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Twitch introduces free-to-use music, place to perform tunes
Twitch introduced a library of music that is safe to use for broadcasting on the platform. The streaming service's new music section includes over 500 royalty-free tracks that broadcasters can feature in both live and archived videos. Notably, the songs "will not be flagged by the audio recognition system implemented in 2014 to protect audio copyright holders and Twitch broadcasters alike," according to Twitch. "Our community has been vocal about the importance of music for their broadcasts and their love of music in general," Twitch's Chief Strategy Officer Colin Carrier said in the announcement. "By working with both established and upcoming record labels, we are now able to offer music for them to use that is cleared for live broadcasts and archiving." The streaming platform's audio recognition tech began muting archived broadcasts in August that seemingly contained "unauthorized third-party audio," which included many false-positive cases where genuine in-game audio was muted as well. The company's CEO Emmett Shear called those cases a mistake, introducing an appeals system for streamers to use. Additionally, Twitch added "Music" to the platform's game directory, giving artists a space for "creating, performing and presenting original songs." Pending Twitch's approval, "certain established labels and artists" may also host "radio-style listening shows and broadcast large scale events, such as music festivals." [Image: Twitch]
Daily iPhone App: Guitar! by Smule plays a familiar tune
Smule is the company behind a lot of excellent music apps, and its latest release is called, simply, Guitar! by Smule. Just like much of Smule's other work, the app is designed to let you "play" a guitar via your iPhone, tapping and strumming various notes that run across the screen. That in itself is not all that innovative, but Smule's tie in to its other apps and the company's substantial licensed music library is. With Guitar!, you get access to some really great guitar pop songs, and the team has also connected this app up to the Sing! karaoke app, which means that the singers putting in their voices to match your guitar are just fans playing along as well. That makes this app a little more special than just a standard music game. Still, despite that extra connection, there's not much else to make this one stick out -- you only get two songs for free, and then you'll either need to pay for a few more songs, or earn a whole lot of points to purchase others to play. It's nice that Smule has provided the app for free, and if you like these games they've made, this one is worth a download. But Smule is definitely starting to follow a formula here, successful as it may be so far, rather than inventing something really brand new.
Drums! gets redesigned for version 3.0
There are quite a few "drum simulator" apps on the iPad and the iPhone -- it's one of the first ideas a lot of developers had when the touchscreen devices became available, and lots of devs carried that idea out to release. But Drums! is one of the most popular of these apps -- it's gotten plenty of feature space from Apple, and has even been included in Apple Store demos for a while now. Just recently, Drums! was updated to version 3.0, and the app has been completely redesigned. The drums (which you just tap on to activate) are now represented with Retina display graphics, the drum sounds have been remastered and the app now has a music player, to allow you to play along with your own music. You can still record your work, or you can now record both drums and music, and then send that track out to email, WiFi or other popular file-sharing services. There are also now more drums available via in-app purchase, and you can do drum tricks like hit a rimshot just by tapping in a certain spot on the drum. Drums! is one of many drum-playing apps on the store, but it's a solid choice for sure. You can pick it up right now for just US$0.99. [via App Advice]
Kickstarter project offers hundreds of video game inspired tunes for a few bucks
If you've been looking for a way to experience more video game and video game-inspired music, here's a pretty cheap one-way ticket right into the scene. Nubuwo is a site that's been created to cover exactly this kind of music, and over on Kickstarter they've compiled the talent of 12 different musicians across quite a few games into one big bundle for sale.For $6, you can pick up either a 92-track "Vocal Pack" featuring the likes of Laura Shigihara, Floex, and the great Mega Ran, or a 150-track "Instrumental Pack" with the soundtracks to The Binding of Isaac, Bit Pilot, and ilomilo.For $9, you get both of those, and for $15 you'll get 25 more tracks from excellent indie games like Spelunky and Antichamber, a couple interview segments with Final Fantasy composers Nobuo Uematsu and Kumi Tanioka, and a few other goodies. Higher donations can get you the tunes on actual CDs, and signed by the composers.
TUAW's Daily App: LaDiDa
LaDiDa is a strange little app that came out a while back. It's basically a "reverse karaoke app," in that, instead of playing music that you can sing along with, you sing, and it'll play the music back to you. The technology seems based on the same idea as Microsoft's MySong -- you hit record on the app and then sing whatever melody you want (or rap, or just play a tune on another musical instrument), and then the app quickly builds up the rest of the band around you. It works surprisingly well. I'll spare you the trauma of hearing me sing, but even when I just threw in a few nonsensical bars of an improv song, the app did an admirable job of backing up my tune with drums and chords. If you do hit on a worthwhile tune, you can save it on your iPhone, and there's even a "Discover" section in the app where you can hear what other users are recording and rating. The app allows you to create a full song without any musical talent at all. While it doesn't guarantee that you'll create anything worth listening to, if you've ever wanted to write a song but don't know your sharp from your flat, LaDiDa can help. The app is $2.99 for the iPhone in the App Store.
Kaloki Adventure and Peggle on sale, plus free music
If you didn't jump to pick up Kaloki Adventure [App Store link] after our first look last week, now's your chance: the game is on sale today (not tomorrow, apparently -- you've got under 24 hours) for just $1.99, a buck cheaper than the usual $2.99 price. The game offers some fun but casual real-time strategy business simulation, so if your dream has ever been to own a burgeoning spaceport, they don't come cheaper than that.And as an added bonus, NinjaBee is also offering a catchy tune from the game's soundtrack on their website for the low, low price of completely free. It's the jumpy, swingin' background music to the main gameplay, composed by Eric Nunamaker, who's apparently been working on video game music for quite a while.Oh, and finally, while we're talking about awesome iPhone games on sale, Peggle is only a buck. 'Nuff said.
The Bacterial Orchestra uses the iPhone to create "viral music"
This is really wild: what you see above is an example of "viral music" -- it's part of an upcoming music festival that's taking place in Sweden, and it features a circle of iPhones that are both listening to and playing a very abstract kind of "music." Each one is picking up audio from its environment, then running it through a series of software filters to make it sound more musical, and finally playing it back in a rhythm. As each iPhone is picking up the tune from the other iPhones it's playing it back through the same filters, and so on and so forth. All while the software is "judging" each "cell" of sound, to see if it's interesting or loud enough or so forth, and cells will live or die based on that criteria -- in essence, a musical organism.Like I said, wild. That program is called the "Bacterial Orchestra -- Public Epidemic No. 1," and it sounds like the app will be available on the iPhone soon as well. Of course, you'll have to have a bunch of iPhones with the app in one place for it to work the way it's designed, but at least there's good video of it.
Breakfast Topic: Grinding Tunes
Unless I am doing Arenas or for some other event that involves voice chat, I usually turn my WoW sounds off. I either watch episodes of my favorite science fiction shows or listen to music.I have compiled the following WoW-inspired, classic-rock soundtrack for grinding.Ozzy Osbourne - The Wizard, for the Mages of the world.Aerosmith - Dude Looks Like a Lady, with all due respect to elves of both factions.Ted Nugent - Cat Scratch Fever, I guess I could have gone with Fred Bear- either work for Druids.Queen - Fat Bottom Girls, because Tauren females make the rockin' world go 'round.Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper, in honor of Undeads.Black Sabbath - Iron Man, perfect for Warriors and Paladins, but more for Warriors.The Eagles - Witchy Woman, which seems to fit Warlocks.Styx - Mr. Roboto, for everyone who's ever been stomped by the Fel Reavers in Hellfire Peninsula.Led Zeppelin - Ramble On, OK it's about a different fantasy epic, but it's a great song.What do you listen to while you play?EDIT: Corrected the spelling of Ozzy, but I'm leaving it as an Ozzy song rather than Black Sabbath as the version I have is solo off the "Hot and Heavy" compilation disc. Thanks though!
The music of EVE Online
Can't get enough of EVE's ingame tunes? An Anarchyyt over on the forums has posted a link to a ZIP file of EVE's entire soundtrack, so that even out of game you can listen to those dulcet tones floating in space. I'm not sure how stable EVE Files' servers are, but if you can get in and download it, you're all set.And even if you can't, don't forget that there's some good soundtrack links over on the official site, too. There's also a CD of a few of the tracks available at the official store. And a little bit of poking around brings us this JunkieXL remix of one of the tracks from the game (originally used in one of the game's trailers, I think?).I have to say-- most of the time I spend mining in EVE actually is taken up with the soundtrack of whatever I'm watching on TV at the time. But when flying around and actually fighting rats, the tunes fit perfectly in the game.
Avega Systems intros pearly white Oyster WiFi speakers
While we got a small taste of Avega Systems' master wireless scheme at CES, SciFi has sniffed out a forthcoming set of tower speakers from the company that looks to utilize that WiFi freedom the Aios platform supposedly enables. Requiring just a power source, these pearly white towers feature a trio of full-range drivers, a tweeter for the highs, and an Oyster nametag. Additionally, they can purportedly "accept wireless music streams from your PC or media server, game consoles," or essentially anything capable of stream audio over WiFi. Although there's no word just yet on price, we don't envision these coming cheap, but we'll find out for certain when Avega rolls 'em out in March.
Widget Watch: iPodage song calculator
Remember that iPod storage calculator iLounge released? It seems Christian Chladek, maker of such other widgets as the Morse Code Translator, was inspired to provide an iPod calculator in widget form. iPodage allows you to pick your iPod model and adjust all the vital settings to do some quick and dirty math on just how many tunes you can cram into your pocket for the road. For bonus points, the widget can even shrink out of your way should you need to reclaim some Dashboard space.iPodage is donationware and available from Christian's site.
Villeroy & Boch's Aquagate integrates tunes into your shower
For the person who has everything, including a million dollar floating bed to roll out of, the Aquagate should probably provide the touch of class you've been yearning for when you hit the bathroom. Villeroy & Boch's glass rectangle comes in two sizes, 90 x 100 cm and 100 x 130 cm, possibly for those planning on throwing small get-togethers within the confines -- but hey, who wouldn't want to show off their MP3 / radio-playing shower with touchscreen displays on both sides of the glass? You heard right, this box lets you control the ambiance with waterproof control screens and built-in speakers, and gives you a myriad of options when deciding how the water will be dispersed. Steam baths, mists, and even streams of water that vary in temperature based on your desires supposedly make for a blissful experience for the "bath enthusiast" (bathusiast?). There's also pre-selected settings for "waking up," "cooling down," and an "aroma and light therapy" that reportedly replicates the lush feeling of a tropical sunbath (though we aren't exactly certain what that feels like). The "central gate" is available in teak wood, pure Italian limestone, and aluminum (presumably for the Mac lovers out there), and while pricing is not mentioned, we assume the usual rule of thumb here: if you have to ask, the pricetag will probably hit you like a cold shower -- and besides, can you imagine the Windex required to keep this thing clean? [Via Sci Fi Tech]
Verizon Wireless to end music download fee
Now that the LG Chocolate has finally launched, Verizon has apparently figured out that charging $15/month for the privilege of visiting the V CAST Music store is probably not such a bright idea. In what appears to be an intentional simultaneous release with the Chocolate phone, V CAST Music is now free to browse -- sure to delight 2-inch-window shoppers everywhere. The monthly fee previously required to access the V CAST VPak, which allowed you to shop for tunes on your mobile, has been nixed. Now anyone with a "V CAST Music-enabled" device can download tracks to their cellphone at the current rate of $1.99/song (or $0.99 if downloaded to a Windows XP-based PC). The $1.99 downloads contain two songs: one for the phone and one for the PC, but songs downloaded directly to the PC can be transferred to the mobile free of charge (Verizon, making things easy?). While it might seem a tad ridiculous that such a fee was charged in the past, at least Verizon is headed in the right direction here, and who wouldn't be excited about having to "only" pay $1.99 for a single?[Via Mobiledia]
Kyocera K822 musicphone with A2DP
With the flurry of phone and mobile industry announcements this past week (Engadget Mobile even outposted the original once or twice), you'll have to forgive us if we didn't catch some of the more, um, run-of-the-mill handsets revealed at CTIA, but hey, that's what the weekends are for. Truthfully, the Kyocera K822 isn't really all that ho-hum, as it sports both a 1.3 megapixel camera and 30MB of memory complemented by a microSD slot for pics and tunes (MP3/AAC/WMDRM), packed into a clamshell design with dual color displays. Other niceties on this tri-mode CDMA model include Bluetooth 1.2 with A2DP, FM radio, and external media controls, as well as a pretty attractive $140-after-subsidies price tag.
