KVR Audio

Peter - IK Multimedia · Mon Jan 23, 2012 2:48 am

In other news, TL;DR and Musicianews covers iRig PRE...

I hope nobody feels too sorry for anybody, though, I don't want Bob Geldof to hear about it and write a tribute song and start a series of "Concerts for IK" - that would just be too much.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 8:01 am

Peter - IK Multimedia wrote:In other news, TL;DR and Musicianews covers iRig PRE...

LOL! I just *love* the part when it falls apart! That's indeed great advertisement!

- Sascha

Dogboy73 · Post by **Dogboy73** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:24 am

kurrykid wrote:Don't you think Sascha that there is room in the world for more than one device?

Let's hope so because it would be very boring if everyone was doing the same thing! I think it's fantastic & exciting that there are so many products around iOS devices these days.

But I think what Sacha is saying (and I have to agree with him here) is that a single device that does a bunch of stuff (audio I/O & MIDI I/O for starters) seems like such an obvious thing to develope for iOS. It seems amazing that a company like IK has missed this trick. In fact, up until a couple of days ago, it seemed everyone had missed this!!

Alesis came nearest with the IO Dock. But why do we need an iPad specific dock anyway?! Why not a box that can hook up to all iOS devices? Surely this broadens it's appeal because any muso with any iOS device can use it. The IO dock was designed for iPad 1 .... then iPad 2 came out so the IO Dock required a plastic adapter so it would fit. When iPad 3 comes out it will probably need another 1!! Crazy because the dock connector never changes. So a separate box would be universal. You can't use an iPhone with IO Dock. A separate box you could use with any iOS device!!

Anyway, I'm scratching my head over this one. Makes little sense to me. Like I said I'm thrilled with all these different iOS devices because I think all this stuff helps push iOS devices as serious music platforms, so the whole thing moves forward. But praise Tascam for giving us the iOS interface that everyone could see even though nobody had made it!! iU2 is like a prophecy that has come true!!

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 11:45 am

Dogboy73 wrote: a single device that does a bunch of stuff (audio I/O & MIDI I/O for starters) seems like such an obvious thing to develope for iOS.

Exactly. And I think it's quite astonishing that nobody did anything like that so far.

Why not a box that can hook up to all iOS devices? Surely this broadens it's appeal because any muso with any iOS device can use it.

Don't forget that you can use the Tascam as an audio interface for whatever computer, too!

But praise Tascam for giving us the iOS interface that everyone could see even though nobody had made it!! iU2 is like a prophecy that has come true!!

Exactly. Now let's just hope the thing will actually work great.
Apart from that, I'm sure that many others will now follow. Perhaps even IKMM.

- Sascha

J.C · Post by **J.C** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:07 pm

Dogboy73 wrote: ...praise Tascam for giving us the iOS interface that everyone could see even though nobody had made it!! iU2 is like a prophecy that has come true!!

Amen Brothers

sonicflux · Post by **sonicflux** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 2:39 pm

Dogboy73 wrote:But I think what Sacha is saying (and I have to agree with him here) is that a single device that does a bunch of stuff (audio I/O & MIDI I/O for starters) seems like such an obvious thing to develope for iOS.

Yes, there is. Well... sort of.

Alesis announced the IO4 a long, long time ago. It does audio and midi, is designed to work with the iPad (with the CC kit), four channels, and works on other platforms.

The only issue is that I haven't seen it available anywhere, yet. The Tascam isn't shipping, yet, either. The IO4 looks more appealing to me, but I'll wait until both units have actually been reviewed before I purchase.[/code}

Dogboy73 · Post by **Dogboy73** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:15 pm

sonicflux wrote:Yes, there is. Well... sort of.

Alesis announced the IO4 a long, long time ago. It does audio and midi, is designed to work with the iPad (with the CC kit), four channels, and works on other platforms.

I suppose it's worth pointing out again that class compliant devices should generally work okay with iOS devices hooked up via the Camera Connection kit's USB port. They must also have their own power supply as they can't draw power from the iOS device.

But to my knowledge the Tascam interface is the first of its kind designed primarily with iOS devices in mind so that it can be hooked directly to the deivce's Dock Connector & be powered from them. So it's basically an audio/MIDI interface that is device powered & has a dock connector lead instead of USB!

Looking at it like that it's even more surprising someone didn't do this sooner!!

Take your class compliant, bus powered interface & stick an iOS dock connector lead on it. Bingo! You've got a dedicated iOS audio/MIDI interface. It's bleedin obvious innit!!

Peter - IK Multimedia · Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:01 pm

Sascha Franck wrote:
Peter - IK Multimedia wrote:In other news, TL;DR and Musicianews covers iRig PRE...
LOL! I just *love* the part when it falls apart! That's indeed great advertisement!

- Sascha

Yes, we know what you love. That's why I feed you. Preorders seem to still be going VERY well, since this was an industry show and people there seemed to "get it". Enjoy your microcosm of hatred for us, it is quite amusing anyway. I'll have Brian and Obi send over lists of where you can find posts to crash if that will make it more efficient for you.

And of course it is not normal to have a strong velcro and try to secure something down at the biggest industry trade show... That would not be odd at all. Stand on your molehills, we'll stand on a lot of other larger things... and on that note I suppose I should not keep feeding you as amusing as it may be.

sonicflux · Post by **sonicflux** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:35 pm

Peter - IK Multimedia wrote: Yes, we know what you love. That's why I feed you. Preorders seem to still be going VERY well, since this was an industry show and people there seemed to "get it". Enjoy your microcosm of hatred for us, it is quite amusing anyway. I'll have Brian and Obi send over lists of where you can find posts to crash if that will make it more efficient for you.

This forum allows you to shill your products for free, and this is how you react to a consumer who doesn't like your products? I have yet to purchase any IK products, and after seeing how you treat consumers, I never will.

It's amazing that you're even allowed to act like this. If you were my employee, you would be fired immediately. IK should be gracious that they are allowed the free advertising. For a legitimate company to engage in a silly flame war is very immature and makes IK look pathetic.

Meffy · Post by **Meffy** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:38 pm

@sonicflux: When someone identified as a company employee posts in favor of that company's products, that is NOT "shilling." A shill is someone who pretends to have no relationship with the product being promoted. Peter is promoting IK's products openly and honestly, and that's perfectly acceptable at KVR.

Now, everyone involved in the flames, kindly cool down the rhetoric and discuss the products, okay?

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:20 pm

Peter - IK Multimedia wrote: Enjoy your microcosm of hatred for us,

I don't hate you at all - I'm just pointing at obvious flaws and it's solely by accident that it happened in threads related to your products. As you can see, I'm posting regularly at KVR for a whole number of years, and IKMM has never been the target of whatever "hatred" or so.

it is quite amusing anyway.

Well, at least.

See it that way: Had your development team (which I tried to contact back in the days) listened to me (and probably a lot of other users), the second coming of your StealthPlug wouldn't look as bad as it does. But IKMM prefered to leave all the most important issues unadressed.
And it's very likely that something similar happened in your mobile hardware department. Apparently nobody listened to whatever customers demands. I predict the following (as much as you still praise the quality of your hardware): Assuming there's no quality issues, in a few months from now, every musician being interested in creating music on whatever iDevice will use something like the Tascam (I'm sure there's lots of other companies following). And very little people will use your iHardware (unlike you *massively* lower the price). For absolutely obvious reasons: Unless you *never* want to do anything else but record vocals or guitar or MIDI (with the others being completely excluded), you're wasting money and other resources. As a singer who occasionally wants to record MIDI, you need to buy two things already. As a guitar player who wants to record vocals every now and then, you need to buy two things already. As a keyboarder who wants a somewhat better audio output, you're almost entirely lost (because the dock is wasted for MIDI only already). Etc. - I'm sure you get the idea.

And well, it was all absolutely foreseeable. Had you asked people what kind of interface(s) they'd like for their iDevices, which of the following two answers would've been more plausible:
1) "I want one interface for MIDI only, another one for guitar only and yet another one for vocals. And I also want the audio part to run through my headphone jack because quality doesn't matter!"
2) "I want one single, tidy device for all sorts of audio inputs, paired with a MIDI interface and all that running through a dock connection for best audio quality and lowest latencies!"

In fact, there's a thread about the iRig STOMP where I was posting what I'd like to see in a mobile interface, and even your very own Obik asked me to probably post that list of things on the IKMM forum because he apparently liked my ideas. At the time I replied in that thread I had no idea about the Tascam but many things were really similar. And that was defenitely not because I'm such a clever dude (I mean, I am <cough>...) but simply because it's what almost everybody wants.

Bottomline: Tascam seems to listen to (potential) customers demands and build something to suit their needs. I don't exactly have an idea about what the plan at IKMM is, but to me it looks like "Let's not waste too much time on market research but build a product that could perhaps work. Our marketing department will find ways to sell it, regardless whether it could be a lot better."

Seriously, I'm not on an agenda against you folks. I won't even be angry in case there's no dock support for Amplitube coming. I'll just use something else.
But why don't you just listen to your users? It'll make both sides a lot happier.

- Sascha

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:21 pm

Whoops - I wrote my last post before Meffys reply. I can edit it - but I think it IS related to the product...

- Sascha

Meffy · Post by **Meffy** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 7:36 pm

It is, and you've stuck to the point well (for which: thanks).

Dogboy73 · Post by **Dogboy73** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 8:46 pm

Meffy wrote:Now, everyone involved in the flames, kindly cool down the rhetoric and discuss the products, okay?

Yes, let's stop having hissy fits!! By the Christ!!!

JavaJ · Post by **JavaJ** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:27 pm

Just want to say- at least IKM is releasing items that are inexpensive. Heck, you can pick up their i-devices outside of normal music stores (and even at Apple). You can't say the same for Tascam. They are at least pushing the door open for more iOS music development if everyone and their 6 year old has an iRig device.

NAMM News: iRig™ PRE & iKlip™ Studio Announced!