Is This the Coolest Sounding iOS Keyboard Yet? keySonic Takes Keyboard Sounds to the Next Level
Perhaps one of the best changes iOS 8 brought to the table was support for third-party widgets and keyboard apps. That move led to the creation of countless new keyboard apps that are taking the App Store by storm and making it look more like the Google Play Store by the day.
Keyboards that had already amassed a large number of users on the Android platform (like SwiftKey and Swype) have now made their way into the iOS market, as have a number of new keyboards made especially for iOS 8.
One such keyboard that is making a lot of noise (pun intended here) is keySonic from development company dSonic – the same company that produced some of the sound effects in the first edition of Bioshock.
What Does keySonic Do?
dSonic designed keySonic with the idea that characters in movies and TV shows often have phones that make crazy sounds when people type on them, so why not have such technology in real life?
It seems inevitable that a developer would come along and create a software like this eventually – 'custom sound effects on a keyboard' seems like a feature that would've been introduced sooner or later.
keySonic comes with 6 free sound sets, but there are 21 other sound sets available for purchase. What is a sound set? It is a set of sounds that are played when you press a key on your device's keyboard. We won't discuss all of the app's sound sets here, but we'll cover some of the most interesting:
Jack Nicholson, Creepy Clowns, Basketballs, Farts, Drums and Guitars
One of the most interesting sound sets for keySonic is the Jack Nicholson keyboard, which plays the sinister sounding laughs of Jack Nicholson in The Shining with every single key tap. This sound set costs just $0.99 and is possibly the coolest thing to ever be called annoying... but the Creepy Clown sound set takes a close second place in that category.
Perhaps the most comical sound set for keySonic is the fart noises pack. Imagine sitting on the train sending a text message and having to say “excuse me” to people in apology for your iPhone's flatulence.
Each sound set comes with its own custom visual keyboard interface. For example, the basketball sound set displays the keys as a bunch of basketballs. We'd say the two coolest sounding sound sets are the electric guitar and the African djembe drums sound set (called Zebra). The Life Saver sound set makes bubbly aquatic sounds, making your device sound like it is being maneuvered under water with each key tap.
The Most Annoying, Yet Impressive Keyboard App Ever?
Yes. We'd have to agree with the general consensus that keySonic can become the most annoying app ever, only because it does such a good job at producing loud and often weird sounds. Of course, those sounds can become very agitating to the people around you when they're being fired off at the rate that you're typing.
Obviously, the app could become extremely annoying when used by a very proficient mobile typist. For example, if you're using the fart noises set and you're typing 40 words per minute, and each word averages 5 key taps, that's a whopping 200 fart noises per minute being blasted out of your smartphone. That's just sound effect pandemonium right there.
Imagine every key you strike sounding like an electric guitar. Interesting? Yes, its great, it's cool, it's a novelty. But then you realize everyone around you doesn't care about your neat little app, all they hear is a symphony of annoying key sounds emanating from someone else's fancy new iPhone.
Yet, beyond the nagging annoyance that this app can achieve if turned up to max volume, it's abilities are cool enough to make it just as impressive as it is annoying, and it even earned a spot on our list of the top 10 keyboard apps for iOS 8.
Want to learn more about keySonic? Check out the app's trailer below:
