More Interactive Music With The iPad

Saturday marked the release of the iPad. We've all heard of it by now--it's that awkward gadget that functions like a computer, but is way smaller. It looks like an over-sized iPhone. There is, however, an advantage of the huge touch screen-- some people thing it will benefit the music industry. While I'm unsure of the future success of the iPad, I do agree that music has the ability to be way more interactive with this new gadget. How? Apps are already being created to work nicely with the iPad's large screen. For example, the free Rj Voyager iPad app allows the user to to modify an artist's music like a DJ or a sound engineer. Users will find that apps can be way more detailed because of the extra space on the iPad screen. In the Rj Voyager app, the bigger screen means more knobs and different features for the user to modify the song.
According to one of the creators, Michael Breidenbruecker, “the Rj Voyager is not only playing back samples. A scene can consist of synthesizers, drum computers, effects and filters, sample playback, and — most important for us — Reality Modules [grabbed through the microphone]. Attributes that can be tweaked can be everything from cutoff frequencies to synth patterns to the high hat [volume] level to the sensitivity of a reality module … it can literally be anything, depending on the artist who created the scene.”
Wow...that sounds like one cool app. I think there will be many more awesome iPad apps released, but the problem will be getting consumers to actually buy the iPad. I don't personally see the point in the average person buying one when chances are they already have an iPhone, iPod, and macbook or iMac. I'm not quite sure who the iPad is marketed towards, probably computer people as well as business people, and they may be interested in a different kind of app. Bottom line, it seems like the apps will be really cool for the iPad, but the average person who would use them probably isn't going to be buying the iPad in the first place. Only time will tell though!





Source: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/04/ipad-interactive-music/



-Ashley Stokvis