Features

  • A complete four octave keyboard.
  • Multi-touch. Up to 5 keys can be pressed at once allowing complex chords.
  • Sounds like a real piano with realistic piano multi-samples.
  • Animated piano keys react to your touch.
  • Play along to all your MP3s.
  • On-screen keyboard navigation allows you to easily move up and down by octaves or "part octaves" (ie. left-most key is a C or an F).

How to install

  • First you need to jailbreak your iPhone to allow third-party applications to be installed.
  • TBA (This section will be completed when the application is released).

Future features in development

  • Stereo samples.
  • Local volume setting.
  • A full 88 key piano keyboard with each key individually sampled from a grand piano.
  • Different piano types such as "honky tonk".
  • The ability to record and playback, so that you could record one part of a duet and then play over the top of it.
  • The ability to save and load recorded songs.
  • A "synthesiser" application that will playback various bass, lead, and pad sounds. Notes will play for as long as you hold the key down, and then fade off with a configurable "sustain" time. Hopefully some sort of live cutoff filter implementations, and perhaps a configurable delay.
  • A "stylophone" emulator application that emulates the Dubreq Stylophone.

  • A "drum pad" application that allows drum samples to be triggered in real time.

Donations

This application is free! I spent a long time working on it because I enjoyed the challenge and I wanted to create something that people would gain enjoyment from. If I get good feedback then I shall go on to add more features and to create more applications, which you can also have: for free! But I'm not afraid to admit that the best feedback is financial. So I'm not asking you to donate because you like "iAno". I'm not even going to try to make you feel guilty about not wanting to give me money for something you already have, which is very sensible. Think of your donation as a small investment towards potential future applications and the encouragement for me to continue to develop them. Thanks!

[Bah.  Some combination of Google and Safari has seen fit to not want to display my Donate button when viewed on the iPhone.  But the direct link via the "Donate" link within the iAno application works!]


Support / Issues

Q) How do I "jailbreak" my iPhone?

A) This is too complex a task for me to describe here, so you'll need to do some Internet research. This is a good place to start.


Q) I can't hear any sound!

A) Go to Settings. General. Sound Effects. If this is "Off" then set it to either "Speaker", "Headphones" or "Both" depending on your requirements. (nb: iPod Touches do not have speakers so you will not hear anything without headphones even if you select this. Hopefully this step will not be needed in future releases.


Q) I can't change the volume

A)  This will be possible in a future update.


Q) The keys keep getting stuck down!

A) Reading multi-touch is an inexact (and undocumented) science at the moment.  This is something that is being worked on.  However it is a purely cosmetic issue for this application as lifting a key does not affect the sound of that key.


Q) I have the 1.1.3 firmware. Can I still use iAno?

A) iAno has been developed and tested on 1.1.1. It has been successfully tested on 1.1.2. It has been successfully tested on 1.1.3, provided a symlink has been created for the Media under root to the Media under mobile. If you want to run it on 1.1.3, I will provide more detailed instructions when I have them. However, the basic problem is that, prior to 1.1.3, applications used to store media in /var/root/Media. 1.1.3 however stores media in /var/mobile/Media. This has broken a lot of applications that are now looking in the wrong place for files. Because of this, there is a fix which involves creating a symbolic link from the old folder to the new one, thus fooling the applications into believing that the new folder is the old one. The fix is described here, but I can't provide technical support on this (as I haven't tested it myself) so you do it at your own risk. I have also been told that the latest Installer does this automatically, so I'm probably worrying about nothing!