Kawai
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iPhone app makes learning to read music even less appealing (video)
From Paul McCartney to Irving Berlin, the list of songwriters who famously never learned to read music before hitting it big is a long one indeed. Why? Because it's hard, mostly. Of course, they've managed to have successful careers as songwriters, even without the aid of an iPhone app that could read music for them. Surely they could have found some use for the new app from Kawai, which scans music notes from sheet paper and plays them back in real-time or with a delay, should you so choose. The app is available in the Japanese App Store ¥350 ($4.50). Japanese language video of the app in action after the break.
MIDI gear of the 80s: 16 channels of want
It was 1987 in a dark Orange County new wave recording studio when I first saw virtual notes scroll past my eyes on a nine-inch Mac Plus screen. The Yamaha DX-7 and Sequential Prophet 5 were lit up like a space ship, and I knew one thing for sure: I wanted to go to there. I wanted to do what Front 242, Blancmange and New Order were doing. I was hooked: high on aftertouch. So began my wallet-killing, girl-repelling high school obsession and summer-break career. I worked in the keyboard department at Guitar Center, bought racks of gear at cost, and set my sights on becoming the next great electronic music sensation of the late 80s. Or... not. So what was left behind? Several lame Skinny Puppy ripoffs, a few decent dance tracks that I still have hidden away on cassettes in my office closet (of course, I don't have a cassette deck on which to hear said tracks), and plenty of fond memories about some beautiful old electronic music gear. I present here for your perusal some of my more memorable axes.
