Article: Introducing Tonal: A Minimalist Music App for Collectors and Audiophiles

[baoshan]

7 hours ago, Daviser said:

Hello , I'd like try ....but only high Sierra ? I'm not ready to upgrade ...                             Thanks 

 

Hi Daviser,

 

Currently only high sierra is supported.

 

There’re reasons supporting this decision. Read https://medium.com/tonal-app/tonal-internals-part-1-audio-pre-processing-33966c169022

 

Wish you could have a try. :)

[corente]

5 minutes ago, baoshan said:

 

That’s unusual corente. iMac (late 2015) should support 192khz.

 

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202730

 

I realize the issue is only because I use the iMac Speakers. I cannot use High Sierra with my DAC (drivers).

 

Two last questions, I think:

• From other conversations I understand there is an iOS app: if that is the case I cannot find it in my App Store (Spain), do you plan to offer it in the near future?
• Is it possible for me to edit albums metadata and how?

Thank you for all your answers

 

 

 

[baoshan]

10 minutes ago, corente said:

 

I realize the issue is only because I use the iMac Speakers. I cannot use High Sierra with my DAC (drivers).

 

Two last questions, I think:

• From other conversations I understand there is an iOS app: if that is the case I cannot find it in my App Store (Spain), do you plan to offer it in the near future?
• Is it possible for me to edit albums metadata and how?

Thank you for all your answers

 

 

 

 

I think iMac Speakers support 192khz as well. 

 

1. I’m seeking resources to support the further development of Tonal. It that way is blocked, I’ll figure out how much time I can allot by myself. iOS is unscheduled yet. Tonal (macOS) takes 3 years to reach the initial version. iOS will not come that fast.

 

2. Please have a look at this cabinet of metadata records. https://github.com/ICMD/Tonal-Metadata

I’m sorry for I havn’t offered a formal tutorial about the metadata syntax. But if you have time, search your collected album and read the document (e.g., https://github.com/ICMD/Tonal-Metadata/blob/master/tocs/a/b/5/1/ab517c9159a6fff9ddc98db93b60ec5e.tm). Once you feel you’re comfortable about it, I’ll let you edit the metadata. All edits will be delivered to users in real time, and will be audited, so be careful. For classical music, there’re standards to comply with, we may talk more. My email is [email protected].

 

Thank you.

[tinnson]

I try to upload files from a hdd but it does not work. I reduced to number of tracks to 5, all flac, still no upload. It cannot be verified...

Any advice: it only works with cd's for the time being?

Thanks

martin

[baoshan]

2 hours ago, tinnson said:

I try to upload files from a hdd but it does not work. I reduced to number of tracks to 5, all flac, still no upload. It cannot be verified...

Any advice: it only works with cd's for the time being?

Thanks

martin

 

Hi tinnson,

 

Tonal collects complete discs. It can be red-book rip or high-res. Separate tracks are not supported.

[baoshan]

13 hours ago, baoshan said:

 

Hi tinnson,

 

Tonal collects complete discs. It can be red-book rip or high-res. Separate tracks are not supported.

 

Tonal collects complete discs. It can be red-book rip or high-res. Separate Partial tracks of a disc are not supported. Single audio file with .cue or complete separate tracks of a disc are supported. 

[hildgyorgy]

Dear Baoshan,

 

Beautiful simple UI, GREAT sound! I love it! An interesting experience:

I have a Bowers & Wilkins PX wireless phone. It can be plugged in into my macbook's usb and in this case the phone acts like an usb sound card and dac.

Playing through wireless bluetooth using your app, everything's right, I can adjust the volume from my macbook's keyboard or from the phone's buttons or from your app's volume slider perfectly.

But when I use the cable in wired mode (much better SQ), I cannot adjust the volume neither from the computer nor the phones buttons. The volume level is on the max, and the volume icon disappears from your app's screen.

The best regards!

Gyorgy from Hungary

[baoshan]

4 hours ago, hildgyorgy said:

Dear Baoshan,

 

Beautiful simple UI, GREAT sound! I love it! An interesting experience:

I have a Bowers & Wilkins PX wireless phone. It can be plugged in into my macbook's usb and in this case the phone acts like an usb sound card and dac.

Playing through wireless bluetooth using your app, everything's right, I can adjust the volume from my macbook's keyboard or from the phone's buttons or from your app's volume slider perfectly.

But when I use the cable in wired mode (much better SQ), I cannot adjust the volume neither from the computer nor the phones buttons. The volume level is on the max, and the volume icon disappears from your app's screen.

The best regards!

Gyorgy from Hungary

 

Thank you for your forgiveness, Gyorgy.

 

The volume can be adjusted in the below build:

http://binaries.ton.al/app/Tonal-20180510.zip

 

Keyboard is still unsupported yet for Tonal is a “Sandboxed” app, and we bypassed CoreAudio services. But you can do it within the app, or the unscheduled iOS remote.

 

Thanks again.

[Alex Schneider]

Hi Baoshan

 

I have the to admit, I like concept behind Tonal, and  it works well connected to Schiit's Yggdrasil. Compared to Roon, the sound seems a bit wider... very deep bass and very clear. Not a huge difference, but notable.

 

Now, I'm stuck with a max of 20 albums. And I don't know how to delete an album from Tonal. 

Sometimes there are troubles as it seems with the bandwidth, the track isn't played smooth and continuous. Mostly 24 bit... but also 16/44.1k

 

What's your plan? You now have a good proof of concept.... and an iOS release for mobile use would be perfect! ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

Agreed. 

 

- Concerning the sound quality, compared to Roon (RoonBridge), I find Tonal to be more "natural" - less "digital". It is quite addictive !

 

- The simplicity of the interface is brilliant. Obviously, with a large music collection some more search/filtering functions would be needed, but so far so good.

 

- The metadata really goes beyond anything available today, and is really geared towards the "serious" music collector. Roon, in comparison, is very poor - simply having a list of tracks with composers and a review from AllMusic does not have much benefit, IMO. Having the ability to list performers (by track), recording dates, composers and lyricists, referencing works, and ultimately being able to capture more detailed information coming from wikipedia, for example, will go beyond anything available today. Handling of multi-disc sets and box sets is also very well done and thought out.

 

Tonal is a great concept, and I sincerely hope Baoshan will find some interest and funds to develop this into a marketable application. Perhaps some crowdfunding would be an option ? I would not hesitate for a minute to contribute to its development !

 

 

 

[hildgyorgy]

On 2018. 05. 10. at 3:52 AM, baoshan said:

 

Thank you for your forgiveness, Gyorgy.

 

The volume can be adjusted in the below build:

http://binaries.ton.al/app/Tonal-20180510.zip

 

Keyboard is still unsupported yet for Tonal is a “Sandboxed” app, and we bypassed CoreAudio services. But you can do it within the app, or the unscheduled iOS remote.

 

Thanks again.

Perfectly solved! Thanks!

[Bluedelity]

Dear Baoshan,

congratulations for your app. It's very simple and informative. The last version has added a volume control, but I miss the delete function on the right button, so I can't free space of the 20 albums limit to keep on trying importing new ones.

There are some albums that cannot be corrected and imported, which I suppose may be defect digital copies. This happens also to accurate ripp verified copies. Is your verification procedure more detailed?

Thank you and regards from Greece

Nondas Gaveras

[baoshan]

On 6/25/2018 at 9:57 PM, Bluedelity said:

Dear Baoshan,

congratulations for your app. It's very simple and informative. The last version has added a volume control, but I miss the delete function on the right button, so I can't free space of the 20 albums limit to keep on trying importing new ones.

There are some albums that cannot be corrected and imported, which I suppose may be defect digital copies. This happens also to accurate ripp verified copies. Is your verification procedure more detailed?

Thank you and regards from Greece

Nondas Gaveras

 

Dear Nondas,

 

Sorry for the delay. I’ve uploaded a build which restores the delete function.

 

No more bug fixes or new features for this build. Sorry again.

 

[baoshan]

In my 

On 6/25/2018 at 9:57 PM, Bluedelity said:

Dear Baoshan,

congratulations for your app. It's very simple and informative. The last version has added a volume control, but I miss the delete function on the right button, so I can't free space of the 20 albums limit to keep on trying importing new ones.

There are some albums that cannot be corrected and imported, which I suppose may be defect digital copies. This happens also to accurate ripp verified copies. Is your verification procedure more detailed?

Thank you and regards from Greece

Nondas Gaveras

 

In return (for my slow evolvement of the Tonal project), you can bypass the 20 discs limitation by holding “OPTION” key while clicking “BROWSE FILES”.