A few months ago, I asked the question, will your iPhone be your next sound module? Well, perhaps that time has come, thanks to Akai’s SynthStation25 and SynthStation49 keyboards, which threaten to turn your iDevice into a fully fledged music workstation.

It’s a neat concept, and Akai seems to have implemented it well.  The accompanying iDevice app contains three virtual-analogue synths with all the controls you’d expect, complemented by a simple MPC style drum machine.  All elements can be brought together by the onboard sequencer, and there’s lots of onscreen controls, from a touchscreen mixer window to an X-Y controller.  The keyboards themselves are touch sensitive, have pitch and modulation wheels, and an array of buttons, including 9 lovely MPC style drum machine buttons on the 49 key model.  The keyboards also can operate as regular USB/MIDI controllers, effectively turning your iDevice into a proper MIDI synth.  The iDevice can be mounted into the keyboard dash, much as the old Yamaha QY10s used to fit into Novation keyboards almost 20 years ago. It’s a lovely idea, though I think the synths will need to be a bit more powerful to attract serious use.

The thing is, Akai plan to open up development to third parties, which will mean more powerful synths and sequencer will come very soon.  Indeed, a few have arrived already, such as 50-in-1, nanoStudio and VirSyn’s iVoxel, a very functional vocoder.  Expect more very soon.

With the more powerful iPad 2 just launched, and the iPhone 5 probably only a few months away, things are really hotting up yet again in the music/iDevice realm.

The amount of music apps for the iPad has exploded recently, and with the (albeit very late) arrival of iOS4.2, things are looking up for the iPad as a useful tool for musicians. You can use it for anything from reading scores or lyrics to pretty much controlling a whole gig, and almost anything in between. But one simple problem up until now has been, where does one put the thing when on stage?Well, IK Multimedia seem to have solved this problem with their very clever iKlip, which allows the iPad to be clipped to any microphone stand. Finally, no more flimsy music stands for your expensive iPad!

]]> http://www.moanincronin.com/2010/11/30/iklip-taking-your-ipad-to-the-stage/feed/ 0 http://www.moanincronin.com/2010/06/10/will-your-iphone-be-your-next-sound-module/ http://www.moanincronin.com/2010/06/10/will-your-iphone-be-your-next-sound-module/#comments Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:17:34 +0000 Derek http://www.moanincronin.com/?p=211

With the iPhone 4 sporting a new operating system and Apple’s A4 1Ghz processor (which it shares with the iPad), the question has to be asked; will the iPhone/iPad be fast enough to be a reliable simple synth for live use?

Of course, there is a plethora of synth apps, from Theremins to drum machines, available for the iPhone, and if you just want a common-or-garden General MIDI synth there’s Crimson Tech’s Wavesynth, which is perfectly serviceable.

On course, the only problem has been that while a touchscreen interface is cute, and maybe even useful in a musical situation, it’s not exactly the same as, say, a real music keyboard. That’s where Line 6’s new MIDI Mobilizer comes in. It’s the first MIDI interface for the iPhone. So far, however, it only works with Line6’s own app which essentially allows you to record and play back MIDI data, It can’t really be used to control other apps on the iPhone. Yet.

I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the dots are joined and we can start using the iPhone/Touch/iPad as a tiny little synth module, for just dialling in a string pad or whatever. I’m not saying it’ll be any good, but I like the notion of turning up at a gig with just a MIDI controller and an iPhone or iPad. A 1Ghz processor should be plenty to do some reasonably simple sample playback, considering that it wasn’t that long ago that a 1Ghz processor in a desktop was considered state of the art.

Til then, I’m still dragging the laptop around I guess!

With that in mind, I’ve decided to publish my own Logic 8 pkl file, with transport buttons and a few extras besides (including a handy toggle between screens 1 & 2 and, of course, Save). I hope some people might find it useful. Of course, this is optimized for use with the standard Logic key commands, so I am not responsible if you accidently delete everything!

The people at PowerKeys are promising us an editor for PowerKeys, and I’m sure they’ve their eye on the iPad too, so expect some new features! I, for one, am very much looking forward to running apps like PowerKeys on the iPad.

You can find the Logic 8 pkl file here. Just change the .txt to .pkl and drag it to your PowerKeys dock icon, and enjoy controlling Logic from across the room or house.

Of course you’ll need the latest version of PowerKeys OS X, currently at 1.2, and the latest version of the iPhone app too. Oh yeah, and you need wi-fi. And Logic Pro 7 and upwards. And an iPhone/Touch. And a Mac. You knew that, right?

The entire entry is available here. Personally, I was amazed at how the whole thing reads a bit like a programming language, with Xs marking information which needs clarification, and lots of “(IF STOCK RISES)” caveats all over the place. Basically, when someone famous dies, an intern in Bloomberg fills out the publishing equivalent of an iTunes Smart Playlist, and hey presto! the obituary will hit the stands. Freaky, but true.