I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, and if you follow me on Twitter you may have heard me rant about it a while back. Right now, with an iPad Camera Connection Kit ($30, even less if you get only the USB connector on ebay – just make sure it’s official) and a powered USB hub (give or take $25 new) you can connect just about any of the gear that you already have to your iPad. Some of which you can even connect without a hub. I just feel like a lot of the major ‘iPad compatible’ gear is drastically lacking at least one important feature. The Akai SynthStation 49 drastically lacks knobs and sliders, the iO Dock doesn’t work with USB MIDI controllers unless you’ve got a computer in between it and the controller, or unless you want to do all of this, ect… What do you guys think? Is there any iPad specific gear that you’re considering? or using? Or is it all just marketing hype? Leave a comment below!
iOS musician and percussionist Gercek Dorman brings a serious approach to various iOS percussion apps in his videos on YouTube. Read on to see which percussive apps he likes the most, and why…
Tell us a little bit about you and your music!
My name is Gerçek Dorman, I’m from Ankara, Turkey, I’m 31 years old and I’ve been interested in music, drums, and percussion since I was 13. During my studies, I attended many private courses instructed by famous musicians from conservatories and Berklee Music College’s courses as well. In this period, I concentrated on drum set, darbuka, conga, cajon, udu drum and multi-percussion studies. I played with a number of bands both local and in other cities, as well as on TV shows, performances and entertainment organizations overseas. Besides that, I’ve been a drum and percussion educator for 6 years. In 2000′s, I was introduced to electronic music such as Talamasca, Rob Dougan, Juna Reacktor. After these I found my source of inspiration with Bonobo and Cinematic Orchestra, and I realized that I had a huge interest in computer based production and started to collect samples. Regardless of what kind of music I’m making, I always feel a huge Pink Floyd space inside me and I can see their reflection in all of my works (especially their A Saucerful of Secrets album). Last year I bought an iPad and start to use several music apps and I believe that my musical life changed to making music with iPad…
What would you say are your top three drumming / drum machine apps?
DrumJam: First of all, I’m a huge Pete Lockett fan. The app’s sounds are very useful, and there are tons of loop combinations. You can arrange them to infinitive numbers of variations. It is very user-friendly, and it has many realistic sounds. It’s also very easy to improvise with this app.
DM1: This one has great sounds. It’s very easy to understand and write beats, and there are loads of percussion and drum sets ranging from electronic to vintage. The app makes it very easy to create new songs. I also prefer this application for my live performances with Roland Spd-s since it is very easy to connect MIDI. You just just plug in the MIDI cable and the instruments automatically recognize each other. It’s also very easy to import samples and voices into the application, and now DM1 is now available in Audiobus! For me, this was the most pleasurable update ever.
DM1 for iPad on the
DM1 for iPhone on the
Impaktor: This one is easy to like, but hard to describe. It’s a very innovative app. I normally use e-drum pads and a sampler as Korg wavedrum / Roland Hpd-15, but I used a kitchen pan as an e-drum with Impaktor, I even recorded a video for my pan performance. The app also has a very easy to use looper…
Have you incorporated any iOS apps into your live performances?
Yes, I have incorporated several iOS apps into my live shows… iKaossilator, DjRig and mostly DM1. I use a hybrid set which consist of percussion and drums in gigs. In this set, there are both electronic and acoustic instruments. I used Roland’s SPDS for controlling DM1. Since DM1 can import sounds, I can use both DM1′s and the other samples that I imported. So during my performances, I have lots of sound choices which makes my performances more interesting. In general, if I play with play along tracks, I prefer the DjRig. It is easy to crossfade between songs and if I want to make additional live effects on songs, DjRig it very easy. iKaossilator is one of the reasons for me buying and iPad. Because before the iPad, I had a KP3 as hardware and I was planning to buy a Kaospad. Then I realized buying an iPad with the iKaossilator app is much better, and economic. It’s super easy to make loops with it and have fun! When it comes for percussion solo in gigs, I often open my iKaossilator app and play my percussion loops and songs that I’ve created there. I’m really glad I went with the iPad!
You seem to be a big user of the Alesis iO Dock, how satisfied with it are you?
I am a big user of Alesis iO Dock. I use it as a sound device for almost every work of mine. It’s like a swiss army knife for my iPad. It has XLR and 1/4-inch inputs, each with its own gain control and switchable phantom power for condenser microphones. It has MIDI connections and also it has stereo output. Everything I need, and I can carry it everywhere because it’s super portable. I use it mostly on stage during my performances as a MIDI connection between my Roland Spds and DM1. The only problem with iO Dock is the latency with microphone recordings, especially in BeatMaker 2. In MultiTrack DAW, it’s not as bad, but still present. Because of that, I am looking forward to the update from Intua for BeatMaker 2 (also for Audiobus). But for now, it is a part of my set up and I’m definitely going to stick with it…
You can give Gercek a follow on Twitter, YouTube, and subscribe to his blog here.
The recently released Mobile In guitar interface, and completely free iOS app, Mobile POD, have arrived with a new iOS guitar interface/app marketing strategy that may be perfect for some players. By releasing a free app that only works with Line 6′s Mobile In, users don’t have to purchase the interface and the app. Sure it costs more that an iRig, or an AmpKit Link, but the audio quality of the Mobile In is far more superior, making it totally worth it. Also, Mobile POD doesn’t have any in-app-purchases! AmpliTube and AmpKit+ on the other hand, do.
The Mobile In is priced at $79.99, while the GuitarJack Model 2 is (currently) $149.99, normally $199.99. That’s a pretty big price difference… So, if all you’re looking to do is play with a higher quality (up to 24-bit/48 kHz digital audio) interface, go with the Mobile In. It’s also compatible with any Core Audio iOS app, like GarageBand, if you’re not into Line 6 gear. The Mobile In also has a 1/8″ stereo in with a 98 dB dynamic range, for keyboards, MP3 players, or any other standard mono or stereo line-level audio source. The guitar input features a 110 dB dynamic range. Now, if you’ve got the iPad and are looking to do some serious recording, don’t bother with the GuitarJack or the Mobile In, get the Alesis iO Dock ($199.99). You can do soo much more with the iO Dock than you can with the GuitarJack. If you’ve only got the iPhone though, I’d say go with the Mobile In. But if you really need the highest quality iPhone interface out there, get yourself a GuitarJack.
After seeing this new video appear on the Alesis YouTube channel, the question “can you record multiple microphones at once using the iO Dock and GarageBand?!” immediately poped into my head. I commented on the video asking if it was possible, and got the following reply from BenDrums7:
Has anybody tried it?! Does it work?! I’m a little unsure, as I’ve heard that this isn’t possible yet; developers need to add support…
I think this may already be well known, but the Alesis iO Dock (A.K.A. StudioDock) for iPad 1 and 2 is Core MIDI compliant. Just wanted to make sure everyone was informed…
