Posts tagged ‘ipod’
SampleTank iOS in Action
So IK Multimedia has released SampleTank iOS and I’m in love with it. People are loving it so far, especially considering that it has the EXACT SAME sounds that the full version of SampleTank, Miroslav Philharmonik, and SampleTron built in!
Check it out:
Via: IK Multimedia
iRig Midi!
Check out iRig Midi & SampleTank iOS!
Tell me that don’t sound dope and look awesome!
SampleTank iOS by ikmultimedia
New set up in my arsenal now: iRig Midi + SampleTank iOS + MPC = Monster Music!
Crash Pad
In an appempt to create a sleeker, faster and more harmonious drum app the folks at Xen Element created Crash Pad!
Features:
- Metronome
- Time signature control
- Count in (The recorder waits a measure before starting)
- SmartTrim (Chops the end of a recording off allowing it to loop perfectly and seamlessly)
- A bank of previous recordings to save all of your hard work
- Play the drums while a recording is playing
- Custom Kit Creator
- 8 Individually customizable pads
- Fabulous drum samples (Courtesy of Drumsamples.org and ObiAudio.com)
- Bank of saved custom kits
- Slide triggering for easier access
- Super sensitive non-laggy pads
- Gorgeous interface
- Handles up to 5 touches at once (The maximum on an iphone)
Available now!
We also have a couple to give away too! First three to leave a comment and you will get one for free courtesy of Xen Element!
The Marriott Report On…The Music Buying Experience
You know I was just thinking about a radio interview I did with a radio station yesterday promoting my new single “The Champ is Here” featuring Worst Case Scenario and Stop The Gimmicks and one of the questions that stuck with me was about my views on hip hop culture of yesteryear vs hip hop culture of now. Here’s my brief summery;
Yesteryear:
Human Interaction: Back in the days in NYC, the iron horse (subway for you laymen) was an integral part of my record shopping experience. Every weekend myself, DJ Dae One and DJ J. Speed would go to I&L records on Flatbush Avenue and then travel down Church avenue stopping in multiple record stores along the way, then hit Utica avenue to hit up a few spots until we got to Eastern Parkway and then jump on the IRT to the City (Manahattan) and head on over to Rock and Soul on 7th Ave between 34th & 35th and then over to Times Square to the Music Factory and then double back to Downtown records on 28th street and further down into the Village to a few spots on Bleeker street including the iconic Bleeker Bob’s and then we’d head over to Queens to hit up Music Factory on Jamaica Avenue and VP Records and a few spots on Guy R. Brewer which back then was known as New York Blvd.
The thing here was we not only had a relationship with the records we’ purchase but we had a face to face rapport with our vendors as DJs. But DJs weren’t the only ones privy to this very special experience. The record store was also a very cool spot to meet chicks who loved music just as much as you. You also made friends in the record store because someone could know the name of the record you heard at a block party, park jam or on the radio.
Today:
Soulless corporate owned music department outlets. Uniformed guy or girl who’s bitter about their so called fugged up life and pissed off they have to wear a stupid looking logo and engage their customers with the ultra phony “Hi, how you’re doing?” or “How’s it going?”.
But there is another disconnect about this experience that does not feel right about buying music in stores like this. They are sterile in such a clinical way that these stores have no true personality. Thus making the purchase uncomfortable and awkward. But wait what about the internet?
Now let’s get into iTunes for a second. First off iTunes sucks moose c ock! Yeah I said it and if you’re looking at your iPhone or iPod you’re probably saying to yourself, Fugg you Pete Marriott and that’s a natural response because I just told you a simple truth you know. Think about it for a sec, it’s the most restrictive file format and it’s a rather annoying purchasing experience.
But the iPhone and iPod is pretty and what’s pretty is automatically deemed as cool especially when Appholes (my coined phrased for overzealous Apple fanatics) are the Tea Party of digital technology. But there is another reason why I strongly dislike iTunes. It’s elitist and that in it’s self takes the true joy out of music purchasing experience.
Human beings in the digital age are not only physically lazy but mentally lazy in the sense of how we listen to music today. I don’t have to search for music anymore, it comes to me via my Facebook, Twitter feeds and when Hypemachine goes public, god forbid the chaos that will ensue.
The Major Label side of the music industry is trying to save themselves every damn day as more and more shareholders are dumping their stock into these corporations. The marketing companies who’s jobs are to sell you shit that you actually don’t need now have a solid Kung-Fu Death grip on all things hip hop music, so what are we to do?
Do we all run through the streets butt naked screaming the sky is falling or do we make a convergence and empower ourselves and increase the value of our music by creating a new system within that will not only create sustainability but a platform that balances the war between the localization and globalization of hip hop music?
Hack your 3rd Eye first then Hack the business of Hip Hop culture. People who follow the current trends are destined to fail and fall hard, why? Because without truly knowing the rudiments you can’t lead the path to the results you seek.
IK Multimedia Groove Maker Review
So when I first heard IK Multimedia was going to release an App for the Apple App Store I was kind of curious but kind of dismissed it at the same time. I mean most people think, including myself, til I tried it, that iPhone or iPod apps are just for fun. So I really didn’t get to excited over it but being the curious type I had to try it out. So I first check out their site and just read through everything on there as I usually do with any product I plan on adding to my arsenal. Well what I saw surprised me, there is not only 1 app but there are 8! Plus they offer a basic version for free and a Club version for half price of the other models, sweet!
In each version of Groove Maker there are a set of loops that compliment the style that the Groove Maker is modeled after. For instance, if you are into House you would download the Groove Maker House. If your into Hip-Hop then you would download Groove Maker Hip-Hop and so on for 8 different Groove Makers. Now you can easily get lost in this app for hours whether or not you have musical experience. I am not kidding when I say it is the easiest groove making software I have seen. I let my friend who has ZERO experience with making music or recording, much less on a iPod and withing minutes she had her own personal groove going on that she had created from scratch. It is very easy to get going and get started making professional sounding tracks.
In IK Multimedia’s Groove Maker there are all the basic things you would expect in a regular professional DAW. There is a master volume, as well as an additional track setting to adjust volume, pan, tap tempo control, a sequencer and a loop navigator to choose loops. Plus there are 8 pads that load the loops. Now I am still a bit confused at how there is so much but it is easy and natural to use each feature. To change the tempo you, well you tap the tempo you want. All the loops match perfectly to the tempo you tap in. Plus if you hold the Tempo button for a few seconds a fader appears and you can do more precise tempo changes. When you select the Track button a mute, solo, lock, volume and pan control comes up to whichever pad you had selected in the first place and you can easily change pads for quick and easy mixing. You can solo each pad to get a better idea of what is going on in the loop you can mute then in different ways to help sequence a song and create some patterns and if you lock a pad then it prevents your pad from changing when hitting the random buttons.
The main groove screen you see when opening any of IK Multimedia’s Groove Maker has 8 pads for 8 loops. On the right side of the screen you will see 4 different types of mix buttons. Each one changes all your loops and selects them at random depending on the loop button chosen. For instance there is a percussion button so the main loops loaded are percussion loops. So if you ever get beat block you never have to worry about getting ideas to get started! Plus with the lock feature you can keep selecting random loops and keeping the ones you like by locking the pad’s loop!
One of the best thought out things about Groove Maker is the loop selection, not only do you have the option of randomly selecting loops by category but you can scroll through each and every loop in each Groovemaker by hitting the Loops button. On the right the screen changes to a list of loops. When you select a loop area under the pads but above the Loops, Track, Play and Tempo shows the waveform of the loop chosen. Not to mention that most of the Groovemaker series comes with over 300 different loops matching the style of music! That is thousands of possibilities with just the loops included and they offer more songs for download when you register!
Now lets say you spent an hour making different grooves, I mean really digging into this wonderful app making intros, outros, breaks, builds and chorus’s! Now what? Well you can sequence it and put each groove in a order to sequence a full song! Oh I also forgot to mention you can also export the song in 44KHz/16bit Wav file! You can take your creations and distribute your songs, remixes or even take you ideas to your Computer to continue to add to them with Sonik Synth, Sampletron or add vocals for a quick and easy instrumental! This alone makes this app a must for up and comers that don’t have the best of the best behind them or have the money to hire professional producers and buy tons of studio gear. Today we are blessed to have the technology and companies like IK Multimedia creating tools for us to use to make professional music at ridiculous prices!
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