(27)
Your rating: Now say why...
SonicMood relieves stress by generating ambient music.
Is life stressing you out? Do you need to relax or block out that annoying babble from the next cubicle? Maybe you're just having a hard time falling asleep? Wouldn't it be nice to be in a garden, listening to the flow of water just a trickle away, the hum of crickets, a bird that creates melodies in the distance? Now at last you can with SonicMood! Each "Mood" is a blend of polyphonic stereo instrumentals with pleasing harmonies combined with the sounds of nature. Moods have a mellowing effect, the gentle sounds lying
Is life stressing you out? Do you need to relax or block out that annoying babble from the next cubicle? Maybe you're just having a hard time falling asleep? Wouldn't it be nice to be in a garden, listening to the flow of water just a trickle away, the hum of crickets, a bird that creates melodies in the distance? Now at last you can with SonicMood! Each "Mood" is a blend of polyphonic stereo instrumentals with pleasing harmonies combined with the sounds of nature. Moods have a mellowing effect, the gentle sounds lying
What's New
Version 4.9.9.6:
- Fixed a bug that reliably caused a crash when dropping a Mood file onto the Mood List.
- Changed all "PICT" graphics files to "PNG" files since PICT files are being deprecated by Apple.
- Improved the way instrument (MIDI) sounds are faded in volume (diminuendo), the way panning works for both instrument and soundfile sounds, and the way soundfile play/fade/pause is handled.
- Added an "alert" red color to the "value" text of the Edit window's soundfile min/max play and min/max pause time sliders. The alert appears if the user tries to drag a slider past its allowed value. For example, attempting to drag the min play time slider to a value higher than the max play time slider will highlight the slider value in red and the slider will stop. In other words, the min play or pause time must always be less than or equal to the max play or pause time.
Version 4.9.9.6:
- Fixed a bug that reliably caused a crash when dropping a Mood file onto the Mood List.
- Changed all "PICT" graphics files to "PNG" files since PICT files are being deprecated by Apple.
- Improved the way instrument (MIDI) sounds are faded in volume (diminuendo), the way panning works for both instrument and soundfile sounds, and the way soundfile play/fade/pause is more...
Requirements
- PPC / Intel
- Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later
- Soundflower (see Help for details) for recording digital output
SonicMood User Discussion (Write a Review)
Overall:
(32)
(32)
| Downloads:29,720 |
| Version Downloads:533 |
| Type:Home & Personal : Music |
| License:Shareware |
| Date:26 Oct 2011 |
| Platform:PPC / Intel |
| Price: $12.95 |
Overall (Version 4.x):  |
| Features: |
Ease of Use: |
| Value: |
| Stability: |
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SonicMood relieves stress by generating ambient music.
Is life stressing you out? Do you need to relax or block out that annoying babble from the next cubicle? Maybe you're just having a hard time falling asleep? Wouldn't it be nice to be in a garden, listening to the flow of water just a trickle away, the hum of crickets, a bird that creates melodies in the distance? Now at last you can with SonicMood! Each "Mood" is a blend of polyphonic stereo instrumentals with pleasing harmonies combined with the sounds of nature. Moods have a mellowing effect, the gentle sounds lying just below your consciousness. SonicMood comes with 37 pre-defined Moods AND you can create your own! It's ambient music at its best!
The 37 Moods use a mix of different instruments, including bells, crystals, kalimbas, glockenspiels, violins, and many others. Audio recordings of nature sounds are added to each mood. You can create your own moods or edit the existing moods. You won't find anything like this in conventional music...
Is life stressing you out? Do you need to relax or block out that annoying babble from the next cubicle? Maybe you're just having a hard time falling asleep? Wouldn't it be nice to be in a garden, listening to the flow of water just a trickle away, the hum of crickets, a bird that creates melodies in the distance? Now at last you can with SonicMood! Each "Mood" is a blend of polyphonic stereo instrumentals with pleasing harmonies combined with the sounds of nature. Moods have a mellowing effect, the gentle sounds lying just below your consciousness. SonicMood comes with 37 pre-defined Moods AND you can create your own! It's ambient music at its best!
The 37 Moods use a mix of different instruments, including bells, crystals, kalimbas, glockenspiels, violins, and many others. Audio recordings of nature sounds are added to each mood. You can create your own moods or edit the existing moods. You won't find anything like this in conventional music...
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+1
+22
Soundman reviewed on 06 May 2011
+4
iminlalaland reviewed on 16 Jan 2011
+2
Thank you for your comments (and stars! :)
I agree that SonicMood can seem complicated when you get into the "nuts and bolts" of it using the editor.
To change the Mood just double-click on the Mood you want to change to in the list that's in the main window (the one that opens when you launch SonicMood).
You can shift up one octave on the keyboard by holding down the "shift" key when you press one of the shortcuts.
If you have more questions about SonicMood, just email me here:
support@sonicmood.com
Thanks again for your comments!
John
+6
Ibeme reviewed on 07 Jan 2011
+1
-1
Mitch Russo reviewed on 06 Dec 2010
+2
+35
June8 reviewed on 08 Oct 2010
+2
+342
Steven Goodheart reviewed on 04 Oct 2010
+1
+4
Bdikkat reviewed on 04 Aug 2010
Pretty good piece of work, despite all that! I'd recommend it!
+1
+65
Thank you for your review (and the stars! :)
I think the "back and forth" you're referring to is a setting you can turn off. Both the "instrumental" (MIDI) sounds and the "nature" (soundfile) sounds can be made to move back-and-forth in the stereo soundfield. You can turn this off or change it (actually most "Moods" don't have this turned on) from the "Edit" window. At the top of the "Shared Instrument Settings" page and the "Soundfile Settings" page you'll find sliders and a small round button at the right side that control this "motion." If the button is blue, that means the motion effect is on - just click it to turn it off.
You're right about all the controls - but it can be fun to fiddle! :)
Cheers,
John
+3
+17
Mtcobra reviewed on 08 Apr 2010
To the developers: Thanks! I appreciate efforts that make a good product even better!
+2
+65
John
+1
+12
Jayce reviewed on 09 Feb 2010
I like the way I can fiddle with it when I have the time or inclination, to make new combinations of sounds and soundfiles, monkey with the tempo, turn the volume up here and down there and save the result as a new entry. And I like finding out bit by bit about all the goodies in SonicMood that I didn't even know about or at least hadn't played with yet.
But I love being able to turn it on and pick one mood or one combination of moods to play while I work or read (on the computer) or edit text or pictures. And it's wonderful when I'm with my MacBook in an airport or on a plane or in a motel; I can plug in my earphones and just listen. Or listen and work. Or listen and play Scrabble. It takes relatively little space in contrast to iTunes, seems to have very little CPU or memory usage.
I bought a second license for SonicMood when I put it on my MacBook. It was--and is--one of the very few single-machine apps that I was glad to buy a second time/
+4
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The interface is a jarring mix of non-standard behaviors and custom controls with crazy color schemes. It suffers from the clutter of too many 'niche' settings. It almost appears as though the developer crammed in every single feature request that he's received, to the detriment of the program. It needs to be ripped up and redone with a standard *clean* MacOS X interface. So for this I would give the program very low marks.
At the same time, the actual purpose of the app, creating mood soundscapes, is something it achieves with excellence. The included content is great, and there's even more content available at the website. On these points the program gets high marks.
So, redo the interface completely, and you've got a winning app.
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I'll admit I'm not the best interface designer, but I'd like to make a few points:
One, if you don't like the colors ("crazy color schemes") you can easily change them. Just open the Preferences, go to the "Windows" tab, and check the "Allow Editing" box. Then make whatever changes you want!
Two, are you referring to the main window when you mention "clutter?" If so I'd disagree. I don't think it's any more so than the iTunes window. It has a number of controls but they're labeled and should be easy to figure out. However, if you're talking about the "Edit" window then I'd probably agree with you. The problem for me is that SonicMood has so much capability that I haven't yet figured out how to present the controls for that power in a simple way. I'd welcome any suggestions for simplifications, though. :)
I do tend to add features when requested, and that can lead to some confusion for those who don't need these features. I try to keep things simple, but that's not always possible for a program that's trying to accommodate many users. And since I'm the programmer what I do always makes sense to me, although it might not to anyone else... ;-)
I do welcome suggestions on how to improve SonicMood's usability. If anyone has something specific, like "I don't understand what Tempo means and why it's located beneath the "play/pause" button" I'd be happy to listen and consider changes! :)
Cheers,
John
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I should have added that I appreciate your kind comments about SonicMood's operation. Thanks!
Also, I am receptive to your points about the interface. If you could suggest an app (or two) that I could look at to give me some ideas about changes I could make to SonicMood, that would be great! :)
Cheers,
John
+22
A good place to start is to look at the interface of all the standard applications in Mac OS X. Pay particular attention to the iLife and iWork apps.
Just a kind suggestion
+65
Thanks for the suggestion! :) I did try to model SonicMood after iTunes, albeit an earlier version of iTunes... But I'm working on getting SonicMood updated for version 5 and I'm hoping it will be more "Mac Like" starting with that version. If successful, I will also be able to make an iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad version that will have a subset of the Mac version's capabilities.
Cheers,
John
+22
You can always post some screenshots of your interface design ideas and I will be glad to review them.
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That's an excellent idea! I will consider posting screenshots on our web site (www.sonicmood.com) as version 5 moves forward. Right now I'm still in the "learning" stage. For more info on my plans you can read my blog post about this at:
http://sonicmood.com/WordPress/2010/06/10/whats-next-for-sonicmood/
One thing I think makes sense is to have the Editing interface on the same window with the Mood selection list. More of a "one window" approach.
Cheers,
John
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+65
Do you mean the boldface type on the controls, or the text in the lists, the marquee, etc. Or both? I made the type boldface so it would be more legible - I didn't realize it detracted from the look and feel of the interface. However, if others agree I would have no problem removing it.
Anyone else have an opinion on this?
Thanks,
John
+12
By the way, I greatly appreciate the capabilities of SonicMood for creating and listening to relaxing sounds.
+65
I see your point and you're probably right (thanks for the link, BTW). Well, I will definitely consider going back to normal fonts for those elements that are bold now. If anyone else has a differing opinion please let me know. I won't make the change immediately, but probably in the next point release.
Thanks for your interest and suggestion!
Cheers,
John
+65
Might be a few other changes, too ;-)
Thanks for the input!
John
Acltoronto rated on 10 Nov 2011
Denzman rated on 06 Sep 2011
+1
Cilalu rated on 17 Aug 2011
+30
Myka rated on 06 May 2011
+16
Skikel rated on 20 Apr 2011
+2
Widber rated on 18 Apr 2011
+1
Aka rated on 17 Jan 2011
-1
Jfcriipley rated on 10 Jan 2011
Chameleon81 rated on 08 Dec 2010
+1
Cilalu rated on 03 Dec 2010