Favorite Sound Machine or Nature Sounds Apps

[Rockbeast]

Most of the threads on this topic seem to be focused on one app or another...and seem to be mostly visited by the developers. I thought it would be nice to have the users...yes, I am a user...and my Name is Ward. Whew, that felt good to say...talk about what they've tried and what they like in this app category.

I have Rockus Sound Machine, Rainy Mood, Ancient Pond, Soothing Park, White Noise Lite, and Tonal Pool. I also have a couple of fireplace apps that only have the sound, and visuals of fire.

Of these Tonal Pool is a little different, so I'll leave it out of the discussion, but I do recommend it. I believe it is free and is by Ancient Workshop. I think everything AW does is wonderful so you should check their stuff out. They have some quality free, and even better paid apps.

OK, so back to the discussion. There are other apps out there, Color My Dreams and EasyDreams are two I have seen but not tried. I would like to hear what folks think of them.

I like Rockus Sound Machine (RSM). There are a bunch of sounds, but one thing I have found is that most of them are not ones that i like. Fortunately, there are a handful that I do like. So I use it a lot when traveling (at home we have a plug in big speaker sound machine and don't need to use RSM. It is a paid app, and I am glad I bought it.

Rainy Mood. This is a good free app, but it only has one sound. You start the app and it plays the light rainfall sound. It has a nice screen, as if you are looking out a window, with drops of water sliding slowly down. It's nice, but doesn't have the 'oomf' to overcome annoying background noises. Good for a nap, or as a light background while you are studying or working quietly.

Ancient Pond. Another app from AW. I love this one, but not so much for the sound, it has an interactive visual. Fish are swimming in a shallow pool...looks like koi and maybe some type of shark. The sound is like crickets or other insects, maybe a bird or two, and the occasional drip of water, with the 'kerplunk' sounding like you are in a grotto or cave of some kind. It's nice, but quiet. But you can touch the screen to create ripples, and cause the fish to scatter. There are 3 pool bottoms you can choose from...my favorite is the river stones.

Soothing Park. You get the sounds you might hear in a park...mostly birds, as pretty scenes (photos) of parks pass by. I wish the photos would transition slowly into the next one, but they instantly switch, which is a little annoying when it is on your touchstone near your computer screen such that it causes you to look down everytime and...and...wait a minute...There, I changed to the next one...

White Noise Lite. I think I like this one, although not as much as RSM. But it is new to me and I want to give it more review. The sounds are a little too crisp for relaxing sleep...similar to some of RSMs. The Beach waves is too annoying like this. It sounds like the microphone was hovering right over small waves. I think the sounds could be a little 'smoother' to be relaxing. If you go for the paid version of White Noise, you get more sounds, which I haven't heard yet.

So, that's my little intro to my experiences with these types of apps. What do ya'll think (I'm from Tennessee...had to southern-i-fy my post a bit)? What are your experiences with these or other apps...likes and dislikes, whatever you think.

I'll close this post by saying thank you to all these developers. I really appreciate these kinds of apps and all of these are great to have. I appreciate the opportunity to try out several options. I guess I'll need to look at the other ones I haven't used yet, so keep up the great work!

[Rockbeast]

Hmmm....the sounds of silence...didn't expect THAT to be a favorite nature sound...

[GodShapedHole]

Soothing Sounds is also quite good and from the same guy that made Rainy Mood, which I love dearly because it's not just calming audio but also calming video. I bought Soothing Sounds exclusively because I wanted to support the dev but have come to like it best out out of all my sound machine apps, and I have most of the ones listed in the OP.

[Rockbeast]

Originally Posted by GodShapedHole

Soothing Sounds is also quite good and from the same guy that made Rainy Mood, which I love dearly because it's not just calming audio but also calming video. I bought Soothing Sounds exclusively because I wanted to support the dev but have come to like it best out out of all my sound machine apps, and I have most of the ones listed in the OP.

Thank you for pointing that one out. I just searched for it in the App catalog. I noticed that the developer also put out other single sound apps for free, seven of them. So, if you want to check out some sounds before you buy the full app, you can I guess?

These are the free versions I found:

Soothing Birds (good background, prob. not for sleeping though)
Soothing Creek
Soothing Rain (has a little thunder too...nice)
Soothing Ocean
Soothing Park (the one I already had and discussed above)
Soothing Thunder ( think I like Rain better, which has a little thunder)
Soothing Fire (the photos don't look soothing! Yikes!)

I downloaded them all and I do like the quality of the sounds. One thing I would prefer is the option to turn off the screen/pictures while on the touchstone or other charger (if I'm sleeping, I don't want the screen to stay active and for the light intensity to be changing on the ceiling all night long), and to have subtle transitions between pictures...fade into the next photo rather than having no transition at all.

Godshaped hole (in all of us), does the full Soothing Sounds app have any other features like controlling the screen? I might pony up and buy this one.

[ashykat]

I've used White Noise on android and iOS and always loved it. The problem I've found on my Pre 2 though is that the sound stops as soon as I turn the screen off. A pretty big issue for me considering I also use a touchstone at night and like having the clock. I just emailed the developer (TMSOFT) about it, but I'm wondering if all of these apps have this same issue?

[Rockbeast]

Originally Posted by ashykat

I've used White Noise on android and iOS and always loved it. The problem I've found on my Pre 2 though is that the sound stops as soon as I turn the screen off. A pretty big issue for me considering I also use a touchstone at night and like having the clock. I just emailed the developer (TMSOFT) about it, but I'm wondering if all of these apps have this same issue?

I have an overclocked VZW launch day Pre+ running 1.4.5 and I used Rockus Sound Machine for 2.5 months straight...wait, I mean I used it at NIGHT while I slept during a 2.5 month period...and it worked without fail. I oscillated (hey, White Noise has an 'oscillating fan' sound!) between Rockus Sound Machine and Rockus Sound Sampler (had an ocean noise I liked better) but both worked through the night sitting on my touchstone. I should say that at that time I was running 1.4.1 and no overclocking, but I am testing some of these out right now.

White Noise Lite - Keeps running even when screen blanks out...I just noticed the screen totally turns black...no time or unlock button is visible. When you touch the screen, the screen reappears. I did notice that the sound suspends when you minimize the card...well, when you open another app.

Rockus Sound Machine - Keeps running even when screen blanks out. Normal presentation on the screen, Time in big numbers and the unlock icon...notifications also show. The sound continues even when running in the background (open up another app and the sound continues). This is a good feature.

The 'Soothing' Series runs a slideshow of pictures along with their sound, so the screen never turns off. This might be disturbing if you need a very dark room...the pictures change without any transition (one of my very few or only negatives on this developer's apps) so the light on the ceiling can change color and intensity instantly, which can disturb you from drifting off to sleep. I would like the photos to fade gently from one to the other and to stay on each photo for a few more seconds...looks like 15 seconds is current, maybe 20 would be nice...or have an option. Again, i haven't purchased the paid version of these apps which has them all in one, and it might have more features/settings.

[boucles0]

I can just say that Color My dreams is a really cool app