Phusic is an iPhone/iPad app that translates the pixels in your photographs into musical notes. Phusic stands for “Photo Music” as denoted by its icon:
In other words, Phusic “plays” your photos. Here’s what it looks like on the iPhone, in portrait view, with one of the built-in photos:
Turning the iPhone or iPad sideways makes the picture larger, but sill gives you access to all the controls:
Here’s a YouTube video that gives a short demo of an older version (the newest version is similar, with recording and some other capabilities added):
Phusic works by interpreting the “warmth” values of pixels in a photo and maps them to MIDI values. Warmer translates to higher notes, and cooler to lower notes.
Phusic is intuitive and interactive. As a picture is playing you can adjust:
- Playback pattern (across, spiral, random)
- Playback speed
- Beat pattern
- Musical instrument (piano, guitar, flute, bells, gongs)
You can record your own custom tunes and play them back once or repeatedly, in a loop.
Phusic is fun and entertaining. Every picture is different.
Get Phusic at the Apple Store.
A free version of Phusic (Phusic Free) is available, but it has limitations, including:
- It has ads
- You can’t load your own photos
- You can only save one custom tune
- No on-screen volume control
- You can’t play bells or gongs
If you like the free version, the paid version is even better!