Preview: AmbiScience: Galactic Chill

Two months ago I hooked up with Ron Watson of Tesla Software to begin work on a new AmbiScience relaxation/entrainment app. I've been a big fan of Tesla’s other AmbiScience apps, so when he asked if I’d like to do the music for a new one, I was very much interested. I’d never really written ambient tunes before, though much of the time when exploring sounds and instruments to use in the music I do write, I’d end up playing with them, creating lush chords and getting lost in the sound. And then I’d just write another trance tune, which is my usual and preferred genre. But I do like ambient music, and I loved the soundscapes created in the other AmbiScience apps, so I thought this would be a good challenge and a means to expand my musical horizons.

Now, two months later, the final product, AmbiScience: Galactic Chill has been submitted to the App Store, and is maybe a week away from being approved, so today I’m bringing you a sneak peek. It follows the same formula as previous AmbiScience apps, and features 11 tracks (8 by me, 3 migrated over from previous AmbiScience editions just to fill out the sound a bit), at least 10 entrainment effects (isochronic beats, which are said to attune brainwaves to particular frequencies in order to help you get into different frames of mind: Relaxation, sleep, energy, concentration, etc.), independent volume controls for the music and isochronic beats so you can tune them the way you like them, and a sleep timer that will automatically shut off after a set period of time. There are also entrainment presets for common activities that pairs a particular song or soundscape with a particular isochronic beat.

With AmbiScience: Galactic Chill I tried to vary the music for just such a variety of tasks, ranging from pure ambience and lush pads to chillout and upbeat electronica tracks. The overall theme is one of exploring the universe from the comfort of your chair or bed through space-themed songs written to inspire feelings of being there and witnessing the majesty of the universe in all its glory — even as its enormity can seem intimidating at times. I’m pretty proud of the work that I’ve done on the music, and I hope that you’ll enjoy it, too. I’ve tried to capture sonically the feelings that are instilled in me when I think about the subjects of each song. The video embedded below features an intro that uses some of the sounds I included in one of the tracks (ovean waves, city traffic), plus an edited version of another uptempo chillout track featured in the app. The audio is pretty heavily compressed so it sound like crap, but rest assured it’s all CD-quality, lossless audio in the app.

Presuming it doesn’t get hung up for one reason or another, AmbiScience: Galactic Chill should be live on the App Store in about a week or so.

 

Not at the moment, no. This is a stand-alone release, at least for now. Ron and I can discuss it down the road if he wants to include it in a bundle, but it'll probably involve some contract renegotiation if it happens.

 

Thank you. Most of the other tracks are much more ambient or a little more downtempo, but I thought that one worked best in the trailer.

You're welcome, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the tracks!

 

DLC is definitely an option for OS 3, and that's something I'll be talking with Ron about, as I think it's a great idea. I agree about saving space on your springboard, and I appreciated when Ron released the bundle pack, as I just downloaded that and deleted the three others. I'll see if he can talk to Nick (his coder) about he before it jets off on vacation, give him some time to learn the DLC API and see if he can rework the bundle pack to include the option for new content.

 

Yes, that's what Rockey04 was referring to upthread. It's handy to save on Springboard space, but it doesn't really contain anything new, so it's really a matter of whether saving a couple of app slots is worth $3 to you.

 

Might be because it hasn't been approved yet. I'm hoping to see it this week though. It was submitted last Thursday night, so with luck that should be within the week (average) approval window. You never know with Apple though. It could end up being vetted by the guy who plays Flight Control all day.

 

Okay, here's the scoop on what may be going on with bundling and the iPhone 3.0 features.

1) Nick is going to look into creating an abstracted bundling framework that can use DLC to purchase and download new releases/bundles for use on iPhone 3.0. That may be a ways off yet though, but Nick's eager to learn new things, so I think he could pull it off. I'm not sure how DLC works though -- does Apple host it or is it pulled externally? If it's the latter than the real challenge (and expense, frankly) is going to be setting up and maintaining the DLC server. There's going to be some pretty massive bandwidth usage involved (these files are large after all) so if it isn't hosted through Apple's servers, that's going to require some infrastructure setup and no small expense.

2) In the mean time there will probably be a second 3-in-1 bundle released that will feature Galactic Chill along with two other new ones, one of which will be released within the next few days, and the other probably next week or so. No idea when the bundle will be released, but I wouldn't look for it 'til after the individual apps' sales curves enter long-tail mode. (I'd probably count on a month or more)

So there's the update on future plans.

 

Nope, not yet, and it looks like it might take a bit longer than anticipated. Ron asked after some other updates he had submitted two weeks ago and Apple acknowledged and apologized for the delay. Seems to be a common theme over the past couple of weeks.

 

Released!

Woohoo! Galactic Chill has been released!

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=320540103&mt=8

I'll post an official release message as soon as I've got some codes to hand out. (May be a day or two as I think Ron has jetted off on vacation, so he'll have to wait 'til he hits the ground and gets settled in his hotel before he can generate them and send them to me.)