‘Great Idea and Well Executed’

by Nikolozi Meladze

Someone left a nice review for Easy MIDI:

Great Idea and Well Executed ★★★★★

by Surface Tension

This app is truly great for producers on the go, especially when you don't want to drag around a huge MIDI keyboard with you everywhere.

Pros:

-You can have two rows of keys to use for the piano, each with separate octave as well as "first white key" control so it can be set up however you like, and allows for hand arrangements other than C position.

-The "Chords" tab is probably the most interesting because it allows you to predefine chords and map them to numbers, so you can easily build a chord progression and play huge chords without being limited by the number of keys that you can press simultaneously on the keyboard.

-For example, "1" could be mapped to a chord with up to seven notes in various octaves, and "2" could be mapped to more notes, then playing both simultaneously allows you to play enormous arrangements that wouldn't even be possible with two hands.

-Allows you to use mouse and touchpad input and gestures to control the mod wheel, pitch bend and note velocity

Cons:

-Haven't used it enough to discover very many, but there is no way to make it constantly override keyboard input, so if you were playing notes in an application that doesn't support keyboard MIDI input (Pro Tools!!) and you wanted to tweak your synthesizer's sound, you would have to switch applications back to Easy MIDI in order to test your changes.

-In any case, this is something you would probably use a MIDI controller for, so it's not that big of a deal

All in all, this is a great tool for not just playing notes on the fly, but also for easily mapping and saving chord progressions, so you dont' have to export MIDI files between programs.

GarageBand is a #7 Paid iPad App of All Time

by Nikolozi Meladze

Apple started counting down 50 billion app downloads and along with it charts for the most downloaded apps of all time were published. It's interesting to see GarageBand so high up the iPad chart. While GarageBand is the 7th most downloaded paid iPad app, iMovie and iPhoto are stuck at 22nd and 23rd places. Clearly, everyone loves making music! Checkout more interesting app chart facts over at MacStories.

Update: The above information is based on the US App Store charts. Turns out, in the Aussie App Store GarageBand is even more popular, it's #3 Paid iPad app of all time.

Pro Tools 11

by Nikolozi Meladze

I don't use Pro Tools. While I was studying at SAE I had pleasure of enjoying its instability and its inability to bounce tracks offline. The DAW that was always considered an industry standard somehow didn't seem as modern as Nuendo or Logic Pro.

Having said that, Avid announcing Pro Tools 11 got me all excited. It is good to know that Pro Tools is not dead and Avid is trying to bring Pro Tools up to the same standard as the other DAWs. Brand new 64-bit audio engine and an offline bounce feature is a good start. It still has to be seen if it will live up to the hype.

‘iRadio service imminent’

by Nikolozi Meladze

The Verge:

Apple is expected to sign its first internet radio licensing agreement with a major record label perhaps as soon as next week, multiple sources with knowledge of the talks have told The Verge. Universal Music Group, the largest of the major record companies, has reached the final stages of the negotiations and Warner Music is close behind, the sources said.

This is great news, but I'm more interested in Apple offering Spotify type streaming service over Pandora like internet radio.

Because of iTunes huge number of users, the new service is expected to be an immediate threat to Pandora. Since 2008, Apple has been the country's top music store but in the past year, streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora have come on strong.

These days I use Spotify almost exclusively. I only use iTunes and iOS music player for music that's not available on Spotify.

802.11ac Wireless Support in OS X 10.8.4

by Nikolozi Meladze

9to5mac:

With 802.11ac support seemingly comes to Apple’s Mac lines, it is not a stretch to believe that Apple will release compatible AirPort routers and iOS devices in the future.

802.11ac can't come soon enough. I'm constantly exchanging big audio files between my MacBook Pro and Time Capsule. I will upgrading instantly.

Weekly Music Selection

by Nikolozi Meladze

Staring at the Back of a Seat in Front of You

by Nikolozi Meladze

The New York Times:

According to people who work with an industry working group that the Federal Aviation Administration set up last year to study the use of portable electronics on planes, the agency hopes to announce by the end of this year that it will relax the rules for reading devices during takeoff and landing. The change would not include cellphones.

It's about time. If you are flying anywhere, unless you are sleeping or have brought a physical book or a magazine to read, you end up spending the first 30 minutes and the last 30 minutes of your flight staring at the back of a seat in front of you.

Flat Design in iOS

by Nikolozi Meladze

Jessica E. Lessin:

Some suggested that in Apple’s next mobile operating system, Ive is pushing a more “flat design” that is starker and simpler, according to developers who have spoken to Apple employees but didn’t have further details. Overall, they expect any changes to be pretty conservative. For the past few years, Apple has unveiled versions of its mobile operating system in the summer.

Yes, I welcome this change. Skeumorphic designs work well in some cases (e.g. GarageBand for iOS is gorgeous), but generally I prefer flatter designs. My app, Lyrics View is as flat as an app UI can be. It seems, everyone has been talking about Skeumorphic designs the last few years, check out the trend.

GarageBand Update Adds Audiobus Support

by Nikolozi Meladze

Apple just updated GarageBand for iOS to v1.4:

  • Play and record music apps supported by Audiobus directly into GarageBand
  • Turn off grid snapping to get finer control over region and note editing
  • Fixes an issue that resulted in feedback while connecting 3rd-party audio accessories into the headphone/microphone jack

Yes, Audiobus support! That's an incredible success. Over 100 iOS audio apps added Audiobus support in just 3 months and now Apple's own GarageBand adopts the technology.

I like how GarageBand shows the app icons to indicate the source of the sample.

I like how GarageBand shows the app icons to indicate the source of the sample.

The Amazing Audio Engine

by Nikolozi Meladze

The Amazing Audio Engine:

The Amazing Audio Engine is a sophisticated framework for iOS audio applications, built so you don't have to.

It is designed to be very easy to work with, and handles all of the intricacies of iOS audio on your behalf.

This is a fantastic news for audio/music app developers. If Core Audio scares you this is for you. The engine even has Audiobus support built right into it.

Oh, and Audiobus SDK is now public.

TED Interview with Elon Musk

by Nikolozi Meladze

Entrepreneur Elon Musk is a man with many plans. The founder of PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX sits down with TED curator Chris Anderson to share details about his visionary projects, which include a mass-marketed electric car, a solar energy leasing company and a fully reusable rocket.

Really enjoyed this interview!

Easy MIDI Free Edition Released

by Nikolozi Meladze

A couple of days I ago I released a free version of Easy MIDI. You can grab it from the Mac App Store. It's basically a cut down version of Easy MIDI with the following featues:

  • Send MIDI notes to any DAW or MIDI driver
  • Notes can be triggered using alphanumeric keys
  • Easily change keyboard octave with up/down arrow keys
  • Use left/right arrow keys to change starting note
  • Visual feedback eliminates the need to look down on your Mac keyboard
  • Sustain on/off can be triggered with a space bar
  • Vertical scroll changes note velocity
  • Mini View

Easy MIDI Free is really an expriment to see if I it can make computer musicians aware of the existance of Easy MIDI app. Since its release I've noticed it has been climbing Mac App Store's free app charts under the Music category. Let's see if it will convert to actual sales of the full vesion.