The music

"The Capseta doesn't perform music; it tells memories"

Music is a fundamental part of La Capseta. Any of our apps can work without pictures and without animations (in fact, we have a mode that does exactly that: it removes the pictures and the animations), but none of them makes sense without music. Who hasn't ever sung "Sol, solet", "Cargol treu banya" or "La lluna, la pruna" to their child? Well, we do the same, but in a way you can't: imitating a traditional music box, the kind with a metal cylinder with pins and a crank to wind it up. The one where grandma kept her jewellery!

Where the songs come from

They are folk, traditional songs and lullabies in the public domain: the ones our grandparents sang and the ones we still sing. Handled with care and tailored to each audience. "Sol, solet" can sound very restful, with a soft, calm tempo, for babies, and turn into a schoolyard song, with rhythmic variations and a cheerful tempo, for older children. This tailoring is what sets us apart from the other apps for children.

For now, Catalan ones; later, probably from other places too.

The scores

We always start from each song's original score. Some we found online; others, on paper, in music shops. The idea is that our starting point is always the same: the score in front of us.

How a song is made for the music box

The photograph. When the score is on paper, we photograph it. An AI assistant cleans it up so it reads better, without changing anything.
The digital score. Another assistant turns it into a digital score, note by note, and it is checked.
The arrangement. The arranger (an AI) makes the music-box version: the melody stays, and from there it adds variations, adjusts the pace and gives it a clear ending.
Listening. Every version is listened to with a music-box sound, and Lluís decides: if it doesn't sound right, it doesn't go in.

The process isn't fully automated: although the work is done by the AI assistants, the decisions are always made by a person, Lluís. He decides which arrangements are used and which aren't, the tempos and the final length of each piece. We like to think that every song will make the child smile and that perhaps, just perhaps, when that child grows up, they'll remember it fondly.

Three versions, three songs

The same song may be in the baby, toddler and child music boxes, but it is not the same version played faster or slower: they are three different arrangements.

Babies: slow, with few, long notes and above all repetition. It aims for calm.
Toddlers: a little livelier, with few, clear changes. It aims for recognition.
Children: livelier, with more variations. It aims for interest.

The rules every song follows are in the Music Seal.