I never thought that one day I would be carrying around a Casio SK-1 sampler keyboard in my pocket. Federico Frezza’s Rec & Play helps make my dream come closer to a reality. This little sampler is just plain fun and does exactly what you’d expect it to… maybe more… and has features that the SK-1 didn’t, such as the ability to hold more than one sample at a time. Also, the SK-1 only has enough memory to hold 1.4 seconds of sampling while Rec & Play will hold as much as our iPhone will allow. I just love that I can save my sounds to memory. I know, I’m easy, but it seems that many apps lately don’t have a save feature in version 1. Anyway, I sampled my piano, my baby burping, myself whistling, etc. I’m happy to say that this app didn’t crash at all and is very simple to use.

Basically you touch the “Rec” button on the top right and wait for the 3…2…1… countdown to begin sampling your sound. Tapping the “Rec” button again stops the recording. You can now play the keyboard to hear your sound at a different pitch and length on every key. At this time you can also press “Mem” to name and save your sample. Or press “Rec” again to sample over the current sound if you aren’t happy with it.

The button on the upper left allows you to toggle between three different screen modes. Clicking “pad” brings you to a screen with an illustration of a galaxy. Moving your finger over this area will raise and lower the pitch of the currently loaded sample. The “easy” button enables you to use your sample and play a preset melody by tapping a button. The “keys” button then returns you to the keyboard. The keyboard has a 5 octave range from C1 - C5. It’s always fun to sample something rhythmic, fingers taping, keys rustling, and then play a very low sample, say, on C1 or so. You can get some really interesting artifacts and rhythms if you listen. You never know where you next great compositional idea will come from. Even these simple little “toy” audio apps can inspire great things.

The developer, Federico Frezza, let me know that he considers his app,

“more of a fun gadget than a real musical instrument. For instance, it doesn’t do time-stretching, as it is too slow to be performed in real-time.”

Federico also said that he has many ideas for this app and is open to suggestions.

We have some ideas for future releases that we think will make our app interesting even for serious musicians.

I can’t wait to see what he has in mind. Although Rec & Play may not be a serious sampler it is a solid app that will provide hours of fun for musicians and non-musicians alike… and not just fun… again I say that I think that some of the best musical ideas start from quirky gadgets such as Rec & Play. Did I mention that it can handle chords? I sampled myself whistling a C note and then played 4 and 5-note chords to test the sound and the app. Rec & Play held up again! Great fun!

Specs:

• 16bit 44.1 kHz sample rate
• 14 voices polyphony
• 5 octaves range

:: App Store Page :: $1.99
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