Panic, the software developer behind the Playdate, is known for its polished-yet-fun apps for Mac and iOS.
The standout might be the music-making app, which is like Ableton Live from the Game Boy age.
So why not music apps?
Lifewire / Charlie Sorrel
The standout might be the music-making app, which is like Ableton Live from the Game Boy age.
It’s also fun.
“That said, the web audio API is really fun to program for.
Lifewire / Charlie Sorrel
I did a free course on building synths using it a few years back and really enjoyed it.
I’ve built a web drum machine, too (not actually useful, more a demo/learning toy).
Panic’s Pulp tools are one great example of the modern surfing app’s capabilities.
It even lets you load your own samples.
Why do we prefer local apps over web apps?
Another historical barrier has been safety.
But thats also old news.
Even speed isnt a problem anymore.
That means your audio files dont necessarily have to be streamed from the web every time you play them.
Its amazing how powerful that tech is and how easy it is to get going.
But there are still problems with web apps when compared to local apps.
One issue is still the transfer of files.
Thats always going to be slower than working with files on your local disks.
The other barrier is connectivity.
For a music app to be useful, it has to connect to your existing apps.
In Ableton Live and Logic, third-party apps exist as plug-ins.
On iOS, apps can easily send their audio to each other modularly.
But without using clunky routing workarounds, its hard to include the web online window in these setups.
And thats fine because each approach has its advantages.
