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Avid announces two iOS-compatible audio interfaces at NAB
Avid announced a pair of iOS-compatible audio interfaces at NAB today. The Avid Fast Track Solo (US$179) and Fast Track Duo ($299) connect directly to the iPad to provide high-quality I/O for iOS apps that support recording, and also include licenses of Pro Tools Express for Mac and PC. The Solo provides a mic preamp and instrument input, while the Duo (image at top of post) includes dual mic preamps / instrument inputs as well as line-level inputs. The Fast Track line is designed for mobile and studio applications, and does not require an iPad Camera Connection kit to attach to an iPad. More information about the Fast Track Solo and Duo can be found on Avid's website and in the press release below. Show full PR text Avid Fast Track Solo and Duo Bring Professional Quality to Mobile Recording with First iOS-Compatible Avid Interfaces LAS VEGAS, NV, April 7, 2013 , 2013-04-07 Mobile audio interfaces pair with Avid Pro ToolsExpress for versatile, high-quality music and audio creation NAB (Booth #SU902), LAS VEGAS, NV, April 7, 2013 –- Avid® (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced two new portable audio interfaces for composing and recording high-quality music - Avid Fast Track® Solo and Fast Track Duo. Both interfaces feature a robust industrial design, include Pro Tools® Express software for Mac and PC, and connect directly to the iPad®, providing high-quality I/O for supported iOS apps. Designed for musicians, students, and aspiring professionals, Fast Track Solo and Duo offer easy entry into the Pro Tools family. Key features include: Pro Tools Express software Provides many of the same tools and features used in commercial recording studios. Records up to 16 stereo audio tracks and offers full MIDI editing and notation tools. Includes high-quality virtual instruments and effects for creating the best sounding work. Facilitates time, tempo and pitch adjustments with Elastic Time and Elastic Pitch. Users get session compatibility with Pro Tools and Pro Tools HD systems. Fast Track Solo and Duo hardware Provides ideal form factor for home, studio, and mobile applications. Features a rugged metal chassis and reinforced controls and jacks, offering protection against physical damage. Enables the capture of two sources simultaneously at 24-bit, 48 kHz resolution with high-quality mic preamps and inputs: Fast Track Solo includes one mic preamp and one instrument input. Fast Track Duo includes two mic preamps/instrument inputs and two line inputs. Allows direct monitoring while recording without latency. Enables users to create anywhere on Mac or PC with the Bus-powered USB port. Allows direct iPad connection with tablet port - No iPad Camera Connection Kit needed. "Today's aspiring songwriters and musicians want a high-quality, affordable recording solution that's portable enough to let them create wherever they are," said Dana Ruzicka, vice president of Segment and Product Marketing at Avid. "Providing access to the industry-standard Pro Tools family, Fast Track Solo and Duo deliver this capability like nothing else on the market today." Availability & Pricing Fast Track Solo and Duo are available now at Avid resellers and will be available soon in the online Avid Store. For more information, click here. Pricing is as follows: Fast Track Solo-$179 USD Fast Track Duo-$299 USD
iRig Recorder arrives on Android, ready for your broadcasting needs
Catching up to its iOS rival, IK Multimedia's iRig recorder app is now available on Google Play. Compatible with all your existing iRig mics and peripherals, the app is tailored to ensure all your audio is suitably organized by date or location -- it even saves a backup version for those all-important recording sessions. There's also a waveform editor available as an in-app purchase ($4.99), adding the ability to select, crop and loop on your phone. You can also reduce background noise as well as speed up (or slow down) your files without affecting the timbre. Recording time is dependent upon how much storage space available on your Android, so those phones with expandable memory are at a slight advantage here. If your audio needs a bit of work, you can pick up the app at the source starting today.
'Beat Making Lab' series brings music tech, know-how to aspiring talent in developing communities
Is the next Mos Def or Azealia Banks languishing in a region where there's no way to get his or her talent across? The producer who's laid down beats for those stars, 'Apple Juice Kid' (aka Stephen Levitin) along with fellow UNC prof Pierce Freelon aim to find out with a new PBS series called Beat Making Lab. In it, the pair take their talent, teaching skills and crates of audio gear to underserved communities in nations like Panama, Senegal and Fiji. The first episode (below the break) takes place in the Congo, where they're shown setting up a permanent recording studio at the Yole!Africa non-profit community center, then giving a crash course in beat-making tech to six highly motivated students. The Congalese artists use that know-how to lay down tracks that reflect their unique personalities and culture, which are showcased at the culmination of the episode. The series covets more than just a nice performance, though, as one student put it: "When the instructors return to the US, it won't be the end, but a beginning for us -- because we'll be able to teach others how to create their own beats."
Library of Congress unveils plan to preserve early US sound recordings
Historic audio recordings aren't exactly easy to access and play back since they're often in obscure or aging formats and sit within giant repositories and private collections, but the Library of Congress is gearing up to help change that for researchers and the average joe. The outfit's freshly announced National Recording Preservation Plan is headlined by a recommendation to create a publicly accessible national directory of sound recordings that'll act as an "authoritative discography" with details regarding their production and where copies are housed. You'll still have to take a trip to a library to hear the recordings for the time being, but the Library of Congress is hoping to hammer out licensing agreements that would allow for online streaming. Developing new preservation standards and creating university-based degree programs for audio archiving are also among the 32 short- and long-term recommendations spelled out by the document. Click the second source link to peruse the paper yourself. [Image credit: Ray Tsang, Flickr]
Apogee One for iOS and Mac hands-on
Apogee strolled into NAMM with a trio of audio interfaces newly outfitted for both iOS and Mac. While the Duet and Quartet are certainly formidable pieces of recording kit, the more compact Apogee One caught our eye for its dual capture ability without adding too much heft to the ol' backpack. The unit accepts input from a built-in mic and either a XLR or 1/4-inch analog input -- both of which connect via a two-headed Y-cable. From there, the One connects to a power supply and either your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch or Apple computer of choice for that dual-tracking capture. After seeing the device up close and spending a few minutes handling it, our main gripe remains the lack of a Lightning connection. Sure it's great that we can outfit our iDevices, but we'd love to see an included cable for the latest port to come out of Cupertino rather having to locate an adapter. Without being able to capture a solid vocal track on the bustling show floor here at NAMM, we unfortunately can't speak to the quality of that on-board condenser microphone. However, the One seemed to handle guitar licks quite well when recorded with GarageBand on an iPad mini. As we've mentioned before, the outfit has also outed its Maestro app for low-latency monitoring and a bit more control over how matters progress. Aside from all of that, the gadget sports a similar dial knob to that of the original release for selecting functions and controlling input / output levels with dual LED stacks for a visual indicator of said signals. The One wields the same solid build quality that we've come to expect from Apogee based on a few of the other products we've spent extended time with. For a quick walkthrough, take a look at the video that lies beyond the break.
Orange Amps updates its OPC once more: Intel i7, 16GB RAM and a graphics boost
Orange Amps trotted out a few updates to its PC / amplifier hybrid over a year ago, but the music outfit has announced some more quite noteworthy tweaks at NAMM 2013. The orange clad units will now sport third-gen Intel i7 processors, a maximum capacity of 16GB of RAM (doubled from the previous 8GB limit) and users will have their choice of either NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 650 Ti or AMD's HD 7750 to power graphics matters. Of course, the OPC will still feature the same array of inputs for tracking in addition to its built-in speaker for keeping an ear on how things are progressing and an attractive software suite. A fully loaded model will hit the ol' wallet for £1,197 ($1,896), but individual component upgrades are available should you be looking to save a little coin.
Butlers, lunar rovers, snakes and airboats: the best of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute
How was your week? We got to spend a couple of days trekking around the Carnegie Mellon campus in Pittsburgh, PA to check out some of the latest projects from the school's world renowned Robotics Institute -- a trip that culminated with the bi-annual induction ceremony from the CMU-sponsored Robot Hall of Fame. Given all the craziness of the past seven days, you might have missed some of the awesomeness, but fear not, we've got it all for you here in one handy place -- plus a couple of videos from the trip that we haven't shown you yet. Join us after the break to catch up.
Auto-tune this! Research team restores 134 year-old audio recording (update: audio links)
A Berkeley Lab research team in California has successfully restored a 134 year-old audio recording. The historic audio was originally captured in 1878 by a phonograph designed by Thomas Edison, which consisted of a cylinder wrapped in tinfoil that used a stylus to record sound on the surface of the material. Due to the foil's frailty, recordings were only good for a few playbacks on Edison's phonograph. To restore this century-old mixtape, the research team created a 3D model of the grooves in the foil and ran it through a software that recreated the original audio track. As for the great mystery of the recording's contents, it's a 23-second horn instrumental followed by what is believed to be political writer Thomas Mason reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb and Old Mother Hubbard. Using modern technology for playback, the restored recording is set to have a listening party this week at the Museum of Innovation and Science in New York. Update: For audio samples from the project, hit the coverage link below. [Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Brady-Handy Photograph Collection]
Message from Me offers dispatches from early education, we go eyes-on (video)
What do you get when you attach a point-and-shoot, display, microphone, RFID reader and a bunch of big buttons to a clear plastic box and stick it all in a classroom with a bunch of three- to five-year-olds? Carnegie Mellon's CREATE Lab calls the creation Message from Me. It's a way of engaging early education students with technology, developing language and social skills and helping keep parents abreast of their school day activities. The tool encourages kids to record a thought or take a picture and send it to a parent by pulling a card with their face on it down from the wall and scanning on the RFID reader. Parents can get updates via text message or email from kids who are often unable to pass along such information at the end of the day. According to the lab, the machines have already been installed in nearly a dozen schools in the Pittsburgh area -- and from the looks of the boxes on the floor in the CREATE Lab, plenty more are on the way.%Gallery-169260%
DirecTV Genie DVR and interface launch with advice for the indecisive
We got a peek at DirecTV's Genie system just a few weeks ago with promises of a system that would both suggest related shows and optionally record them unbidden. It's here, and it's being joined by some rebranding. The company's flagship HR34 DVR has been relabeled as the Genie and makes the new software its centerpiece, with those five tuners letting even the chronically uncommitted take new recommendations as seriously as they like. As before, simultaneous viewing is otherwise the biggest angle: there's support for up to eight RVU-capable TVs hooked up at once, two shows playing on one TV and up to four TVs watching the same show. You'll have to be a new subscriber to get the video recorder under the Genie moniker, although we don't see too many existing customers dropping everything to get that symbolic distinction.
Looxcie HD brings 1080p and WiFi streaming to a helmet near you
Looxcie isn't just a luxurious sounding word (and terrible pun), it's also a maker of life-casting head-mounted cameras. Up until now, it would only let you capture your life in a rather pedestrian 480p, but the new Looxcie HD does away with that, letting you grab that bike ride in full glorious high-definition. Other additions include WiFi (previous iterations relied on Bluetooth) to hook up to your Android or iOS device with, a larger 1,200 mAh battery and improved low light performance. Owners of previous models might spot that with new features comes a new, larger form. The price of evolution it seems. The price for the device, on the other hand, is $279, or $329 if you opt for the "Explore" bundle, which incidentally you can pre-order now. Peep at the source for more.
Sky+ update allows undeleting recorded shows, more on-demand and future Catch Up TV
Sky+ has been on a bit of a tear refreshing its set-top boxes, and it's not about to stop now. When ready, a new update for the satellite TV provider's devices will let you undelete recorded programs; deleted shows are now moved to a separate space and only removed permanently either through age or if you really, really don't want to watch. If you're more interested in watching content that's always available, both Anytime and Anytime+ will be rebranded as On Demand, while the Sky Guide is adding a dedicated store tab for movie rentals. Catch Up TV is also nearing with the update and should aggregate the last week's worth of shows from Sky in addition to BBC iPlayer, Demand 5 and ITV Player. The gotcha, as we know all too well from these kinds of firmware revisions, is the timing. You'll have to have either a Sky+ HD 1TB box or the Sky+ HD DRX890 to get the upgrade early on, and Sky is staggering its deployment in a move that could leave some subscribers twiddling their thumbs.
Blue Microphones Mikey Digital portable microphone for iOS devices hits shelves, offers mobile tracking for $100
The second of Blue Microphone's CES trio has broken cover. Mikey Digital, a mobile recording peripheral for the iPad and iPhone is now available at select retailers. If you're in need of a refresher, the retooled version of the original Mikey tracking unit connects to you Apple smartphone or tablet via the dock connector. The mic houses the same two condenser capsules found on the more robust Snowball and Yeti USB mics while sporting built-in sensitivity control and CD-quality analog / digital conversion. A 3.5mm audio jack is included for monitoring or either stereo line-in or mic-in -- if you're looking to tack on a few more gadgets when recording with the 230-degree rotating kit. USB pass-thru allows for charging while in the midst of a session and a LED clipping indicator keeps tabs on volume levels to ensure the best results. If all of that sounds too good to pass up, the Mikey Digital will hit your wallet for $99.99 just as soon at you can enter your shipping info.
Blue Microphones Tiki USB microphone review: a thumbdrive-sized mic for mobile recording
More Info Blue Microphones outs Tiki, Spark Digital and Mikey Digital; looks to feed your mobile recording habit Blue Microphones Tiki USB mic now available at Best Buy, coming to Apple stores July 15ths Apogee MiC review In recent years, mobile and compact recording gear has, like so many other gadget types, become smaller and smaller in stature. We've seen add-ons for smartphones and tablets that aren't much larger than a quarter, along with mobile mics that boast USB compatibility. The Blue Microphones Tiki continues the trend, offering the same premium aesthetics we've come to expect fromthe company, along with top-notch audio quality. The Tiki is said to perform at its best with Skype-style video chats and voice recording, thanks in part to an intelligent mute and noise isolation features. Let's be honest, though. Purchasing a USB microphone for the sole purpose of video chatting will be a tough sell for most folks. People like podcasters will expect a bit more functionality from a peripheral like this. Luckily, the unit boasts a "Natural Recording Mode" that promises instrument-tracking capabilities as well. But does the Tiki handle online banter, voice recording and guitar sounds well enough to warrant a $60 purchase? And exactly how smart is the intelligent mute? Read on to see what we discovered when we gave this flash drive-sized microphone the full-on review treatment. %Gallery-162897%
WaveTap snags audio on your Mac with a keyboard shortcut
Recording audio on the Mac just got a little easier thanks to WavTap, a nifty audio utility created by Github user Patrick Ellis. Spotted by Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music, the tool lets you record audio on your Mac using a keyboard shortcut. You can use the customizable shortcut to both start and stop the recording on the fly. WavTap is a fork of Soundflower, an OS X system extension that lets you pass audio from one application to another. Besides being a single channel device, Soundflower also acts as a 16-channel device, which means WavTap can potentially record input from a multichannel rig. WavTap is open source and available for free on GitHub. There's no installer included in the app, so users must have Xcode installed and know how to install an app using Terminal.
NASA captures red sprite, puts it in a jar
Lightning doesn't always shoot downwards. Just occasionally, a thunderstorm will be accompanied by a red sprite: a huge, momentary electrical explosion that occurs around 50 miles high and fires thin tendrils many miles further up into the atmosphere. Sprites have been caught on camera before, but a fresh photo taken by arty astronauts on the ISS helps to show off their true scale. Captured accidentally during a timelapse recording, it reveals the bright lights of Myanmar and Malaysia down below, with a white flash of lightning inside a storm cloud and, directly above that, the six mile-wide crimson streak of the rare beast itself. Such a thing would never consent to being bottled up and examined, but somehow observers at the University of Alaska did manage to film one close-up at 1000 frames per second back in 1999 -- for now, their handiwork embedded after the break is as intimate as we can get.
Apogee MiC review
It's no secret that a few of us here at Engadget HQ have an affinity for mobile recording tech. Perhaps you could blame some of our fledgling amateur music careers, but at any rate, we love to get our hands on tech that allows us to lay down tracks on-the-go. It's also no surprise that Apogee would offer up another product that would look to do just that. As a complement to the outfit's Jam guitar adapter, the Apogee MiC is the latest foray into mobile recording. Much like its guitar specific counterpart, the MiC is both iDevice and Mac compatible and its compact stature won't take up precious real estate in your travel pack. But, as you may expect, staying mobile comes at a premium. So, is the $249 price tag a deal breaker for the MiC? Is it a small price to pay for adding a solid microphone to your mobile recording setup? Journey on past the break to find out.
One Like Son produces entire album on an iPhone
Powerpop band "One Like Son" has done something special. Using accessories like Peavey's AmpKit LiNK (TUAW review) and the GuitarJack from Sonoma Wireworks, they managed to produce an entire studio-quality album... on an iPhone. Daniel Codella of Sonoma Wireworks states that "One Like Son have really set the bar for what can be done with an inexpensive mobile recording setup. Bravo!" The band compares the experience to creating their first album, "Love Songs for the Apathetic," on a 4-track cassette recorder. Stephen Poff of the band said, "It was a pretty top of the line at the time, but it was tedious and of course there were only 4 tracks to work with. Now I'm recording up to 24 tracks... and it's on my iPhone!" While my taste in music might not run in this vein, I can't deny the quality of the recording is top notch and the technological feat is very impressive. It's not the first time we've seen the iPhone play an integral part in creating a track, but to record an entire album using nothing but an iPhone is impressive indeed. Check out a teaser video from the band below, and head to the band's website for a full track preview and ordering information.
Blue brings the Mikey Digital and Spark Digital to Macworld | iWorld 2012
Blue Microphones are a favorite of ours around here at TUAW. We've used Blue's mics to record countless streams and podcasts, and most of our staffers have bought one or more with their own cash before. So it was nice to see them again at Macworld | iWorld 2012 in San Francisco this week, where PR Manager Hillary Money kindly showed us two new models due out later on this year. The first is the Mikey Digital, which is an update to Blue's Mikey, the company's original mic built to plug in directly to the iPod touch's 30-pin connector. This model is for the iPhone. Apple slightly changed the protocol between the two devices when the Mikey was first introduced, so this version is designed to work specifically with the phone hardware rather than just the iPod. But that tweak isn't the only difference -- there's also a three-setting switch between low, medium, or high gain (and the switch is hooked up to three LEDs that will provide some indication of where you're setting it, which is definitely a helpful improvement). And the middle LED will flash as well when the mic gets distorted, so even if you're not listening during recording, you can see when things are too loud. The other big update is that the 1/4" input on the outside of the mic now will also accept both line and instrument inputs, so you'll be able to just plug your electric guitar right into the mic, which is a nice bonus if you don't already have a solution for that. The Mikey Digital will retail for $99, and should be out later this spring. The Spark Digital is a new mic that's designed specifically for the iPad. It's a version of one of the company's most popular studio mics that instead plugs directly into the iPad's dock connector, allowing you to record straight onto Garageband for iPad, or any other audio recording app (more on that in a second). The Spark also comes with a USB adapter, so you can also use it as a standard PC or Mac mic as well. It also has a gain control and a port for monitoring the audio off of a splitter, and there's a button called "Focus Control" that will change the mic's pickup two different ways, for closeup sound or wider recording. The Spark is suspended by a cord inside a stand, which helps prevent vibrations from reaching the mic's sensitive equipment. We didn't get a chance to hear the output of either microphone, but Blue's microphones are always quality -- especially for the price they're available at, these mics are some of the best value for the money. The Spark will be available this spring as well for $199, and that includes all of the cables, as well as a six-month subscription to both Soundcloud and Gobbler, for storing and sharing audio. Finally, we asked about Blue's iPhone app, Blue FiRe, and if it would ever arrive natively on the iPad. Money told us that while the app itself is still being supported by its developers, Blue's deal with them has ended, so it's no longer funding development on that app. Blue is apparently looking into possibly making a brand new official app, but Money says the result will probably be a long way off. "It's on our radar," she promised. In the meantime, these mics still work with any app that will record audio, including Apple's own Garageband, so there are still plenty of uses for Blue's products. Always good to see Blue and what they're putting out. We'll look forward to getting our hands on these later on this year.
MOTU sneaks in MicroBook II post-NAMM, ships this Spring for $269
Looking to add some muscle to your mobile recording kit? MOTU waited to pull the curtain back on the MicroBook II until after NAMM, revealing a revamped portable audio interface for those who fancy tracking on-the-go. The studio-quality kit plays nice with both Mac and PC, offering a compact 4-input / 6-output, bus-powered recording option with 96kHz recording and playback support. Sporting inputs for mics (XLR), guitar, keyboard and powered speakers, the MicroBook II connects to your computer of choice via USB 2.0 and boasts on-board volume controls. All four inputs can be recorded simultaneously while internal CueMix tech allows for a unique stereo mix for each output pair. Speaking of outputs, the diminutive box houses six of said channels alongside TRS 1/4-inch, stereo mini, S/PDIF, and 1/4-inch headphone offerings. You'll have to wait until Spring to snag one, but for now hit the PR after the break for a full list of specs.
