Audio Editing App For Nimikry

Industry

Entertainment

Tech Stack

React.js

ABOUT THE CLIENT

Based out of Austria, Nimikry is a music company formed as an experimental composer-performer duo who seek to elevate the music experience by amalgamating different disciplines to a new format. They have performed all across Europe and they work with self-designed augmented experiments to combine technology and art in a way like never before.

The Problem

Nimikry’s offering- Dubit, is a versatile application where one can record audio and do anything from adding music to other sound effects and filters and personalise it through the usage of sound packs. The product, which is available on both mobile and web platforms, needed a much necessary overhaul which led to the collaboration between Nimikry and GeekyAnts.

The partner had come by us after going through our developer’s impressive experiments on Hashnode which gave them the confidence to consider us to be the right tech partners to take up the job. The project, which is still ongoing, is based on the scrum model wherein we enhance the apps through feedback with the focus being more on providing support rather than developing the applications from scratch.

TEAM ON CALL

We put together a team of five who would work on the development aspect working alongside an account manager who would work together with the client to understand the requirements and ensure that client satisfaction is met. The team consisted of three developers who’d work on the mobile and web apps and a QA tester to check how the product functions in real-life scenarios who were all led by a TL whose responsibility was to ensure that the right architecture was used along with best code practices.

Enhance the existing apps.

Personalize the UX through the provision of a music editor.

Implement a feature to track user analytics and in-app purchases.

Integrate auto downloading of libraries within the application.

OUR APPROACH

Strategy Analysis Planning UI/UX Development Testing Delivery

Strategy

We collaborated with Nimikry to help them improve the music experience for their users. The project, based on the scrum model, spanned over a period of five months.

Analysis Planning

We used React Native and ReactJS for the Frontend to align with the existing codebase while AWS Amplify was chosen for the Backend.

UI/UX

The client had provided the designs and flows for each screen which our team utilised to develop them from scratch.

Development

The development phase consisted of providing upkeep to the application amongst implementing some new features like PayPal integration, social authorization, a tempo wheel for easy scrolling etc. and restructuring the track structure in the Backend.

Testing

To ensure that the product was up to the mark, we roped in a tester who would conduct QA checks before delivering the product to the client for additional feedback.

Delivery

While the beta launch of the mobile app has already taken place, the partners are all geared up for the fully-fledged launch of both the mobile and web applications in the coming months.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

Challenges are a part of every project and the major hurdle we faced along the way was in the integration of the Audio Engine which had been created by the in-house developer at Nimikry. We had to consult with the partner to overcome this technical challenge and to figure out the mechanism of the Audio Engine. Some of the other speedbumps we faced were in linking 3rd party libraries, basing calculations related to the pan responder, adding music controls in the app and adding a magnetic effect to the Flatlist which were majorly due to the discrepancies in code structure. We configured a way to go forward by consulting with the partner and strategizing the roadmap based on their input. We also found that adding social auth amplify push gives an error because of which we implemented Social Auth using AWS Amplify. Most of the difficulties we encountered along the way was also because we rework on most of the features and enhance them along the way which took up quite a bit of time.

In bird's eye view

We used Jira for project management.
The project spanned over a period of five months.
Audio engine integration was implemented using the previous codebase.

DEVELOPMENT

After putting the right team for the project, they were introduced to the client and discussions were held around how the development of the project would flow. With that set in place, the next step was to finalise on the appropriate tech stacks for the project.

The client had already provided us with the designs so the design team lay easy on this one. The client already had an existing codebase setup with the required audio engine, so we decided to follow through with the same and use React Native to build the Frontend of the mobile application while ReactJS was chosen for the web version. The client decided that they would prefer AWS Amplify for the Backend; the reason being it had the provision of a built in/already backed APIs for Auth and few other things and it was easier for the frontend developer to work with AWS amplify rather than creating a backend from scratch.

While most of the project revolved around the upkeep of existing products, the client also required us to integrate some new features to improve the functionality of the applications. While the audio engine which had been developed by the in-house team at Nimikry was already existing, we had to collaborate with them to enhance the present audio player, admin panel and the editor section of the app wherein people could record and modify their own music. We also collaboratively worked with them to improve the track structure on the home screen based on categories while implementing a feature to track submission flows on the web app. The client also required us to authorise auto-downloading of libraries within the application to improve the UX along with the integration of in-app purchases via PayPal. Through our collaborative efforts with the client, we gave the structure of the tracks in the backend an overhaul because of the complex UI flow in the Home screen.

Ensuring the integrity of the product was of utmost importance and we conducted rigorous tests to ensure that the project was going as planned. We roped in a tester who would test the product internally before it was delivered to the client who would update us with their feedback which we would look into. The Beta version of the application has also been launched to the selected users who are currently reviewing it and letting us know about the user experience which we are working on improving on. Jira was the tool of choice to manage the flow of the project.

FINAL IMPRESSION

The work on the project is still ongoing with the team working on improving every detail of the application. The partner is very happy with the progress and how the GeekyAnts team has responded to feedback. They have decided to launch the Beta version of the mobile app to a selected audience to assess and improve on the UX. Meanwhile, the work on the web app is going as planned and both the versions are set for a fully-fledged launch in the near future.

Case Studies.