Music and Sound Apps for Apple iPhone and iPad including Meteor MultiTrack Recorder, Aurora Sound Studio HD Sequencer, StompBox Guitar Effects App and Pocket RTA HD Spectrum Analyser
Asian Jazz Fusion Artist Indra Lesmana has used his love of music and technology in the creation of his new album 11:11 by not only creating the music on an iPad using Meteor Multitrack Recorder but by releasing the album as an iPad/iPhone App.
Indra used Meteor Multitrack Recorder on his iPad to record and mix the album tracks, often combining Meteor and its Virtual Instruments with Synthesizers from Moog, Korg, PPG and others to create tracks.
Indra says "Music application development is growing rapidly. "I am very interested in the development of technology especially in regard to music. This is my 67th produced record album and my first digital solo album app. This is a great experience, a tremendous challenge and spring board of inspiration for me to work with. The development of digital technologies like iPad have really help my creative process to explore and maximize my musical ability.
Indra Lesmana Using Meteor Multitrack on the iPad
It is a joy and honor to work with those who participated and had the same vision and enthusiasm to create my first album in the form of digital applications that features music, videos, games and sheet music ".
Meteor Multitrack Recorder for the iPad features 12 tracks of high quality audio, a built in Mixer with a 3 Band Parametic Equalizer, over 100 Virtual Instruments, Effects Rack, MIDI and Pasteboard support plus much more.
The Indra Lesmana app for the Apple iPad/iPhone and iTouch includes the Music Tracks, Videos, Sheet Music and a game and can be found at:
Indra Lesmana on the App Store
Meteor Multitrack Recorder on the App Store
Synergy Studio is the latest iPad music application from 4PocketsAudio, the creators of Meteor Multi-Track recorder and StompBox guitar effects rack, which featured in Apple’s iPad 2 TV commercial in January 2012.
Synergy Studio is a sequencer that enables music creation by all musical abilities. By simply tapping on the grid interface users can lay down a series of notes and patterns of up to 64 notes.
If you want to experiment more, you can add multiple layers to your patterns by selecting different instruments for each layer. As you build up your layers you can create intricate musical patterns. By switching to the fully integrated mixer and effects options you can take your patterns to a professional level.
There are four main instrument categories to choose from on the application: Drums, Analogue Synthesizer, Sample and Pad Synth. Each category contains different types of instruments – for example in the drum kit category you can choose from an array of different kits including Analogue T9 (TR-909 emulation), Orchestra, Rock and Techno. Further instrument packs are available in Synergy’s free sound library or as In-App purchases.
Synergy includes MIDI implementation enabling you to interact with MIDI hardware, such as synths and samplers creating a powerful live tool.
Musicians can share projects with other iOS devices using Bluetooth technology. Simply select the WIST function located at the top of the screen to seamlessly connect with other iPads to share tracks and projects with one another.
When you’ve finished your pattern you can export it to external apps such as Meteor, or you can add it to the song chain in Synergy. The song chain enables you to link together your patterns to create a complete track.
Exporting your final work from Synergy is just as easy with built in functionality including Dropbox, SoundCloud, Email and Pasteboard into other applications.
Whether you want to create classical or techno tracks, Synergy Studio provides you with the perfect platform for your musical creation. Synergy is released on 3rd December and is available from the Apple App Store.
KEY POINTS
• Synergy Studio is a sequencer that enables music creation by all musical abilities. • Choose your pattern length from 16, 32 and 64 notes. • 11 Drum Kits, 42 Analogue Synth instruments, 55 Sampler instruments, 21 Pad Synth instruments. • Further instruments available from free Sound library and in-App purchases. • Edit existing instruments to create new ones and save them to use again. • Easily connect and interact with other MIDI controls. • Fully integrated mixer and effects unit available. • 3 BAND Parametric EQ on each of the 16 layers to control the tonal content of a layer. • Automate panning, fading and effects using the mixer. • Export and share to other iOS devices via Bluetooth, Pasteboard, SoundCloud, DropBox, Email and FTP.
We thought it would be great to learn a bit more about who is using the 4PocketsAudio range and what they are using it for so it give me great pleasure to welcome you to our very first 4PocketAudio.com Monthly Interview.
I am a big fan of MashUps, as well as enjoying the tracks I am fascinated by the process that artists go through to create them. So I am really pleased that the award winning DJ Flashard has agreed to be the first of monthly interviewee and tell us a bit more about Mash Ups.
Q. Tell us a bit about yourself and what got you interested in MashUps. A. "I’ve always been interested in music – certainly from a very early age. I was always going out spending my pocket money on the latest chart music - 7” vinyl singles and, if I could afford, LPs. One of my earliest memories is buying the original Village People – YMCA records and playing on loop on my Dads record player (until he asked me to stop – presumably because he’d heard it too many times!). So I kind of grew up listening to music, from the sounds of the late 70’s, through the 80’s and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (I’m a bit of a rocker at heart!), and up to today's tracks. Having done a bit of DJ'ng work in my late teens, I was always interested in different remixes and the idea of creating a continuous mix by blending records in to one to create sometime new. Then, one day in early 2009, some years after my DJing days were over, I stumbled across a website where you could download separate instrumental and acapella tracks from various artists, which set me on the road to finding and falling in love with mashups. Around the same time, I also discovered a website call MashStix who let you post your own creations and people gave feedback / their opinion on what you’d done. This was (and very much still is) a very friendly place and where I am now a moderator for the site. Kind of feels like a home, having grown up through the ranks".
Q. What gives you the inspiration for a Mash Up, do you just hear a track and think yes I want to work with that? A. "Sometimes, yes, I’ll hear a track and think ‘that will work nicely with such and such’, but it really depends if you can find and download the parts (acapella, instrumental or stems) freely on-line. Normally, when I’m looking for material, it will be a track I know and like – I do this as a hobby, not as an income, so I like to work with music I enjoy myself. Otherwise, it’s trying to find tracks that key match, have a similar tempo and you’re able to work with the structure of the tracks to ensure the verse and choruses can be made to match".
Q. When I look at your Mash Ups you don't seem to go for either easy or obvious matches, I am thinking of your Beyonce vs Greenday, and Edwin Star vs Genesis vs Public Enemy vs Beyonce (War and Confusion) so How do you decide which tracks will work together? A. "Key matching is the key, excuse the pun! The keys have got to match, otherwise it will sound awful. I use a programme called Mixed In Key to help. Most Mashup producers will aim to bring artists from different genres together in their work – certainly there is more kudos in the scene for mashing different styles and genres together and making something new. For my War and Confusion mash, it was for the final of the MashStix Mash Challenge from 2011 – they had very clear rules on what was required for the final of the competition, but I also wanted to run with a theme on that one, and doing a multi-source mash was certainly outside of my comfort zone (although I did okay as I won the comp!)".
Q. I know this is going to sound a really simplistic question but once you have got your tracks how do you go about mashing them? A. "On my PC, I use a programme called Sony Acid Pro to mix the different sources together (although they are others available). I start by laying down the instrumental and setting the tempo right. I then add the vocals / acapella on the top and set the tempo of that to match the instrumental. It’s then a case of matching up the verses and choruses, trying to match the chord progression, adding some effects to the vocals, volume balancing the sources and generally trying to make the various parts blend together to sound like an original track".
Q. I know you have used your iPad for some of your Mash Ups, how do you find working on it compared to your desktop. A. "Using Meteor is great for mashing whilst I’m away from my home PC. I just upload the sources I want to use, then mix away with my earphones on. The only niggle I have is that I struggle to be accurate enough on the iPad (compared with a PC). My finger, or stylus, isn’t as accurate as a mouse, and sometimes you need to place a vocal one pixel to the left, for example – easy with a mouse, but with your finger it takes longer". (The zoom feature on Meteor will help you with this Flash)
Q. There are a great range of quality music apps available for the iPad, do you think this is leading to it being considered as a mainstay of the recording studio rather that something they can use when they are on the move? A. "I only really use Meteor on my iPad. I have other music apps like keyboards and drum machines, but I’ve yet to use them in producing a mashup (although I love the idea of programming my own drum loops and use stems to replace the original drums with my own). I guess with apps like Garage Band and Meteor MultiTrack Recorder being more and more popular, there shouldn’t be any reason why producers and remix / mashup artists won’t start using iPads and tablets in more scenarios".
Q. What advice would you give to someone who wants to make their first Mash Up?A. "Obviously, apart from getting the right software to enable you to create a mashup, you need sources. Having a large pool of sources downloaded and available helps – build up your collection over time. All mine are already run through Mixed In Key, so I can just go to the programme and it tells me which tracks key match which and the tempo. From there, it’s finding two (or more) tracks that you think match and taking it from there. Post your creation on a forum (like MashStix.Com) to get feedback from other people. Finally, don’t be too precious about what you think is the final mash and be able to take advice and criticism from others – be willing to change or adjust what you’ve done to make it sound better – if we were all that good, we’d be getting paid for what we do and making a living out of it!"
Q.What does the future hold for DJ Flashard A. "I don’t really know. Probably more of the same. As I said, this is a hobby for me, so it’s finding the time away from my work, family and social life to make more mashups, although I find it an absolute honour and privilege to be asked to contribute to a number of mashup albums that are put together and freely available online (Envision’s Smash the Genre and SoundUnsound’s Summer Booty 2012 albums, to name just two – check them out!). I also enjoy entering competitions, so, time permitting, I should look out for a few more of those. Otherwise, watch this space and check out my blog".
We hope you have enjoyed this feature, many thanks to Flashard for taking the time to talk to us it is really appreciated. For further information on DJ Flashard and to hear more of his great Mash Ups check our his blog DJ Flashard Blog
Also check out MastStix.com its a great place to head for if you want to know more about Mash Ups.
Look out for next months interview is with Milos Twilight, Producer of the Gothic Assassins Movie.
Annie Lennox vs Ellie Goulding - Little Light Bird (iPad Edit)
Mashed on an iPad 2 using Meteor Multi-Track Recorder by 4Pockets.Com. Mixed using Annie Lennox - Little Bird (Acapella) and Ellie Goulding - Lights (Instrumental).
Meteor is a digital multi-track recorder designed specifically for the iPad.
The program features up to 12 tracks of high quality audio, a built in mixer, Virtual Instruments and multi-effects processor.
Meteor is ideally suited for creating musical compositions, and also a great tool for journalists and business people who need to splice and piece together voice notes, narration or dictation. Compositions once mixed can be exported to standard file formats for use on your desktop PC or MAC.
Meteor includes a fully featured sound editor allowing recordings to be trimmed or spliced together.
You can apply various effects to your recordings either directly, as part of the recording process or in real time during playback. Editor features include cut, copy, paste, fade in/out. clear, reverse, gain, normalize, remove DC offset, time stretch and pitch shift. Effects include digital delay, chorus / flanger, reverb, graphic equalizer, tone boost, compressor (with side chaining) and distortion.
Meteor Multi Track Recorder Controller Lanes
The Mixer and effect levels can be fully automated using definable controller tracks. An integrated metronome with count-in helps you record your masterpiece, and If 12 tracks isn’t enough there is a full stereo mixdown facility.
Key Features:
Record up to12 tracks of CD quality audio
Multi-Effects Processor
Integrated 12 channel Mixer
Integrated Sample Editor
3 Global Send Effect Busses
Insert Effects with freeze facility to reduce CPU load.
Record Effects & Record Monitor
Mixer and Effect Automation
Metronome
PasteBoard Support
Mixdown / Bounce Facility
Import samples and iPod songs.
Export to compressed CAF and WAV formats
Automatic Delay Compensation
In-App Purchases available through the Online Shop
Stereo Recording and Stereo Tracks complete with Pure Stereo
Stereo Effects
Side chaining is now available on Stereo audio tracks using the Compressor.
MIDI Thru support has been added to the MIDI Setup page
Virtual Intruments In-App including Piano, Synthesizer and Drums
Export each track individually during a mixdown.
A ‘Downloadable Sound Libraries’ option has been added to the ‘Help’ menu.
A MIDI import option
HOLD pedal support for Virtual Instruments
SoundCloud support
MIDI Export
Sonoma PasteBoard Support
Split incoming stereo tracks into two mono tracks.
MIDI Clock Sync and SSP
Send Song Via Email
Record and Play Midi Tracks and Sync with External Hardware using the MIDI Clock.
Quantize of both MIDI and Audio data
Revert to saved function
Course, Medium and Fine Controllers for both MIDI and Audio Tracks
Assign Custom Colours to parts of a song i.e. make the chorus easy to identify by assigning the colour blue.
We thought it would be great to learn a bit more about who is using the 4PocketsAudio range and what they are using it for so it give me great pleasure to welcome you to our very first 4PocketAudio.com Monthly Interview.
