The past, present, and future of Voices
Firstly, an introduction. My name is Oliver Cameron and I own a little app company called Taptivate (yes, we have Twitter). You may have heard about of us from our television featured postcard app, Postman. We’ve been working in conjunction with the guys at tap tap tap for the past few months to bring you Voices. It’s been a blast and we couldn’t be happier with the result. I sincerely hope we can work on something just as awesome real soon.
The Past
The truth is that there is little luck behind Voices success. The app was developed and finely tuned to such a degree of polish that I’d be disappointed if it didn’t get near first place. Of course it helps when you’re working with quality designers and audio experts. Then we have the epic and giant launch courtesy of MacHeist, which has proved to be invaluable. Many iPhone developers complain that it’s far too easy to get lost in the maze of the App Store, but I think that’s simply because they’re missing half of the game. Marketing has always been prominent in promoting software releases way before the App Store came to be, so why ignore it? But of course we cannot deny that some luck is needed to get to where we are now, we just like to think of it as engineered in a sense.
The Present
Voices itself has skyrocketed up the charts since its launch. We’ve hit the number 1 spot at the App Store in just three and a half days, which may be a new App Store record! It’s an amazing feeling, considering how fickle many developers believe the App Store to be. Really, this is all a testament to the amazing potential the App Store has and the environment Apple has created. We only hope you see Voices at the number 1 spot for as long as possible.
The Future
We are not resting on our laurels either. A new version of Voices is being actively developed as we speak. We had some crazy ideas for other voices (I shan’t shame anyones idea’s, Phill) that didn’t make it into the 1.0. Who knows, they might find their way into the app in the future.
Whilst reading many of the reviews on the App Store for Voices, one thing that stands out is that people want more Voices. We planned for this during development so we could easily add in a bunch of new voices. However, not many people actually suggested any ideas. So my question to you, reader, is what voice would you like to see in a new version of Voices?
John Fenn
1:18pm, November 23
How about a Muppet-like voice?
Rev. Mitcz
1:20pm, November 23
I think it’s a great app - the polish, the animations, the way it’s an environment unto itself… all very nice.
The one thing about Voices that I think would be a great improvement, however, would be the ability to either record a “normal” voice and then pass it through effects and/or to be able to access voice notes already on the iPhone. Basically, being able to run one audio track through the various voices.
Don’t let that take away from my initial comment - it’s a great app and a lot of fun. Great work, and keep it up!
Zachary Kelaty
1:23pm, November 23
I would like a way to adjust my voice to my prefrence, or even with OpenAL. If I can adjust pitch, etc. I think this app will really grow.
Sayam Aggarwal
1:23pm, November 23
How about adding Steve Jobs’ voice as an option? That’d be great fun!
Alex
1:28pm, November 23
Yah, yah…more voices is fine and all that.
But dammit, why can’t we send these audio messages over MMS??!!
I want MMS capabilities!
Other than that, love the app!
Matthew Lowery
1:28pm, November 23
BOWSER!!
Soumya
1:28pm, November 23
How about an Opera singer-ish voice??!!! Would be a nice alarm to wake up in the morning…
And also, as Rev. Mitcz suggested, it would be really nice if we could just record our normal voices and then listen to the same recording in various voices…
But nevertheless, its a great app!!!
Adam Andre
1:29pm, November 23
Really fun app to play with
Great user interface
More funny voices would be nice of course and the transformation of voices maybe to be a little quicker
Tim
1:30pm, November 23
I agree with Zachary. Being able to adjust the pitch would be ideal.
Not sure how you could do this, but adding dialects would be cool.
@giromide
1:43pm, November 23
Some old Mac program I played with many years ago had a “laughter” modifier.
I’m more interested in improvements in the Sharing area. First, the tweet entry is only one line, which makes custom tweeting hard to do. Second, have you thought about adding Tumblr and Posterous?
Sajid Nawaz Khan
1:48pm, November 23
I agree with Rev; would love to record something once and pass it through different filters.
With respect to voices, I’d like to see a Simpsons character voice.
kn3pp
1:49pm, November 23
I would actually like it if there was a possibility to re-use the previous recordings and put them through the transmorphmajigg. ex. I made a nice quote with my un-transformed voice (pretty dull.. right ) .. but .. i would like to transform it to .. all the fun voices available .. without re-recording the bugger..
just my wishes
Claudio Rimann
1:57pm, November 23
would be great if you could record your voice and change the effect afterwards, instead of recording again if you want to try another effect!!
great app, love it!!
olivier Hericord
2:12pm, November 23
would love to be abble to record than apply an effect or an other…with undo…why not stacking 2 effects or more…
medoc
2:18pm, November 23
chewbacca, kenny and cartman from south park
and yes, re-applying of new effects to the same recording would be great!
tim Holmes
2:48pm, November 23
How about a voice that turns what you say in to R2D2 beeps and whistles.
Ryan Morash
3:32pm, November 23
How about in call effects
Jason
3:43pm, November 23
Great app, and many have said here what I have said from the beginning and that is to just record in normal voice and then to pass it through a filter saving it as a new recording. Please do this!
And yea R2D2 clicks and such would be sweet, But why stop there- someone else with the voices app should be able to decode the R2D2! Now that would stay at number one for ever!! You might not be able to call it R2D2 for legal reasons
David Gonzalez
3:58pm, November 23
How about the voice of Butters from South Park, I think everyone would love that one.
Rob Gilgan
4:26pm, November 23
Sean Connery
Sbbrit
5:36pm, November 23
Christopher Walken.
Sbbrit
5:38pm, November 23
I would even buy CW as an in app purchase!
krtekon
6:18pm, November 23
donald duck, scary from scream, r2d2, chewbaca, better darkside more like vader this version is weird, cartman would be great too and some app you could use as you call in realtime voice changing
BassEd
6:27pm, November 23
I agree with Rev as well. It would be great to record a voice and then apply the effects. Additionally an ability to share the final “tape” would be great
Seankyte
7:07pm, November 23
I would like it to import to my iTunes and I apple has a problem with that it would be nice to have our recordings upload to a server online where we can always access our recordings.
Seankyte
7:09pm, November 23
I would love it make our voice souls like te turret guns off the game “portal”
palaemon
7:12pm, November 23
How about Autotune?
Seankyte
7:13pm, November 23
Sorry for the type-o’s.
Btw it would be cool if “voices” could turn our recordings into ringtones!
Jay
9:41pm, November 23
I LOVE voices, btw. LOVE IT.
Vintage wasn’t what I was expecting, the background music that went with it wasn’t too useful… it should have been called “elevator”. (I was looking to record some old fashioned AM radio sounding audio for a small theatre, so maybe my expectations were out of line…)
Anyway, awesome app!
DRoss
9:47pm, November 23
Cletus! The redneck from the Simpsons.
Chris
1:36am, November 24
+1 for being able to record once, and then try each Voice to the recording and then save the ones that you like. MMS is interesting too, but low on my list. I thought Vintage would be more like a wax cylinder, which I think would be a good addition.
Tryanapple
4:59am, November 24
Please add a cowboy voice such as John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. Love your app! Go see our rendition of “Over the River…”: @tryananapple (http://www.Twitter.com/tryanapple)
Gilles
6:27am, November 24
Since I own a Nabaztag/Tag, I would like to see the option to share via email as mp3 file (so that the rabbit could play it)
wavemotion
11:24am, November 24
I agree with Claudio Rimann :” change the effect afterwards, instead of recording again if you want to try another effect!!”
and modify it in slide mode.
Kenny
4:07am, November 25
I’d like to see faster conversion as well as the ability to make one recording and use it across effects. Also the darkside voice needs to be just like the Voice Candy app for mac. For suggestions on voices how about these: racecar, elmo, kermit, bubble sound, siren, Autotune, under water, a DJ scratch, Alex the mac voice, trumpet, saxophone, tuba, mario, monkey, 8bit nes stuff, jaw harp, train, Harry potter, chicken cackle, rooster call, horse neigh, slide whistle, crackling fire, babbling brook, waterfall, characters from homestarrunner.com, london accent, irish accent, scottish accent, southern accent, dolphin noises, seal noises, Seagulls. Ok I’m running out of ideas…lol. Oh being able to modify your voice for a phone call would be awesome. Ok that’s it, thanks for listening.
Ed Brannin
4:30pm, November 25
I’m surprised no one else has mentioned this — it would be great if we could hear voice effects in realtime, like in promo videos for a certain popular autotune app.
Vinay
9:05am, November 26
This app is brilliant, I totally support all the features requested here. Most importantly, ability to record a sound and pass through various filters and a real time filter would be a bonus - just like Smack Talk have.
Smack Talk was a fun little app I fell in love the instant I started using it, Voices is brilliant but takes time to do recordings and playback. Would appreciate an update that can fix some common features people seek here.
Good luck!
OwenRowe
10:35am, November 26
How can I post a voice message in Facebook to a friend profile?
Regards,
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8:37am, November 27
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José
3:52pm, November 27
Hello guys!
I´ve bought Voices from the App Store and I´m having a LOT fo fun with my friends and colleagues!
I have some suggestions:
- Add the option to use the recordings as Ringtones in the App menu
- Add the ability to record and try it with different voices
- Add the option to send it through bluetooth and MMS
- Add voices from Mario e Luigi!
Congrats for the GREAT JOB!
cheers from Brazil!
John
7:15pm, November 30
I want a jewish papa that sounds like Abe Vigoda crossed with woody allen-that way he could yell at him self and feel really inadequate
Now I did the heist- I twitted about it BUT have yet to see any free copy
Okan
7:53pm, December 2
What about an Obama voice? Would that even be possible?:D
kk
8:00am, December 6
Hmmm…
El Barto
2:03am, December 7
I would LOVE to have a better “Dark Side” Effect. The actual one is not even close to Vader!
patte
1:02pm, December 15
It would be wonderful if one could apply
all the different voices after the recording.
The way it is one is stuck with one version.
Still… one of the most sexy apps out there
Jack
6:04pm, January 11
Voices is so awesome I must say, my friends and I have a laugh recording stuff
For Voices 1.2:
1. Customisable screens á la the iPhone home screens.
2. The ability to combine effects (e.g. Chipmunk and Reverse)
3. More sharing options (MMS, Bluetooth, maybe a web server style thing, like Brushes)
4. The ability to take existing recordings and hear the original (particularly for recordings in reverse)
As for voices, I’d like to have:
1. Auto-tune
2. Evil villain
Keep up the good work!