Rassel by Klevgränd is a brand new release that turns your iPhone into one of the most popular and straightforward percussion instruments – a pocket shaker. The app is available for FREE on the App Store.
Klevgränd never disappoints with their holiday freebies. Last year they delivered Guiro, and the follow-up is an equally cool percussion instrument.
Rassel includes four different shaker instruments:
- Egg
- Shaker
- Tambourine
- Bells
The app uses the gyroscope in your iPhone to determine how you are moving the ‘instrument’ and its velocity. Rassel uses an audio rendering engine explicitly designed to take the information collected from the phone’s gyroscopic sensors and create sounds as a real shaker would.
All four instruments offer convincing sound simulations, and the shaking motion used to play them is intuitive, corresponding almost perfectly with the real deal. It saves a lot of space in your backpack or suitcase; in fact, it needs no carry bag at all – your pocket is enough.
The Apple App Store is full of well-engineered tools, so the quality of the instrument is not the most surprising aspect. The astonishing bit is that Rassel is entirely free to download for anyone with a compatible device.
This app is ideal for situations where you are on the road making improvised music with your friends. You can just load up Rassel around your campfire or picnic table and carry the beat with soft percussion while your friends sing.
Rassel can make jam sessions easier to arrange, and even if you don’t know an instrument well enough, you can stick to a simple rhythm to participate in the fun. It’s an instant beat.
You can also record the shakers in case you want something more organic than digitally produced jingles in your productions. Though the app’s shakers are digitally made, they are based on actual samples, and playing them in a room to a mic will color the sound with the room’s acoustics for an authentic feel.
Here’s a short clip demonstrating the use of this neat app:
If you like the technology behind the Rassel, try out more plugins by Klevgränd. Klevgränd makes quality plugins for all devices, like the Slammer – Drum Instrument. The Slammer features 30 different percussion instruments based on thousands of samples.
Klevgränd also makes other plugins besides percussion, like their Spinn – Multiband Modulation, LUXE – Audio Enhancer, and Hillman- Vintage Combo Synth.
If you’ve got an iOS device, Rassel is definitely worth checking out. It’s quick, fun, and super valuable for an impromptu jam. However, Android users will have to wait for now.
Download: Rassel (iOS app)
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