SonicMood

I'm John, the developer of SonicMood and I've been "away" for a while. I no longer have a Mac, now I have a Chromebook. I seem to have lost the source code for SonicMood but I pretty much know how I created it so might try again using the developer tools Chrome contains... We'll see. Anyway, thanks to everyone who has left so many kind comments. SonicMood was a labor of love. It started when my (dearly departed) wife and I moved to Paradise, California (hence "Bit of Paradise Products" and there were chimes hanging on an arbor leading to one of our fruit orchards. I realized I could create those same sounds using the Mac's synth and, essentially, a random number generator. That's how SonicMood started. My wife passed from lung cancer (don't smoke!) in 2018. I miss her all day, every day... OK, that's it for now ;-)

To John, the Developer & You, the User,

What a shame SonicMood is no longer available. It was a superb application that let you freely mix sounds and themes and layer them. This meant you could created thousands of ambient, relaxing sound and music.

I used SonicMood all the time. It was especially useful when having to think deeply about things I was writing up in research papers. I also hooked up my Mac to the lecture room sound system and played used the sound and music when my students were working on projects - it really relaxed the whole atmosphere of the room! And because with SonicMood the music and ambient sound mix was created by the user, this meant I do not have to worry about copyright issues.

If the developer of SonicMood, John, is reading this, I want to thank you sooooo much for your wonderful creation. I am not sure why SonicMood suddenly vanished from cyberspace. But I hope you are well. And if there is any chance that you can revive SonicMood, many would be forever grateful.

It is so true the saying that " ... you never realize what you have got until it is gone." I wanted to install SonicMood on my bran new Mac, but discovered it is no longer available. I miss it already!

I regret that I did not thank you enough John for your work. If you do revive SonicMood, I would have no hesitation of purchasing it again. Not only that, I would encourage you to charge for updates. I don't believe I ever was asked to pay for an update since the initial purchase in 2009! It was so obvious you put so much loving care into the development of this application.

All the best from Japan! :)

Æv, you can't download it any more...

Defunct, gone, no more...

SonicMood was a pleasant surprise for me. I am working on the PC the whole day doing software development. My working space is the usual office environment with people talking, phones ringing and smartphones pinging. SonicMoods wonderful relaxing Moods keep me focused on the tasks at hand. The soundscapes it creates never get boring. And there are so many controls to fiddle with this app will keep me focused for years to come. Very much recommended!

Not only is this a nicely designed Mac app, which can create a continuously changing stream of relaxing musical sounds right out of the box… but it is also a deceptively powerful "generative music engine", and gave me geeky access to twiddle synthesizer knobs under the hood. After delving into it and learning more, I could experiment with creating my own generative sequences with different instruments and patterns, and then was able to capture its output as a MIDI file, edit it a bit with a music editor, export to Garageband, and had myself some nice little pieces of music too. This is a very nice app for passively listening to, or for actively experimenting with to learn more about generative music, and even generate your own album of music from! I find myself listening to it or playing with it quite often.

In short, for the price this is an extremely well designed app and the developer keeps it updated. I have had SonicMood for quite a while but never really used it much. Recently, my wife has decided listening to nature sounds (rain, water, storms etc.) help her fall asleep. I spent a bout $20 buying downloads from Amazon when it hit me that I already had a program to create my own relaxation music/nature sounds. I have had trouble with SoundFlower (with SonicMood and other apps too) so used Audio Hijack Pro to capture and record 30 minute sessions of different "moods". I've got about 15 done so far and play them back on our audio system at low volume when we go to bed. The wife loves it. I have to confess I like it too. :D

FYI: There are plenty of choices for ambient music, including the ocean, birds. etc. in ITunes Radio. Of course while not taking up additional drive space it will lower the performance of your internet connection a bit.

Nice program, keeps me relaxed while doing difficult tasks on my Mac that require a lot of concentration. I find the UI to be a little too wild for my taste, but I'm sure that this will be addressed some time in the future. Still, a great app. Looking forward to what version 5 will bring.

Just want to comment on how much I enjoy using SonicMood. Have had it for several years and consistantly enjoy hearing its soft, peaceful sounds while working on this project or the other. This latest update is mind boggling and one can see that with the developer, it is a labor of love. Less noise pollution - more sonic refreshment!

This is a little tough for me to use. Much too complicated. I can't seem to change the mood and the shortcuts for keyboard seems to be limited to 1 octave.

This program does a great job of what it claims to do. In particular, the ability to modify and then record a soundscape is especially hand when you want to relax and aren't or don't want to be around a computer. I've recorded several soundscapes I've created for myself and put them on my iPod--it's a great way to block out the noise of other commuters on the train, or when I'm flying.

Love it, great app.

Very nice application, registered in five minutes. Full of features and options which I don't think that I can use all of them. It is very clever while adding new moods and sounds, easy to manage. Developer is very sensitive and fast on replying messages. User interface could be a little bit more mac-like but not a big problem. Hearing side is more important than the seeing side with this application. :)

I love this program and it was well worth it's modest price. It really creates a wonderful musical ambiance and is endlessly fun to "fiddle with. I also own and use pzizz, which has a different purpose and approach, but I have to say I use Sonic Mood more often. Kudos to the author for a great program!

Good heavens, if you haven't already, expand the list of "revisions" to this puppy! Looks like a major overhaul! To the developers: Thanks! I appreciate efforts that make a good product even better!

I have loved this app every since it appeared and it keeps getting better and better. I like the way I can fiddle with it when I have the time or inclination, to make new combinations of sounds and soundfiles, monkey with the tempo, turn the volume up here and down there and save the result as a new entry. And I like finding out bit by bit about all the goodies in SonicMood that I didn't even know about or at least hadn't played with yet. But I love being able to turn it on and pick one mood or one combination of moods to play while I work or read (on the computer) or edit text or pictures. And it's wonderful when I'm with my MacBook in an airport or on a plane or in a motel; I can plug in my earphones and just listen. Or listen and work. Or listen and play Scrabble. It takes relatively little space in contrast to iTunes, seems to have very little CPU or memory usage. I bought a second license for SonicMood when I put it on my MacBook. It was--and is--one of the very few single-machine apps that I was glad to buy a second time/

I find this application a very odd mix of elements at complete odds with each other. So much so that I can't rate it. The interface is a jarring mix of non-standard behaviors and custom controls with crazy color schemes. It suffers from the clutter of too many 'niche' settings. It almost appears as though the developer crammed in every single feature request that he's received, to the detriment of the program. It needs to be ripped up and redone with a standard *clean* MacOS X interface. So for this I would give the program very low marks. At the same time, the actual purpose of the app, creating mood soundscapes, is something it achieves with excellence. The included content is great, and there's even more content available at the website. On these points the program gets high marks. So, redo the interface completely, and you've got a winning app.

Just bought this today for 50% off via MacZOT, and it's totally worth it. Does exactly what it claims to and does it well. The recording works very well and is extremely easy to convert to AAC/MP3 files for playback on my iPhone. Definitely relaxing, soothing, and takes the edge off! Highly recommended.

Been using SM for quite some time now. It's absolutely and totally sublime. Never fails to soothe the savage beast in me. It's a nurturing, comforting womb to take refuge in....a true haven of tranquility in a world full of harassment. A gentle, loving, blissful massage for the psyche.