Review: Ommwriter Text Editor

Giles Turnbull ()

20091124-ommwriter.jpg

Ommwriter is different. It’s a text editor, perhaps better described as a “writing environment” because text editor makes it sound like something you could write code in. And I can’t see many people using it for that.

Ommwriter plays ambient music and soundscapes while you work. The splash screen encourages you to stick headphones on while you’re using it; the idea is to put you in that special writing space you need to be in to get your work done.

One very odd thing is that it’s made by an advertising and marketing agency – such companies are not normally well known for their work as OS X developers.

Anyway. I’ve made a little screencast that shows you how it all works:

DON'T MISS
Cult of Mac favorite: WriteRoom (Mac OS X app)

When I first saw it I was sceptical, but having tried it out I’m a little less so. I shall certainly be trying out Ommwriter when I get round to one or two forthcoming creative writing projects; it will be interesting to see how the experience compares to using WriteRoom.

What do you make of it? Let us know in the comments.

12 comments »

About the author

gilest

Giles Turnbull is a freelance writer in England. He writes for the Press Association and The Morning News. He has a website you can ignore and a Twitter account you needn't follow.

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Posted in Reviews, Screencasts, Software, Top stories |

  • Sayam Aggarwal

    My vote definitely goes to WriteRoom.. Music to people like me is nothing but disturbance while doing stuff. I mean, how can someone think with stuff playing loud in your ears, I can’t.. Maybe that’s just me. :)

  • Fuzzypig

    If you can change the backdrop to something from Die Hard/Aliens then crank up some death-metal, I’d sign up in a flash!

    I tend to find ambient sounds like they way more distracting that simply having the radio on or playing some of you own music.

    I can certainly see the appeal, with customisation would probably work wonders for some people. I think I’d spend all day tweaking the settings and never getting and bloody work done!! LOL!

  • Robin

    The music that I heard from watching the video is rather annoying. No thanks!

  • harbatkin

    MacVim in fullscreen mode is all i need.

  • http://www.zoomata.com Nicole Martinelli

    Love this idea — I’ve been using binaural beats (beta, super annoying at first — http://www.jetcityorange.com/meditation/binaural-beats.html) as background music, but once you get used to it, it does help concentrate.

  • Jayce

    WriteRoom (no lost-in-the-cold-midwinter graphics) and if you want ambient sounds check out SonicMood (http://www.sonicmood.com/), inexpensive, highly flexible–all I need as curtain between me and external noises.

    Ommwriter made me increasingly irritated as I tried to find some control combination that was helpful rather than intrusive. What a relief to quit it and trash it!

  • http://deborahkunzie.com Deborah

    I have been using it for about a month now and loved it the first time I opened it up. I find it most pleasing to the ear, the eyes and creates a relaxing mood while writing articles.

  • Anon

    I found it to be absolutely horrible. What writer needs further distractions? Sounds coming from the keyboard? Visual backgrounds? No way to save other than as a text file? No formattting? No spell check. Sorry, but a blank page and peace and quiet are what a real writer needs.

  • Harold f

    The background is optional.
    Sounds can be turned off.
    The website explains how to activate the Mac’s spelling checker.

  • http://www.helmling.com Helmling

    I agree with Harold. Most of the reactions seem knee-jerk. It’s a great brainstorming tool. Polish and publish in a fully-featured Word processor, but this is a great tool for composition.

  • http://twitter.com/Hirally Hillary B

    Thank you for making such a nice written (and video) review of OmmWriter. I discovered OmmWriter a few nights ago from a blog, and ultimately ended up downloading OmmWriter Dána II. I think it’s a wonderful program. I love the ambient background music, and believe it or not, I like the background typing noises! It somehow motivates me to write even more, and get more out. If only I had discovered the program when I was writing essay after essay for my college writing class. Oh well! Again, thank you for providing people with a review of this program. I think it should be shared. :)  
    -Hillary

  • http://www.thefreelancerdiary.com Neeraj Sachdeva

    Great review, really appreciate it. I actually really like the ambient sound. As for the keystrokes, they might have tried to mimic the scenario where you are sitting inside, writing, while its raining outside. That is what it says to me anyways :)

    Thanks.