The G-clef is arguably the most recognizable musical symbol, also for non-musicians. Its familiar shape looks like a distorted ampersand symbol, though you might be surprised to learn that it actually emerged as an evolution of the letter G (well, I’d say it’s as close to the original as this portrait of Picasso, but historians know better than me).

The Chronotron logo, which represents the fusion of a G-clef and a clock – a “Clock-clef”, if you will –, took shape more than one decade ago. Credit where credit is due, it’s my wife who came up with the idea and first sketched it on paper. Later on, the Cuban designer Diego Monzón produced the first vector image of it, which is still at the heart of today’s app branding.

Since Chronotron became an app, the app logo consisted in the original Clock-clef enclosed in a guitar pick shape.

This layout conferred the app logo some volume and emphasized the suitability of the software for guitarists, but unfortunately it also turned the original logo into an afterthought. In fact, I bet most of you actually believed that the Chronotron logo was just a G-clef drawn on a guitar pick.

Because Chronotron today covers a wide range of use cases reaching far beyond its original audience, it’s time to update the app imagery accordingly. So, starting from Release 104, we have…

A New App Logo!

Indeed, the most noticeable change in Release 104 is the revamped logo, which is depicted below.

The Clock-clef symbol is now much more prominent than before and it sits on a blurred score, which reduces its verticalness and gives a sense of speed.

If you happen to use Chronotron as the default player for certain file types, you will also notice that the file icon now consists in the Clock-clef symbol on a dark blue background.

Other Changes in Release 104

The audio scroller is now visible by default, but you can still hide it via the Options pane. Waveforms are cached when a file is first loaded, so they load almost instantaneously the next time you open the same file.

A new release is always an opportunity to smash a few bugs. One of these bugs prevented the playlist from moving to the next track while the app is minimized or when the Windows session is locked. This issue was reported by a user – through an app review – and has been fixed in this release.

Honest feedback is much appreciated. Don’t hesitate to contact me via the corresponding app menu option, or by leaving a comment in this blog.