App Detail » Quincy

Published by: Arthur Roolfs

iPhone App - Designed for iPhone, compatible with iPad

Price: $24.99
Current Version: 1.6.3
Released: May 22, 2015

What's New

Version 1.6.3 fixes some minor cursor and layout issues.

App Description

Quincy is a most unique music composition tool. It uses tiny grid worlds that one can draw in to determine an initial state. Hitting the play button then starts the world's lifecycle and the changes in population produces music. This modular approach to the interpretation of cellular automata renders Life worlds in styles ranging from Balinese Gamelan music to that of Stockhausen. Auto-generated on-device, interactive music that sounds authentic and goes far beyond the mere triggering of note events or squeaky sine waves. Compositions in Quincy are visually and musically spellbinding and wonderfully strange. They can be looped, react to touch during play and can be shared via AirDrop, messaging and email.

Quincy’s core engine is a full implementation of Conway’s Game of Life, capable of generating all possible Life variants including HighLife and Seeds. It comes with a Life editor, a large library of patterns, color mixer, features an adjustable grid size, random cell insertion and many display options. Editing tools go beyond pen and pattern stamp and also include options like copy, paste and rotate.

On the music production side there are different modules that can be employed to generate textures. They sound quite distinct and are based on scale category. Each module uses its own algorithm to create sound but also defines the key and a base scale to be used as tone material. The Chroma module, for example, is geared towards atonal music with several symmetric and chromatic scales. The Gregorian module on the other hand employs church modes whereas the Pentrix module offers 27 types of pentatonic scales.

Playback is routed through a device’s speakers or headphones with no additional tone source necessary. Quincy offers 128 instruments and adjustable reverb settings. Additionally Quincy's MIDI output can be used to drive external synths on iOS and works nicely with GarageBand.

Quick Features
• Adjustable life parameters
• Adjustable grid size
• Document based
• GM instrument library
• Performance view (iPad)
• Large pattern library

Quincy is very powerful and a joy to work with. Create infinite variations on a theme by combining playback loops with random inserts or use performance mode with one-tap document switching and the ability to draw into playing compositions without disturbing the original. Quincy renders stunning visuals, produces the craziest looking metronomes, very atmospheric soundscapes and strange rhythmic patterns that have many uses in music production. For a taste check out Quincy on our website for links to Quincy's SoundCloud account, Facebook site and video clips.