Akai Synthstation

[Torchlight]

iJammer is something truly special. You can do serious playing with it as a midi controller. I've been improvising with it today and am really gobsmacked by how good it is.

So you actually find it usable? I was looking at the screenshots from it yesterday, and wondered how easy it would be to actually play. With the hardware it seeks to emulate, you had physical, tangible buttons to rest your fingers on... without that, I would think it would be much more difficult to keep your hands in a resting position without accidentally triggering a bunch of wrong notes.

I posted a link to an improvisation I did with it here:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=290058

[brok landers]

It's completely irrelevant if something is intended/considered to be a toy if you can get good musical results from it!>snip<

exactly. i've yet to hear some though...

In any case, Apple claim 20 - 20,000 Hz @ 16bit playback for the iPhone/iPad, so whilst not being in the same league as say a Prism Sound Orpheus, it's actually perfectly adequate for most things.

not even for sketching, if you ask me, that is...

I'm old enough to remember people when people were all sniffy about laptops, saying they were toys, lacking sufficient power compared to a 'proper' desktop system. Things change, computing on mobile devices is the future.

yes, correct. wake me up when that actually is so with the i-phone (never ever, too small) or the i-pad (closed system, just as the i-phone, a real nogo imo)

btw, imo this complete "i can make music mobile, everywhere"-thing is the falsity of the century, at least if you consider music making in a professional way. you can't take your listening enviroment with you, and an arrangement, even if it's a sketch depends on the fact that the sound has to work with the arrangement, otherwise the composition won't work. of course you can say "for reconditioning i go to the studio", but then you'd have to do stuff that actually either changes your composition to something you could've done right from the start if you would've been in the studio right away (so you actually did not gain any benefit from the mobile-composing action), or you have to painstakingly find the right sound for your composition there, which you again would have done right from the start in the studio with way less loss of time and energy, again not gaining any benefit from being able to make music mobile.
all that would only change, if:

a) the working enviroment is big enough to do serious stuff on it (cpu and monitor wise, so an i-pad or an i-phone will always be way too small anyways, due to the conception itself)
b) there's finally a headphone that reliably translates into a perfect listening enviroment. there are a lot of claims already, but they're all failing massiveley. no headphone in the world is able to replace good monitor speakers and a treated room.

so if you take musicmaking serious, mobile applications are of none use at all. you can do it, of course, but you won't gain any profit from making music mobile, timewise and energy wise. exept that on the road you have an idea for a melody and want to fix that down, as you'd loose it otherwise (which is a considerable reason, but for that i certainly would use a compatible system like my laptop, i never would use a closed system like an i-phone or an i-pad for that, as i'd like to easily move that sketch over to my studio machine when arriving in the studio, which i could't)...

the fun of it? yes of course, it's there, no doubt, i'm in the market to get me an i-phone as well, but i'd consider it to be what it actually is - a phone with fun applications. not more. but also not less.

[KungKrille]

I have used the iPhone as a composition tool especially for the song I'm working on now. I sketched the drums and transferred a melody as is from bleepBox. I think with the better synths in Synthstation I will probably be able to do more on my on-my-way-to-and-from-work sessions. The iPhone will never be my main DAW but is already an important part of my music production. It works and probably because I do lot of pattern based music. For other types of arrangements the iPhone might be too difficult. A toy? Yes. Useless? Not to me but I don't work as a professional so...

[jones-y]

...at least if you consider music making in a professional way... so if you take musicmaking serious, mobile applications are of none use at all....

I understand your opinion (although I don't agree one bit), but please recognize its an opinion, not a fact.

And also, about the least inspiring thing for me is trying to be the musician AND the engineer simultaneously. HEADPHONES RULE! As do those crappy little tan computer speakers you stole from the office ten years ago...

Seriously, the iPhone and iPad has a limited soundchip.

So does a commodore 64.

But they are by no means as powerful as a regular PC or Mac.

Never understood the hangup with specs. There's absolutely no causal relationship between specs and the subjective quality of the music generated...

Which leads me to my overall point. Its art, for crying out loud... No rules. The only goal (to make aesthetically pleasing art) is subjective by its very nature...

[KrisM]

Oh hell, stop the presses, someone is wrong on the internet!

But seriously, I'll say this much. While nothing on my iPhone holds a candle to working with Ableton Live, there is certainly a lot of invaluable inspiration to be had and there's a lot more that can be done than it at first seems.

[Z3R0T0N1N]

that keyboard thing is cool, but at the same time.... I don't know, it strikes me as weird somehow.
we want our music stuff smaller and smaller, and then when it gets really really small we want big chunks of peripherals so that we can use our tiny gear...

I know that's a simplification, and as I said, it's kind of cool. But it's cool in the way yet another advance in smart phones is cool to me. That is, as a grumpy old stick in the mud it all just seems so temporary, so fleeting. Another way that we can use plastic.


I guess everything made of plastic is getting to me right now, I just looked at a photo exhibit of baby albatross which have died with their bellies full of disposable lighters, plastic bottle caps, toothbrushes, etc.
It left the taste of doom on my brain.
I can't help but see little plastic keyboard keys strewn about through the other detritus. :*(

[Z3R0T0N1N]

edit:

i was wrong.

sorry.

[RPH]

This is cool stuff, wish i had a iphone..would play with it all day long

I had a sequencer on my Nokia N95 once, but after updating the firmware couldn't install the app because the certificate ended ( and the dev. quit ). Bummer.
Good thing is i'm due for a new phone,..

TOYS RULE! ( i already ordered a KORG MONOTRON! )

[Z3R0T0N1N]

TOYS RULE! ( i already ordered a KORG MONOTRON! )

yeah, fun
I haven't been able to talk myself out of the akai microsampler yet....

So the monotron wow, that's some heady stuff there.

I am saving a few pennies for a Doepfer Dark Energy mini-synth, and thought maybe a couple monotrons along with it would be fun.
Hope korg comes out with a tiny little beatbox to go with it

[zerocrossing]

In any case, Apple claim 20 - 20,000 Hz @ 16bit playback for the iPhone/iPad, so whilst not being in the same league as say a Prism Sound Orpheus, it's actually perfectly adequate for most things.

not even for sketching, if you ask me, that is...

Sorry Brok, but from my vantage point you sound like an elitist old man. I own hit records made by Beck that are made with lots of toys, micro cassette answering machines, and random junk not designed for high end audiophile use. I started my first recordings using table top Motorola cassette players run into aux ins of other junky audio gear.

If this Akai thing inspires one kid to start playing music instead of sitting on their ass playing Madden, I'm all for it. Just because it's not for you that doesn't mean it should be banished to it's own forum section. It's virtual instrument software regardless of what you think of it.

[RPH]

So the monotron wow, that's some heady stuff there.

yea, much fun i hope ( check this crazy vid on ).

I am saving a few pennies for a Doepfer Dark Energy mini-synth, and thought maybe a couple monotrons along with it would be fun.

Yea that doepfer energy synth is cool as well!

Hope korg comes out with a tiny little beatbox to go with it

http://www.thomann.de/gb/duebreq_stylophone_beatbox.htm

[jmh]

"You kids, get off my lawn and take your mobile devices with you!"

Pretty much sums it up.

Yeah, a separate subsection or forum, as long as the grumpy professionals promise to stay out

[pdxindy]

the fun of it? yes of course, it's there, no doubt, i'm in the market to get me an i-phone as well, but i'd consider it to be what it actually is - a phone with fun applications. not more. but also not less.

The iPad seems like a useful tool... there are already people using them on stage as controllers... interesting tool for the DJ as well...

I've been wanting for some time a piece of hardware that has 4 X/Y pads for controlling softsynths (see Zebra) and the iPad can do that and more than 1 at once. That's some sophisticated touch screen technology!

[jonutarr]

It's completely irrelevant if something is intended/considered to be a toy if you can get good musical results from it!>snip<

exactly. i've yet to hear some though...

In any case, Apple claim 20 - 20,000 Hz @ 16bit playback for the iPhone/iPad, so whilst not being in the same league as say a Prism Sound Orpheus, it's actually perfectly adequate for most things.

not even for sketching, if you ask me, that is...

I'm old enough to remember people when people were all sniffy about laptops, saying they were toys, lacking sufficient power compared to a 'proper' desktop system. Things change, computing on mobile devices is the future.

yes, correct. wake me up when that actually is so with the i-phone (never ever, too small) or the i-pad (closed system, just as the i-phone, a real nogo imo)

btw, imo this complete "i can make music mobile, everywhere"-thing is the falsity of the century, at least if you consider music making in a professional way. you can't take your listening enviroment with you, and an arrangement, even if it's a sketch depends on the fact that the sound has to work with the arrangement, otherwise the composition won't work. of course you can say "for reconditioning i go to the studio", but then you'd have to do stuff that actually either changes your composition to something you could've done right from the start if you would've been in the studio right away (so you actually did not gain any benefit from the mobile-composing action), or you have to painstakingly find the right sound for your composition there, which you again would have done right from the start in the studio with way less loss of time and energy, again not gaining any benefit from being able to make music mobile.
all that would only change, if:

a) the working enviroment is big enough to do serious stuff on it (cpu and monitor wise, so an i-pad or an i-phone will always be way too small anyways, due to the conception itself)
b) there's finally a headphone that reliably translates into a perfect listening enviroment. there are a lot of claims already, but they're all failing massiveley. no headphone in the world is able to replace good monitor speakers and a treated room.

so if you take musicmaking serious, mobile applications are of none use at all. you can do it, of course, but you won't gain any profit from making music mobile, timewise and energy wise. exept that on the road you have an idea for a melody and want to fix that down, as you'd loose it otherwise (which is a considerable reason, but for that i certainly would use a compatible system like my laptop, i never would use a closed system like an i-phone or an i-pad for that, as i'd like to easily move that sketch over to my studio machine when arriving in the studio, which i could't)...

the fun of it? yes of course, it's there, no doubt, i'm in the market to get me an i-phone as well, but i'd consider it to be what it actually is - a phone with fun applications. not more. but also not less.

bla bla bla

who are you to tell me what I can and can't use professionally
you old engineers livin in the past with your head up your arse, are you just pissed off because business is in decline with the mobile age?

I use apple mobile devices live and they are perfectly antiquate, no one would notice an improvement if I used my i7 imac, apogee duet with a midi controller instead,
I know which I would rather take to gigs

[KrisM]

I think the biggest thing to understand here is that nobody is trying (or shouldn't be anyway) to do mixing, mastering, etc on their iPhone or iPad. Nothing is stopping you from working on a track away from home, then piping the audio track by track into your DAW at home where your sexy DACs and monitors live.

Most of these apps let you dump the wav files you create over your private wifi network so you don't even have to worry about the 16-bit DACs of the iDevice coming into the equation.

Play while away, then do all the serious business at home.