iOS 7

by Nikolozi Meladze

Matt Gemmell:

The thing is, we’ve grown up. We don’t require hand-holding to tell us what to click or tap. Interactivity is a matter of invitation, and physical cues are only one specific type. iOS 7 is an iOS for a more mature consumer, who understands that digital surfaces are interactive, and who doesn’t want anything getting in the way of their content.

This sums up iOS evolution quite well. I've been using iOS 7 on my new iPod Touch (which I bought especially to test the new iOS) for the past 2 days and I'm in love with the new user interface. Finally, UIPickerView won't look out of place if I use it in my apps along with the other custom UI elements.

Apple introduced a lot of great features and APIs in iOS 7, but I'm especially excited about the Inter-app Audio technology.

WWDC 2013 Registration

by Nikolozi Meladze
Moscone West - WWDC 2013 Registration 

  

Moscone West - WWDC 2013 Registration 

 

Registration Done. I was there at around 4:30pm and keynote line was already forming. The guy behind the counter told me I should queue up as early as possible if I want to make to the keynote hall. Even 6am is not early enough apparently. OK, I'll bite the bullet and line up at 5am. Luckily, I got enough music loaded on Spotify.

Oh yeah, I witnessed the street shooting when I was leaving Moscone West.

Tommy Trash on Ghost Producing

by Nikolozi Meladze

Tommy Trash:

In this day and age, obviously the whole industry is very producer-driven. It’s almost like you’re going to concerts instead of actual dance parties, because kids want to watch a DJ who has a song out at the moment or whatever. I think that the role of the DJ is like the CEO of a company. If your weak point is not being able to produce music, then I guess you should get someone else to do it if you want your company to be successful. I don’t mind it, it’s not my style, but there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

‘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.