Mark Northam has written a forward-looking essay for Film Music Mag looking at ten ways the Apple iPad could be used in the world of film scoring:
SketchPad – With the addition of stylus input, which is possible with the existing capacitive touchscreen technology Apple uses in both the iPhone and the iPad, entering and editing notes by hand on an iPad could make the iPad a quick and easy sketching tool wherever you might be. If you’d rather “play” your parts in, a keyboard or other instrument could be displayed for touchscreen input. You could create, edit, and transmit anything from lead sheets to full orchestral scores, and with an onboard sample playback technology you could hear what your music sounds like as you write it. Your writing studio becomes completely portable allowing you to write music when and where you’re inspired to do so. With Wi-Fi or a wireless internet connection, as you write you could have your new composition compared to your past compositions or to any external library of compositions to make sure you’re not subconsciously copying yourself or something you heard in the past. And once you’ve completed that amazing cue or melody, a single tap on the “Submit to Copyright Office” button could make sure that your copyright registration was properly completed.
MIDIPad – The iPad with its advanced multitouch input system could easily serve as a control surface or MIDI controller, creating unique ways to “play” sampled instruments and control both MIDI events and software such as digital audio workstations.
See the full article for all ten ideas – Northam is clearly inspired by the tabula rasa of the iPad.
YAWN!
This might as well be "10 days any tablet can be used as…". ASUS have netbooks that have multitouch, cameras, microphones, USB ports, wifi, support for flash, multitasking, aren't locked down by Apple, run all your Windows apps etc. etc.
iPad isn't bringing anything innovative to the market. Please, people, stop pretending that it is.
YAWN!
This might as well be "10 days any tablet can be used as…". ASUS have netbooks that have multitouch, cameras, microphones, USB ports, wifi, support for flash, multitasking, aren't locked down by Apple, run all your Windows apps etc. etc.
iPad isn't bringing anything innovative to the market. Please, people, stop pretending that it is.
Yeah, as much as I like the iPad, it's not like what the author is describing is anything new. I've kind of been able to write scores on computers and tablets for over a decade now. And the idea of using a Stylus with the Capacitive Screen? Good luck with that. I've only ever seen ONE capacitive screen stylus in my life… not that it can't be done, but there's no chance that the resolution would be high enough to "draw" notes. Honestly, you can just have a small menu of all your notes up top, to the left, etc, and just pull them down.
Plus, this would also depend on a company getting it together and actually writing an App that does all this. And we still don't know what the iPad will have in the way of Audio capabilities.
Just seems like a "duh" kind of article.
Yeah, as much as I like the iPad, it's not like what the author is describing is anything new. I've kind of been able to write scores on computers and tablets for over a decade now. And the idea of using a Stylus with the Capacitive Screen? Good luck with that. I've only ever seen ONE capacitive screen stylus in my life… not that it can't be done, but there's no chance that the resolution would be high enough to "draw" notes. Honestly, you can just have a small menu of all your notes up top, to the left, etc, and just pull them down.
Plus, this would also depend on a company getting it together and actually writing an App that does all this. And we still don't know what the iPad will have in the way of Audio capabilities.
Just seems like a "duh" kind of article.
As much as I like the iPad and will probably be getting one myself, it's not like what the author is describing is anything new. I've been able to write scores on computers and tablets for over a decade now. All of the other stuff I'm able to do with this thing I'm writing on right now, called a "laptop". Wanna pull up a video to show someone? Done. Oh, and I didn't have to Transcode it first so my iPad will play it in the first place. Listening to some Audio Cues? Done. Taking notes? Guess what? DONE. I just use this handy little "keyboard" device on my "laptop".
And the idea of using a Stylus with the Capacitive Screen? Good luck with that. I've only ever seen ONE capacitive screen stylus in my life… not that it can't be done, but there's little chance that the iPad's touch-resolution would be high enough to "draw" notes. Honestly, you can just have a small menu of all your notes up top, to the left, etc, and just pull them down. The notes can auto-lock to the score. Far easier, and the iPad is DESIGNED to be touched.
Plus, this would also depend on a company getting it together and actually writing an App that does all this. AND a company willing to make a Stylus. And we still don't know what the iPad will have in the way of Audio capabilities. The author speaks of using orchestral samples, and I feel like I'm reading an ad for Sibelus from 10 years ago. With a maximum of 64 gigs of memory/ram, how great could these samples be, anyway?
I'm sorry, but this just seems like a "duh" kind of article. I really don't mean to be negative; I do believe the iPad will help with doing a few tasks, but it's quite literally not anything too "revolutionary" as far as how we interact with the computer, other than the touch screen. I'm a MAJOR fan/obsessive of multi-touch, but the "amazing" things this article is describing are quite commonplace now.
The real magic of multi-touch, and possibly the iPad, comes from developers opening up their minds to whole new ways of interacting with sound. And I'm not talking just virtual knobs here, which are just a digital analog of, well, an analog system. Devs like Christian over at SubCyle Labs are what will make multi-touch for computers really shine.
As much as I like the iPad and will probably be getting one myself, it's not like what the author is describing is anything new. I've been able to write scores on computers and tablets for over a decade now. All of the other stuff I'm able to do with this thing I'm writing on right now, called a "laptop". Wanna pull up a video to show someone? Done. Oh, and I didn't have to Transcode it first so my iPad will play it in the first place. Listening to some Audio Cues? Done. Taking notes? Guess what? DONE. I just use this handy little "keyboard" device on my "laptop".
And the idea of using a Stylus with the Capacitive Screen? Good luck with that. I've only ever seen ONE capacitive screen stylus in my life… not that it can't be done, but there's little chance that the iPad's touch-resolution would be high enough to "draw" notes. Honestly, you can just have a small menu of all your notes up top, to the left, etc, and just pull them down. The notes can auto-lock to the score. Far easier, and the iPad is DESIGNED to be touched.
Plus, this would also depend on a company getting it together and actually writing an App that does all this. AND a company willing to make a Stylus. And we still don't know what the iPad will have in the way of Audio capabilities. The author speaks of using orchestral samples, and I feel like I'm reading an ad for Sibelus from 10 years ago. With a maximum of 64 gigs of memory/ram, how great could these samples be, anyway?
I'm sorry, but this just seems like a "duh" kind of article. I really don't mean to be negative; I do believe the iPad will help with doing a few tasks, but it's quite literally not anything too "revolutionary" as far as how we interact with the computer, other than the touch screen. I'm a MAJOR fan/obsessive of multi-touch, but the "amazing" things this article is describing are quite commonplace now.
The real magic of multi-touch, and possibly the iPad, comes from developers opening up their minds to whole new ways of interacting with sound. And I'm not talking just virtual knobs here, which are just a digital analog of, well, an analog system. Devs like Christian over at SubCyle Labs are what will make multi-touch for computers really shine.
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