Blocs Wave: Record Music Live Reviews

by Mr. Glock8

This used to be one of my favorite apps. I made so many incredible beats from the awesome sound packs. Then I lost my phone and all my music. Needless to say I was highly upset. I stoppped making music for awhile. I decided to start again to see if I could recreate my old songs. But it seems like all of the sound packs have changed and I can’t locate any of the sounds that I had before. What’s worse is it seems like the packs no longer mesh. I don’t think I’m going crazy because I’m using other apps including sister app launch pad( which I love!) and I’m able to create some really awesome beats. Please explain what the heck happened? I don’t even feel like using BlocsWave ever again and I wasted a lot of money purchasing the sound packs! I wish I could get my money back but I know that’s not gonna happen. And it seems all my past creations are gone as well. I’m so mad I don’t know what to do!
Don’t waste your time or money on BlocsWave!
But that’s just my opinion. It changed and for the worse!

by Venicerocco

It's a shame, because BlocsWave is really cool. I love the layout, usability and speed. It's a seriously fun app. However, it is made completely redundant by the terrible, low quality of the audio samples. Presumably to make them quick to download. Knowing I could export as a .wav, I excitedly purchased several different packs which sounded fine when reviewed via earbuds. But if you export a mix and play it back on even rudamenrary speakers, you can hear how muddy and compressed the audio is. I am NOT an audio professional (which is why I like BlocsWave) and to my ears it just sounds terrible, rendering it as a fun toy to tinker with, not a music making tool. Bummer. If I was able to get good quality samples, I'd probably buy all the packs as I need to make music quickly for videos and spit them out.

by Eri143

I have been playing around with this one too and I actually subscribed to launchpad. I would have happily subscribed to this one if you didn’t require us to pay for each sound pack separately. That was kind of the dealbreaker for me. I’d like to be able to try out sounds without having to pay for them first like launch pad allows us to do. I’m not sure why you didn’t include a a price for everything as one like in your other app but please let me know if you ever do and I will be there. Also it would be nice if launchpad had more sound packs. 🤷🏻‍♀️

by Iona 6

I enjoy working with Blocs Wave, it really is great for generating ideas. If I could have one wish for a new feature it would be a record function that would work while "playing" scenes. I have made many chops that just do not play back exactly the same way when exported to either Launchpad or Ableton Live as they do when I'm switching between scenes in Blocs Wave--this is because in Blocs Wave you can essentially switch between two or more scenes that are running simultaneously rather than stopping and starting the scenes on the beat as in Launchpad or Live.

Would love to capture those grooves via audio inside BlocsWave and then export to DAW. A text-based manual PDF would also be helpful!

ETA: Installed today's (10 Apr 2020) update, now the Buy buttons in the marketplace are grayed-out. Please fix, there are packs I want to buy!

by CDaze

I couldn’t possibly call myself a proper musician, yet BlocsWave has led me to spend over 100 hours creating little beats and song ideas. The simplicity of it is brilliant.

The team behind BlocsWave clearly puts a lot of love and work into the sound packs (I’ve bought nearly all of them now). They seem to update with new packs roughly once a month which keeps BlocsWave fresh and fun.

Loses a star for three things. 1) The sound packs could use more variety. You can tell just from the type of available sound packs that the developers are London-based electronic music junkies. That’s all fine and good, but BlocsWave could be *amazing* if there was more variety. Give us a pack of just solo classical piano! Give us African drumming! 2) BlocsWave consumes battery like nothing else. I’m not really sure why, but it does. I have a new iPad Pro and the battery is under 50% after one hour of using Blocs Wave. And 3) It’d be even more fun if it played better (import/export) with other apps.

Aside from those three things, it’s fantastic. Keep up the great work, guys!

by Is It Here?

This all sat in my phone for a month before I got bored and began exploring it. Omg I can’t believe how powerful but amazingly simple to use little app. I’ve been looking for this!!!! Yeah it doesn’t have the advanced editing features some of my others have but it’s still super fun to play around with. I’ve made a couple bangers already. Awesome that you can’t shoot it over to Launchpad so you can play your “clips” individually almost like an Ableton environment. I hooked up my Launchpad mini and was super excited but unfortunately it doesn’t work with that app even though on the box it says it does. Man if I could build em all in Blocs Wave, shoot the individual shots over to launchpad app, plugin the mini, open GarageBand or Fl Studio or whatever DAW you want and use the IAA to have your launchpad and record? Hell I might never ever need a laptop again. AMPIFY PLEASE MAKE IT SO!!!! I will love and support you forever! Haha

Edit: I just read on Launchpads info that it does do that but only with iPad. Womp womp womp. Guess I gotta but an iPad now. Wish you could make that happen for iPhone.

by Stephengn

Intuitive & easy to use, Blocs Wave still has phenomenal creative range when the available (small fee) tools are used. The sound packs are varied, creative, of high quality musicianship and production value, and are also fairly priced (about the cost of a cola).
I’m already able to create inspiring sketches in a matter of minutes, but I’m also looking forward to the possibility of new tools such as high and low pass filters as well as the possibility of more detailed sample manipulation.
If you have a musical bone in your body, make room on your pad or phone for this one

by Lord Yashua El

Please add inter app capabilities , sound library word filter,
Stem recording in BlocsWave and more export options to record into song mode with in BlocsWave or into other compatible apps, Please.
These suggestions would put blocs over the top i am very pleased so far. This program has helped me grow and mature as a producer and artist in many areas as far as , song composition structure music theory and strengthening my catalog. thank you keep up the good work. Yours truly LORD YASHUA EL 👳🏿‍♂️🇲🇦

by Magnusxelsv

As an iPhone Plus user who enjoys using portrait view music apps, this very attractive piece of software has become my main recorder of tracks from audiobus. The Iap sampling options make it easy to grab tracks off iCloud so I can chop a break over some of those recordings ,the ui just feels good to use and the focus on giving iPhone users a solid interface is much appreciated.

However there are some odd limitations, which mostly seem related to the resampling algorithms used to keep tune and timestretch. This includes being unable to play samples melodically or pitch them individually. This is somewhat made up for by the awesome little randomizer in the slicer plus I think limitations are a good thing, but if there's anyway even just individual samples could be transposed this would be amazing. Or maybe even just one more band on the Eq haha. A really nice product regardless!

by Grimmwerks

I love Blocs Wave (and its companion Launchpad) - for me I use it as a way to sketch out ideas that I then export to Ableton Live (it exports a full Ableton Live project) and finesse it there. The sample packs one can purchase are slick and professional as well - or you can import your own samples.

It'd be great in a future version if you'd have more pitch control over samples, or the ability to pitch slices of a sample would be monumental - rather than being locked into the samples / songs key; it would allow you to use the same sample / instrument in other song parts.

by Axlsevn

One of the best music apps out there, no creative block can survive while this exists, great sound, awesome packs, wish there was a way to create your own packs for easier organization and filtering, also access to major keys would be great, and maybe a playback of all the scenes without having to jump manually. Anyways that’s just suggestions, I love BlocsWave and it’s a great resource for serious music production, scoring is awesome with this, if used with the right tools you can make amazing music here.

by None Better On The App Store.

I have purchased every loop based app on BlocsWave Store and find that Launchpad coupled with Blocs Wave is the best bargain, bar none. I am an accredited music producer, who feels the ability to modify, then export entire songs worth of phrases is a tremendous advantage. Especially considering most packs are only a dollar or two. I wish I could share my most recent production using these products, in this post to showcase the professional quality achieved with an iPad, these apps and a few hours of my time. Simply amazing! Keep nailing it Novation and you will have a fan for life!

by Dubstep Fan

I really wish Ampify would make an in app purchase to have a feature to create your own packs, it’s really difficult to see your files if you import a significant amount. Launchpad app has a slightly better organization system for importing your own files.

It’s a great app though, create combinations of sounds you wouldn’t have imagined and record from other apps via audiobus. Amazing for that alone.

by RashelleStarr

BlocsWave sounds amazing and has become my secret weapon in writing songs. You have got to add something to your next update ASAP please. When switching patterns there should be two things. The ability to have a different key. AND most importantly, the option to have the switch at the end of the phrase, so the switches are smooth and you don’t have to worry about pressing for the next pattern right on the beat. This makes it choppy and not very musical sounding. A song pattern programmer would be cool too.....still giving ya 5 stars. It’s a great app. But it seriously needs those additions.

Vir Unis
AtmoWorks

by Big NightTrain

Love blocs waves just needs a little work, 1st we need Fx like flanger reverb etc. 2nd instead of just 8 track sample Windows we need 16 or more. 3rd the ability to use other apps like AudioShare. 4th a keyboard to play with the samples. 5th better editing of the samples such as being able to use a sample that was imported from AudioCopy in more then 1 song project without undoing the edits to the sample being undone once you reopen the other project songs that you previously used said sample in. Other than that Blocs Waves is by far one of my favorite music creation apps. Ps we would pay for those features by the way thanks.

by John Bartholomew

BlocsWave really has a lot of really dope potential. Love how easy it is to put loops together with the sound packs you can buy in app. The loop packs are filled with really organic sounds and textures, and allow for easy manipulation within BlocsWave. Real easy to adjust pitch of sounds for the overall mix. If I had any suggestions for the developers, it would be to allow more than 8 bars for the slicing of samples. Also, adding support for AuV3 plug ins as well as importing your own wav files/sounds would take this to another level. Love BlocsWave tho and will continue to use it heavy as is.

by Dimitri G.

Love everything about BlocsWave, from the UI to sound options. Makes creating super engaging and intuitive. Only a few things missing that would make it 100%-
User collections- since I’ve got nearly 2 dozen sound packs it would be great to be able to save loops to my own groups or label them in a way that lets me categorize for future writing.
Sound loop tempo control - very often a loop would sound great if I could adjust its individual tempo without changing the whole song (similar to the garage band feature)
(Minor need) Sound loop detail - be cool to know if I’ve already used a specific loop one or many times already.
Other than that this is my favorite mobile music writing app

by Ryeanmusic

I've never written a review in my life but I believe BlocsWave is totally worth one. I am a intermediate producer and I recommend BlocsWave to beginners to the professionals. It is easy to use, the stock loops aren't cheesy like most apps, you can bounce files into your own DAW with a touch of button, and to top it off if you have writers block just hit the auto button for ideas. One more thing for iPhone users, I'm not sure if it does this for other phones but you can lock your screen while using app and still listen. I love that personally so I can review my production and critique/enjoy. I myself am now considering ableton live and some of the novation products just because of the brilliance on BlocsWave. Please please check it out.

by Toaster Fflow

This is a free app for recording, playing, and managing loops. It comes with automated key and tempo matching, which works amazingly well if one doesn't push the processing too hard. The integration with AudioBus feels seamless, but I often find that recording does not always start precisely on the downbeat. There are some no-brainer in-app purchases. The slicer is a great tool for abstracting the familiar. Importing my own audio files is a must, too. While some may find the pre-loaded tracks to be of great use, I wish could just delete them all to save space. I also wish that there was a fade-in/fade-out tool to fix recordings that start in the middle of a sound. I use it, mostly, to create ambient tracks with different parts slowly fading in and out.

by RashiHonser

The idea of making music on a phone or tablet seems like it would be just for play, but I am gotten real, great songs pieced together starting here with BlocsWave. The quality and diversity of their sound packs is amazing. Being an iPhone user you would think that you won’t get anything better than garage band-but trust me, get BlocsWave, maybe the companion apps also and some sweet in app purchases for two bucks each (not required but I have probably bought 30 of the sound packs because they are so good) and you will really expand your creativity and creation ability three times over. This is an amazing product and all of the stuff they put out has been stellar and I’m so happy it exists, and that I can get real songs down, not just tiny ideas.

by I Own The Pc Version

I have been using BlocsWave to assist in overcoming writers block and also to help spark new ideas. The samples are top notch and the UI is designed in such a way as to be intuitive and inspiring. All samples come pre-defined with tempo, key, type (melodic, percussive, bass, drums), and can be mixed and matched with ease.

The most valuable feature is the automatic time stretching allowing super experimental genre blending. It has your basic slip editing as well as EQ, and samples can be sliced to create different variations.

I do have some improvement suggestions for the devs. I’d like to see a 3rd export option: Export bank stems. You can currently sum a group and export that, but it would be nice to be able to get the individual stems without exporting the entire project with all 6 banks. Also, (and perhaps I missed it) but a solo feature would be nice. Who not flick down on a sample to mute it, and flick up on a sample to solo?

I have probably spent a good dozen or so hours in BlocsWave and I can confidently say this is an indispensable tool for any musician/producer at any level.

Note: when exporting sounds, always use WAV and make sure when importing into your DAW that your audio track is set to stereo, not mono. I saw a few noobs complaining it sounds bad when exporting and this is why.