Cloud Music
So now that the major players are represented with Apple's announcement today, it's clear that cloud music has yet to intersect with streaming music. All three (Amazon, Google, and Apple) require some form of ownership, either via music services or download, before you can listen to the music. True streaming services like Mog, Spotify, or Rdio don't require file ownership and do provide some downloadable content, although it goes away when you unsubscribe.
What cloud music does provide is backup offsite - it's not going to replace my RAID NAS drive at home as far as storage and redundancy, but it does mean you're not going to lose what you buy (theoretically, depending on the service). And Apple's match service does save a ton of time, although it doesn't back up files that are on iTunes. The $25/year charge theoretically helps compensate artists for stolen tracks, too. I'd want to see the accounting on that, though. Something tells me the money won't make it all the way back through some pipes.
To be fair, the only service I've used to this point is the Google music beta, and it's serviceable. For now. They did put a free Warrant track on my account when I asked for the free metal song pack, though, and that's just wrong.
Shorter me - I like the way this is going, and Apple's iCloud product has a lot to offer. But it's not all there yet.
New IMN Podcast and PocketGK Notes
The new IMN podcast is up - download it here or listen at the site or on WFYI HD2, Thursdays at 4pm and 10pm.
The PocketGK amp simulator for the iPhone/iPad does a few things the Amplitube simulator I purchased earlier does as well, then has some much better and somewhat lacking features. First, both programs take input from the iRig and deliver the signal through the apps into headphones without issue. Both provide the opportunity to mix and match cabinets - the Amplitube also simulates a mic choice, but it only has one bass amp and one cabinet. PocketGK offers a more fully-featured bass amp (contour, boost, better EQ, etc.) and two cabinets. It does not offer, however, recording and additional effects.
What wins me over in this contest is the better sound for the PocketGK (which models the Gallien-Krueger amp line faithfully, while Amplitube seems to loosely attempt an Ampeg sound) and the ability to play directly over songs from your iPod. It's really only helpful for practice sessions (or bass kareoke - a woefully underserved market, if you ask me), but I've spent far more time at this point with PocketGK just playing. The more customizable amp and better overall tone helps, too - I've never given GK amps a shot, but this kinda lures me in.
Some Quick Thoughts on Garageband for iPad
Folks used to working with the Mac version of Garageband will probably notice a little loss in functionality - only 8 tracks, and the audio recording process isn't entirely intuitive. Monitoring of the audio signal being recorded isn't on by default, and you have to record in the instrument section and not the track view. Editing in the track view is relatively simple, though, and moving and deleting audio is quite easy. The recording process also involves recording in sections (A, B - think pop song structure) of variable number of measures (4, 8, 16, etc.). Record your A section with all instruments, then move on. Good for songwriting, but not necessarily for free-form idea recording.
The virtual instruments are unusually effective here - the virtual guitars and basses have virtual frets you can touch to get the note. The virtual basses also allow for sliding notes along strings and bending strings. The virtual guitars allow the same on a regular fretboard, and you can also set up sections of chords where you can strum or "fingerpick" without having to worry if your left hand has fretted the chords correctly.
The drums are interesting - you have your choice of a drumkit you can tap beats out on, or you can use "smart drums." These drums function on an X-Y axis of simple to complex and soft to loud. Pick your drumset, then drop the bass drum on the X-Y axis. The application "plays" the drum in accordance to where you dropped it. This means you can have a steady, loud bass drum with a more complex snare and hi-hat above that. Move them around to tweak the beat to your liking and add more percussion instruments, if you wish. It's not a standard drum grid, but it might act well if you want a thought-started for songs.
At a price of $5 (plus whatever hardware you buy for getting audio into your iPad), there's a ton of functionality for both sketching and field recording for the price. It doesn't replace the software I use for recording or podcasting, but it does make for easy recording of ideas and allows me to get decent audio away from my home rig.
EDIT: How could I forget the most egregious omission?! THERE'S NO VIRTUAL BASS AMP?! Amplitube takes care of live performance needs, but it doesn't feed audio in GB. Please, Apple - could this be an upgrade for the next version?
Music-making on the iPad
A fellow bassist recently told me he's getting back into recording because it's so easy on the iPad (he's using the Amplitube app I reviewed earlier), which makes a ton of sense to those raised on dealing with the infamous 4-track cassette recorder. This device performs the same function as the 4-track with none of the same quality issues or temperamental nature. And those wanting to expand on what's possible get apps as well (like the Moog Filtatron, Bloom, or any number of synths). Add in the announcement of Garageband for iPad 2 (and just that device, more than likely) and FruityLoops for iOS (coming soon), and the iPad becomes a viable musical recording device (just ask the Gorillaz).
What I want to see next is giving these devices a coherent workflow. I'm not demanding the use of plug-ins or anything (maybe my use of Record and Reason has beat that notion out of me), but the ability to route audio cleanly between apps without having to import and export would be handy. Not sure if that violates API rules or if it's even possible, but it's a direction I'd like to see explored.
And, of course, I want a good music notation system and ever-expanding live music apps, but I've written about that before. Some dreams never die.
New IMN Podcast and the iRig Review
The new IMN podcast is up - download it or listen at the site or on WFYI HD2, Thursdays at 4pm and 10pm.
Bassists are used to relying on big boxes to get their sound - at least when it comes to amplifiers. Therefore, I wasn't really expecting much when I purchased the iRig. It was just a lark to test out what's available in the software and see what I could do. At the very least, I'd have something to connect the bass to my iPhone or iPad for the tuner apps I have.
The iRig connection wasn't hard at all - plug in the bass and the headphones to the iRig, plug the iRig into the iDevice, and you're good to go. The tuner programs work just fine with it, so mission accomplished there. I went ahead and purchased the full version of Amplitube, even though it only has the one bass amp model. Which, by the way, works perfectly adequately for an Ampeg-style emulator. The effects interact with the bass acceptably as well, although the overdrive and distortion effects sometimes caused large amounts of feedback. A few quick volume adjustments in the setup section of the program as well as the iPad solved the problem. It probably won't replace the Line 6 software integration I use with Record, and I'll stick with my DI boxes and amps for recording and live performances. But for sketchpad playing or silent practice, it's a tool well worth the purchase. And you will have to purchase - the free version doesn't include the bass amp, and you'd have to purchase the software separately for each device if you own both an iPhone and an iPad.
The real revelation was using the bass with the Moog Filterator. You can mix in a sample and a VCO signal from the Moog synth emulator with a line signal, and the available effects make radical signal manipulation quite easy. I went from near-NIN tones to ambient explorations with a few tweaks, and Moog's sound holds up to the name's reputation. This is where the iRig and software shines - making new things that wouldn't ordinarily be possible using physical tools. The X-Y pads Moog makes available lets you affect sound and effects with a quick touch, and you'd need a ton of programmable effects to accomplish this otherwise. Not bad for a $40 equipment purchase and a $5 app.
Apple’s iCloud
A bunch of sources point to Apple releasing a cloud-based music service in conjunction with their established iTunes store. Not only would you get the streaming tracks, but you'd also get the ability to back up your music library to "the cloud" and listen from Internet-enabled devices.
This has been tried already, of course, by mp3.com. The results were brutal lawsuits and a shutdown of the "music locker" service. But times have changed, different companies have felt financial downturns that make this seem like a better option, and now the possibility is there to make it happen. Like Spotify and MOG have already made it happen. Although not as well as they could have - Spotify is Europe-only at this point, and I personally let my subscription to MOG lapse because I was a little frustrated by incomplete listing of albums (although the overall selection was pretty good).
So it's not like Apple is breaking any ground here. It's just that the ground has shifted under the music industry and the technology has finally caught up. If they're going to back up my entire library and make it available to me, wonderful. How much is it going to cost, and what will you do with the tracks I ripped from CD? Otherwise, there's Simplify. The task here isn't breaking new ground - it's making what's available work easily.
I do like what's available for indie artists now, though. Tunecore + iTunes streaming = trackable plays and maybe some royalties out of the whole thing. Very streamlined and effective. I wonder what the cut will be?
New IMN Podcast is Up, and You Can Win Indy Jazz Fest Tickets
The new IMN podcast is live - download it or listen at the site or on WFYI HD2 Thursdays at 4pm.
IMN is also giving away tickets to a few Indy Jazz Fest events, so have at it and good luck!
My laptop is now current with Snow Leopard, and everything seems to be running okay, with the exception of some software I rarely use (and updates are on the way). It was just a matter of using Carbon Copy Cloner to make a backup of the old, then reimaging the laptop entirely and migrating the information and applications back from there. I also did away with my Vista partition, so I'm back out of the land of Windows (at least at home). My edition of Record arrives later today, so I'm looking forward to getting that back up and running and maybe making some music again.
Was Something Happening With The Beatles Today?
Hadn't heard much about it.
Seriously, though, the Rock Band deal is interesting if only for the fact that a video game with downloadable content has made it possible for unsigned bands to get their downloadable songs on the exact same platform as a legendary supergroup using the Rock Band network. Record the song, do a little rhythm programming with Reaper and a program called Magma, and send it off. It's something to note because none of the other download services have yet made this feat possible, and it's not like you can just rip your Beatles CDs into Rock Band or Guitar Hero.
And now that there are even more CDs to rip into your media player of choice, the lack of any Beatles songs on iTunes matters even less, really. You've got the remastered albums for the fans and purists, and you can tempt the kids into listening with the video game without having to repurchase the albums. So everybody wins - except for iTunes. And I'm writing this before the Apple announcement today, so who knows what will happen. I'll be interested in any news on Cocktail or new iPod formats, but it probably won't go much beyond that, from what I'm reading.
Any download news probably won't matter much, though. The Beatles already have everything they need from the digital world.
Time With The Genius
Since I'm not in the market for a new iPod, today's "big announcement" from Apple didn't really mean much to me until it got to the iTunes 8 update. The Genius feature (a bit misleading, considering they already use this term for their in-house tech support - I've generally had good experiences, but I don't want to tie in my music listening to the need for assistance) supposedly builds smart playlists based on a single song from your library. On my work computer (with no music library to speak of), it also gave helpful suggestions from the iTunes Store. Reminiscent of Amazon's suggestions and usually well-related, it still wasn't a huge leap. It also made me wonder why it was recommending German techno based off of the ill-received Roots/Patrick Stump collaboration "Birthday Girl." There's some inscrutable logic there I'm just not getting.
After installing iTunes 8 at home and letting it catalog my home library (a process that took just under an hour on an old PowerMac G4 - slow but a lot of storage capacity), I gave it a shot on the track I was practicing at the time. From Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely?", I received a 25-song list featuring Sly and the Family Stone, Al Green, The Spinners, Isaac Hayes, Maxwell, D'Angelo, Parliament, Sam & Dave, Van Hunt, Nikka Costa, The Time, and more. Decent selection of new and old, and all were good songs. At this point, it's looking like a more intelligent shuffle function - the tracks are random, but they're stylistically similar.
Tackhead and Supergrub produced no results from Genius. Even though both are in the iTunes library. A little disappointing.
The Hold Steady pulled tracks from The Gutter Twins and The Twilight Singers (both well-loved rock acts in my library, no surprise), Art Brut (former tourmates and excellent match), TV On The Radio and Gnarls Barkley (okay, I suppose I can see these fitting in) and Genesis. Nope, I'm drawing the line at "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway."* That just doesn't quite pull it.
I like the idea of Genius, and its results seem useful, if sometimes rather random. Most of it is still based on what's in your library, so you're limited there in a way that you're not with Pandora and Last.fm. However, your tracks aren't likely to disappear due to inscrutable royalty disputes either, so that's a plus. The feature is also another way for iTunes to sneak advertising into your music experience, so take that as you will. Some will enjoy the suggestions for the possibly new and different, others will resent the intrusion. I've always wondered what Amazon thought about me, too. It's a decent step forward, but it still does nothing to advance iTunes and the iPod to my ultimate wishlist - liner notes and info in the program AND on the mobile device WITHOUT DRM. I even set that up as a Boolean statement, for ease of programming.
*Incidentally, the track in question was "The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging." You're going to read into that what you will, so have at it.
Good Weekend All Around
I'm still recovering from both the schadenfreude of watching the Patriots lose yesterday and the chili contest that accompanied said viewing - an excellent cap for the weekend. All is right with the football world (minus a Steelers Super Bowl win), and life can continue on a positive course. Since the Pro Bowl means nothing, that'll be the end of football talk for a bit.
The new hard drive is in my system, and I've got both an OS X and a Vista partition running without incident. The only hassle so far has been reloading data (not major, as I could just copy data over from the old drive) and programs (slightly more, 'cause I have to hunt down old serial numbers from upgrades). The upshot of it is that I now have more space on the Mac side for music projects, and the Vista side is ready for work on my upcoming laptop book.
I saw the U2 3-D movie over the weekend, and it was an interesting experience. The music was overall decent to this casual listener (aside from a seemingly flat section in "Beautiful Day"), and there were no overwhelming "COMING RIGHT AT YOU!" moments (again, aside from an obligatory Bono reaching out towards the camera - what did you expect?). The drum set stood out particularly well, as did some of the crowd shots, and there were some drawn-in and composited special effects that were interesting as well. It did carry a "layered" look to it - the effects at times appeared on very flat panes that seemed stacked on each other. Still, a decent spectacle.
The Bass Geek’s Twitter
- Glad Dermontti Dawson can remove the "should be in" from his Hall-of-Fame status. #congrats63 20 hours ago
- Did I mention how happy I was to heartily boo Tom Brady on national television? 1 day ago
- Enjoyed our time in downtown Indy tonight, and feeling pretty good about our decision to leave a bit early. 1 day ago
- New blog post: Too Music Music This Weekend http://t.co/bwgYNEWZ 2 days ago
- Morris Day and The Time! #SuperBowlVillage #sb46 #SuperIndy 2 days ago
Pages
Dates and Times
My Bands
No shows booked at the moment.
Topics Of Discussion
- Adult Swim
- Apple Geekery
- Bass Guitar
- Battlestar Galactica
- Blog Business
- Computer Tech
- Fountain Square
- From The Cell Phone
- Law And Order
- Local Music
- Monon Bell
- Movies
- Music in General
- Music Tech
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- Podcasts
- The Low End In General
- Uncategorized
The Latest Word
Archives
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
Blogroll
- Beetqueen
- Calcinator Death Ray
- Celebrated Sounds
- Cleis Design
- Fickle Foe
- Funky 16 Corners
- Hooserati
- Inside Home Recording
- Jack's Bass Blog
- Mike Doughty
- My Old Kentucky Blog
- Naptown News
- Porch Dog
- Propellerheads News
- Shae’s Place
- Special Agent Dale Cooper
- The Bus
- The Girlie Leep
- The MCP
- WFMU’s Beware of the Blog
Links
Windows XP Digital Music For Dummies
Teach Yourself VISUALLY Bass Guitar (Teach Yourself Visually)
MySpace For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))
