iOS 6 was released yesterday – and 15% of Synthtopia’s mobile readers have probably already upgraded. If you haven’t upgraded yet, though, you may want to wait, if you use your device for mobile music making. Reader Mark Mosher reports that several apps have problems. Based on his testing, both PPG WaveGenerator and Akai SynthStation… Read More Will The iOS 6 Update Screw Up Your Music Apps?
Apple has released an update to GarageBand for iOS. Here’s what’s new in GarageBand 1.3: Create custom ringtones and alerts for your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch* Import songs from the Music library on your iOS device Play or record with GarageBand in the background while using other apps** Addresses a number of minor issues… Read More GarageBand For iOS Adds Background Recording
The biggest technology news this week, at least in terms of the coverage we’ve seen at sites like TechMeme, has been Apple’s introduction of the iPhone 5. We haven’t posted anything on it yet at Synthtopia, because the new iPhone is an evolutionary refinement of an already capable device, rather than something that brings radically… Read More Is The iPhone 5 Now The Only Real Option For Handheld Music Making?
Music technology blogger Will Kuhn posted an interesting take on the state of mobile making today, arguing that making music on iOS is ‘a bag of hurt’. To explain why, he compares making music with a DAW to making music on an iPad: Writing music on a “real” computer (circa 2012) Fire up [DAW of… Read More Is Making Music On iOS Really ‘A Bag Of Hurt’?
The biggest buzz of the week in electronic music has been generated by the release of Propellerhead Figure for iOS. The app is basically a mobile groove generator, letting you create short sequences using great-sounding preset drum, bass & lead synth engines. The interface eliminates the need for traditional musical skills. Groove-based quantization and a… Read More Propellerhead Figure Review Roundup
Propellerhead Figure – the company’s new mobile music making app for iOS – is now available. While a lot of Synthtopia readers would like to see Propellerhead Reason brought to iOS, Propellerhead’s new app is an entry-level app, based on the Reason sound engine. “If you are new to music making, getting started making great… Read More Propellerhead Figure Now Available For iOS, Features ‘The Sound Of Reason’
Developer Victor Lazzarini, writing on The Audio Programming Blog, shared his thoughts on why audio on the Android platform needs to be fixed: As some of us have discovered very quickly, audio latency on Android is high. There have been some efforts showing that given the right software support, lower latencies are possible. The crucial point however… Read More Audio On Android Needs To Be Fixed
Developer SS Series has released a new mobile DAW for iOS, Smart Studio. Smart Studio includes a digital sampler, drum machine and mobile recording studio.
Reader MatzeRak let us know about this new music video from the DigiEnsemble Berlin (FB link), a performance of Handel’s Ombra Mai Fu from Xerxes, featuring vocalist Anna Gütter. The DigiEnsemble Berlin is a group of classically trained musicians that explore the performance possibilities of smartphones and other mobile devices. This video captures a performance of the aria… Read More Opera With iPhones – The DigiEnsemble Berlin, Featuring Anna Gütter
French music site Musique Tactile has an interesting post on the state of Google’s Android multi-touch operating system, and why Android music app development is lagging so far behind development on Apple’s iOS: Google’s multitouch operating system is far behind Apple’s iOS regarding musical creation possibilities. The lag is measurable: about 350 milliseconds. It seems… Read More Developer – ‘It Is Not Possible To Play Music On An Android Phone’
