Free Sample Friday: Synths Evolved Vol. 01 - Nanostudio

While I'm away, long time Free Sample Friday contributor Adam will be handling the free sample duties, so a big thanks to him!  The next three free sample selections will consist of synthesizers processed through the Dave Smith Instruments Evolver's built-in filters, distortion, bit crushers, and delays.

The first in the series consists of sounds from the iPhone app Nanostudio mangled by the Evolver.  About 3.4 MB.

GO GET THEM!

Remiix International Feel Released for iPhone

"To help celebrate their two year anniversary, remix the Balearic sounds of the mysterious label from Uruguay: International Feel. Remiix International Feel is an interactive record, a 2011 version of Brian Eno’s ‘Generative Music’. Combine instrumental loops, playful vocals, slo-mo drum & percussion loops and mercury infused basslines, straight from the shores of Vesuvius.

What is Remiix
The concept is simple. Songs are meticulously organized in four groups or reels. Mix loops from different reels in ANY combination; it’s guaranteed to sound like a professional mix. The sounds are all automatically beat-matched and re- pitched in key. Tweak the sounds with studio-grade effects to add some subtle flavour or to completely transform the material. A high-quality, streamlined, artist-themed interface, including an artist and label info page, adds to the experience.

What is International Feel
Says label boss Mark B: “International Feel is based in Punta Del Este on Uruguay’s Atlantic Coast. The label came into existence to create a home for open minded music heads driven by 100% passion and perfection in everything we do. Whether it be the music itself or the vinyl cut... the artwork or the remixes, we strive to create pieces of music and artwork that play with expectations, never drop the quality and become desirable and collectable items of timeless beauty.”

Over the past 12 months International Feel has released tracks and remixes by DJ Harvey, Daniele Baldelli, Still Going, Greg Wilson, Joakim, Quiet Village and many others, as well as breaking new artists like Rocha and Hungry Ghost. This year has also seen acclaimed album releases from Gatto Fritto and DJ Harvey’s Locussolus project (from which two tracks are included on this version of Remiix).

Tracklist
Hungry Ghost - Illuminations
Bubble Club - The Goddess
Rocha - Hands Of Love
Locussolus - Next To You
Coyote - Moving
Locussolus - I Want It"

Camel Audio Releases Alchemy Mobile

Camel Audio have announced Alchemy Mobile, a special version of their flagship Alchemy softsynth.  The app is available in two flavors, a free version with limited features, and a "pro" version that expands on those a bit.  Here's what they have to say about it:

"Turn your iPhone / iPad into a powerful synthesizer! Alchemy Mobile includes everything from evolving soundscapes and fat bases to lush pads and pulsing arpeggios, and is available for free from the iTunes App store. This is the iOS version of Camel Audio's award-winning Mac/PC Alchemy synth - the leading sample manipulation synthesizer which can be heard on thousands of records and films by world-class artists.

Touch Remote for Alchemy on Mac/PC

With the Pro Upgrade ($19.99/€15.99/£13.99), you can remotely control Alchemy or the free Alchemy Player on your desktop computer. This is the first iPhone App to offer a dedicated touch remote feature for a desktop synth! Easy one touch access to the remix pad and preset selection means you'll spend more time getting inspired and less time reaching for your mouse.

Create Your Own Sounds with the Remix Pad

Discover an almost limitless palette of sounds using the unique remix pad to morph between sound variations. 16 controls including cutoff, resonance, ADSR and effects parameters are specially selected for each preset to make tweaking sounds to fit your music easier than ever.

External MIDI or Built In Keyboard

The Alchemy Mobile interface was designed with ease of use in mind. You can play the mini keyboard built into the app, which features scalable key size and one touch major and minor keys so even the clumsiest fingers can play along with friends. You can also plug in an external Core MIDI keyboard.

Copy/Paste and Loop Player

Using Alchemy with other apps like NanoStudio and Garageband is easy, thanks to the included loop player. Simply paste a loop from your sequencer into Alchemy Player, hit record, and play in your killer bass part, and then paste the resulting loop back into the sequencer. Alchemy Player is the first iPhone app to feature exposé, which makes switching between pages a breeze.

Most Powerful Synthesis Engine on iOS

Want to know why Alchemy Mobile has such amazing sounds which can change so drastically with a tap of the remix pad? The performance controls and remix pad are linked to the most powerful synthesis engine on iOS, which allows you to morph and change the sound in radical ways not possible with any other synth. Alchemy's VA synth, sampler and granular and additive resynthesis, combined with almost unlimited modulation sources, effects and a flexible arpeggiator are used to power this expressive way of creating new sounds for your music.

Expandable with Sound Libraries

The free version of Alchemy Mobile includes 25 sounds, with a further 25 available when you register for free with Camel Audio. You can expand Alchemy Mobile with a wide range of sound libraries such as BigTone, Cinematic and Arp Dimensions from world class sound designers. The libraries each contain 50 sounds (400 variations) and are available as in-app purchases for $4.99/€3.99/£2.99.

Check out the FAQ for answers to all the most commonly asked questions.

Free Features

• remix pad to morph between sound variations and create your own sound
• 16 performance controls so you can easily tweak sounds to fit your music
• most powerful iOS synthesis engine with VA, sampler, granular and additive resynthesis
• external MIDI keyboard support
• loop player with 25 drum loops included
• copy and paste support for easy integration with sequencers
• built in keyboard with scalable keys
• one touch major and minor chords
• iPad native version included
• 25 sounds with 25 more free when you register
• add on sound libraries available as in-app purchases

Pro Features

• remote control of Alchemy or free Alchemy Player on your desktop computer
• free download of Mobile version (if available) of desktop sound libraries you own
• 125 sounds
• 50 loops"

Native Instruments Introduces Maschine Micro and iOs App

Native Instruments have announced 2 new additions to the Maschine line of software/hardware drum machines.  First up is Maschine Micro, which offers the same software and sample library as the original Maschine, but includes a smaller, more portable controller and a lower price ($399).

Additionally, they've released their first iPhone/iPad app called iMaschine.  iMaschine is focused on mobile beat-making, allowing you to program rhythms, add samples via the phone's mic, and export your projects to the full Maschine software to finish up.  iMaschine features a small sample library (100MB) and goes for $4.99.

Website Focused on iOS based Audio Apps

iDesignSound is a recently-launched site that might be of interest to those of you out there with an interest in the music-making abilities of the iPhone and iPad. Check it out!

Fairlight for iOS Released

The eagerly-anticipated Fairlight app for iPhone and iPad has been released. You can find out more info here. And you can buy it by clicking this button...

Review: Kraftwerk Kling Klang Machine for iPhone/iPad

Product: Kraftwerk Kling Klang Machine

Developer: Fox Mobile Distribution

Platform: iPhone / iPad

Price: $8.99

Kraftwerk are a band who need no introduction. With a career spanning over 40 years, they've had an impact on music most bands could only dream of. Spawning countless genres and still influencing new artists today, they truly are the Beatles of electronic music. Given the band's fetish for technology as evident from songs like "Pocket Calculator" and "Home Computer", it seems fitting that the band enter the world of software for handheld devices. Indeed, it's rather easy to imagine the band performing a concert on cell phones. So it was with great interest that I downloaded their first iOS app, appropriately entitled "Kling Klang Machine".

WHAT IS IT?

Kling Klang Machine is essentially a generative music app, which means it outputs "improvised" music based on a set of rules. Those rules are selected in this app by selecting a time zone on a map of the world. Although it's unclear how exactly that translates into the results it produces, it does give the app a nice bit of unpredictability. Aside from the world map, there is also an X/Y controller that allows you to alter the results in real time, a Tenori-on style grid that allows you to edit or save the results of the music generator, and a "mixer" screen that allows you to customize settings for Volume, Echo, Reverb, Tuning, EFX level, and tempo.

THE VERDICT?

How you feel about generative music will largely decide on how you feel about this app. Overall, though, it's hard to avoid the feeling that this is going to be a colossal disappointment to most Kraftwerk fans, because aside from the programs stylish graphics (which are very well done), there is little to nothing Kraftwerkian about it. The sounds and sequences it produces more often than not sound like seasick doorbells. Obviously, we don't expect this app to generate the next "Radioactivity", but would it be too much to have it produce sounds that one might expect to actually hear in a Kraftwerk song?

The other major problem with this app is the price. If this were your standard 99 cent app, there would be little to complain about, but when the asking price is $8.99, it's hard to avoid the feeling that this was just a crass attempt to slap the name "Kraftwerk" on something and watch the cash flow in. Make no mistake, you are not getting $8.99 worth of app here.

As I said, the look of the app is very nice and fits the Kraftwerk aesthetic very well, and the program itself is robust and never crashed once on me during the time I tested it. But ultimately, unless you are way into generative music and sad gamelan sounds, you're likely to be sick of this fairly quickly. Save your money and spend it on buying some Kraftwerk songs off iTunes instead. [2/10]

Liine Remiix

Remiix is an app (or more accurately, a series of apps) for iPhone and iPad which allows users to remix parts of an artists's actual recordings in a simple way. The parts are essentially grouped into stems and are designed to create nice sounding results no matter what combination the user chooses to combine the parts into . So far they've done apps for Plastikman and Joris Voorn with more editions promised shortly. This is a very interesting idea as a way for artists to connect with their fans who also happen to be musicians. How many of us would kill to have access to the individual tracls of our favorite artists' songs?

Remiix Plastikman Replikants

Remiix Joris Voorn

Insanely Fun (and Free) iOS App

While it's hardly new, it's new to me, so I thought I'd share an app a friend showed me the other night. This resulted in all of us downloading it and embarking on a beer-fueled "jam session" that I'm sure annoyed the holy hell out of the neighbors. The app I'm speaking of is Async's "Baby Scratch", a free app that lets you sample any sound and then "scratch" it on the on-screen turntable over a handful of selectable beats. It's an extremely simple app, but sounds fantastic and is extremely addictive. Give it a try!

Moog Music Releases Filtatron App for iPhone/iPad

Unless you're living under a rock, chances are good you've probably caught wind of some of the hype around Moog Music's first foray into the world of iPhone apps. Filtatron is a digitally modeled Moog ladder filter, effects engine, and sample player. Here's what they have to say:

"Key Features:

Moog Ladder Filter – Four pole resonant Moog Ladder Filter, with Lowpass and Highpass modes and adjustable cutoff and resonance parameters.

Oscillator – A high-resolution, alias-free DSP oscillator with sawtooth and square waveforms, adjustable frequency from 0.3 Hz to 2kHz.

LFO – Five waveforms: sine, ramp, sawtooth, square, sample & hold, with crossfade and morph between adjacent LFO shapes.

Envelope Follower – Uses the volume envelope of sound inputs to sweep the filter, with controls for amount and speed.

Amp and Delay FX Modules – Amp provides warm, smooth overdrive with feedback control. Delay can be modulated by its own LFO (with rate and depth controls) and delay time is smoothly interpolated for analog-style delay time tweaks.

File Sharing – Easily move audio files back and forth between the Filtatron and your computer. Audio Copy and Audio Paste enables sharing audio between the Filtatron and other compatible apps. Built-in email function allows sharing presets with other Filtatron users.

Record and Playback – All audio processed in stereo, 16bit, 44.1kHz resolution. Filtatron will record samples up to 10MB. Tap and Drag sets start and end points for seamless looping. Playback control can be adjusted from double-speed playback all the way down through zero to double-speed reverse. "

Filtatron retails for $4.99

Sample Magic Releases iPhone App

Sample developers Sample Magic have done the unexpected and entered the iPhone app market with DemoGod, an app aimed at providing aspiring dance musicians with a database of A & R contacts and other tools to help them hook up with a label. It retails for £1.79.

Reactable Comes to the

Forgot to mention this one the other day. The original Reactable made quite a stir when it first came out, but the combination of cost and the unwieldliness (it's a perfectly cromulent word...) made it out of reach and impractical for most of us. It was only a matter of time, then, that the platform would be adapted for the new generation of touch-screen devices. Reactable Mobile runs on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch and retails for a very reasonable $9.99.

Handy iPhone App for Live Sound

AudioTools from Studio Six Digital is a handy suite of audio and acoustic analysis apps useful for both professionals and curious amateurs alike. The suite comes with a base number of modules, with additional ones available optionally. Included in the "base" version:

• SPL Meter
• Real time 1/3 and octave analyzer
• Sine/square/noise Generator
• Line Level Tests
• Audio Oscilloscope
• A mono/stereo audio recorder
• File transfer of results to Mac or PC
• Audio Calculators

Optional modules include:
• FFT Analyzer
• Energy Time Curve
• Impulse Response
• SPL Pro
• SPL Traffic Light
• Speaker Polarity Checker
• Speaker Distortion Measurement
• And more

New iPhone App Turns Human Beatboxing into MIDI

Via mikegao85 on YouTube:



In case you missed it over on Synthtopia. How bad-ass is this? Vocal Beater is an iPhone app that lets you "beatbox" a rhythm with your mouth, which it then turns it into a MIDI file you can load in to your sequencer of choice. Anyone used it yet? I can definitely see the next stage of this allowing you to turn your singing into an e-mail-able MIDI file in case you get a melody idea when you're out and about.

7 iPhone Apps to Make Your Touring Life Better

As you may be able to tell from the lack of a regular posting schedule and the constant plugs for my band's gigs in various cities around the US, I happen to be on tour right now. (We're actually just two dates from the end now, and after a much needed rest, things should get back to normal here at Waveformless again.)

I've never been a big cell phone person. Sometimes it's kind of nice to not be able to be reached. But in a touring situation, they can be invaluable, so shortly before our tour, I picked up an iPhone 3Gs figuring it would come in handy. Obviously, there are tons of different models of smartphones out there, but since I only have experience with the iPhone, I thought today I would share some apps that I've found really useful during the past 6 weeks of travel. Many of them are probably available on other platforms as well.

1. Inner Fence Credit Card Terminal (99¢)
This has been the best investment I've made on the whole tour outside of the iPhone itself. Quite simply, this lets you use your iPhone to accept credit cards at your merch table. You manually enter the credit card number, expiration date, amount, billing zip code, and the customer signs the virtual receipt on the screen using their finger. Payments are batch processed directly into your bank account and the customer receives a receipt via email. My band's merch sales have been through the roof this time around and a large part of that can be credited to our ability to accept credit cards. Note that this requires you to set up an account with Authorize.net and there is a somewhat convoluted sign-up/identity verification procedure before you can get started, but it's easy sailing after that. You pay a monthly fee to Authorize.net and they take a small percentage from each sale.

2. Siri, Inc. Siri Virtual Personal Assistant (FREE)
Touring entails a lot of showing up in unfamiliar cities and needing to find useful stuff. Whether it be restaurants, a place to get the oil in the tour van changed, a hotel, etc., there's a lot of stuff that can be a pain to find if you're not familiar with the area. Siri does all of this for you in a variety of ways, but it does a lot more, including grabbing location based weather forecasts, booking a taxi, checking flight statuses local events, etc. You can search for items by location, business type, business name, etc. Book tables at a restaurant, buy movie tickets, or send yourself reminders. This is a really helpful all-in-one app that makes finding what you need in an unfamiliar location and best of all it's free!

3. David J. Hinson's Cheap Gas! (FREE)
Fueling up your tour vehicle can be an expensive prospect. This handy app looks for gas stations near your current location and sorts them by price and the distance away from your current location. When you find a suitable station, you can locate it with the iPhone's built-in Map application and be on your way.

4. AllStays iExit ($2.99)
Touring the US involves a lot of travel on interstate highways. If you're looking for a hotel, a gas station, or a restaurant off the interstate, this app will make your life a whole lot easier. It finds your current location and lists all of the upcoming exits and what specific services and points of interest you'll find there. No more getting off at an exit and wasting your time only to find off there is nothing you need there. The only downside is that it occasionally doesn't think you're on an interstate when you are, but this is relatively rare.

5. TM Soft White Noise Lite (FREE)
Sleep is a rare commodity on tour, and many times, your surroundings aren't very cooperative when it comes to grabbing some shut-eye. White Noise Lite provides a handful of soothing sounds such as falling rain, chimes, background noise on an airplane, and plane old white noise that can mask the outside annoyances of loud hotel guests, snoring roommates, loud traffic, etc. A more full-featured paid version is also available that gives access to a much wider variety of sounds.

6. mint.com Mint (FREE)
Keeping track of your finances can be a challenge when on tour, but this app makes it a breeze. Simply sign up for a mint.com account, link the accounts you wish to track, and Mint does the rest, letting you keep tabs on your balances, how much your spending on what, and managing a budget. Very handy.

7. Expedia TripAssist (FREE)
Get discounted flights, hotel rooms, and vehicle rentals on the go.

Do you have any apps you've personally found useful when travelling? Share them in the comments!

Propellerheads Releases ReBirth for iPhone

If you've been into softsynths since the beginning, you undoubtedly remember the initial offering from a little Swedish company called Propellerheads.  Rebirth was one of the first widely popular software synths and emulated the infamous Roland TB-303 and TR-909 and 808 drum boxes.  

Now, over a decade after this pioneering bit of software first hit our hard drives, it has been adapted for the iPhone.  Visit rebirthapp.com for details.

Recommend Me Some iPhone Apps

So I bought an iPhone for my band's upcoming tour and have been loading it up with apps that might come in handy for keeping the tour running smoothly.  But I haven't downloaded any music apps yet.  Which ones do I absolutely NEED in your opinion?

New iPhone App from KJ Sawka

If you've spent any time on YouTube, you probably have seen the amazing videos of drummer KJ Sawka playing live drum n' bass on a combination of acoustic and electronic drums. If you haven't go check it out now.

Cool, huh? Now, Mr. Sawka joins the ever-growing ranks of bands and musicians releasing their own apps for the iPhone called DrumBanger. Sounds really dirty, huh? Here's what he has to say about it:

"KJ Sawka has announced the worldwide release of DrumBanger, a simulation of his half-electronic drum set that gives fans a way to remix and sequence Sawka's music from their iPhones and iPod Touches. Loaded with cd-quality samples of KJ Sawka's live drums and massive synth sounds, DrumBanger puts the user behind the drums to deconstruct and then reassemble the music into a new creation. DrumBanger represents a new way to consume and enjoy music: not just by listening to it, but by simultaneously teaming up with the artist to create it."

Buy it on:

Creating a Custom iPhone App for Your Band

Much was made recently about Nine Inch Nails creating a custom iPhone app for their fans. In the ever-changing landscape of the music industry, it's more important than ever for bands to find new ways to engage and interact with their fans, and things such as custom apps allow you to do just that. The problem for most of us, however, is that we're not programmers and even if we are, most of us probably wouldn't know how to get an app listed on the iTunes website anyway. That's where a new company called Mobile Roadie comes in.

Just to be clear, I don't work for Mobile Roadie, nor have I ever used their services. I am, however, a bit intrigued by what they offer and thought my readers might as well. Basically, Mobile Roadie allows you to create your own custom iPhone App that allows you to share photos and music, post news updates and tour dates, interact with fans on your 'fan wall', list your discography and provide direct links to your music on iTunes, and a whole bunch of other stuff. All the updates are done via your computer and Mobile Roadie claims it's easy enough to use that if you can send an email, you can use their software with no problems.

The one drawback at the moment (for me, at least) is the price. There is a one time set-up fee of $399, and then it is $29 a month after that. This includes your first 1,000 fans. For every fan using your app after that, it's an additional 1¢ per fan per month. The monthly fee seems reasonable, it's just that initial $399 that seems a bit steep to be sensible unless you are a band of a certainly level of popularity who tours a lot. Of course, the idea here is that you will (hopefully) sell more music in the end and that it'll pay for itself in the long run.

Is there anyone out there using their services? Let us know your thoughts!

Nine Inch Nails Introduces iPhone App

Trent Reznor has been in the news a lot recently, and regardless of how you feel about his viewpoint on the future of music marketing, at least he's trying some different things, which is more than can be said for most labels out there. True, just because it seems to be working for Reznor doesn't mean that it will for every artist, but hopefully just the discussion alone will act as a springboard for other ideas that might help lead professional musicians out of the dark spot many of them are in presently.

Reznor's latest experiment is a free app for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch called NIN Access. The program will allow NIN fans to post and read messages, send photos, and find other NIN fans in their immediate area. Other features and downloads may also become available in the future, but the important thing here is that Reznor is using technology to create a community among his fans. Given the popularity of social network sites like MySpace and Facebook, I could see this really taking off, especially among younger fans.

The program is now available through the App Store on the iTunes music store.