So on January 27 Apple finally announced their tablet: The iPad.
This was swiftly, and amusingly, followed by a) widespread praise for them doing a tablet the right way and b) widespread condemnation for its closed wall environment and for being "just" a large iPod (prediction: Apple will eventually kill off the MacBook Air and replace it with the MacPad running OSX. Mark my words.) If you're interested in all the tub thumping, go google it.
I have definitely come down on the side that's excited by it. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these things. And I'll tell you why:
Because it's a large iPod touch!
I'm not kidding. I've spent the last 8 months playing with an iPod touch and the whole time I kept thinking that if it had a bigger screen it would be perfect. It does everything I want it to do: multi-touch screen, long battery life, internet browsing, skype, music, eBooks/comics, movies, games (that I actually want to play & at very, very low cost) and more. It also has the advantage of not having what every recent Mac I've used has: the spinning beach ball of infuriation (which pops up whenever you ask OSX to do ... something. Gawd it drives me nuts.)
Sure, the iPad won't multi-task (except it sort of does, just not with every app, and I fully expect Apple to integrate a dashboard style set-up like they have for Safari mobile, where you can have, say, 4 apps open and be able to switch between them), doesn't have a camera (but I bet you it will in ver.2) and it doesn't support flash (and after beta testing YouTube's flashless HTML5 player, flash's demise can't come fast enough.) Also, no, it's definitely NOT a replacement for your main computer. D'uh.
But at this point none of that matters to me. Because right now the iPad is shaping up to be my perfect mobile music making machine.
But of course people have already complained about this aspect too: there's no USB so you can't use a MIDI controller for its synths (you have a bloody inbuilt multi-touch screen, you moron!) or use it as a software controller for the likes of Ableton (uhm, yes, you can), has no line in so no way to record into it (a headphone jack adapter takes care of that, just like on the iPod touch), you can't get the music you make off it easily (a 1/4" stereo cable out its headphone jack to the line in of your main computer and straight into Ableton/Logic/Sonar/whatever - easy) and on and on and on. All of these complaints demonstrate laziness and a distinct lack of creative thinking to me.
For well under $100AU in music apps, you can turn the iPad (or iPod or iPhone for that matter) into a pretty solid pro mobile studio (I've already used some of the iPod versions of these in my music, but I bet you couldn't tell where) and a very cool performance instrument.
So anyway, if you're interested, these are the 10 music making apps that will be going on my iPad the day I get it.
Note: all links go to the app's websites, not iTunes, so you can read up on them a bit more first. All prices are in $AU.
iTouchMIDI (Free - $7.99) They have a range of apps for turning your iPad (or Pod) into a wifi touch screen music software controller, so you can work with Ableton/Reason/Logic etc. Brilliant. Novation and Cubase have similar apps and frankly, Jazzmutant would be insane not to port over their multi-touch controller software to the iPad.
Beatmaker ($23.99) Probably the Gold standard for recording/mixing apps. 16 sample based trigger pads (which you can load your own homebrewed samples onto), audio recording from microphone/headset, multi track song sequencer, effects, etc. Brilliant piece of kit.
Noise.io Pro Synth ($17.99) Like having a Roland synth crossed with an Access Virus controllable by a 10x10 Korg Kaoss Pad. The sound engine is amazing & fully editable/savable. You can also record everything you play, save it, then open Beatmaker and load the saved files. Nice.
JR Hexatone Pro ($12.99) A 6 directional drum/rhythm/melody sequencer developed by Jordan Rudess (of Dream Theater.) You can also load your own samples into it and save stuff then open it in Beatmaker. I can't begin to do this thing justice. Go check it out.
DigiDrummer ($2.49) 8 drum pads. 28 different drum sets. Build your own kits. Great sound. Record what you play. Who could ask for anything more?
technoBox ($5.99) a 303, 808 and 909 emulator. Integrated effects. 24 layers per session. 1000 bar sequencer. And sounds amazing.
iSyn ($5.99) 2 analog synths, 8 drum pads, sequencer and records WAV and MIDI files.
iSample ($12.99) a sampler with 8 sample engines and capable of sampling in real time. Trim and edit your samples, layer them in the sequencer. Add effects. Beautiful piece of design from the the makers of the TimewARP 2600 softsynth.
Euphonics Synth ($1.19) An ambient music synth which almost veers into generative music territory. Gorgeous sound engine.
ARGON Analog Synth ($2.49) An absolutely gorgeous monophonic analog synth. Do I need to spell this out for you?
ETA (March 2010): Even though I've waxed lyrical about the iPad here, I want to just say that given my past experiences with Apple and my current experiences with the iPod, I would approach the first generation of these with extreme caution. And to be honest I probably won't buy one till Gen2. I'm just saying ...
