iPhone Beat Maker

[Gert van Santen]

Andy Tarpinian schreef:
> Sent this out during the foot and plug incident. A couple things have  
> changed since - The manual and the beta version of Beatpack are  
> available to download on their website.
> 
> 
> 
> Right off the bat this is an incredible release for a 1.0. You can  
> tell that the people involved in this have experience and this is not  
> their first gig. The level of polish and usability is just astounding,  
> especial considering this is a launch app for the 2.0 OS software. A  
> manual will be out shortly but let me try to give you a run down.
> 
> On launch you are greeted by a home screen. From here you can load,  
> export and save projects, kits, and samples. Also there is an  
> information screen that gives a mini manual, RSS feed, Custom  
> Beatmaker kit info, and Beatpack server info. Apparently you will  
> transmit information(samples) from and to you computer and device over  
> wireless. Beatpack is not out yet but we are told will be shortly. On  
> a side note the developer is saying that sample packs can not be  
> larger than 35mb.
> 
> Taping on the top left of the screen gives you a navigation menu;  
> Home, Pads, Sequencer, and FX. Similarly tapping on the bottom left  
> gives you your transport controls; Play, Record, Loop, Metronome, BPM,  
> and Bar : Beat location with in the track. Both of these menus are  
> really slick as they are accessible from any of the main program  
> screens and they slide down when you need them and slide up when you  
> decide you don't.
> 
> Pads features 16 playable pads that can each be loaded with a sample  
> of your choosing. On the left there are a few controls most important  
> of which is Edit. Pressing it changes the left hand screen to, you  
> guessed it, the edit screen. Hit select at the top and then select 1  
> or more pads to put them in edit mode. From here there are 3 main  
> sections; Wave, Output, and Tune. In Wave you can set the sample start  
> and end position either with sliders or a graphical pop up of the  
> waveform. Using the waveform view with your finger is a simple  
> addition but really helpful and down right cool. Also in this view you  
> can hit "Load sample" to pull up a menu to change to a new sample.  
> There is a Chop feature but I have no tried it out yet. In the Output  
> screen you set the volume of the sample and where the sound is routed  
> to - Main, FX1 and FX2. Main is your default output and the FX  
> channels rout the signal through one of the 2 effects busses. There is  
> no mixer available to you so this is the only place to adjust the  
> volume of sounds. At the bottom of this view is Mute and Mute mode for  
> muting your sounds live. Next is the Tune view, here you can set the  
> pitch, scale, semi-tones and reverse your sample. One thing that is  
> missing from all this is a sample loop option. Back on the main Pad  
> screen there is a record button that when hit lets you bash out your  
> beats live using the pads and records them to the sequencer. The  
> software features quantization for keeping your recording on time.
> 
> Let me just quickly mention the included sound banks. They are for the  
> most part much better than I expected, there is even one by Richard  
> Devine. They are very usable to learn the program while waiting for  
> the Beatpack software. Once that comes out I will only be going to the  
> internal sounds for the single hit drum sounds which do sound very good.
> 
> The Sequencer is quite easy to use but a little confusing at first.  
> Where you would normally have "tracks" running down the screen, here  
> you have patterns. So on pattern one you tap on the area where the  
> first 4 bars are and a shaded box appears, then you tap on the pattern  
> 1 box to edit. The new screen you get is your typical xoxoxox  
> interface for laying down a pattern, all of your pads are available.  
> At the top you can set velocity and groove. Each of these gives you a  
> nice little screen where you can draw a bar graph with you finger,  
> cool. Also at the top of the sequencer is duplicate which copy's the  
> whole pattern to a new one, clear, and return to song sequencer. Now  
> the trick here is you can only have one type of pattern for each  
> pattern track and your only option for each measure is to have it play  
> or not play. This interface is disappointing at first because you  
> realize it does not function like a real DAW sequencer, but then you  
> realize this is not a DAW and this interface is actually a pretty cool  
> way of chaining patterns. Last but not least, as far as I can tell you  
> never have to turn the sequencer off, you can go to any screen and  
> make any change you want anywhere and leave the track running,  
> impressive.
> 
> In the FX section you get 2 effects channels for sending your samples  
> too. Each feature a Delay, 3-band EQ and a Bit Crusher, which is your  
> typical sample rate reducer. All the effects sound pretty good, but  
> things like reverb and a few more channels are sorely missed.
> 
> While MPC style sample based music creation is not my personal  
> favorite way of creating music I have to say this application is quite  
> fun, and the sound quality is top notch. This app goes way beyond toy  
> and right into the land of musical tool. This is a quick review and I  
> glossed over a lot, but the bottom line is this program is great, and  
> a steal at 20 bucks. My biggest issue is not having any type of  
> keyboard interface that samples can be mapped to and transposed, or  
> even just pitch automation in the sequencer would be a start. Right  
> now there is the pitch and scale adjustment in the pad window but they  
> are really not ideal for adjusting samples to make melodies and there  
> is no way to automate it. At the end of the day what really blows me  
> away is the quality of this application from a UI design stand point.
> 
> * Couple notes, if you get a phone call or text message while working  
> it will pop up over your screen, close them, if you answer the program  
> will quit and you will lose your work(if you have not saved it.) Also  
> for some reason my FX bypass settings are not saved along with the  
> project, they always default to "bypass on" on first load up. Also  
> depending on your screen settings if you are playing the sequencer and  
> not touching the screen and your phone screen turns off the music will  
> start to stutter till you wake it up.

Excellent Review, Andy. Thanks!

I am very impressed by this little proggie, and I will buy it as 
soon as my iphone arrives :-)

-- 

:-)

G e r t  v a n  S a n t e n
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www.gertvansanten.nl
www.myspace.com/pbalris
www.waveworld.tv