The best music, photos and cat-assisted-solitaire apps this week

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app roundup
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Photo: Cult of Mac

This week we make music on our iPhones, create drums on our Macs, travel through history with action-packed Solitaire Time Warp, and enhance images.

Cubasis 3

Cubasis 3. One more than 2.
Cubasis 3. One more than 2.
Photo: Steinberg

Cubasis 3 is a complete rewrite of Steinberg’s iOS digital audio workstation app. It now works on the iPhone as well as the iPad, and includes many new features and tweaks, like a built-in looper, and a new undo panel.

Price: $49.99

Download: Cubasis 3 from the App Store (iOS)

Solitaire Time Warp: Cards

Adventure through history with Solitaire Time Warp.
Adventure through history with Solitaire Time Warp.
Photo: Far Side Games

Sponsored: If you ever thought solitaire was too safe, Solitaire Time Warp is for you. It’s solitaire, but with added action. “Players,” says the game’s description, “have to keep alert as they face down obstacles such as locks, bombs and card eaters.”

Thankfully, you have an ally in this new, action-packed travel through history — a “mischievous and sarcastic kitty cat companion.”

Price: Free with in-app purchases

Download: Solitaire Time Warp from the App Store (iOS)

DrumComputer

DrumComputer sounds as good as it looks.
DrumComputer sounds as good as it looks.
Photo: SugarBytes

DrumComputer for Mac comes from amazing German music-app developer SugarBytes, and is pretty much what it says it is: a drum computer. Instead of loading drum samples to mimic the sounds of drums, real and synthesized, the app lets you sculpt sounds from scratch, or randomize parameters and work from there. The sounds are incredible. I’ve found that I like to tweak them until I find one I like, then sample it for use in other apps.

Price: $119

Download: DrumComputer from SugarBytes (macOS)

Pixelmator Pro’s ML Super Resolution

Pixelmator Pro for Mac just added something it calls ML Super Resolution but which everyone else calls “enhance.”

This new tool can upscale (enlarge) an image with minimal quality loss. Usually making an image bigger either leaves it blocky and blurred, or introduces new artifacts. But this tool uses the magic power of machine learning to “increase the resolution of images while keeping them stunningly sharp and detailed.”

ML Super Resolution might even improve your PowerPoint slides.
ML Super Resolution might even improve your PowerPoint slides.
Photo: Pixelmator

The results speak for themselves, but you’ll need a powerful Mac to run it.

Price: $39.99

Download: Pixelmator Pro

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