Overview
RjDj is a reactive music app that generates audio using the microphone on the apple ear buds. Depending on which scene you select, the audio picked up by the microphone will be filtered and/or used to trigger beats or tones creating a real-time “song” from the ambient noises in your environment. Once you’ve chosen a scene, you can record the audio for later listening. Walk around and listen to how the world is changed with RjDj Album.
Features
Once you get into this app, you’re asked to select a scene. Scenes are interactive compositions. The audio picked up by the microphone trigger beats or melodies created by the Artist. Some of the audio is often allowed to pass through altered by echo or pitch shifting effects. The app is preloaded with six fairly distinct scenes, and you’re sure to find at least on that you like.
After selecting a scene, you can either let the audio pass through, or you can record. This feature seems pretty useless at this point as the app lacks the ability to export the track. If you do record, you can go back and select from your recordings and listen at a later time from within the app.
Right now there are only four Artists to choose from. Their styles are distinct, and the accompanying art is appropriate to the themes, with the exception of WorldQuantizer by Roman Haefeli. This scene simply has instructions on how to get the most out of the experience. You can navigate by artist using the tab at the bottom of the screen.
If you've spent a little time with RjDj, you're interested in where it's going next. At the bottom of the main menu you'll see a tab for RjDj.me. That's a link to the RjDj developer page. On there you'll get a bunch of great information about future development, and even how to make your own scenes. Don't get too excited, it's fairly complicated and definitely not user friendly.
Breakdown
The Good:
This app is very easy to use. All you really do is select a scene and decide whether or not you want to record this session. It accomplishes the goal of changing your perception of your environment. The pleasure from the novelty of the app is considerably long lasting, as long as your environment is considerably noisy. In a purely aesthetic sense, RjDj is one of those apps that is easy on the eyes.
The Bad:
The fact that this app is only loaded with six scenes is a little upsetting, considering that it’s three dollars. The developers website says that they are working on a way to add scenes, but they have no date set for this. Some of the scenes create what could best be described as annoying noise. Other create sounds that seem to have nothing to do with the environment, with no actual audio passing through the filters. On top of all this, the inability to export recordings is a true let down.
Verdict
If you’re into novel ways of making music, I highly suggest this app. I would temper this enthusiasm if not for the promise of future scenes, and the option to potentially create your own. As it stands, many of the scenes accomplish the task of changing your perception of your surroundings in the moment, but most do this in an undesirable way. Right now, this app is hardly a useful music generation app, and the novelty alone will have to support the decision to make a purchase.
