VIDEO: Accurate Tuner Pro Demo

Accurate Tuner Pro with Guitar:

 

 

Accurate Tuner Pro Overview

Accurate Tuner Pro is a chromatic instrument tuner, which combines two classical pitch tuning methods: Needle and stroboscope.

The needle enables fast and comfortable rough tuning, while two optional stroboscopic animations facilitate fine tuning. Both methods are used at the same time, so it’s not necessary to choose one of them. Detected notes are shown on a musical staff. Adjustable sensitivity will help in not so quiet environments.

Free Trial Version

• Fully working needle and strobe tuner with no time limit, supported by ads
• Strobe accuracy: +/- 0.5 cent
• Needle accuracy: 5th octave: +/- 0.2 cent, 6th octave: +/- 1 cent, 0th octave: +/- 6 cents
• Range: A0 – B6
  The tuner is able to measure tones in the 0th and 1st octaves for some harmonically very rich instruments only, as common phone microphones are not able to detect these low frequencies. Still the tuner tries to compute these tones from higher harmonics, sometimes successfully. Even a human ear works this way.

• 126 instruments + “Any instrument” mode
• Transposition: +/- 4 octaves, two transposition modes
• Adjustable sensitivity
• US (CDEFGAB), German (CDEFGAH), scientific (C2, C3, C4) and Helmholtz (C, c, c’) notations

126 instruments

Full Version

• Tone Generator able to play notes from A0 to C8 (88-key piano range) or any frequency from 27.5 Hz to 4186.01 Hz. You need solid external speakers or headphones for the two lowest octaves.

Tone Generator

You can set the frequency directly and also set the levels of harmonics and form the wave shape this way (not the wave envelope).

• Screen Lock Blocking

Small part of settings

• Adjustable base frequency (note A4) in the range of 300 – 500 Hz
• 32 temperaments

Accurate Tuner Pro supports 32 temperaments.

• Many alternate instrument tunings, including 70 guitar, 25 banjo and 19 mandolin tunings

Accurate Tuner Pro supports many alternate instrument tunings, including 70 guitar tunings.

• Unlimited number of custom instruments and tunings
• No ads (on rare occasions it may recommend another app in a non-intrusive way)
• Bigger stroboscopic part

Future Plans

• Metro design

Marketplace on the Web

Tamara Volskaia domra, Iskrina Matveeva piano: Tchaikovsky Danse russe:

Accurate Tuner Pro Sneak Peek

Accurate Tuner Pro has been finally submitted to the Marketplace certification process! It should be available for download in a few days.

Can you tell 10 differences? 😉

As you can see, on the surface almost nothing has changed. So sorry folks, still no Metro design. (But don’t worry too much as I plan a major design overhaul for the next major update.) This update was about improving the internals. And they have been much improved!

Another source for concern may be the apparently missing ad banner. Is the Pro version paid? Yes, it is. But don’t panic, there is a free ad-supported trial with no time limit.

Free trial version has all the features of the Beta with just one exception – it doesn’t support adjustable base frequency and has A4 fixed at 440 Hz. On the other hand, it has some additional features and even this free trial benefits from the improved algorithm with better accuracy, stability of results, sensitivity and range! The paid version has many new features.

Robert de Visée: Suite en la mineur, Prélude et Allemande, Jonas Nordberg, theorbo:

Accurate Tuner Beta finally available in the Marketplace

My new app has found its way into the Windows Phone Marketplace. Accurate Tuner is a chromatic instrument tuner, which combines two classical pitch tuning methods: Needle and stroboscope.

The needle enables fast and comfortable rough tuning, while two optional stroboscopic animations facilitate fine tuning. Both methods are used at the same time, so you are not forced to choose just one of them.

Detected notes are shown on a musical staff with highlighted positions used by a selected musical instrument. Adjustable sensitivity may help in not so quiet environments.

With an integrated help system you won’t end up lost. Advanced settings take care of specific needs. It is simply worth a try. Download this free beta now!

Windows Phone Marketplace opens in 19 new countries: Not yet

Great news from Microsoft are coming these days:

Geographic expansion: A large part of your success in Marketplace hinges  on your app’s discoverability and reach. I’m excited to announce a number of new  consumer and developer markets to help get your app in front of more people.

• 19 new consumer markets. Starting today developers can publish their  apps to consumers in 19 new countries, in addition to the 16 that Marketplace already supports. The 19 new markets include Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, India, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and Taiwan.
• 7 new developer markets: Also starting today developers from 7 new markets (Welcome!) can register in App Hub and submit apps. The 7 new developer markets enabled include: Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, South Africa and South Korea.
• In a couple of months (early fall 2011), developers will also be able to register from China. We will also expand the registration support already available in India.

But what does this mean in reality? As a developer, I am able to publish my WP apps in 19 new countries now, but are people in these countries able to buy them?

I cannot change my WP device locale now, because it requires a reset to the factory state. But let’s try something much simpler – to change Zune PC client behavior. When you change the locale of your Windows 7, the Zune opens with locally available features. To be able to browse WP7 marketplace, I have my PC set to the UK locale. Let’s look at the Zune menu now:

Zune July 21st 2011, UK locale

Switching to the CZ locale…

Zune July 21st 2011, UK locale

So, that’s it. We are not there yet, it’s not possible to buy or even browse neither paid nor free apps in the Windows Phone marketplace on a correctly set PC in Czech Republic. Perhaps you may do it from a correctly set phone, but I doubt it. If any of my readers is able to reset his or her phone now and try a Live account from any of the above mentioned countries, please let me know.

The Beatles, Wait:

Windows Phone App Hub updated with new features and new countries

As I predicted on Sunday, App Hub was updated. Now it seems that new countries were added:

I didn’t complete the registration yet, so I can’t confirm there is no remaining obstacle for Czech developers, but I don’t expect it.

There are other improvements too, as many devs report. Just an incomplete list for now:

• New private beta Marketplace – you can distribute your app to max. 100 selected testers and it will work for 90 days. This way the app probably won’t go through the certification process.
• You can edit some app details (category, artwork) without submitting update
• Updated layout
• New crash reports
• Export of download/purchase details
• Updated App Hub tems (no details known yet)

Developers from Czech Republic and other countries to get Windows Phone Marketplace access tomorrow! (hopefully)

At Prague Mango Event in June this year, Ondrej Strba from Microsoft said that Czech developers will get official access to the Windows Phone Marketplace in the second half of July.

Picture from the Mango Event in Prague in June 2011. Notice the new square Windows Phone logo.

At MIX 2011, the attendees were told there will be a new version of the AppHub this summer.

http://twitter.com/#!/rschu/status/92212208527880192

And this notice was posted on the Microsoft App Hub (the gate to the Windows Phone and XBox Marketplace for developers) on the last Friday:

App Hub down July 18 for service upgrades

Submitted

7/15/2011

Pardon our dust. App Hub will be down for service upgrades for most of the day starting around 10 a.m. PST on Monday, July 18. During this period, developers will be unable to register, to access their Windows Phone developer accounts, or to use the forums.

We appreciate your patience.

So I bet the safe conclusion is that the Marketplace Access for developers from Czech Republic and other new countries is finally coming!

As I reported before, this should be the list of the new countries now eligible for the application submitting:

• Chile
• China
• Colombia
• Czech Republic
• Hungary
• India
• South Africa
• South Korea

Sure it’s not a long list and I especially regret Slovakia is missing. However, it is still a pretty good reason for celebration for us!

And let’s hope other AppHub improvements are coming too. For example – the Marketplace can be opened for buyers from new countries. I rather doubt it, because it seems Microsoft waits for new languages to be implemented in Mango before it. Or the submission of the Mango-compatible app could be newly supported. Again, I don’t see this coming, because the Mango developer tools are still in beta and I expect Microsoft to require the final version to be used for the published apps. But on the other hand, just one big Marketplace update this summer would make sense too. Any improvement would be welcomed.

Update under progress

create.msdn.com

New features? XNA? Maybe my bet wasn’t so safe… 🙂

New app has been submitted to the Marketplace. Guess its purpose from its splash screen!

I sent my new WP7 app to the Marketplace today. This is its splash screen. Can you guess the purpose of the app from it? (Of course you can! :-))

New WP7 app Splash Screen

For comparison, this is the splash screen of my previous app – Agile Metronome:

Agile Metronome Splash Screen

Agile Metronome is still in a beta stage and during its six weeks in the Marketplace it received 35 reviews with average rating of 4.29. Thanks to all who rated it!

But I feel that my new app won’t be so appraised, because this kind of apps traditionally receives quite low average ratings. It has its reasons – these apps are usually hard to develop and hard to use. I know all the reasons, but it does not mean I know the remedies. I am trying to change the trend and make this app really usable. This new beta is not exactly there yet, but I hope it’s the step in the right direction.

It is going to be available in several days for your kind testing!

Yalla Apps Experience – Account Activation and Phone Unlock

In my post Yalla Apps Experience – Registration I have explained why I have chosen Yalla Apps publishing service for my Windows Phone Apps and covered the registration process.

This time I want to go through the activation of your account (which includes payment for the first year of the service) and the unlocking of your developer device. Next time, in the last installment of this mini-series, I will cover the Application Submission.

As you can see it the right panel of this blog, I already have the first app in the Marketplace – Agile Metronome Beta. So chances are you won’t wait for long. 🙂 But Metronome is online for less than 48 hours now and no download statistics of it found their way into Yalla Apps dashboard yet, so I’m going to wait a bit with this third and closing part, because I want to include a stats screenshot in it.

Let’s go!

That’s it! 🙂

Just a couple of notes:

1. The first device registration (unlock) is for 0 Credits. Registration of the second or more devices cost 50 Credits, while subsequent re-unlocks of a previously unlocked device (when you reset it to the factory state) cost 25 Credits. Consult Yalla Apps web site, because these prices are perhaps time limited. When you spend your initial 100 Credits, you can buy another 100 for 80 USD.
2. When you choose your online appointment time for the unlock, don’t forget you need to set it in Dubai time (GST = Gulf Standard Time = UTC/GMT + 4 hours). Free WP7 application World Clock will help.
3. You will receive an email one hour before the appointment. When the time comes, you must be connected to the internet with your Windows 7 development computer, have free development tools installed, have your phone connected and be ready for the assistance. A person from Yalla Apps will connect to your PC via Copilot and proceed with the unlock. It should take less than 10 minutes.

Recommended reading on Ailon’s blog:

The State of Worldwide WP7 Publishing after MIX11
Windows Phone App Publishing through Yalla Apps

Yalla Apps Experience – Registration

If you happen to live in one of the white countries, behind the Windows Phone Marketplace Iron Curtain, and still want to develop and publish your Windows Phone apps, you have several options:

1. Move to a green country.
2. Establish a foreign company.
3. Ask a developer living in a green country.
4. Ask some other non-developer friend living in a green country.
5. Use unofficial unlocking tool ChevronWP7 (available here) and distribute your apps by your own means outside the Marketplace.
6. Use services of a Marketplace Publisher.

I have seriously considered all these options. For example number 1: It is quite easy for an European Union citizen to move to another EU country for several days, register with marketplace and then move back. By the way, I live 60 km (37 miles) from Austria, which is green. But the marketplace identity verification process is repeated every year, so you have to repeat this nonsense every year. Once your verification fail, your MP account is blocked and all your apps are removed from the phones of all your customers. (At least this was the case the last time I checked the MP policy several months ago, they could have changed it since then.)

Or the option 2 – a foreign company. I could quite easily establish a Ltd in the UK. Sure, it’s more expensive than a yearly marketplace fee $99, but still affordadble. But it is almost impossible for a non-UK resident with no business history to get a British bank account. I could easily get an Austrian bank account, but I wasn’t able to discover if both the company and its bank account must be in the some country or not. I haven’t found the answer on Microsoft web pages, asked several wise people including Microsoft employees, but nobody knew the answer. It would be stupid to try it blindly. By the way, you can pay for WP7 apps by the MoneyBookers British MasterCard from a lot of countries, but MB account cannot be used for receiving money.

The options 3 and 4 in short: It is a lot of work to maintain your apps in the marketplace. 5 – good for a lot of things, but not for making real money.

So the only viable option is a publisher. We know Marketplace is coming to Czech Republic with a Windows Phone Mango update soon. Mango is coming this fall, although considering the NoDo update execution the fall 2012 is a better bet. Just kidding. Microsoft Czech Rep. says devs could expect the Marketplace access this summer. In short: The best case is July 2011, the worst some time next year.

The selection of the publisher is a key decision. Once you publish your app with it and somebody installs it, your client is locked to your publisher forever. Thus, although there are several publishers now, for example Kinabalu Innovation or Appa Mundi, I decided to go with Yalla Apps, the only publisher officially supported by Microsoft. (And, by the way, the cheapest one too.)

In the best case I am going to need my publisher for just two months – May and June – but I am going to pay him the yearly MP fee for years ahead. So the simple question is:  Will my apps, published in the next two months, generate at least $99 yearly? I hope the answer is yes, so let’s go ahead! (By the way, the  arabian word yalla means go ahead or hurry up.)

Procedure

1. Choose your publisher Nickname.
2. Register as a new user.
3. Activate your account by paying $99 for the first year. You get 100 credits in exchange.
4. Order the unlocking of your phone.
5. Publish your apps.
6. Buy credits as needed.

I would stress the importance of the step 1. The product description of your application in the Martketplace will include the following sentence: “Developed by [Nickname]“. When I registered several weeks ago I choose a nice Nickname, but I realized the Nickname.com domain is taken later. And guess what? The Nickname cannot be changed. I hadn’t activate the original account, so I registered again, under a different Nickname. But you cannot have two accounts with the same email and cannot change the email too, so I was forced to use a different email for the second registration. But the first email was the email associated with my PayPal account, which is required if you want to get paid. 🙂 So I have to change my PayPal email now. (I have never did it before, so I hope it’s possible.)

I’ve asked Yalla to delete my first account and change the email address on the second one. So let’s see the outcome. 🙂

The first gallery covers the user registration process step by step.

Yalla Apps User Registration – step 01

Yalla Apps User Registration – step 02

Yalla Apps User Registration – step 02 – Why PayPal email

Yalla Apps User Registration – step 03

Yalla Apps User Registration – step 04

After the registration, this is your user dashboard. Notice which fields you can and cannot edit.

The next step is to activate your account and unlock your developer phone.

To be continued…

New countries supported by Mango Windows Phone Update

MIX 2011 Day 2 Keynote presented by Joe Belfiore and others was full of information about the upcoming Windows Phone update, codenamed Mango. For me, the most important piece of information was the list of the new countries supported by this much anticipated release, planned for autumn 2011. Or, to be precise, not the list, but map… in fact several maps… shown for a few short seconds.

I haven’t found the complete list anywhere, so I’ve decided to put together my own from the keynote screenshots. I think it is going to be useful for a lot of us, underprivileged people from the rest of the world. 🙂

You can click on screenshots to see their fullscreen versions.

New languages

This asian calligraphy is so beautiful, isn’t it?

New languages come here – sorry, I won’t try to identify all the languages, but you can try to find your own. I was happy – there is a Czech “Hello World” – “Ahoj světe”. The interesting point is that the slide shows 14 languages, but claims 16 in the title, so there are two missing. The rest of the world can still hope!

You can also see the time when this keynote section begins – at cca 17:30.

Coutries able to sell their apps

One not widely known fact about WP7 is that there are two marketplace countries lists – for selling and buying. They are very different today and the number of countries able to sell apps is much higher than the number of countries able to buy apps. This will somewhat change with Mango and the buying list will grow more, so the difference between the two lists will diminish.

One more important thing to note is that we are talking about buying and selling apps only. Music and other content availability is and will remain much more limited, because of the distribution rights.

This map shows the countries where developers can register in the Marketplace. The current countries are green, the new are yellow.

The list will grow from 30 to 38, which is quite small improvement to be honest, and surely a disappointment.

Let’s try to name new countries:

• Chile
• China
• Colombia
• Czech Republic
• Hungary
• India
• South Africa
• South Korea

Please correct my mistakes if you find any.

It is expected that the marketplace registration in these yellow countries will be opened during summer 2011. Developers from the white countries must use services of publishers. There are several publishers now, but as far as I know the only one officially supported by Microsoft is Dubai-based Yalla Apps. (I plan to write a little bit about them later.)

Countries able to buy apps

This list grew much more, from 16 to 35. Joe Belfiore showed two maps – before and after the Mango launch – both in green.

Before:

After:

The happy countries:

• Brazil
• Chile
• Colombia
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Finland
• Greece
• Hungary
• India
• Japan
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Russia
• South Africa
• South Korea
• Sweden
• Taiwan

The interesting thing is that I have found 20 new green countries on the second map, not 19, as the slide title says, so take this with a grain of salt. Or are you able to find a mistake in my list?

For developers this is good news – a great expansion of the market for their apps, although China is strangely missing. Still, India, Brazil, Russia, Japan etc. are welcome additions.

We Love Windows Phone

Nice video made by Brandon Foy: