Paul is at band camp, and Chris is leading workshops for the Wisconsin Center for Music Education. Paul called in and visited with us for a half hour–and this is the recording of that visit.… More
Kaspar Released (No, not Casper the ghost so relax! and make music!)
Kaspar – $9.99 (for now)Kaspar is an outstanding new synth from Yonac that will get you inspired to start making some music and start fanning that creative spark inside of you that you’ve let die out a bit through the last six months!
This app, like many new releases is on a limited time intro price. I’m not sure for how long but I do know the app was released July 20, 2017 so…
What is really cool about this app is embodied right in the description on Yonacs website – “Multi-Engine AutoMorphing Supersynthesizer”
8 fully featured polyphonic synths with the ability to layer, modulate and morph between each! See the XY pad below – yeah… that’s the morphing, modulation goodness of the app at work just to warm your heart with delightful sounds!
Do you REALLY need to know more?
This IS one of those apps that comes fully equipped with built in presets for your extensive musical explorations. It is ALSO one of those apps that you could spend a TON of time in just messing around building and designing your own sounds!
I WILL say that if you don’t like the color yellow then don’t buy the app because they USED ALL the yellow paint the paint store had in stock when building the app!
Here is a video to get you even more interested!
New and Exciting Apps Just Released for Music Makers!
Beat Maker 3 – Intro Price of $19.99 only good until June 22
Intua released BeatMaker 3 this past weekend and if you want the intro pricing you will have to hurry! I’ve been enjoying my summer with my family and have not had the time to write anything here since the app came out!
If you are unsure what Beat Maker 3 is join the club. In short it is the long waited for upgrade to an app that has been a standard iOS app for a long time!
Here is the official intro on the App Store –
“BeatMaker brings unmatched efficiency and depth in an intuitive audio and MIDI workstation.
Look no further, the power of traditional desktop software and real hardware is now united into one single production studio”
Here is the header from Intua’s website –
From what I’ve seen and read and watched here is my take on what Beat Maker 3 is – It is a disruptive entry into the world of what a workstation/DAW has traditionally been called. Beat Maker 3 is an app, currently only for iPad but an iPhone version is on its way, that allows you to sample sounds/instruments/music and then manipulate those samples in remarkable new ways. Beat Maker is also a center to you hardware and will control outboard gear as well.
Beat Maker 3 is for sure one of the most beautifully designed apps to come out in awhile! The design is just gorgeous! Look at this mixer view….
The traditional grid of pads like you see on a drum machine for instance is getting smashed to smithereens with this app. You know have 8 banks of up to 8 pads each. Each pad can be assigned its own individual sample. The ability within BM3 gives you the ability to “Record and chop live, assemble, mangle and resample: our state of the art sampling engine will sculpt your ideas, giving life to your instruments with a full modulation and layering system. With ZPlane’s Elastique live stretch and pitch shift, adjust your loops and instruments to match the tempo or go experimental. You can even integrate your favorite synth & effect apps with full AUv3 and IAA support.”
There is a Sequencer that has the classic timeline recording features as one would expect in a DAW but there is also a very flexible Scene Mode which is a nod to those who have used and enjoy Ableton Live sort of workflows.
The mixer gives you an insane amount of control over every detail of the mix – right down to each individual pad in each and every bank!
Beat Maker 3 has been designed to be used to record, create and produce full projects from. The app is also meant and built to be used in live performances easily giving you the ability to record, chop, mangle and alter to your hearts content even in a live setting!
I will say that Beat Maker 3 is NOT chock full of built in samples waiting for you to start messing around with. There is a basic set and it is up to you to import further material. There is a healthy selection of IAP purchases from their content store already available. There are plenty of free sources online. The fun of course is when you start sampling other apps and your self playing your own instruments. Then you get the ability to start arranging those samples into something amazing using tools not so easily available before now.
(That paragraph is the long winded version of – this app is awesome but be ready to invest some time into it!)
Here is the intro trailer to get your intrigue even further….
MET Podcast 09 Now Available with UberChord CEO
Chris and I finally found time in our busy summers to get another Podcast put together! In the first half, we discuss the latest – both as far as what we have been up to and then also in the music education and technology world. In the second half, we have the privilege to interview Eckart Burgwedel, CEO of UberChord.
UberChord kindly offered to pay for our first year’s hosting fees on SoundCloud, but we would have interviewed UberChord anyway. It is always so fun to talk to developers and companies to find out their stories and the ideas behind their apps. Hearing what an app is all about and capable of is even better when talking to those responsible for bringing that app to life!
If you are a developer or a company, and you would like to talk with Paul and I about your product and its potential for music education, please contact us! We are also open to talking to other influential teachers in the field.
We are learning a lot in this podcast endeavor–and we are hoping that you are, too. We enjoy hearing the back stories behind the apps and the products.
ShowNotes are here – https://metpodcast.wordpress.com
Here is the link to the our Podcast Playlist. # 009 is the latest!
BeatMaker3 is Coming July 15!
I’m just gonna throw this out there that BeatMaker 3 is COMING!
July 15!
It’s looking very amazing for creating music on iOS!
It will only be offered at intro price for the first 7 days so hopefully you get paid in that timespan!
Here is more info from their website to give you an idea!
BeatMaker 3’s digital audio workstation provides versatility ideal for both on-the-go production and more complex MIDI/audio studio setups. Suited for both amateurs and professional users, BeatMaker 3 emphasises the strengths of its critically acclaimed predecessors while taking the future of music composition to the next level.
BeatMaker 3’s ability to integrate with both MIDI hardware and the music app ecosystem makes it a powerful tool in any musician’s arsenal. In anticipation of launch, a series of screenshots of the soon-to-be-released app’s UI we’ve posted recently on the company website. Additionally, a list of partial features confirmed in the forthcoming app includes:
Main functionalities
- Compose with high quality instruments & loops, integrated in a powerful and streamlined DAW
- Design your own instruments using a state of the art sampling engine with unmatched modularity (multi-layer, live slice mode, realtime time-stretching/pitch-shifting, Audio Units V3/IAA, full modulation system, …)
- Powerful integration of MIDI hardware to control the app and its instruments in a unique way (MIDI actions, parameter macros, …)
- Arrange songs with instruments & audio tracks
- Play live, remix or sketch ideas with a powerful scene mode
- Export, share, and expand your library with soundpacks designed by the best sound design companies
Video Editing and Connection Speeds
MORAL OF THIS POST
Make sure you KNOW what speed your drives/hubs/card readers are!
Also – buy a REALLY BIG hard drive!
THE BACK STORY
I have been shooting video and editing video for the past three weeks like a mad man! I went to band camp (not my own) as the videographer for two weeks. During that two weeks there was two of us shooting rehearsals, sectionals, performances and daily activities the kids did like high ropes, boating, archery and horse back riding to name a few.
Now that I am back home and editing all that video I have really started to realize how taxing Final Cut Pro is on storage space! It is a sweet app but the storage it requires is insane! Of course If I wasn’t trying to edit two weeks of video from two different video cameras, an iPad, my Nikon and my iPhone along with a GoPro then MAYBE it’d be easier!
Any ways…. this is just an observation.
I have been using my new MacBookPro with the TouchBar on it. I have the first one that came out, a 15 inch. It has really not been that big of a deal having just the USB-C ports on it. Until this video stuff!
Now I have two external 2TB hard drives hooked up – one for each week.
SO WHAT HAVE I LEARNED?
OK – so here is what I have learned….
USB-C really is remarkably faster! Of course when dealing with just normal day stuff it isn’t any big deal but when trying to transfer a 173GB Final Cut Pro library to another drive then you start to notice! When I went to transfer the library the first time the drive was hooked up to a USB hub which I knew was only USB2.0 – my MacBook told me – Ummm…. OK…. I will transfer this library but it’s going to take something like 3 hours. I said YIKES! Then I unplugged the drive from the hub and used one of those Apple adaptors from USB-c to USB normal to try the transfer. This turned out to be a much better situation! This time my MacBook was happy to do the transfer in 28 minutes!
When I dug down into the Apple system reporter and looked up the speeds here is what I found… The USB drives that are running at 2.0 and 3.0 speeds are capable of up to 480 Mb/Sec and then the drive I have that is actually running at USB 3.1 specs is capable of 5 Gb/Sec
AND THAT BOYS AND GIRLS is why I am more than happy I bought a new MacBookPro with the USB-c ports on it!
WHAT ELSE HAVE I LEARNED THESE PAST THREE WEEKS?
It is insanely fun to shoot video for concerts using five cameras and a handheld recorder for the audio and then dump it all into Final Cut Pro to use the multi-cam feature!
The problem is that you had better make sure the audio recorder is recording at 48khz – the same as the video! Not 44khz like it was the first time!
The second problem is you had better have a FAST external drive to do the Multicam editing!
The realization is that what there is no way we normal people could have hoped to have been able to accomplish sitting in our basements five years ago is now possible!
THE LAST THOUGHT FROM WHAT I HAVE LEARNED
Yeah…. when you buy iPhones and iPads with the insanely large storage space available now a days… you end up with a TON of video and pictures on there that you are going to HAVE to back up someplace at some point in time! The internal drive on you laptop probably isn’t going to be the place that you want to do that to!
July 4th Apps Sale! MORE
Oh my goodness how could I forget these two?
Two of my most used apps – I have written about both of these multiple times before so if you want to know more then simply search on the right hand side of my blog for each.
DayOne is the most beautiful and gorgeous way to keep a Journal of any out there! Right now it is FREE for iOS as well as for the Mac! Use it for your personal life, travel journal, a way to keep track of what you do as a teacher or whatever job you have! Make multiple journals and use it on any of your devices and they will all stay in sync!
Cubasis is currently 1/2 off too! This is one of the most full featured AND easiest to use DAW’s for iOS available. This price point makes it simply a no brainer purchase!
Are you a guitar player who doesn’t want to lug around all those amps? Well this app can help!
Amplitube for iPhone is only $10
Amplitube for iPad is only $10 also
Happy Independence Day (Well…. if you are American!) – Apps are going on sale this week!
Hi all – I am back from a two week stint at Band Camp. This time around though I was doing all the video and am now deep into the next five days of editing all that video and learning Final Cut Pro BUT…. I wanted to make sure you were aware of several good sales going on currently…
PreSonus
Notion and StudioOne are at 30% off currently – and this includes upgrades!
DrumKick is currently FREE and a heck of a lot of fun! Get BOTH the phone AND the iPad versions for optimal fun as the phone can be stuck into your sock and you now have an instant kick drum!!!!
DrumKick for iPad
DrumKick for iPhone
Olympia Noise Co Apps –
Patterning $9.99 > $5.99 – THE drum machine app that is the funnest! (Go away English teachers!)
Chordion $4.99 > $2.99
Ribbons $5.99 > $2.99
dot Melody $4.99 > $1.99
Uri Machmias –
Sonic Logic has just had a wonderful update! Use this app is you want to control other music apps – be it on your iPad or even on your desktop AND it works via bluetooth too!
OK – back to editing video!
NinGenius – Student Edition is FREE (Until July 1st!)
Wow, what a Fourth of July Celebration! Thanks Anthony!
KRFT – Modular Instrument for Music Production (and Performance)
KRFT is one of the apps that I have just been begging to dive into for the past 6 months but with school still in progress and a ton of other projects already on the front burners I haven’t had time. Now school is out and I get to play some!
KRFT – Modular Music Production – (Discounted 33% until June 22nd!)
I really like to try to find alternative ways for my music students to perform. I like to perform using interfaces/instruments that do not fit into the traditional mold as well. We ARE trying to teach music in the 21st century right? In the past I’ve always had some grand ideas of being able to have this pre-recorded music that I could instantly play various sections of and still be able to tweak in various ways as I felt fit in the moment. The traditional DAW has not allowed this flexibility and neither have simple looping apps. Now with KRFT I can have a great deal of flexibility, and spontaneity all in a layout that fits my method of creating/performing.
The idea is simple you have a layout of squares, triangle, and circles combined with buttons and knobs that control the music. (The cool glasses and espresso don’t hurt either!)
The app runs on iPhone as well, giving you even great flexibility in where and when you create and play.
When editing your layout you get a blank screen and from there start to build up your musical creation. You add these things called Musical Cells to your blank canvas. Inside of each of these cells you add either you music that you records, audio loops or you use the cells to morph and transform your music.
Recording some loops into some cells are probably the best spot to start – there are bass, drums and lead synths built into the app with quite a hefty list of possible sounds to choose from! From there creating a few fills loops might be next and then moving on to adding in some audio triggers. Then you get to start messing around with the buttons that tweak the sound – allowing you to control things like Volume, Tempo, Swing and Filter on the Master side of things. On each individual channels you get to set up morph triggers that affect individual channels – these are Filter Frequency, Pitch, Attack, Gate, Distortion Level and Mix, Level, Duration of Delay, Chorus Mix, and Channel Volume/Pan/Reverb. So you can see how involved you can get with the control of and morphing of your performance!
When entering in your music you have two methods of entering – the first is a grid of pads that allow for some creative input depending on where you tap the cell. The sound can be affected in several different ways – you can set Gain, Filter, Attack, Pitch and LFO to change depending on how high or low you tap on the grid. There are three rows of these pads to play that funky music on. The Master Tuning section decides that scale that gets used out of the 8 choices – Major, Minor, Harmonic, Doria, Mixolydian, Lydian, Phrygian and Lochrian.
OF course for this of you who simply want a piano roll/step time entry there is that possibility as well.
CONNECTIVITY
KRFT has quite a bit of versatility built into the app and could easily be an app that you use by itself. But, where is the fun in THAT?
As I mentioned, you have three different types of synth sounds built into the app each with a large variety of sounds to choose from. You can add multiple channels of each type too – so if you want several lead sounds simply add a new channel and away you go.
For those of us with other apps we want to tie into KRFT though it is easy to do. Simply add a MIDI channel, select the other app and away you go.
For those of you who want to take connectivity a step further than go ahead… feel free to incorporate your desktop DAW like Ableton Live or Logic as well! Any other app that is MIDI enabled is good to go here! In fact, any hardware that you have connected to your iOS device, that can be controlled via MIDI can be controlled with KRFT! Take a minute and let THAT sink in!
oh…. KRFT does Ableton Link too so everything will stay tightly synced together! AudioBus, CoreMIDI, both are there as is the capability of using the app in AUM!
The developers are two brothers based out of London. I feel like they are onto something exciting here with the flexibility they are giving us in KRFT. It is more than just the flexibility though, it is also the fact that KRFT is pretty simple to figure out. IT doesn’t take long and even us adults can figure it out! Give a few students the task and time in class to figure this app out and they will catch on quickly as well. If they don’t though, there is a nice set of YouTube tutorials they have put together to help guide us through the process of getting going.
Of course what kind of guy would I be if I didn’t let you see the app in action? Here is a nice jam using the app to give you an idea of what all is possible. I do have to say that when Studio Amplify came out with their app NOIZ, I wanted so bad to be able to set up my very own creations instead of being held back by what someone else had created – Don’t get me wrong NOIZ is a blast to play but being given the ability to set things up as I wish, with my own music is like Christmas Morning!
INSERT VIDEO HERE
ME&T Podcast #8 Featuring The Developer from Sheet Music Scanner is now out!
Chris and I have had a busy first part of 2017nso it has been a little while since we have found the time to put a new podcast out. But we had a great talk with David Zemsky, the developer of Sheet Music Scanner – an iOS app that is pretty disruptive to our workflows as musicians. Using this app and your devices built in camera it is simple to turn a static sheet of music into digital music that you can do many things with. One of the most important things is that you can listen to what the music is supposed to sound like allowing for quicker understanding of that sheet music. I love these chances to sit and find out more about the developers who have a passion to help change the face of music education, the developers who want to change the capabilities musicians have through the use of technology. David is a great person whose desire for developing his app is evident in our discussions.
Chris and I discuss quite a few other current topics current in the world of music, education and technology. Check out the show notes on our METPodcast WordPress page
Here is the podcast from our SoundCloud page which is sponsored by UberChord
