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FL Studio Mobile lands on iOS, more indie rap albums to be produced while commuting
Dream no longer friends, FL Studio Mobile is here for your iOS device of choice. The iPhone and iPod touch version is being offered for $15, while the more expansive HD edition for the iPad is fetching $20 -- but both will see their price climb another $5 after the introductory sale is over. As mentioned you'll be able to pass project files back and forth between the desktop and mobile apps, though the iDevices lack support (and the muscle power) for VST instruments. It also appears the scope of the sequencer had to be scaled back from 128 tracks to 99, but that should be more than enough to keep you tapping out beats like 9th Wonder while riding the train. Hit up the source links to download the portable production suite and check out the gallery below. %Gallery-126831%
Zoom R8 8-track recorder promises 'total production to go'
Looking to lighten your load a bit on your audio production job in the field? Then you might want to consider Zoom's new portable 8-track recorder, the R8. Also functioning as an audio interface, control surface and pad sampler, the device packs an SD card slot for storage (a 2GB card is included, complete with 500MB of drum loops), can be powered by 4 AA when on the go, and it naturally connects to your Mac or PC via USB for use as an interface with your favorite DAW program. Head on past the break for a quick demo video, and look for the device itself to set you back $525 $299. Update: We just got hit with a bit of new intel -- the price is actually set for $299. The information we were given earlier was deemed incorrect. Phew!
FL Studio coming to iOS (unicorns, leprechauns, phat beats to follow)
We thought it was an impossible dream, like world peace or a second season of My So Called Life, but we finally have the answer to the immortal question: "When will FL Studio be available on operating systems besides Windows?" The answer? "Soon." That's right -- FL Studio Mobile is coming to all of your favorite iOS devices, and all things considered, it looks pretty, pretty good. 128-track sequencer, step sequencer for individual MIDI clips, a mess of drum loops, reverb, delay, equalizer, amp, and filter effects... how can you find fault with that? And when you get back to your PC, your mobile project can be mixed down to wav, exported to MIDI, or the session file can be loaded right in the desktop version of the software. Not bad, eh? At the very least, it sounds like it will give GarageBand for the iPad a run for its money. Sadly, we don't have a street date for the app right this moment, but you can get a pretty good look at what's in store in the video after the break.
The Daily Grind: What developer do you appreciate?
Last week a group of bloggers led by Scarybooster celebrated DAW -- Developer Appreciation Week. In Scarybooster's words, DAW "is about developers and how we appreciate them. Plain and simple, this is the time to be positive and show them our heart-felt thanks for making our lives fuller." So today, let us put down our critical cudgels and sarcastic snark to send some love toward individual developers and dev teams. Whom do you appreciate? Who do you think has been doing a stellar job making games, communicating with the players, and standing up to the immense pressure of the business? Yes, it may be hard to bite your tongue when someone else mentions a dev you have a blood vendetta against, but let's make today's Daily Grind positive. It can be done! So who do you love, baby? Give your favorite devs a shout-out and perhaps make their day! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
KDJ-One is a gigantic Game Boy with an audio workstation inside
Cyberstep's KDJ-One, a portable digital audio workstation currently in prototype mode, is a noisy little wrinkle in time. While we're fairly certain it will never see the light of day in your local Guitar Center, we really do want to wish it the best. It combines the aesthetics of a few of our very favorite things: the D-pad, button layout, and chunkiness instantly reminded us of the original DMG Game Boy. The keypad on bottom looks a lot like a tweaked version of a Roland TB-303. And the software inside -- pure MeeGo -- reminds us of a Tungsten-era Palm device crossed with a laptop from 1999. (But in a really good way!) A five-inch resistive touchscreen -- complete with stylus -- sits on top of an Atom E640 CPU, 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD drive, and a pair of 2000mAh batteries. Oh, and it's got a rumble pack on the backside: Cyberstep assures us the QW Vibration System adds "a whole new element of force feedback to your music production experience." The sampler / looper / sequencer production software itself seems super-basic and pretty fun, although we could probably squeeze a lot more production flexibility out of a $300 netbook. But just look at that dude and tell us you don't want to squeeze its little white cheeks. Yeah, exactly. Video after the jump. %Gallery-114424%
TUAW's Holiday Gift Guide: Music gear for the Mac musician
Welcome to the TUAW Holiday Gift Guide! We've sorted the treasure from the junk and are serving up suggestions to make your holiday gift-giving a little easier. Choosing the right gift for an Apple-loving musician can be very tricky. Usually, they've got everything they want already because they can't wait for the latest and greatest -- they just get it for themselves as soon as they can. Or they are so overwhelmed by the choices presented to them that they can't make a decision and therefore obsess about it for months on end. To say the least, it can be very difficult to give the Apple-loving musician the right gift. Ironically, to top it all off, the gift-giver is usually not a musician, nor do they understand the gear and tech that most commonly goes with being a musician. For instance, when I start talking about music tech to a fellow musician in the presence of my wife, she looks at us as if we're speaking an alien language, and try as she might, she can't help but get extremely bored very quickly. So, to help you (the musician / beloved gift-giver) make the right decision, we've gone to the trouble of putting together a list of some of our favorite music apps and pieces of music tech from the last year. You'll definitely find something here that an Apple-loving musician is sure to be pleased with this holiday season.
Teenage Engineering OP-1 synthesizer gets priced at $799, can't hold out on us much longer
Not since the debut of the Tenori-On have we seen so much buzz surrounding a niche music maker, and Teenage Engineering's OP-1 might just be the most anticipated synthesizer in the history of mankind. We've already seen just what it's capable of, and now it's starring in its very own music video. Better still, it's inching ever closer to shipping, with a recent newsletter affirming that it's 90 percent complete with respect to functionality. We're also told that it'll ship with a half dozen synthesizer engines and two sampler types, and a beta test is said to be "approaching." The outfit has just received its "golden sample" for the keyboard module, and it's waiting for a few more component suppliers to come through before belting out a final ship date. But hey -- at least you know it'll run $799 / €799, eventually. No time like the present to start pinching those pennies, right?
Teenage Engineering OP-1 synth gets the hands-on treatment (video)
We see so many great concepts disappear from view before becoming reality that you could excuse us if by now we're a little jaded. That said, we've been holding on to hope that Teenage Engineering's pocket sequencer / synth / sampler / controller was the real deal. And what is this? According to the gang at Create Digital Music, who got hold of one of these things at NAMM 2010, the thing is real -- and it's coming soon. Even for a prototype, the OP-1 appears to be an impressive creature: aside from sporting the aforementioned synth, this bad boy sports a four-track virtual tape recorder (with "virtual splicing" for editing your audio), a sampling feature that allows you to change the record speed in real time (for analog-like editing effects), and a dazzling display screen (at least when compared to the displays on current hardware). But that ain't all! Get a closer look in the video below, and with any luck we might be seeing it become available this year, for a price below $1,000.
V-Studio 100: not a piece of cake but a great piece of hardware
Most aspiring musicians, at least those of us who are computer nerds, have spent time recording their music to distribute it digitally ... to Grandma. Most of us pass GarageBand with flying colors, graduate from Logic Express and eventually get a masters in Logic Pro. I'm admittedly in the learning stages of Logic Pro. I've graduated from my analog mixer and have just begun to learn the real world of DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations). Please keep in mind that I'm admittedly not a sound engineer, just a musician who likes to dabble with audio recording. Recently, we were contacted by the awesome folks at Cakewalk who asked us if we'd like to review the V-Studio 100. I jumped at the chance to test it out and was pleasantly surprised at how versatile it really was. For the last two weeks, I've learned the hardware and software included in this package that helps you sound good: the end goal of any musician. I'll just do a brief overview of what's included because there's a lot there and the conclusion is that it's a winner. It's a lot to learn, especially if you're not familiar with the software or DAW controllers for that matter, but it's a huge step up from my analog mixer. Hit the read link to learn about its abilities.
Vivace portable music studio features multitouch interface, loads of style
It was not too long ago that we were lusting over OpenLabs' attempt to bring us a dedicated digital audio workstation as a single device, and now it looks like the ante's been upped yet again. Sure, the Vivace is but a mere concept at the moment, but designers Young-Shin Lee and Hae-Jin Jung clearly know what we want. This guy has the same form factor as a laptop, but instead of a keyboard features a second multi-touch display. On the downside, we can't imagine that playing a "keyboard" on a smooth surface would give one anywhere near the control of honest-to-goodness keys. But on the upside? This thing looks really, really sweet. Check out the gallery below for some more mouth-waterin' pics.[Via SlashGear]
Trinity Audio shows off Linux based, self-contained DAW
We mentioned this workstation back in 2006 when it was only in prototype form, but the Trinity appears to be heading into production (see pic) with some minor changes in specs. The portable DAW sports an 8-inch LCD monitor and runs a custom build of Linux called Transmission, which is loaded with a handful of audio tracking and editing apps, as well as soft-synths, plugins, and sequencers, while control of the OS is handled by a touchpad and two buttons on either side of the screen. The system runs on a 500MHz CPU, with 256MB of RAM, a 20GB or 40GB hard drive, 802.11g, and it's all jammed into a fanless aluminum case (which definitely raises some temperature questions) that kind of looks like an elongated Korg KAOSS Pad. The box has two XLR / TRS jacks for input, and two more TRS jacks to get audio out, which doesn't provide a lot of options for multi-tracking (which appears to be its main use), and the provided USB port is only used for control of the built-in apps. There are still plenty of questions, not the least of which is why the "buy now" link on the company's website is broken, and Linux doesn't really have any presence in the recording world, but it's still an interesting development in portable audio.[Via Pro Audio News and Reviews]
Trinity low-cost Linux-based portable digital audio workstation
Upstart Trinity Audio Group is looking to attract budget-minded music producers and podcasters with their self-titled handheld, which promises all the capabilites you'd expect from a full-fledged digital audio workstation in a package smaller than a laptop. Based around CompuLab's tiny CM-X270L module, the Trinity runs Linux along with a variety of open source audio applications, including Audacity and Ecasound, for which Trinity says it's developing its own graphical front-end. The rest of the specs seem decent enough as well: you're getting a 6.5-inch TFT running at 640x480, 128MB RAM, 20GB hard drive, built-in WiFi, two Neutrik combo jacks, and a purported four hours of battery life "under rigorous audio demands." If that sounds like just your fix, Trinity is happy to take your $1000 now and ship one whenever it's ready -- they're currently saying October.[Via Linux Devices]
