New in version 3.3.0
Added
- Wah: a Manual mode, where a new Pedal control sweeps the filter instead of the LFO. Assign it to an expression pedal or a CC knob.
- Rehearsals: remove the phone speaker's bleed from a take recorded with the click on the loudspeaker, from the lane's menu. The original is kept.
Changed
- Auto-Wah is now Wah. Existing projects load unchanged.
Fixed
- Rehearsals: a track could briefly fall silent when playback started or the playhead moved.
GrooveForge is a portable MIDI keyboard studio for Android. Plug in a MIDI controller, pick a soundfont, and play.
It began as a practice companion, light enough to carry on a phone or tablet, for rebuilding scales and muscle memory at a keyboard. It grew well beyond that, but it remains a tool for practising and playing, not a DAW.
Rehearsals
A band learning a tune together, without a studio. Everyone records their own part over a shared click, on their own phone, and the parts collect into one arrangement that every device holds a full copy of.
Import a recording to play along to — MP3, FLAC and WAV everywhere, plus M4A, AAC and the sound of a video on Android. Tap the tempo, then drag a marker to the first downbeat so the grid lines up with the music.
Every device delays sound on the way out and on the way in, which would push each take late. GrooveForge measures that delay on your device and shifts your take back by it, so what you played on the beat lands on the beat.
Nothing is uploaded anywhere and no account is needed. Devices sync directly over the local network: scan a code once, then opening the same tune is enough. No internet needed, and without Wi-Fi one phone's hotspot is the whole network.
Instruments
GrooveForge Keyboard — soundfont synth (.sf2) with bank and patch selection and MIDI channel routing. Every slot is independent.
Vocoder — mic-driven voice synthesis.
Stylophone — monophonic metal-strip instrument.
Theremin — touch pad with vertical pitch and horizontal volume.
Drum Generator — beat patterns from bossa nova to metal, with human feel.
Xen: microtonal scales
Hold a note, tap a scale. The note you are holding becomes the tonic, the keyboard locks to the scale built on it, and — for scales that are not equal-tempered — the keys it uses are retuned to sound as the tradition intends. One keyboard, one gesture.
92 scales across eleven families: Western modes; Arabic and Turkish maqamat; Persian dastgah; Indian ragas in just intonation; Chinese, Japanese and Korean modes; Thai seven-equal; Javanese and Balinese gamelan; Ethiopian qenet and Ugandan amadinda; Highland pipe, hardanger fiddle and Byzantine chant; historical temperaments; and equal divisions from 13 to 31 tones, Bohlen-Pierce, and Wendy Carlos's non-octave alpha, beta and gamma.
Retuning uses a full MIDI tuning table rather than pitch bend, so every note of a chord sounds at its own correct pitch. Out-of-scale keys grey out and retuned ones show their offset in cents.
Each scale says where its numbers come from: a temperament is exact, a maqam follows the convention that notates it, a gamelan is tuned by ear and varies between instruments.
Build your own scales too — any number of degrees, an offset per key, and a mute that keeps a degree playable while the scale lock ignores it. Import and export Scala (.scl) files.
Loopers
MIDI Looper — record and loop MIDI patterns with bar sync.
Audio Looper — record and loop live audio with bar sync, overdub and reverse.
Effects
Plate reverb, ping-pong delay, wah (auto or pedal-controlled), 4-band EQ, compressor and chorus/flanger, with BPM sync where it makes sense. Live Input routes a microphone or line-in through any of them.
And the rest
Plugin rack — an ordered, drag-and-drop rack of module slots, reorderable at any time.
Scale lock and highlighting — root, in-scale and out-of-scale keys coloured on the on-screen keyboard.
Jam Mode — one slot leads; the slots after it lock to its harmony.
CC mapping — map hardware knobs, sliders and pads to MIDI effects or application actions.
Projects — save and restore complete rack configurations to a .gf file. The last session is autosaved on every change.
GrooveForge is free software, built by one developer in their spare time. Rough edges are expected, and releases happen when time allows.
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Versions
Although APK downloads are available below to give you the choice, you should be aware that by installing that way you will not receive update notifications and it's a less secure way to download. We recommend that you install the F-Droid client and use that.
Download F-Droid
-
x86_64
This version requires Android 8.0 or newer.
It is built and signed by F-Droid, and guaranteed to correspond to this source tarball.
Permissions
-
access approximate location only in the foreground
This app can get your approximate location from location services while the app is in use. Location services for your device must be turned on for the app to get location.
-
access precise location only in the foreground
This app can get your precise location from location services while the app is in use. Location services for your device must be turned on for the app to get location. This may increase battery usage.
-
view network connections
Allows the app to view information about network connections such as which networks exist and are connected.
-
pair with Bluetooth devices
Allows the app to view the configuration of the Bluetooth on the phone, and to make and accept connections with paired devices.
-
access Bluetooth settings
Allows the app to configure the local Bluetooth phone, and to discover and pair with remote devices.
-
connect to paired Bluetooth devices
Allows the app to connect to paired Bluetooth devices
-
discover and pair nearby Bluetooth devices
Allows the app to discover and pair nearby Bluetooth devices
-
take pictures and videos
This app can take pictures and record videos using the camera while the app is in use.
-
allow Wi-Fi Multicast reception
Allows the app to receive packets sent to all devices on a Wi-Fi network using multicast addresses, not just your phone. It uses more power than the non-multicast mode.
-
have full network access
Allows the app to create network sockets and use custom network protocols. The browser and other applications provide means to send data to the internet, so this permission is not required to send data to the internet.
-
change your audio settings
Allows the app to modify global audio settings such as volume and which speaker is used for output.
-
read the contents of your shared storage
Allows the app to read the contents of your shared storage.
-
record audio
This app can record audio using the microphone while the app is in use.
-
modify or delete the contents of your shared storage
Allows the app to write the contents of your shared storage.
-
com.grooveforge.grooveforge.DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION
Download APK
36 MiB
PGP Signature
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Build Log
-
arm64-v8a
This version requires Android 8.0 or newer.
It is built and signed by F-Droid, and guaranteed to correspond to this source tarball.
Permissions
-
access approximate location only in the foreground
This app can get your approximate location from location services while the app is in use. Location services for your device must be turned on for the app to get location.
-
access precise location only in the foreground
This app can get your precise location from location services while the app is in use. Location services for your device must be turned on for the app to get location. This may increase battery usage.
-
view network connections
Allows the app to view information about network connections such as which networks exist and are connected.
-
pair with Bluetooth devices
Allows the app to view the configuration of the Bluetooth on the phone, and to make and accept connections with paired devices.
-
access Bluetooth settings
Allows the app to configure the local Bluetooth phone, and to discover and pair with remote devices.
-
connect to paired Bluetooth devices
Allows the app to connect to paired Bluetooth devices
-
discover and pair nearby Bluetooth devices
Allows the app to discover and pair nearby Bluetooth devices
-
take pictures and videos
This app can take pictures and record videos using the camera while the app is in use.
-
allow Wi-Fi Multicast reception
Allows the app to receive packets sent to all devices on a Wi-Fi network using multicast addresses, not just your phone. It uses more power than the non-multicast mode.
-
have full network access
Allows the app to create network sockets and use custom network protocols. The browser and other applications provide means to send data to the internet, so this permission is not required to send data to the internet.
-
change your audio settings
Allows the app to modify global audio settings such as volume and which speaker is used for output.
-
read the contents of your shared storage
Allows the app to read the contents of your shared storage.
-
record audio
This app can record audio using the microphone while the app is in use.
-
modify or delete the contents of your shared storage
Allows the app to write the contents of your shared storage.
-
com.grooveforge.grooveforge.DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION
Download APK
34 MiB
PGP Signature
|
Build Log
-
armeabi-v7a
This version requires Android 8.0 or newer.
It is built and signed by F-Droid, and guaranteed to correspond to this source tarball.
Permissions
-
access approximate location only in the foreground
This app can get your approximate location from location services while the app is in use. Location services for your device must be turned on for the app to get location.
-
access precise location only in the foreground
This app can get your precise location from location services while the app is in use. Location services for your device must be turned on for the app to get location. This may increase battery usage.
-
view network connections
Allows the app to view information about network connections such as which networks exist and are connected.
-
pair with Bluetooth devices
Allows the app to view the configuration of the Bluetooth on the phone, and to make and accept connections with paired devices.
-
access Bluetooth settings
Allows the app to configure the local Bluetooth phone, and to discover and pair with remote devices.
-
connect to paired Bluetooth devices
Allows the app to connect to paired Bluetooth devices
-
discover and pair nearby Bluetooth devices
Allows the app to discover and pair nearby Bluetooth devices
-
take pictures and videos
This app can take pictures and record videos using the camera while the app is in use.
-
allow Wi-Fi Multicast reception
Allows the app to receive packets sent to all devices on a Wi-Fi network using multicast addresses, not just your phone. It uses more power than the non-multicast mode.
-
have full network access
Allows the app to create network sockets and use custom network protocols. The browser and other applications provide means to send data to the internet, so this permission is not required to send data to the internet.
-
change your audio settings
Allows the app to modify global audio settings such as volume and which speaker is used for output.
-
read the contents of your shared storage
Allows the app to read the contents of your shared storage.
-
record audio
This app can record audio using the microphone while the app is in use.
-
modify or delete the contents of your shared storage
Allows the app to write the contents of your shared storage.
-
com.grooveforge.grooveforge.DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION
Download APK
32 MiB
PGP Signature
|
Build Log
