Apple has released GarageBand for the iPhone and iPod touch [iTunes link], bringing the popular music creation tool from the iPad to the company’s smaller iOS devices. Offering a range of keyboards, guitars, drums and basses, each supporting Smart Instrument custom chords so that those with less musical talent than they have ambition can still get involved, GarageBand also allows you to plug in external instruments and run them through the app’s amps and stompbox effects.
Today it was announced that come November, the Grammy award winning Kronos Quartet will be the first to do a a concert both composed for and performed with a bluetooth sensor bow. The bow in question is K-Bow, designed by Berkeley based Keith McMillen Instruments, aka KMI, and the quartet will be playing "Polar Suite" as composed by Douglas Quin as Syracuse University at the College of Visual and Performing Arts. This event will be part of a weeklong residency by the group and the K-Bow event will take place November 9, 2011, at 8PM.
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Apple has made its Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) open-source, the company's codec for compressing audio files without losing data - and hence music fidelity - along the way. Introduced to OS X back in 2004, and now supported on Macs, in iTunes, on iPods, iPhones and iPads, ALAC is also used in AirPlay on the AirPort Express.
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In what very well may be an invitation to be the first to see the HTC Rezound, (aka the HTC Vigor,) HTC tells of their “latest innovation.” What we’ve got here is an invite as sent out to press which has the reverberations of sound emanating from the “HTC INVITES YOU” text in green down to two logos, one for HTC, the other for Dr Dre’s Beats. Beats and HTC joined forces several weeks ago in an effort to bring greater sound quality to HTC smartphones everywhere and we’ve already seen Beats on HTC in Europe – could this be the ushering in of fine quality music on smartphones right here in the states? Yes, I think so.
When it comes to synthesizers for those that love the sounds of days gone by, the name that is most recognizable is Moog. Moog made the synthesizers that 80's pop made so popular. The new app for the iPad from Moog is called Animoog and it aimed at anyone from the synth pro to a noob looking for some fun. Moog claims this is the first professional polyphonic synthesizer designed for the iPad in the world.
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There are rumors circulating around the tech world today that Google may be getting ready to launch its own MP3 store reports the NYT. We already have some giant MP3 stores to choose from with iTunes being the top for people that are on the iPhone platform. When it comes to getting music onto your Android smartphone many people use Amazon's music store. There are also a wealth of other music stores on the market to choose from.
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So you say you'd like to make some music with your brand new iPhone 4S or your relatively new iPad 2, yes? What better way then, than with the iRig MIDI, a lovely little Core MIDI interface for all your iDevices including iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. This device, as you can see, has MIDI in, out, and through, 2 LEDs to show you any activity going on through those ports, and a microUSB port so that you can charge your iOS device while you're jamming on some tunes. And what's more? You'll get some apps that are optimized to work with the device for free!
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A geek going by [yergacheffe] got hands on the Google ADK board before the official launch and had some parts on hand for making things. Naturally, the geek decided to cobble some things together to see how easy the Google ADK for making hardware talk to each other was to use. The result was the Google ADK talking to a display and showing meta data from the Google Music Beta offering.
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Pioneer continues to polish its virtual DJ controller line-up, with the latest DDJ-ERGO-V model packing so many LEDs you could probably outshine a half dozen glitterballs. Hooking up to your PC or Mac via a single USB connection, the DDJ-ERGO-V offers a pair of 115mm controllers, an integrated audio interface, the ability to control up to four decks from one unit, and various blinking light patterns to show you how well you're doing on your mixing, beat matching and more.
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Facebook's f8 conference kicks off in just a few hours, but the company's announcements keep leaking; next up is a "Listen with your friend" feature, apparently set to be added to the social network's new ticker. Facebook creative director Ji Lee accidentally revealed the communal streaming system in a promptly-deleted tweet, but not quick enough to stop Mitchell Holder from grabbing a screenshot. "Listen to what your friends are listening [to]" Lee says of the service, "LIVE."
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As promised back when the upgrade to Google+ was made in regards to Hangouts functionality specifically, will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas is currently (depending on when you see this post, I suppose) broadcasting live. He and several of his best buddies are sitting in a beat laboratory where he’s doing some dances, posting to Google+ on his own phone (looks like a BlackBerry, shame on you!) and chatting about what they’re chatting about. It’s surprisingly entertaining, believe it or not – see it below right this second – what a wacky lovely promotion!
The folks at Logitech have been hitting the production mill pretty hard lately with some precision-targeted products that access the gadget collectors everyday needs, and their new Wireless Boombox is no exception. Alternately branded as the “Logitech Wireless Boombox for iPad”, this audio blaster has the ability to both input audio via Bluetooth or a simple 3.5 mm aux jack in the back – and yes, a cable to plug in here IS included in the package. We got the opportunity to take a look at this lovely device at the 2011 Pepcom Holiday Spectacular, an event in NYC with devices for us to get our hands-on to the max!
