ARGISH Pocket

The 30 second version

1. Open ARGISH Pocket and press Play. It starts composing on its own.
2. Drag the wheel to steer where the music goes.
3. Tap a mood to change the whole feel.

That is the whole thing. You are not arranging loops, you are steering a piece of music while it plays.

Free to try, then a one-off unlock

It plays free for three minutes. After that the sound starts cutting in and out. A single in-app purchase of US$14.99 unlocks uninterrupted play for good. One payment, no subscription. If you move to a new phone, use Restore purchase to bring the unlock across.

It asks for nothing

ARGISH Pocket runs offline. No account, no ads, and it collects no data. Once it is on your phone it never needs to reach a server.

It writes its own music

Press play and ARGISH Pocket composes chords, bass, arpeggio and drums, live, and never quite the same way twice. Your job is to steer it, not to program it.

The wheel

Drag the wheel to conduct. It moves the harmony underneath everything else, so the music follows where you take it.

Five moods

Gentle, Haze, Deep, Still and Epic. Each one retunes the whole instrument at once: the key, the tempo, the drums, the effects and how busy it gets. Tap one and the piece changes character straight away.

Evolve

Leave Evolve on and the piece keeps moving by itself. Switch it off to hold the mood exactly where it is.

Generate

One tap on Generate writes a fresh chord progression in the current mood. Tap it again for another.

More control when you want it

Open the Controls drawer for the full set:

• Tempo from 40 to 200 BPM
• The key, and whether it is major or minor
• Six synth voices, with brightness, shape, attack and release
• A five channel mix
• Reverb and character
• Drum patterns, bass patterns, and how freely it varies

Arrange a whole piece

Set a length from 30 seconds through to endless, pick a dynamics shape (flat, build, rise and fall, swell, or epic climb) and ARGISH Pocket performs that arc for you, building and resolving on its own.

Make it yours

Twelve accent colours to choose from.

What MIDI Out does

ARGISH Pocket can stream its performance, live, to a computer or hardware, so it plays your instruments instead of, or as well as, its own sound. The arrangement is split across four MIDI channels so each part can drive a different instrument:

• Chords (the pad) on channel 1
• Arpeggio on channel 2
• Bass on channel 3
• Drums on channel 10, General MIDI, where the kick is note 36

MIDI Out is off by default. The app behaves exactly as before until you switch it on.

Turn it on

Go to More → MIDI Out. Set Send MIDI to On, and choose what to send: Full, split by part for all four channels, or Chords only. The panel shows the connected device, or "No MIDI device connected" until one is plugged in.

Connect the phone

You need a MIDI link between the phone and whatever will play the notes. There are three ways.

USB to a computer. Plug the phone in with a USB-C cable, then put it into USB MIDI mode: swipe down the "Charging this device via USB" notification, then Use USB for → MIDI. The phone then shows up to the computer as a MIDI device, named after the phone model.

Bluetooth. No cable and no USB-mode switch. On a Mac, open Audio MIDI Setup, then Window → Show MIDI Studio → Bluetooth, and connect the phone. This is the best option when the phone has no USB MIDI mode.

USB to a hardware synth or interface. Run the phone's USB-C into a small USB MIDI interface, then its OUT into the synth's MIDI IN, or straight into a synth's own USB "to host" port. The phone hosts the device and plays it directly.

Receive it in Logic Pro

To play one part quickly:

1. Make a Software Instrument track and load any instrument.
2. Record-enable the track (the R button).
3. Press Play on the phone. The channel 1 chords play that instrument.

To split all four parts onto four instruments:

1. Open File → Project Settings → Recording and tick "Auto demix by channel if multitrack recording."
2. Make four Software Instrument tracks, say a pad, a pluck, a bass and a drum kit.
3. Record-enable all four. Auto-demix only works with two or more armed.
4. Press Play on the phone, then Record in Logic. The channels split out: 1 chords, 2 arp, 3 bass, 10 drums.
5. Put your drum kit on the channel 10 track. The kick arrives as note 36.

Good to know

• The notes can sit high, because that is ARGISH's own octave. Transpose down an octave or two on the receiving instrument if you want it lower.
• USB MIDI mode is per-session on some phones. Unplugging or rebooting can drop it, so re-select MIDI in USB preferences.
• Windows and other DAWs work the same way. Set the DAW's MIDI input to the phone, arm the tracks, and use per-channel routing to separate the four parts.

The sound cuts in and out

That is the free trial ending after three minutes. The one-off $14.99 unlock gives you uninterrupted play. It is a single payment, not a subscription.

It says "No MIDI device connected"

The phone needs a MIDI link before anything shows up. See the MIDI Out tab. If your phone has no USB MIDI option, Honor and Huawei especially, use Bluetooth or a USB MIDI interface.

The MIDI notes are too high

That is ARGISH's own octave. Transpose down an octave or two on the receiving instrument.

Privacy

ARGISH Pocket runs offline, keeps no account, shows no ads, and collects no data. The full privacy policy and terms are on this site.

Something else

Email james@tunary.io and I will help.