Today I present my newest iOS/Mac creation: MIDI FX, an app to control all your MIDI devices and process MIDI notes to accomplish a great variety of effects such as creating harmonies, delays, etc… or filter notes to send to different synths or effect chains. It works with MIDI compatible external gear if you connect a MIDI interface but also internally with other apps that support virtual MIDI.
I plan on releasing MIDI FX soon, so if you’re a musician, especially using multiple synths to play live, keep an eye on this page!
For the last year I’ve been busy with other stuff, aside from programming, and have been working on a new album for my musical psychedelic/rock/folk project George Foreign
I’m very happy with how it has turned out, so check it out if that’s the kind of thing you may enjoy…
You can listen and buy from Bandcamp, or just follow me on the major music platforms. All the links are on my George Foreign page
Now that the Shortcuts app has an action to change wallpapers, you can easily make a widget with all your favorite wallpapers and switch between them with just one tap. Here’s how!
Versión 2.5.4 is out now. You can enjoy these two new features both on the free and full version (the crop feature can be used on one photo only, reset it to be able to use it on another one)
I want to thank Yingtao Guo for his Mantis library which I used to implement crop and rotation. He was kind enough to release it under a free license.
I’ve also dropped the price of the app temporarily so if you’ve been on the fence and enjoy the free form widgets, now is the time to get the full version.
This will be the last mayor update for a while as I embark on my next app… will post about it when I have something to show…
Be sure to write if you find a bug and thanks to everyone that has supported this project!
In this update, you can create your own photo compositions from multiple pictures: Move, scale and rotate each picture within the compositionas you want. Compositions work in any widget shape type, and you can preview both the square and rectangular ones while editing it.
First: You can now test the full version for free. Create one multi photo widget with a maximum of four photos and with all its features
For the FULL version:
Last Selected Widget: Mosaic widgets can have a new widget associated that will show the photo that was last tapped on the mosaic widget. Useful for a kind of ‘now playing’ showcase
Maximum number of photos shown in a mosaic: Normally a mosaic widget will adapt the number of photos shown to its size, for example a large widget will show at most 16 photos. If you want only 8 shown at a time (so they rotate in time) you can now set this limit
Name on mosaic widgets: You can optionally show the name of the multi photo widget on the mosaic.
Random order for galleries and mosaics: If your multi-photo widget uses a time duration for each photo (as opposed to a specific time for each photo), you can set the order to random.
New Time mode: Weekly time: Now you can set your multi-photo widgets to show each photo at a specific time of a specific day of the week: Make a daily inspirational picture widget, album of the day, or use it for daily remainders at specific times…
For both the FREE and FULL version:
Full Screen View: A photo with no links will now open in a special full screen view when tapped on a widget. You can pinch for zoom and drag to pan the picture
Background color for name labels: You can now set a background color (with transparency) on the text labels for any widget
Duplicate widgets to make variations
Bug fixes and optimizations:
Fixed the look of the mosiac widget with margins.
Fixed a memory issue where widgets would sometimes be displayed blank because of a problem with how WidgetKit handles images.
Storing optimized images for each widget size: Now the app saves scaled versions of the photos for future use as a work around for a bug within WidgetKit that causes a memory issue when loading images from ram.
In the next update you’ll be able to create a widget that displays the last photo you selected from another mosaic widget. You can use it as a kind of “now playing” widget if the mosaic widget has a bunch of links to play some records or to display the last contact you called, etc…
Plus each of the pictures (in medium and large widgets) can link to a different action: Make your custom favorite contacts widgets, favorite music widget, etc…
And if you combine this with the time settings you can even have the widget show different contacts/actions at different times of the day: work related contacts in the morning, family ones in the evening…
So I updated my phone to iOS14 back when it was released and the first thing I wanted to do with the new widgets on the home screen feature was add some photos. Then I noticed the stock Photos widget wasn’t customizable so I made my own…
Since then I’ve updated it with many more features and plan on implementing more. About a month ago I added IAP for the big new features (the original and basic features will remain free).
Current free features are:
Add your own photos as widgets on your home screen
Select which part of the image you want visible, as the aspect ratio of the widget may not match the picture…
Add a name to the picture and select its color
Current payed features are:
Add custom links to photos: You can use them as quick links for calling/messaging contacts, start playing your favorite albums, open websites, run shortcuts from Apple’s Shortcuts app, etc…
Create multi photo widgets in two modes: Gallery (each photo will be displayed for your chosen duration or at the specific times you choose) or Mosaic, where up to 16 pictures will be shown in a grid (with or without spacing). This mode is great to create your own favorite contacts widget, or favorite music albums…
So, enjoy and I’ll be updating this site showing examples of what can be done using the widget. Contact me if you have problems running the app or if you want a feature.
