Korg Forums

Yes Korg it is time! It is time to start making Android versions of all of your iphone based products.

See Android developers from OS to actual hardware have stepped up. I will now be getting a new cell / mini pad device from Motorola that has a dual core processor, a gig of ram and 16 gig storage, basically a new cell device that equals the iPhone.

In the past there were questions about all droids being too slow or not powerful enough and blaa bla bla blaaaaaa, but guess what Korg; with this much power in droid phones there are no more excuses! It is time to develop and really from a business point of view you need to ask yourself, do you want some hacker to get paid for developing a way to make your product work on a droid or do you want that money. Cos I know, and I am hunting for this, an iKaossilator that is set up to work on my new droid device.

never going to happen...too much fragmentation, too high latency, and poor multitouch...i want it, but it is just never going to happen...

"too much fragmentation, too high latency, and poor multitouch"

I don't know what Android device yo're using, but my Acer Iconia a100 has no fragmentation, a max of 20ms or latency (usually less), and great multitouch.

fragmentation means that there are far too many android models, where as apple only has 1 model of current phone, and 4 - 5 older models.....making a great app that works on all of the various android models and sizes and specs is one of the biggest challenges to any android developer...and the latency of android touch and multitouch has been measured extensively...it is very poor

Ohh, I see. It seems like many devs are able to use very high graphics to make apps look good on the smallest phones to the largest tablets, however. I may be wrong, though.

In said testing, did they test many devices, including newer ones? I know that Apple has pretty much the best touch screen, but it seems as if most Android devices are very similar time wise.

Yoa wrote:"too much fragmentation, too high latency, and poor multitouch"

I don't know what Android device yo're using, but my Acer Iconia a100 has no fragmentation, a max of 20ms or latency (usually less), and great multitouch.

What musical instrument apps are you using on your Android?

The screen size is a small factor compared to trying to make an app that will perform well with the same features (or somehow detect and dynamically disable features) across such a vast array of phones with different processor power and OS versions.

If you only target the high-performance phones, you're only getting a fraction of the market share, so you probably won't make anywhere near as muh money.

This is one big reason why Apple's products are a lot easier to develop for (in high-performance and consistent applications).


Can't say i like that position, but it's the truth. If you want serious music apps, get an apple device.

If you want serious music making full-stop, don't use a phone anyway.

Scott M2 wrote:What musical instrument apps are you using on your Android?

Let's see... Here's just the list of apps:
VL Tone (not sure why, I have an actual one)
xPiano
DrumKit
Saucillator
My Piano
Sythe
Caustic
Solo
My Guitar
My Bass
Ethereal Dialpad
Songify
Magic Piano
Musical Bubbles
Droid DJ (kinda counts, right?)
All the MusicBox apps
Melodrone
Blip
Go Techno
Square One

Long list, I know, but may as well give you as much info as possible.

Bowmoney wrote:fragmentation means that there are far too many android models, where as apple only has 1 model of current phone, and 4 - 5 older models.....making a great app that works on all of the various android models and sizes and specs is one of the biggest challenges to any android developer...and the latency of android touch and multitouch has been measured extensively...it is very poor

Sorry Bowmoney (and as much as I hate to) I have to disagree with you all across the board. You should take a look at some of the comparison reviews on devices like droid razr vs iphone s4. The specs are pretty much the same and in some cases Smart Phones like Razr actually out strip iphone in a few areas regarding speed and power. Then we have the Galaxy S 3...quad core processor??? If I had the extra cash I would have waited for that but I needed a new device now and the Razr has better construction.

I will agree that not all Android phones can hack it but there is a level of Android smart phones that are literally pocket or palm tablets. Basically if it looks ridiculous next to your ear when using this 1/3 sized tablet as a phone, this is the category of Android I am talking about.

On my Razr I am running Grand Theft Auto and Mass Effect. Smooth action, no latency of android touch and multitouch....it's f*ck*ng amazing. And these are 1 gig plus games that demand a lot of juice...4 times more than any of the iElectribes or iKaossilator and iMS-20.

Anyone who's studying the video game market now will tell you that the industry is taking Android serious and are developing for this format in order to compete against and marginalize portable game units like PS and Nintendo. In latest news PS anounced that they are starting a pilot program to offer the same portable gaming cataluge they offer in their latest PS to HTC cell / mini tablet devices. They find that their programing can work on Android.

Now why am I talking up a storm on video games on a thread about Korg music toys? Simple; see games like Mass Effect, Grand Theft Auto and the list is getting bigger...are far more demanding of resources than a simple 64MB app for music creation like the iMS-20 or the iKaossilator.

Right now the top music composition software for the android is Caustic or Caustic 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_i9RLD6KtY https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... re.caustic
http://www.appbrain.com/app/caustic-2/c ... re.caustic

To be honest I think those at korg making these desisions are totally dropping the ball. Caustic is taking customers that could be Korgs,

Anyhow, there you go...latency and fragmintation?!?! may have been the case when I got my HTC droid Eris many years ago but with todays technology, dual core and ddr2 ram and better everything...latency and fragmintation issues; Bullshit!

ok...well...i am friends with three android programmers and 5 apple app programers, and that is what they told me about why major companies like korg are not producing professional music apps...straight from the horses's mouths.....it would take so long to make it compatible with the hundreds of devices that no one will invest in it...apps turn over too quickly...

@SMK - you are right that the hardware is getting a lot better. But Bowmoney is also absolutely right that fragmentation and performance issues are holding back a lot of app developers from moving into Android (and not just in the world of music apps, but many high-performance tasks)

I understand your compulsion to defend Android - I love it too. And I'm glad it's getting better. And I hope that, in time, these issues will disappear - indeed, they are already starting to get a lot better. But there are still obstacles - and even if there weren't, there is still the /perception/ of obstacles.

Stuff like this in tech usually goes the same way: the closed, controlled system (iOS) is better at first, because it doesn't suffer from these kinds of issues. But the open, free system (Android) usually catches up in the long run, because although it makes more time, the open platform ultimately allows for more innovation.

Just uh, as a random interjection, I know they aren't org or anything, but Nick Copeland took a huge collection of virtual synths from Linux and made them Android compatible. They work and sound great, but cost $2 each. He's got everything from the 2600 to the OBx to the Minimoog, al virtual. Not advertising, just point them out as a repalcement for, say, an android iMS-20 or whatever.

I'm seeing the problem here...some how we are all wraped up in "Device compatibility" instead of the the "elephant in the room" which is OS compatibility.

Lets first try some new words here to define a few perimeters. You have android phones which are very basic like cheap starter computers then you have android tablets and then finally in 2012 we have what should be called "palm tablets"

Palm Tablet: cell phone based form factor device (typically bigger than most phones) that are running processors that match the quality of tablets. All Cell devices that run dual core and above have 1gig of high quality ram or more. A Palm Tablet is the same as the bigger form factor but phone capable and obviously smaller.

Now we have established some boundaries here. All is left in the droid world is actually the OS.

What I have been trying to say is that iPhone has been a Palm Tablet far longer than droid. It is ONLY resent that the technology for Droid as been upgraded to compete with that of iPhones. We now how Droid Palm Tablets that can run the same apps as the bigger Droid Tablet. Even then we have had Droid Tablets for a very short while. But this is exactly like the Mac vs PC. Software companies have made their products work for both for years. They didn't worry about developing to fit exactly for the perfect computer, they developed for the OS...that's it. And then they posted requirements on how a PC or Mac can run the software. If you don't have dual core...you're SOL. If your device meets the requirements the software demands then great.

I am almost ready to say that developers programing for the Droid are just plain lazy! And are using the device as an excuse to tell the main company like Korg. Because to make an iMS-20 does sorta means doing it again.

For android developers, program for the OS (Ginger bread and or ICS) list the requirements the Palm Tablet must have to run the app...you're done!

I would like Korg to just follow that simple recipe instead of thinking too damn much. 4G Motorola Droids and Samsung Galaxy units 2 and 3 seem to have the right power for this type of thing.

I think the problem then becomes that, while Android's overall numbers are impressive (and ahead of iOS, I believe), when you narrow it down to just those few high-end devices, you aren't talking about very many potential customers. Not even CLOSE to the number of iPhones and iPads out there.

So if you were Korg, and you had to choose between working on an update for your iOS app, and working on an Android version of your app, which would you choose?

I'm not saying I *fully* support the lack of an Android device - I'd love to see a company like Korg step up and embrace Android. That would be awesome. But I can't say I'm that surprised that they haven't -- yet.

Exactly what Marcus said above.


Also, another factor is the development environments for these two platforms are entirely different. There are a few libraries that get around this but usually you sacrifice for performance on that front.

Basically, android development happens in Java. iOS development in objective-C.

Not like on Windows and Mac where a cross-platform product can be developed, tested, and built in one environment and language.