The Most Advanced Mobile Music Workstation?

This video is an overview of Intua’s BeatMaker 2, which they describe as ‘the most advanced mobile music workstation’.

I have had the successor to this version on my iPod Touch for quite some time now and can surely vouch it is impressive what they manage to pack into a $19.99 app.

Check out the details below – and let me know what you think of BeatMaker 2 - and the fact that it runs on a phone.

STUDIO

• Create multiple instruments with Drum Machine or Keyboard interface
• 10 effect units to choose from: Reverb, Compressor, Filter, Delay, EQ, Flanger, Chorus, AutoPan, BitCrusher, Overdrive.
• 3 effect slots for each instrument, unlimited global effect racks
• Customizable Cross Controller for all effects, to manipulate multiple parameters at once

DRUM MACHINE

• Up to 128 trigger pads: 16 pads over 8 different banks
• Chop Lab: Slice audio loops to automatically create new sound presets
• Control sound parameters on individual pad: volume, pan, mute, output bus, semitone, fine tune, reverse and autoscaling
• Low/high pass filter per pad with cutoff and resonance control
• Choose between various pad trigger modes: one-shot, hold & loop
• Customizable envelope (ADSR) control for each pad
• Exclusive groups and polyphony management
• “Live” modes: trigger, mute, reverse, velocity and tune spreading.

KEYBOARD SAMPLER

• 128 keys keyboard with pitch wheel with double keyboard mode, note display and zoom controls
• Easily create your own instruments from any sample combination with the keygroup editor
• Volume and filter ADSR envelopes
• Low/high pass filter with cutoff, resonance and key tracking
• 2 LFOs with customizable amplitude, offset and rate (synchronizable), controlling volume, pitch and filter parameters
• Polyphony control, with up to 32 voices per keyboard sampler
• Legato play mode with customizable glide
• Keygroup controls: volume, pan, semitones, fine-tune, reverse and one-shot, hold, hold & loop trigger modes

MULTI-TRACK SEQUENCER

• Create unlimited instrument and FX tracks
• Automations: Record, edit and replay instrument and effect parameters
• Record, draw, arrange and resize patterns along the timeline to build your song
• Compose and modify patterns with a piano-roll interface. Edit notes, parameters, and automations.
• Instrument and effect recording options: Quantize, take or partial undo, pre-roll, Overdub, note erasing.

WAVE EDITOR

• Full-fledged wave editor with intuitive pinch and selection for manipulating samples
• Basic edition tools: trim, cut, copy, paste, with 8 levels undo/redo
• High quality time-stretching and pitch-shifting algorithms
• Audio tools: normalize, silence, reverse, fade in and out, cross-fade
• Record new samples from device microphone or plugged instrument
• Loop points and tempo/signature editor

MIXER CONSOLE

• Realistic multi-track mixer with level meters
• Edit volume, pan, solo, mute and bus routing features for individual tracks

LARGE SOUNDBANK INCLUDED

• 68 Drum Machine presets from all genres
• 111 Keyboard Sampler presets, from synthesizers to realistic orchestral instruments.

SHARING & GLOBAL OPTIONS

• Export your songs to Audio or MIDI files
• Transfer and manage your files from your computer using the integrated FTP server
• Import any songs from your iPod library to create new remixes
• Upload your songs directly to your SoundCloud account
• Share audio content with more than 20 other music applications using the iOS pasteboard
• Supports BeatMaker 1 kits and projects
• Fully supports Retina display
• Native iPad version coming soon as a free update

Intua’s Beatmaker 2 is available now in the Apple App Store

So an apple, a dj, and a lemur walk into a club…

With all the buzz surrounding Apple’s new product, the iPad, i’m sure every single one of us is sick of hearing about it (and it hasn’t even been released yet!!!!!). With all the skeptics out there (including myself), we all seem to wonder the same thing about this, what’s the point of it??? I mean really, it just seems like an iPhone on some serious steroids that lacks the capabilities of any laptop. Well, with all that being said and out of the way, I will shed some light on some of the awesome features that this baby will bring, ESPECIALLY to the music scene.

With my lust for technology and my growing passion for all things DJing (software, hardware, live controllers, etc.) the iPad is going to be groundbreaking on many levels. For a few years now, several of the biggest names in the industry such as Daft Punk, Justice, and Bjork have been using what is called a Jazzmutant Lemur with their live shows. This is a mesmerizing product since it uses all multitouch to control everything from sequencing to lighting. Here check out this video and you will get the gist of it…

Now this is just one of the many user interfaces that can be used with the Lemur. I will post another video of a sequencing interface that can also be used with this…

Now you can possibly start to see what I am getting at with the iPad. Such major music companies like Korg have already jumped on board with Apple’s newest device and have created incredible applications that can be used. Many of you are probably thinking, well there are already a ton of music applications for the iPhone/iPod Touch, so of course there are applications like this for the iPad. Yes, well many artists have already been pushing these small devises to the limits with their live sets, but it will be nothing in comparison to the iPad. These programs are much more in depth, sequencing, synthesizers, beatmakers are all capable with endless possibilities in conjunction with the iPads multitouch.

So will the iPad kill off a lot of these other music controllers?? Lets break it down to pricing and you can just decide for yourselves. A jazzmutant Lemur is going to run you anywhere from $1,500 (which is the stripped down version called the Dexter) to about $3,000. While, as most of you already know, you can get your hands on an iPad for a base price of $499. Did I mention you can also surf the internet, read books, newspapers, watch movies, etc. But you already knew that……right??

There you have it everyone, love him or hate him (and for some hate that you love him), Steve Jobs has created another groundbreaking device for Apple. Now that I have offered my two cents on the iPad, decide for yourself, could you see yourself buying one? Personally, I can’t wait to see the kind of music people will come up with while using this. I will leave you with Korg’s iElectribe program they recently created for the iPad. Keep in mind people, this is only the beginning of applications that will be released for this device.

Bing vs. Google: The battle of the maps

Watch out Google, your maps may soon become outdated. No Joke. Microsoft is seriously stepping there game up with Bing Maps. Not only is a complete 3D rendering of the world as we know it, you can seamlessly zoom in and pan out from pretty much any area you desire. “That’s no big news, google maps can already do that!” No, not the way Microsoft has done it. It’s not even comparable to how much more smooth Bing Maps can run. Let’s just tap into some of the best features this baby has to offer.

Wish you could view maps online in real time? Yes! Wish you could integrate some of those social networking skills you have mastered over the past few years with online maps. Yea, sure. Well Microsoft has created an augmented reality for those people traveling through Bing maps. Just imagine, live video showing up in those area you are near or pass by. Along with it’s integration with Flickr, anyone can post pictures of those familiar areas in town for all to view as they cruise on by. Did I forget to mention how you can now go inside certain places as well?!?

It is great to see a company like Microsoft, who has been severely lacking in the innovation department, really step there game up to create some competition to Google Maps. So you be the judge. Think Microsoft has done it and can climb to the top of the ranks with Bing Maps? Maybe this video can help convince you.

Big Red Fruit

Time for the speculation to cease, and finally let the islate, itablet, whatever the hell there going to name the damn thing show its sexy little self. For anyone currently not in the know about this soon to be announced Apple tablet, get excited. This device is a super-sized iPhone in more ways than just it’s dimensions. With an OS identical to that of the iPhone (running the new version 4.0), a much larger screen, higher resolution, e-book and newspaper capabilities,  this will surely be generating some serious buzz for both Apple lovers and haters.

Now there have been a lot of rumors floating around on what Apple would actually be announcing. For those wondering if it’s going to be an iphone for Verizon since it was said AT&T would lose there exclusive rights with Apple as of…….well, today, don’t get your hopes up. The odds of Apple producing a whole new line of iPhone devices to run on the soon to be obsolete CDMA network (Verizon, Sprint) is slim to none. Next year my friends, next year. It will be well worth the wait when Verizon has there LTE (4G) network up and running to the masses.

Now it still makes perfect sense that AT&T will no longer be the only wireless company to offer an Apple product. Tablet devices require a service plan, and Apple would not dare to release a tablet device with restrictions to AT&T. So around 1 pm(est), we will see the Big Red join forces with the fruit. So let me suggest to you that now would be a perfect time to call up your financial adviser and get those shares up in the Apple category.

Can’t wait to see what Stevie J has in store in just a few short hours!