Entertainment For Lively Minds
Portastudio for iPad
Posted by DrJ on 10 December 2010 - 10:24am.
Considering that I spent most of my free time between the ages of 18 and 22 hunched over one of these, seeing this app has delivered a small squee of excitement. All I need now is an iPad.
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I've got...
...a little 4-track app for my iPhone which is great for noting down ideas. This looks nice - I wonder if it sounds like cassette?
Thankfully no, digital audio
Thankfully no, digital audio files. Unlike the real thing you can't bounce down on it, which is a pity.
Actually...
...I was rather hoping it *would* sound like cassette. I rather miss the sound of the demos recorded on my old Fostex 4-track. Sometimes I'd DI the guitar and push the gain right up, and get this horribly ugly, clipped distortion sound. It was AMAZING.
That said, being able to record near-enough studio-quality demos in my living room with Logic is not to be sniffed at. But part of me is still nostalgic for the days of chrome cassettes and bouncing.
Keef
Used to use tape saturation on recorded acoustic guitar to get a massive sound. The opening chords to "Street Fighting Man" being an excellent example.
Dr J
if you can get an iPad you should you would love it. They are getting a bit cheaper as a bit of competition amongst Orange and 3 etc is developing.
The Thumb Jam app is loads of fun too
Oh I know
I would love an iPad, I can see exactly how it would work for me but I couldn't justify the spend on one this year. However I'll be ready to get in line when the iPad2 strikes in Feb/March. I. Can't. Wait.
Not sure it'd work on the alleged smaller iPad2 screen though
No bouncing?
That's not good. But just looking at the thing takes me back, sitting on my bed with just a drum machine, a cheap casio and an acoustic guitar, a delay pedal and a £10 microphone from a shop whose name escapes me. What was the shop that sold hifis and cheap electrical gear, began with an R? A bit like Maplins.
Radio Shack?
Radio Shack?
Not that one..
...I'm racking my brains. They sold odd things like very cheap plastic microphones, and cheap cables, plus also things like those dancing flowers and cheap stereos.
Tandy?
Ah, that's the one
Where did R come from?
Ah I see, after Googling, they were bought up by RadioShack.
I had a couple of their cheap mikes, worked quite nicely with the four track. Then I discovered a run of cheap SM58 copies that sold for about 20 quid a piece from somewhere else that escapes me. Still got one, sounds great.
Tandy was the UK name for the stores known as Radio Shack
in the US. They were both owned by the Tandy Corporation. Their audio brand was 'Realistic' if I recall.
That would have been bloody handy
"back in the day"
Roland VS1880
I still have this in perfect working order as my main recording set up though, best investment I ever made back in about 2000.
The limitations of 4-tracks meant you had to be inventive, sometimes a 16 track can seem just as limiting. Don't know how I'd cope with a computer set up with unlimited (to an extent) recording....
http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=485
Me too
When I starting getting paid in 1998, I went and bought a Roland 1680 to move up from my trusty tape four-track. However it does present a different dilemma because, as you say, the four track's limitations provokes inventiveness and an efficiency in sound and performance. Once I went to 16 track digital with the Roland I would be happy to spend forever just mixing, mixing, mixing. Lovely tactile sliders and buttons... mmmmm....
It is sobering to think of how much money has been spent on all this kit: the Portastudio was, I think, £429 in 1992, I recall, the same price as an entry level iPad now. The Roland in 1998 was £1,800. £1,800!
I haven't recorded in about 2-3 years now - coincidentally the same length of time that I've been a parent. But I had graduated to Apple's Garageband which I love and was using this ace peripheral, the iControl, for that pretending-to-be-in-a-studio vibe:
Parenthood
"I haven't recorded in about 2-3 years now - coincidentally the same length of time that I've been a parent."
I've not recorded since my little was born either...nearly 2 years now.
Although he loves the sound of synths, especially if there is delay on the sound. He looks for where the sound is going!! And then he can sit there bashing the keys for ages...
I think I might have created a little musician...
Messrs J and L
Allow me to point you in the direction of the RPM Challenge:
http://rpmchallenge.com/
It's a challenge wherein you have to produce 35 minutes of music, or 10 tracks - whichever is longer - solely in the month of February. The true spirit of it is to write, record and mix entirely in Feb, but I'm sure people cheat. I don't, though - I love the challenge of it.
It's great. For the same reasons as you, I hardly have time to record any more either, so the RPM gives me a specific window - namely February every year - where the FPO knows that I'm going to be really focused on music. It's worked out really well - it's not really about the quality of what you produce, just that you produce something.
Here's my 2009 entry
And here's a few of this year's tracks
Ooooh, I'm in
Do you have to write it only in Feb as well? none from the old notebook then?
I think...
...they'd ideally like it if you wrote it all in Feb, and I try to, but as long as you're not using anything you've recorded or arranged before, I can't see a problem. They're not strict.
Right
I'm going to treat it as an experiment (to be fair they explain this on the site, but it is a bit hidden) so I won't write anything for it in advance, and write it all then, for better or worse. I'm in the middle of a writing jag at the moment so they might merge! I just rebuilt my studio so I started writing to do a little recording project to test it out. I'd better finish the immediate project for the RPM in Feb. So I'd better give up work then.
I'm in too.
I like the idea of a fixed window, and deadlines work for me.
Great!
Errr
Collaborative track? One of us starts, others MP3 in contributions?
Happy to help!
I demo'd guitars for a friends album that way - had to record properly but it was a really quick way for me to give her 4 ideas on top of her vox+guitar and her to say "Yes. No. A bit like that but change the timing" etc.
I like it!
Let's pool our collective musical tendencies and make a sort of Americana/psychobilly/4AD-circa-1993 record! With large swashes of the iMS-20 all over it, natch.
OK
It's a date. We can discuss before then but a collab track is on. I'll start and send you a basic track you can add to and pass on the the Hombre!
Grand.
We can work out specifics nearer the time but that sounds good.
RPM Challenge
Is everyone working on this at present then? I first read about it here and thought I'd have a go myself - just found this thread again via the search box. As of today I'm three songs done and a fourth well on the way.
I'm working on it!
Sadly this Feb has worked out rather busy so far, but I'm plugging away nonetheless. Basic tracks done for 4 songs so far - I'll do vocals and guitar overdubs in half term!
Me too
Three songs largely complete and a couple in sketchy idea stsus at the moment. What is interesting is because you are under time presure you don't filter anything like as much as you would do normally so you get into different areas. We ought to swap the final albums with each other. Personally I think the Word should do a two page feature on the RPM challenge and review our final output, including pen portraits of each participant and photo shoot of work in progress.
Agreed
Agreed, I'd like to hear the finished records and I'm happy to submit photos! (*applies FPO's foundation..*)
I'm taking a different approach to this than usual, partly because of the time constraight, and partly because of a new toy. I generally do guitar-based stuff, but I've just got a midi-keyboard and, having never used one before, I'm attempting to make a more electronic record. So far I've found some great free VST plug-ins and synth sounds I never thought I'd be able to make so easily. It's also meant I can work on it late at night with headphones and not disturb anyone.
MIDI is amazing.
I try not to overuse it, because the number of synths and even modeled "real" instruments in Logic that are actually very usable is vast. It's so tempting to chuck the kitchen sink at every song.
I've tried making electronic music in the past. These attempts were so poisonously shit that the original files were written to CD, placed in a lead casket and thrown from a chartered fishing vessel into the Mariana Trench. The laptop was requisitioned by HM Government and extraordinarily rendered to Guantanamo where it languishes still.
Nice tracks Bob
is that you on gob iron?
No gob iron.
Thanks!
I'm on everything, but what you're hearing as harmonica might be melodica. I have an old Hohner.
Yes
I'd love to do this, however I'm moving house on Feb 3, putting everything into storage and living out of a suitcase for a few weeks.
No reason thought for not trying to pull this off using only an iPhone. Hmmm.
Definitely doable on an iPhone!
And what a great self-imposed limitation! I am actually looking forward to hearing that.
Do you have this app?
I have it and it's quite useable.
Nice
Thanks for the recommendation. Played with the demo version of this this evening on the tube. It's nice, and amusingly powerful for, you know, something you happen to have on your phone. The in-built instruments and the effect and quantising etc are quite wild. I couldn't figure if/how it records vocals - maybe I should look at the help section.
I had tried the 4 Track app, but the lack of instruments precluded that use-it-on-the-tube things.
"for something you happen to have on your phone"
Exactly!
I've used it for a couple of sketches and then transferred it out to Cubase to work with properly.
I have.
I've had a little play but not invested any real time with it.
It does seem impressive.
I've just got an iPad so I might make more sense to use it on that, as I find the iPhone's screen a bit fiddly.
Today's technology and the bang for buck you get are amazing.
I bought an Atari 1040St and Pro 24 software in 1987 for £850.00.
Mind you, I would have to say it was the best investment I ever made.
Lovely
Really enjoying your tracks, Bob. 'The Last Night Of The Year' is terrific.
Thanks very much!
*embarrassed pleased face*
Me and my brother spent hours on one of these.
Not only should it allow bouncing, but there should be a loss of sound quality each time you do.
Ideally the master slider button should be missing so you have to use the little metal bit underneath.
Still got a tape on
A Yamaha actually. I did a bit of recording on it in the summer - great fun!
Seeing this app it makes the iPad considerably more interesting than the idea of watching Mad Men in bed on it!
Probably not much more expensive
to buy an iPad, than a reasonable portastudio back in the 80s. Buy another one for all your synths, sequencers and drum machines, and you'd still be quids in.
Astonishing really.
Aren't you forgetting inflation?
As a comparison, an entry-level Apple II in today's money would cost you about $4,700.
An entry-level iPad costs $499.
Well that was my point, I think.
Five hundred quid for just a cassette based Portastudio in the late 80s, five hundred quid for an iPad now - and it'll do lots of other things too. That's what's astonishing - the flexibility and the relative cheapness of today's technology.
I didn't factor in inflation because I dropped out of Economics A-level to concentrate on recording music.
..
..
and the iPad version is less than six quid
That's just got me thinking; the iPad seems to have reset the price point for software. If this was an OSX app it would be a hell of a lot more than six quid. Same goes for Korg's iMS20 - the equivalent for OSX (the Korg Legacy) was the best part of £300 on initial release.
You can get the Korg Legacy collection
for about £120 now, which is quiet tempting.
Or you can upgrade from the LE version for £100
I would be quiet tempted if it wasn't for the expense of Christmas.
Do you still get the dinky 75% scale MS-20 replica
bundled in as a controller?
If not then maybe that account for the price difference.
No you don't.
Oooh.. I want one of those!
Ah, that's why it'll be less expensive than it was.
The controller is very cute - with the Legacy software it works just like the real thing.
There's usually a few of them on that eBay but they seem to be becoming a bit of a collectors item. Get one while you can!