Rave Reviews for TabToolkit
Just two days after its launch on the iTunes App Store, TabToolkit is already receiving rave reviews from guitar enthusiasts, major media writers, mobile tech bloggers, and most importantly to all of us here at Agile Partners, our customers. These reviews have helped propel TabToolkit to the #30 position on the Top Paid Apps list in the iTunes App Store Music category (as of this writing).
When TabToolkit launched two days ago, Dave at fretbase.com wrote, “Just like GuitarToolkit, we love TabToolkit because it does exactly what it claims it will do … when you load your Power Tab and Guitar Pro tabs, TabToolkit makes you feel like you have been transported into the future.” Dave continues to say, “We think it is well worth its price of $9.99 and a must have for all guitar players who play with tablature.” Travis Ehrlich at geardiary.com wrote yesterday, “Agile Partners have really outdone themselves with this app! TabToolkit is attractive, easy to use and fast … this is a quality app!”
Matt Rosoff at cnet’s Digital Noise blogged, “…a very sophisticated app that performs well — no freezes or stutters, as I’ve experienced with other music-oriented apps.” TabToolkit was named a Cult of Mac Favorite by Lonnie Lazar, who also commented, “I can say without reservation that Agile Partners have created an incredibly useful, well-thought-out app.”
TabToolkit has also captured the attention of mobile technology bloggers. Over at thismobilelife.com, the headline was, “TabToolkit: The Guitarist’s NEW Best Friend!” At TotalApps.com, David Kint wrote, “If you had asked me two weeks ago if I ever thought such a multi-featured application would run on an iPhone or even be possible I would have had serious doubts. Yet, here it is. If you own a guitar and an iPhone then the TabToolkit and GuitarToolkit are two essential applications you really must own.” Palm Sounds featured the TabToolkit video.
Finally, we’re fortunate to have received incredible feedback from TabToolkit customers around the world. JackHarteveld in the UK wrote, “This is a fantastic app, definitely worth the price! A clean, easy way to take tabs with you, with the added bonus of letting the device play the songs out for you! A great companion to GuitarToolkit and a highly polished app; an easy recommendation for guitarists.” NickMaher in Australia wrote, “Very polished application, well worth the money” and Vab-1971 in Belgium said, “Application très soignée, un vrai régal.” I’m not entirely sure what that last comment says, but it came with a five-star rating!
Thank you to all the writers who reviewed TabToolkit in the first two days of its launch, and a special thanks to TabToolkit customers around the world for providing us with your comments and feedback. Please keep it coming — we’re dedicated to enhancing TabToolkit and all our products, and keeping our customers happy!
TabToolkit was a significant technical challenge in a number of ways. By rendering out music notation in realtime and coupling it with synthesized instrument output, we feel like we’re really expanding the capabilities of the platform. We initially planned on launching 1.0 without synthesized audio, but after hearing a prototype implementation work for the first time, we realized we just had to do it.
Creatively, there were plenty of hurdles to overcome as well. We had to create our own font for the music notation display. The combination of Adobe’s licensing options and the lack of good, freely available music notation fonts made creating our own the most compelling option.
