Filed under: Music

NPR posted the other day about an app that promised to simulate a sitar, the stringed instrument used mainly in Indian music. So just for you, dear readers, we downloaded it [iTunes link] and gave it a shot. The verdict? If you can already play the sitar, you'll probably find it a reasonable approximation. Just like the guitar simulators on the iPhone, there are various strings on screen that you can "strum," and the notes are labeled under the virtual strings. As for actually learning the sitar, however, you're probably out of luck. There's one instructional page, and links to eHow videos, but there's nothing solid in terms of actually learning the device.

And unfortunately, the app just feels pretty cheap -- there's a large part of the screen taken up with a one-hit sitar sound, and quite a few times, we'd try striking different strings and get the same notes, as if the app had bugged out and gotten stuck on one file. Of course, I can't play the sitar (though I'm pretty respectable on the guitar), so maybe I was just doing it wrong. But even a little experimentation with the app didn't bring up an easy way to do it right.

Still, NPR has a point -- you can't always carry your sitar around with you. If you want to pay 99 cents to have a Pocket Sitar around, this will app will probably strum your chikari.

Over the coming months, the Count The Beats series is going to be taking a closer look at how the Mac (and the accompanying software) fits in with the various components of a typical rock band (drums, bass, electric guitar etc. You get the idea).

In this post we're going to take a closer look at keyboards (playing keys and synths) in a live performance context. From honky-tonk piano's on fire to out-of-control oscillating synths, there is so much gear and software out there it can be difficult to know where to start, especially when it comes to playing in a live performance context.

Session musician, and good friend of mine, Jon Dean does a fair bit of this, and does it well. In the last few years he's gone from classically trained pianist to Rock 'n Roll, synth and pad-crazy keys extraordinaire.

I managed to pull Jon away from his busy touring schedule to sit down with me and a cup of tea with some After Eight Mints (it's a new kind of Rock 'n Roll out there, apparently) to talk controllers, audio interfaces and moving from PC to Mac, with a couple bad musician jokes thrown in for good measure.

Even if you're not a keys player, it's interesting to see how the Mac continues to facilitate and encourage creative musicianship to an extent that just wasn't available a few short years ago.

Click the Read More link for the interview.

Belkin has announced the release of their latest FM transmitter for the iPhone and iPod touch, the TuneCast Auto Live. You know these things -- they plug into your iPhone or iPod touch's dock connector, and then send a local FM signal out to your car's radio, enabling wireless transmission of your music or podcasts. I've got a Belkin transmitter already (the TuneCast Auto -- more on that in a second), but I'm interested in this new one, because it can be used with a free iPhone app [iTunes link] that will actually use your iPhone's GPS information to find a good station for you right away.

That seems helpful -- my current issue with my Belkin is that here in Los Angeles, where the radio stations are almost as thick as the fast food joints, I can't seem to find a solid station to keep it on that's clear enough to actually listen to. If you're in a busy urban area, there's so many signals flying around that these transmitters are more or less useless. I don't know if the GPS app would help me (seems like I'd have to keep changing the car's station while I move even if I could find a clear signal here in the city), but if you're in the market for an FM transmitter and are in a place with a little more room on the radio dial, the $79.99 TuneCast is as good a choice as any. As for me, I'll probably go for an aux hookup straight into my dash the next time I have some car audio upgrade money.

Whenever I heard "robots" and "Los Angeles" used in the same sentence, I thought of only one thing: the end of the freaking world as we know it. But all that's changed after I was lucky enough to get a sneak peak at a current rise of a group of machines happening at a company called KarmetiK, and what I saw there literally rocked me.

If you're into Macs and music and live in the LA area, I've got a treat for you. The world premiere of The Machine Orchestra will take place at REDCAT Theater in downtown LA on Wednesday, January 27th at 8:30pm. If you're in the area, I highly recommend you check it out.

What is a machine orchestra, you ask? Imagine a crate full of Apple computers, musical instruments, Terminators, and cutting edge technicians and musicians. Now take that crate, shake it up, and spill it out onto a stage. What you're left with is a group of robotic machines that play musical instruments alongside human artists – all controlled by software written for and running on Macs.

We've covered speculation about Apple's acquisition of music-streaming service Lala in the past. General consensus has been that Apple is looking to use the service in a future version of iTunes, allowing users to stream their own music libraries to their computers, iPhones, and iPod touches from a remote server, thus freeing up memory space on the devices themselves.

Citing "a wide variety of insider sources," Michael Robertson, former CEO of mp3.com, claims that this speculation is correct. He says that instead of moving to a subscription-based model, Apple will indeed leverage the technology and resources of Lala to allow users to stream their music libraries from a remote server.

It will be interesting to see if Robertson and other analysts' speculations are correct. There are certainly some technological hurdles to surmount in letting millions of iTunes users stream billions of songs – my own music library is nearly 40 GB, which is twice the default data allowance on MobileMe – but licensing issues seem to be even thornier. While Robertson says that "...because users are in possession of the materials no new licenses are required from the record labels or publishers," for streaming content, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that your friendly neighborhood RIAA will disagree. However, if Apple can indeed make this streaming service happen, it will be a huge win for them, and more importantly, for us users.

[Via electronista]

I've been reading the Unplggd blog from Apartment Therapy a lot lately, because I recently moved into a new place and am trying to fill it up with cool stuff. And someone over there must be an iPhone fan, because I've seen not one but two great and simple tricks for the iPhone there recently. The first is the most billiant thing I've ever seen -- if you happen to be listening to music or a conference call through the speaker on your iPhone and need it a little louder, you can just find a pint-size glass, put the iPhone in there, and voila, simple iPhone echo chamber. I'm surprised at both how easy this is and how well it works, but it does. Very impressive.

Second is a little more obvious -- if you're using an iPhone to read off a recipe in the kitchen, with your hands messy and wet, you can put it in a baggie like I do, or you can CryoVac it, if you happen to have one of those sitting around. Either way, the capacitive touchscreen still works through a thin layer of plastic, and your iPhone will live to see another day.

Ok, so the second tip is not quite as great as the first one. But a pint glass! Trying to listen to all of those boring conference calls with my iPhone's speaker will never be the same again!

Relative pitch, let alone perfect pitch (some people are born with it, everyone else has to learn!) is an invaluable skill required when it comes to playing an instrument and understanding the music you are hearing. Thankfully, Easy Ear Training has developed a nifty little app to help you along with all your pitch training needs.

The idea is to learn how to hear the difference between two musical notes in a given key / octave, and be able to identify what that difference is, based on the root note. This is otherwise known as an interval: the space between two notes. For example, a minor 3rd, or a perfect 5th (think the Star Wars theme tune!).

For a great description of what an interval is, click here. I also came across this iTunes U video lesson by Shawn "Thunder" Wallace [iTunes Link] describing the difference between perfect pitch, relative pitch and something that Shawn calls true pitch. Very interesting!

This may sound rather complicated, but really you don't need to know any of the theory when it comes to using the Relative Pitch app. At its simplest, it will help you to hear with more detail what it is that you're listening too

Relative Pitch [iTunes Link] consists of two main modes: training and testing. When you open the app, you kick off with the first lesson (of which there are 14) in the training mode. Once the first lesson is complete, a corresponding test is unlocked to examine what you have learned. On passing that test the next lesson is unlocked, and so forth.

Relative Pitch will teach you to distinguish ascending, descending and harmonic intervals across four octaves. With in-app volume control, in-depth customization of the training mode, and even being able to choose the root note of the octave you want to train from, you'll make strides.

Whether you are a seasoned musician or a complete beginner, Relative Pitch will have you listening with a sharpened ear and a greater appreciation of the music you love.

The Relative Pitch app costs £4.99, but there is a lite free version of the app here [iTunes Link] so you can try it out.

Also, keep an eye out for the revamped Easy Ear Training website launching in the coming weeks.

I don't usually gush during App reviews. I think today I will change things up a bit. Because If you like playing with sound and music, and you like GarageBand, empty out your change purse, check under the sofa cushions, steal your kid's lunch money (okay, maybe not that -- kids have to eat, after all), and head over to one of those Coinstar places. Cash in your spare coins to an iTunes gift certificate because you'll want to spend it on VoiceBand [iTunes link]. The $2.99 VoiceBand app is simply awesome.

The marketing buzz on its iTunes home page says the app is a "revolutionary new way to make music," and darn it, they're not that far off the mark. VoiceBand transforms your voice in real time into almost a dozen instruments. You can lay down tracks, layer new performances one at a time, and build up an audio performance that you can then e-mail to yourself or friends.

I bought a copy of VoiceBand for myself, yesterday. And the reason this review didn't appear until today? I was too busy playing with the app to get around to writing it up.

You start by selecting the instrument you want to synthesize. You can pick strings (including lead guitar, bass, and power chords), saxophone, a number of percussion items, and "voice", which does exactly what you expect it to. It lets you add a voice track to your performances. You set the playback characteristics for the instrument including distortion, reverb, auto pitch tuning, and so forth. You can also set the scale and the time signature.

That time signature thing is important, and you'll want to use the metronome, because the real time analysis matches your singing against the beat to determine whether you're creating quarter notes, triplets, and so forth. I'm a bit rhythm impaired (you can substitute the word "extremely" for the phrase "a bit"), and your performances will suffer if you don't quite keep to the beat. The notes will split oddly.

You'll want to wear headphones while using VoiceBand. That way, the synthesized output won't interfere with your voice input. It's seven kinds of awesome to be singing out to an empty room and hearing a sax or guitar playing back the same song in your ears.

Even if you're completely musically impaired, and you don't know a grace note from a cantaloupe, you can still have lots of fun with this app. Select "Voice", pop into the Recorder section, and record a track of yourself speaking as you manipulate the Pan slider. When played back using headphones, you'll hear your voice move around your head as the synthesized output automatically generates stereo results using tiny time delays to fool your ears into localizing that signal. It's really, really, cool. Don't forget to remind anyone you send that recording to that they have to listen to it using a headset. You lose the effect if you listen to it without.

So with all that gushing, that's not to say that the app is flawless. VoiceBand doesn't properly implement a strategy to resist the built-in iPhone idle timer, so if you leave it on your desk, the screen flashes every now and then. That's a feature I found super annoying. Also, I could not find a way to manage my recordings. That should have been a top-level menu item. It should have been obvious how to review, select, edit, and share tracks from your library. Finally, I really wanted more non-string instruments, like flutes, oboes, and other easily synthesized elements. Maybe we'll see these in future updates or through in-app purchases. It would also be nice to be able to download and/or buy GarageBand-like backing tracks that you could perform on top of.

Those quibbles aside, VoiceBand is pretty marvelous. I can't wait to finish writing up this review, so I can go back and resume playing.

CES 2010 is in full swing in Las Vegas, and while we aren't there, we have been able to scour the webs and bring you the latest, the greatest, and the weirdest new Apple-related peripherals and accessories from the show floor.

• Griffin has announced a few new devices, including a Display Converter ($40) to send your display out to HDMI or DVI video, a car charger ($30) that opens up another charging spot, and something called the TuneFlex Aux ($60), a cradle that sends iPhone audio out to an AUX port in your car. They've also got new versions of the RoadTrip and iTrip FM transmitters/cradles coming out later this year for the iPhone .
• IvySkin sent word of their Zappack unit, a battery backup for the iPhone available for $50, the SmartCase, a case with an integrated battery pack for $80, and the CardClip, a case for the iPhone with a money/wallet clip attachment for $20.
• Engadget posted a hands-on with Parrot's AR.Drone, which we mentioned yesterday. Short take: it's awesome.
• Geneva Labs has the most beautiful set of iPhone/iPod speaker docks we've seen yet. They're still useless, but they do look good.
• On the other hand there's the Trik / Triq iPod dock (above), a speaker dock so wild that Sony named it twice. Yeah, that is... wow.
• Pioneer announced a car nav unit that will stream Pandora via the cell connection on your iPhone.
• I'm sure there are induction power charging pads aplenty on the show floor, but this is the only one we're bothering to link to.
• Macally has announced another round of accessories, from earbuds to chargers. The most interesting is probably the PowerGo charger, which will use an AC adapter, a car lighter, or a USB plug, so no matter where you are, you can recharge your iPod.

iPod accessories, everywhere! CES continues through the weekend -- we'll keep an eye on anything else Mac or iPod-related that shows up in Vegas.

Just as 2009 was ending, Ford announced that they'll be offering a new option in their cars for 2010: the ability to "tag" any songs you happen to hear on the radio for later purchase in iTunes. It'll be an option, so it won't come standard in the new Taurus you buy, but if you opt for the HD Radio, the stereo will have a "tag" button that will capture the information of whatever you're hearing, sync it to your connected iPod and then bring it up for purchase in iTunes the next time you're at your computer. It sounds like a win-win for everybody: Ford gets to sell HD Radios, radio stations get more listener involvement, and Apple and the music companies get your sales (presuming you complete the purchase).

It'd be nice to have the song automatically sent to iTunes (or even transmitted via Bluetooth to your iPhone -- maybe even via an official app -- next time it happens to be near the car), but one step at a time, I guess. Don't forget that you don't even need this option to mark any music you happen to hear: if you have an iPhone, you can use Shazam's iPhone app to listen in, tell you whatever the song is, and save it for purchase later if you want. It's a free download in iTunes, lots cheaper than a brand new car.

January 1 is always a little strange. A quiet time after a night out, a time to take the tree down and deal with all the green light cords that started out so neatly applied and wind up a tangled maze of complexity. Time to get rid of all the holiday wrappings and hope the trash pickup is soon.

It is also a time to reflect on all things Apple and how the ecosystem of products has changed our lives in ways we sometimes forget or are barely aware of.

This morning I was in a melancholy mood and needed some music to match. I thought a good idea was for some music by Eric Ewazen, [iTunes link] who writes some pretty deep and mystical compositions. I had already bought some of his tracks from the Apple Store. In the old days, waking up on a holiday and craving some music you don't have was a lost cause.

Now I can get what is admittedly an obscure album of music, download it to my computer, put it on my Sonos system with a few clicks and sync it to my iPhone for my morning jog. Basking in the early morning Arizona light I loved hearing Ewazen's 'Hymn for the Lost and the Living' while contemplating a new year with new challenges. Apple enabled much of what I was able to do, and we take it for granted, but when you stand back from it all you can see how changed our lives are.

Some of my other favorite things from this year include MacSpeech Dictate, software that allows me to reliably dictate my emails, some longer reports, and even some of my TUAW posts. It's truly science fiction in the here and now (or is it 'hear' and now?) and some updates in 2009 made it easier to use and far more accurate.

It's just incredible how fast some things can transmit themselves around the ol' blogosphere -- when I first saw this silly parody song video over on Laughing Squid last night, I chuckled and figured I'd share it for you all on TUAW the next day. But of course since then it's been all over the place. For a silly parody of a song that was already a silly parody, it's really gotten around.

Just in case you haven't seen it, it's now posted after the "read more" link below (put there because while there isn't actually any NSFW language in the video, there are a lot of bleeps and edits that come close). It's all done by the Pantsless Knights (who've created another Mac-related parody rap video before), and it's worth a watch. Personally, while I was a big fan of the original Lonely Island/SNL video and its skewering of hip hop posturing, I think the whole meme is more or less played out by this point. But these guys put a good Mac spin on it anyway. "A nano in pink." Ha.

Matt's back with another Count The Beats interview (full of insightful thought-provoking content), waiting for you to devour and digest. Happy holidays!

We got together with Toyo from Amidio, the creators of the mighty Noise.io Pro [iTunes Link] synth app (and other cool music apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch), to get the inside scoop on their newest app, Touch DJ [iTunes Link], the rewards of playing eastern wind instruments, some down-to-earth points on developing for the iPhone / iPod touch platform, as well as Amidio's thoughts on the future of mobile music creation.

Go on, check it out, but before you do, why not whet your appetite with this sneak peek video in the second half of the post, showing Touch DJ in action at Pacha in New York City.

P.S. You may recall that a while back we featured Sonorasourus [iTunes Link], another great DJ'ing app, and we said we'd let you know when it went live on the App Store. It's now up there; check it out here [iTunes Link].

Moodagent [iTunes Link] (free for now) puts a new spin on the iTunes Genius Playlist system. Instead of leaving it up to Apple to give you category based Genius Playlists, Moodagent, gives you some control over what songs will appear in a 25 song customizable playlist of your music.

You are given 5 colored bars, each with an icon representing an aspect of music. The symbols didn't make much sense to me, but by hitting an info button, I found that the icons represented, in order: Sensual, Tender, Joy, Aggressive and Tempo. I could have used a full explanation of what they meant by Aggressive and Tempo, but trial and error gave me a rough idea. By increasing or decreasing the size of each of the bars, a 25 song Playlist is created, complete with cover art icons, that can be played or saved for later recall. Increase or decrease one or more of the bars and the playlist instantly changes, so if you like a playlist, it's a good idea to save it before changing anything. Once saved, a tap will play your chosen playlist. When saving, you are also given the opportunity to title the playlist any way you like, with the first song being the default title.

Another way of making a playlist, again similar to the iTunes Genius playlist, is to select a seed song to base the list upon. Choose one song and then adjust the bars to tailor the list to your liking.

When first loading the app, you run a sync that indexes all the music on your iPhone/iPod touch running OS 3.0 or better, with their server. My iPhone has about 2100 songs on it and syncing took about 10 minutes. When done, I was told that it couldn't sync about 750 songs. This wasn't surprising since my tastes tend toward the arcane, but there's a solution for that. You are asked to download a Moodagent Profiler application that, as does iTunes Genius playlists, upload anonymous information from the iTunes library on your computer, which is assumed to have more music on it than does your mobile device. This information is used to expand the Moodagent database. After running the Moodagent Profiler on my roughly 6100 song Macbook Pro iTunes library, which took over an hour, I re-synced Moodagent and this time the number of songs that couldn't be synced reduced to 149.

So why didn't it find 149 songs?