Appmuse

Riffles is a super creative music app for any guitar player, songwriter or music producer. Somehow programmer Jonathan Bell has encoded the wisdom and experience of the most versatile virtual session guitar player ever. Riffles can create riffs of chords, leads, bass parts or even synth parts in a wide range of styles from Classic Rock to Blues to Metal (and all its incarnations) to Funk, EDM, Ambient, you name it. There’s a full set of parameters you can control to determine the style, key, tempo, rate of bends, vibrato, chords, runs, scales and also amps & effects. Then click the generate button and you’ve got something that will sound decent and can be further customized. This is great for songwriting, for laying down some guitar tracks as audio or MIDI. The developer has been updating the app regularly and also has a MacOS / Windows VST in the works. It’s a great app from a developer who is doing something that is extremely valuable to any songwriter. Plus it’s on sale for the price of a big city beer. Show more

I had recently made a review two nights ago and only gave this app 4 stars because of an audio exporting issue. Now that issue is resolved, I feel 100% comfortable giving this awesome app 5 stars! Thank you so much for one of, if not, the best app I’ve ever used! :D Show more

Really enjoying messing around with this. Honestly, watching videos made by the creator and other YouTubers hasn’t really helped me as much as just messing with it and exploring its capabilities. I’ve been able to apply this in orchestral music (staccato strings), EDM (running synth stabs) and lots of other instruments in genres thanks to the new ability to run in AUv3. While there are lots of things this app can do, one thing I wanted that I haven’t figured out yet is how to use this as a basic acoustic guitar sound. That’s originally what I got the app for. I’ve been able to do so many amazing things besides that. I don’t know if I’m missing something or if it’s just that it isn't what this app aims to do. (Although it would be nice if added since I literally can’t find a single acoustic guitar generator.) I can highly recommend this app despite my lack of an acoustic setup with it. It does what it does really, really well and has reached far beyond what I expected to use this app for, mostly. Show more

Just got it and never thought I’d add such hot guitar licks to my homemade sessions. Been though a lot of apps and my quest has ended,it’s home with me and I thank the developers for making my 85 birthday a rockin event. Fun and satisfying, go get it don’t wait it’s the answer to a sax and keyboarders dream Show more

2.0 scared me and made me angry. i wrote a childish review instead of just messaging the developer and letting them know my thoughts on v2.0 like a normal person who was addicted to v1 v2.05 may be the most fun ive ever had using the app ever. the oddly realistic guitar tones from v1 are almost back to normal, but i feel like theyve been improved in most ways, not to mention the insane amount of new tones and effects. everything is much more fluid, i used to attempt to manipulate the app to perform in more of a live jam manner. it was impossible. but now? holy cow. i feel like after just a few hours of tinkering and exploring the new design, i could convince one of the old clubs i used to play at to let me do a one man band jammer for the evening while singing adlibbed vocals about various liqour obsessions, 100 length cancer sticks, fast automobiles, pet dander and former relationship partners. i could go on and on about what drives me absolutely wild with this app but id rather just say that the magic of it is still here and i have a feeling its only gonna get better with user suggestions and ideas so heres a few things that im gonna nitpick just for the curiousity to find out if they are even possible due to the incredible job the developer has done despite our nasty and sullen reviews of the pretweaked and rather buggy update that has now been fixed: 1) the EXTREME "Black" styling is near perfect. ive never witnessed such an accomplishment in an iOS app. id like to see a few more variants of "Black" to allow for easier creation of the more epic side of the genre as opposed to every click of the create button making a riff that is almost the same as the last but different enough to be considered as an excellent transition (this suggestion is merely a specific example of how there could maybe be a touch more variation within the individual style setting buttons, instead of every press of the template sounding like the same band wrote it. Its amazing, but thats the only improvement i could foresee it having) 2) while the ability to wildly exaggerate the drum parts by mixing up the different advanced time signatures is a super fun way to create actual drum parts, it would be convenient and nice to eventually have a simple 3 or 4 track drum sequencer or even just some styled preset measures of different drum loops to randomize or punch in some more suitable percussion variations outside of the kick and snare, metronome and hihat separately. or maybe just the option for some drum fills on 2 or 4 to fall in with the magnificent "Runs" feature? in a perfect world, a preset drum loop for each of the various genre presets would probably be the best and easiest request to make everyone happy with the drum side of the app. a million blessings to the developer for adding a drum volume knob. its absence in v1 was the only flaw i ever felt strongly about before. 3) i wanted to critcize the guitar tones somehow, but honestly im loving them. the new ones are great and the dynamic contrast between them makes experimenting with each as the riff plays ALOT OF FUN, however with quick movements, sometimes the buttons for them seem a bit cramped or dont always trigger when touched. maybe the areas of the screen that trigger each at are too close together or maybe the areas programmed for to reconize the touch arent big enough? or maybe in my excitement i cant hit it properly, i dunno but it would be cool if all the grouped buttons on some of the pages throughout the program on the new layout had just a tad more room to ensure the user is touching and activating the intended setting. 4) love the addition of the knobs, the way they adjust is beyond that of big name paid apps, but the lack of specific time divisions or "hard settings" like in v1 with preset delay modes is kinda difficult to dial in. maybe this is because its designed around tempo syncing with a daw? if thats the case ignore this request but i just want a quick way to dial in something familiar to the v1's "rhythmic delay" or maybe a feedback adjustment as well instead of the combined time/feedback single knob (expertly done by the way, the taper of each is perfect, would just be cooler if there was a way to work the two parameters separately if desired) 5) mr developer: please consider charging all of us money for these pro level features youve created. you would be surprised at the positive ramifications amassed from a small or even large amount of payment for quality app work such as this. just imagine the feeling of accomplishment money will give you in our overtly capitalist society. but whatever you do, PLEASE NEVER evolve this into a sudden subscription style setup. you probably werent even considering that, but i wanted to be the first to speak up on the subject since it seems to be a popular trend in some really solid apps these days, rendering them completely worthless valuewise. ill continue to update my review as you continue to tweak your newly evolved creation. i shall continuously thank you and annoyingly praise you for your hard work. im also higher than a dualstring kite on a windy beach right now so CHEERS! RIFFLER FOR LIFE! ---gatedfuzz Show more

This app is amazing! You can set a ton of parameters and have it create one great sounding guitar riff after the next. Easily export the midi, or audio to use in your favorite DAW/Host and trigger any sounds you want. The audio is quality as well, so use the loops if you like too. Everything it creates is yours to use anyway you would like to use it. Use it to practice guitar, or create original music. There’s so many genres of music to select from, and different parameters to set, ie key, scale, tempo, rhythm, tuning, character, gaps, etc.. or randomize everything and see what you get. It’s unreal how fun this is but also how many great riffs it pumps out. I literally save/favorite almost every single one. If you play guitar or make music I highly recommend this app. Top notch and well worth the money! Update - now with AUv3 10 Stars! Show more

I like this app, it’s great! But, I really don’t like the new look. I just prefer the old design. I don’t think I could get used to the new design. Please, change the design back. Thanks! Show more

Dev really stepped this app up.

I literally used this app EVERY SINGLE DAY since the day it was released, and besides little hi-cups every update was AMAZING! But I’m begging, pleading that this is NOT what this app has come to? Please please don’t ruin this app… I cannot even begin to understand why this beautiful sounding, easy to use and master, with great (yet small) selection of effects, has somehow become a step WAY back? May I ask for the folks who LOVED the old riffler can we somehow go back to that version, or can you re-release that version (or better) this version as a whole and completely different app? Maybe Riffler stays the way it was and make this app Tabbler? Or something ? I will GLADLY buy the old app again if need be, without any issue! Please consider, I know without a doubt in my mind, Not one person who loved Riffler, will much like this new release… (just because the guitars sound awful!) Show more

I have been a music composer for 40 years and my main composition tool is now the iPad Pro which has music tools I could only have dreamed of in my 20,s I am in my 50s but better late than never. The guitar parts that this generates are good enough to go on my next album thank you so much for the developer to make such an awesome guitar generator. I am also a guitar player but using this tool is way faster for music ideas. Please always develop this app we need innovative music app developers and this is one of my new top favorites. Please buy this app to support the developer is so worth it Todd Show more

I produce heavy Dubstep and this is exactly what I was looking for. It’s easy to use and does the work for you. I’m having a blast just using the random button. This is way better than having to go through a bunch of sample packs. It blows any guitar VST I’ve used so far. Keep up the good work developer! Show more

Really nice app implementation. Just a great tool for sparking ideas and creativity for guitar. Tons of adjustments and variations to work with. I can’t fathom the brain power that it took to put this together. All we need now, is a bass generator just like this. And maybe a metal/rock solo generator. I’d grab them in less than a blink from this dev. Wow, nice job! Show more

Totally fun way to break the monotony of writers block- mess around with anything to change the notes/style/rhythm/key/scale - tabs are there to help with reference; many ideas come from just playing around. Also you can export the midi file into your DAW, and build a project that way. Totally recommend - can’t believe it’s taken someone this long to make an app like this. Hopefully some updates will be presented soon, and hopefully the updates don’t change the overall performance of the app- it’s perfect as it is! Maybe additional scales, some help/info regarding every feature so it’s explained - but like I said- it’s an awesome app- I’d give it 8 stars if I could Show more

Completely misinterpreted the description of this app and bought it hoping to use it to write down some of my riffs—turns out it only generates “random” riffs based on parameters. Maybe that’s my fault for not reading carefully. Hope version 2 gets here fast with writing abilities Show more

This is pure excellence. One thing though, could you add random chord progressions so you could come closer creating songs. I know it’s for riffs, but it would be top of the line then. Show more

Saw your Twitter video of the new version demo and I am really looking forward to the release. This is one awesome app.

I would love if you guys add a feature were one can put their own notes to see how it would sound. I feel like that would increase this apps value a ton Show more

I searched forever and downloaded so many crappy guitar apps, hoping they might function as I needed (As i can’t play guitar…or anything..at all). Finally, I stumbled on this one, via Youtube. The tutorials were really helpful, btw. I then jumped to the app store, prepared to pay ANY amount of money! $10? I would have happily paid double… thanks man- for keeping my 1-man-band rock ‘n’ roll dreams alive! Show more

I was looking for an app with a good guitar sound font (GarageBand leaves a lot to be desired) and this comes with the bonus of doing the work for me. However, one thing I’d add would be an editor if possible, being able to start with something and add or change more would be great for this app. Show more

The sounds are excellent. The algo is impressive for what it is, and, certainly for how I want to use it. I can only speak for myself, but, it so frustrating the creator can't break out his niche focus and see how close he is serving other niches. I'm referring to long-play auto generative music via the AUM daw. So close, yet, so far. Riffler could 'own' that 'space' for rock guitar with basically two adaptations. "Length" needs more than "8", preferably length needs an Infinity button, but, short of that, then at least bump it up to 128 or 256. Look at the Riffer [Riffler w/o the "l"] implementation of infinity play for a smart solution. As for AUM, I can sympathize if the prospect of fully integrating with AUM seems like a big ask, but, there is an easier way developers have been using for years. A good example of what I mean would be how Piano Motif app broadcasts MIDI useable by AUM. Once piped into AUM there are a score(s?) of tools to manipulate MIDI alone. Again, Riffler impresses me, but, the managing tiny fragments of sound just doesn't interest me as a non-professional hobbyist. Was it Ovid that suggested something like, "Life is short, Art is long"? Meaning, 'Time is a scare resource, Music is best played without interruption for long periods.' If you focused on the long-play niche then the interface could could probably be simplified as well. Would be happy to buy a second app with the focus I'm sort of pleading for :) Update: Based on this obviously talented developer's 1st answer I tentatively add 1 star (trying not to let the power go to my head). Show more