: our new home

We have been kind of quiet the last few days, but that is because we have been hard at work on our new name and site. We are moving the ios audio blog at iosaudio.wordpress.com over to our new site, audiosaudio, at audiosaudio.com

We are still working out some kinks, but we are almost there! Please let us know what you think of the new site – thanks!

:: Our Master List of ACP Apps ::

We have been planning it, had numerous requests for it, and have finally posted it: Our Master List of Apps Supporting Audio Copy/Paste! Now, it is a work in progress, bare bones, and surely incomplete, but, it is every App we know of featuring some sort of ACP implementation. At a later date, we might make a note of which version, as the Sonoma implementation allows for multiple files to be stored in the clipboard. Also, we have removed our links to the previous outside sources, simply because they were not updated regularly, and in the case of one list, the information was incorrect and a little garbled. We are also thinking of starting a list of Apps which do not implement any form of ACP, but should. Maybe a petition drive of some kind would push Korg and Rebirth in the right direction. Our new Master List of ACP Apps can be found here:

http://iosaudio.wordpress.com/audio-copy-paste-the-master-list/

Today we expanded our Midi Support List to include OSC support, and thanks to a reader suggestion, a new category for DSMI…I have been researching Apps with Midi support today, and came to a few conclusions..One, our list is missing a ton of Apps, which we are working on. Two, there are tons of Apps which feature some sort of Midi support which we haven’t gotten to yet. And third, there will be tons and tons of information to gather…For instance, some Apps use the DSMI – Nintendo DS Midi over wi-fi to send Midi messages, while it looks like some use DSMI to send OSC messages…Some support the Mackie protocol, while others do not. Hopefully we can keep filling those blanks in.

:: New Vox Mobile App – Bummer! ::

Woke up to an email announcing the new Vox Mobile App…excited to try out a new guitar amp modeller, but it was nothing but a mobile catalog. Bummer. I was expecting a virtual tube-based amp App. I guess I have plenty of that stuff already around.

I have tried almost all of the amp and effects apps available, and I keep coming back to iShred Live. As far as I know, it is the only guitar effects app to support ACP, though this feature is only available on iPad and iPhone4 as far as I know. Decent sound, iPod library access, and the ability to record and export your audio. I splurged on Stompbox, but at $20 it is a bit pricey, and sounds a bit too harsh and digital to me…reminds me of my vintage digital effects rack from the 1980′s, not necessarily my favorite era for tone and effects. The Amplitude or Amplitube series of apps is just too confusing, at this point I would rather pay $40 for everything at once and have it a universal app. I do like the sounds though.

:: Multitrack DAW: Best in Class? ::

I have tried almost all of the available multitrack recorders available for ios, from Studiotrack to Studio.hd, and have arrived at the decision that Multitrack DAW is the best available App for multitrack recording and editing.

Early on I purchased StudioTrack, expensive and feature-poor at $39.95. No waveform editing, no visual cues, so you are recording and dropping in blind. StudioTrack just seems to have a bizarre workflow, and the developers never replied to any of our emails.

I also tried Studio.HD, which had more features, and tons of effects, but unless you are using nothing but Studio.HD and Looptastic, it is not a versatile App. For one thing, you can copy audo in, but not out, severely limiting what you can do with it.

By far my favorite, Multitrack DAW is affordable, $9.95 for 8 tracks plus bins, and you can upgrade to 16 tracks for another $7.99, or 24 tracks for an additional $15.99. It is stable, intuitive, easy to use, and while it lacks basic effects, it is by far the best out there. Input monitoring, stereo and mono tracks, panning, volume, bins, copy and paste, they are all featured. You can export through SoundCloud or email, or with ACP.

It is not perfect, I am not a fan of the strange multitouch controls, and wish it offered at least some reverb or compression, but you can always copy the audio to another app to add effects and paste it back in. But one purchase and it runs on my iPod Touch and at native resolution on the iPad.

The base price of $9.99 includes 8 tracks plus bins, which are like having multiple takes for each track, providing plenty of room for experimentation. You can record in stereo or mono, each track has level and pan controls.

Multitrack DAW is a bargain, and until it’s competition updates their apps, or something new comes along, it is the only choice for the practicing musician.