An Akai synthstation video from Musikmesse. The app looks really complex, but as far as I can tell there's no sound form the device in this video. Also, the iPhone seems to be sitting at a rather unhappy angle in there.
Not the most flattering video. I wish Akai would release more official demos of what exactly this can do. I'm also more concerned with what the app can do as a standalone than with the keyboard attachment.
While I appreciate the need for a better input method for musicians who want to use the iphone/touch, I worry that the restrictions imposed by apple are really limiting our choices. The ideal situation would be a way of using any keyboard (or guitar, etc) as an input device, the signal of which can be modified using whatever app you choose. At the moment apple's rules means that an attachment like this keyboard or the line6 midi device can only work with apps from the same company - which means in effect that all our other favorite apps are excluded. The situation is not, however, hopeless. There are currently a few apps that will allow you to use these type of input methods live - notably Jasuto Pro and Voice Band. What both of these apps do in common is accept a signal from a microphone or instrument line-out. They then modify this according to how you set up the program. In voice band this means using one of about ten instrument voices in the app or in Jasuto using whatever combination of effects/synths etc you attach to the input signal. Would it be wrong to hope that musical app makers (at least those producing apps for serious music rather than toys) could agree to some sort of common code for accepting an input signal of this type as an alternative to the tiny touchscreen keyboard input. I'd love to be able to use my basic yamaha keyboard in combination with something like Nlog or Argon and while I'm not really a programmer I think the roadblocks to doing so are not insurmountable.
Ok, now I am REALLY suspicious about this product. I simply cannot find a video where someone actually plays the keyboard and gets sound out of the app. What is going on? Ever since NAMM the videos have basically shown the keyboard to be an expensive iPhone holder that doesn't seem to send data to the iPhone. Can anyone find a video which actually shows it working via the keyboard?
Here's two videos that show someone using the keyboard and app together to get sound. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVj-HsyOVNg&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ6FmQq-XHQ&feature=related In the second video he mentions that AKAI will be releasing code to allow other synth apps to work on the keyboard but isn't that against apple current rules?
Not the most flattering video. I wish Akai would release more official demos of what exactly this can do. I'm also more concerned with what the app can do as a standalone than with the keyboard attachment.
ReplyDeleteWhile I appreciate the need for a better input method for musicians who want to use the iphone/touch, I worry that the restrictions imposed by apple are really limiting our choices.
ReplyDeleteThe ideal situation would be a way of using any keyboard (or guitar, etc) as an input device, the signal of which can be modified using whatever app you choose. At the moment apple's rules means that an attachment like this keyboard or the line6 midi device can only work with apps from the same company - which means in effect that all our other favorite apps are excluded.
The situation is not, however, hopeless. There are currently a few apps that will allow you to use these type of input methods live - notably Jasuto Pro and Voice Band.
What both of these apps do in common is accept a signal from a microphone or instrument line-out.
They then modify this according to how you set up the program. In voice band this means using one of about ten instrument voices in the app or in Jasuto using whatever combination of effects/synths etc you attach to the input signal.
Would it be wrong to hope that musical app makers (at least those producing apps for serious music rather than toys) could agree to some sort of common code for accepting an input signal of this type as an alternative to the tiny touchscreen keyboard input. I'd love to be able to use my basic yamaha keyboard in combination with something like Nlog or Argon and while I'm not really a programmer I think the roadblocks to doing so are not insurmountable.
Ok, now I am REALLY suspicious about this product. I simply cannot find a video where someone actually plays the keyboard and gets sound out of the app. What is going on? Ever since NAMM the videos have basically shown the keyboard to be an expensive iPhone holder that doesn't seem to send data to the iPhone. Can anyone find a video which actually shows it working via the keyboard?
ReplyDeleteHere's two videos that show someone using the keyboard and app together to get sound.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVj-HsyOVNg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ6FmQq-XHQ&feature=related
In the second video he mentions that AKAI will be releasing code to allow other synth apps to work on the keyboard but isn't that against apple current rules?