iOS 11. Having been a fan of Brian Eno in my youth, I enjoy creating and listening to these ethereal and calming tones. How to use: Draw several lines or dots with your finger, then wait for the song to develop; the music will follow the patterns you created. Also, the neon color flows and geometrics are beautiful to behold! Very relaxing and meditative, for those into this genre.

Warm, therapeutic, adult play, and--why not kids? They'd love it even if attention span would keep it short. Opens creative doors--the simplicity and perhaps even limited or focused direction of these glorious Eno apps are an asset, not a limitation.

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Trope is, along with Bloom and Reflection, a wonderful collaboration between Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers, fusing Eno's ideas about "generative music" with the computing power and portability of iOS devices. Compared to Bloom, Trope is more flowing though perhaps a bit darker. Unfortunately, as of iOS 10 this app seems to have developed a bug that speeds up the sleep timer and may also affect playback. While I recommend all these Eno/Chilvers apps very strongly, I'd suggest waiting for this to be patched.