iPhone Monome Emulator

I just wanted to share a link to my first iPhone app which emulates a Monome 64. I am a proud owner of a 128, and thought that a Monome emulator would be a good project to work on while learning Objective-C. The buttons are small, but it seems to work with all of the apps I normally use with my 128.

Check it out:
http://vimeo.com/1776810

very nice
any chance of an advance copy?

I read somewhere that I can send a limited number of copies using an Ad Hoc licence, but I will have to see what Apple's requirements are.

It should be released soon through the App Store, it has been under review by Apple since 9/14. I think the average wait time is 1-2 weeks for Apple to post apps.

As of right now, it does not use the accelerometer. If that is a feature that people would like, I can definitely add it.

The initial release will be $3.99USD (hopefully I will be able to recover the cost of my $99 iPhone developer account).

I will include the accelerometer functionality as a free upgrade. It just might take a little while to figure out.

I have already made major improvements from v1.0 (bug fixes, /sys/prefix feature) that will be submitted in a v1.01 release.

@shanemcc
Thanks for the interest. The app will be available worldwide once Apple approves it.

@linusislost
I got the iPhone's raw accelerometer data sending info through OSC, but I just need to figure out what kind of OSC data is being sent by a real 64. Since I have a 128, there is no way for me to find this info out other than posting in the forums.

I will post a demo video once the accelerometer feature is finished.

oh, this puts a smile on my face. Ive been playing around with the touchOSC app, but a direct port looks loverly... buttons do look a little small tho'...

@lokey
I was thinking about modifying the app to allow pinch zooming into certain sections of buttons. The other option is to drop the amount of buttons to 4x8 instead of 8x8, but I thought that would cause compatibility problems with monome apps.

Which do you think would work better? The current size of buttons is a bit limiting.

@eacolin
Can't jailbroken iPhones access the App Store? I think that would break my developer agreement with Apple and get the app removed.

you could always do 4x8, and with a swipe... flip to the other 4x8

i definitely don't want to see the 8x8 one a single screen go away though!

I think you should keep the 8x8 screen, but add 2 zoom toggle buttons (maybe underneath the grid). The first toggle button could zoom in on one half of the pads, and the second toggle button could zoom in on the other half of the pads. A swipe function would also make it very easy to move between the 2 halves once zoomed in. To zoom out, you would simply need to press the same zoom toggle button you pressed to zoom in. This is a much faster way to zoom in and out, and also removes the risk of accidently activating pads while using the pinching method.

@toddtreece
That sounds cool, but doesn't that still run the the risk of accidently triggering pads? A double tap would be great as long as it didn't involve tapping in the pad area.

finally a wireless monome!

seriously, this is awesome. i'd like to play around with it tho to see how well my fat-ish fingers would press those buttons.

After thinking about that for a minute, it might be a little harder to implement than I thought due to the angle the iPhone would have to be tilted to play. Maybe if the flat position showed the top 4X8 and tilted 45 degrees towards you revealed the bottom or something.....

This looks amazing - great work! I think the zoom button idea makes a lot of sense, and I can imagine it working well.... Presumably this could be generalised to give you a 128 and 256 too?

Just a small niggly aesthetic comment, though - one of the lovely little features of the monome that makes it special is the complete lack of branding, and I think it would be nice to have the haplome be equally minimal on the screen (i.e. not have the name at the top). Perhaps you could have different skin options?

not to be a meanie-head or anything, i think this is an awesome looking app, but you might consider donating some or all of the profits to monome.org. either that or make it free / open source, in the spirit of the community and everything else monome-related. i don't think it's very cool to profit off the backs of the community. after all, what would a monome emulator be without all the wonderful open source apps that have been written and so graciously shared by the community?

i might get flamed for this, but somebody had to say it, i know i'm not the only one thinking this...

just wanted to mention too that i understand recouping the cost of the developer sdk, but maybe asking for donations would be a better avenue.

@producer1620
you may be missing my point. i'm all for alternatives to get people by while they wait for their monomes, but why does it have to be $3.99? why can't it be free or rely on donations? don't you think it's important to promote an open source culture of sharing and caring with fellow monomers?

it seems to me that tehn and many of the application developers have been gracious enough to share their code, protocols, schematics, and applications with everybody in ways that make them modifiable by others (ie. open source), i would hope the rest of the community would embrace this idea and realize that the success of the monome is partially because of this philosophy. it's really what makes monome stand out from the rest of the manufacturers. it's the reason i was attracted to the device to begin with, but maybe that's just me.

@toddtreece
i'm glad you understand where i'm coming from, and my intention is not to have you pull the app completely. i think what you've put together is amazing and will be incredibly useful for a lot of people, with or without monomes.

is there any way to release the app for free through the apple store, or any other distribution method to make it just as quick and painless to get it on the phone? i don't think 3.99 is unreasonable, in fact it sounds very reasonable, but from my perspective it's kind of precedent-setting in that it's the first monome-centric application i've seen that actually costs money.

edit: i'm completely ignorant of how iphone application distribution works, and if this is even feasible. if they require some kind of fee for every application, maybe the smallest possible fee would be a good compromise. i would hate to see this kind of thing stand in the way of people using the application.

as a side note, i think by accepting donations to implement features people want to see, you could quickly recoup the cost of the sdk, and that seems like a perfectly valid avenue to me--it embraces openness, encourages sharing, etc. it sounds like a lot of people are excited about this application (for good reason i might add, it's a wonderful idea) and would be more than willing to put up a few bucks to help you develop new features.

@producer1620

i'm not sure why i'm bothering replying, but i'll say it once more and then i give up.

this isn't about $3.99 being a lot of money. this is about the concept and philosophy of being as open as possible with monome-centric, monome-related (monome-emulated?) software. this is about supporting a community.

i think something special has been created with monome.org, and i think the fact that so much information on how to program these devices (including source code) has been made free has been integral in shaping what monome is and what it will be. i think you'll see a lot of talent disappear if everything starts closing up and getting commercialized.

sure, it's only $3.99. i could find $3.99 in my couch cushions. that's not the point.

i say if you can afford an i-phone you can shell out 3.99

@toddtreece

thank you for understanding. i really do think this is a wonderful project.

you might look into paypal's donation system? unfortunately i'm not very familiar with all the options, but it seems like an easy way to get a donate button up on a website somewhere. i'd be willing to help set it up or provide free hosting for it, let me know.

in fact, i don't own an iphone and don't plan on purchasing one (holding out for android to be honest), but i will donate $10 when you decide how you'd like to set it up, because i believe in the decision you've made. thanks again.

toddtreece: Thanks so much for making this - it will be great to have a mobile monome app to play with (unfortunately the 256 is not so portable). I'll happily donate the $3.99 as soon as you get the link up.