FretSurfer helps novice guitarists hone their note recognition skills. It's perfect for hacks like me, but it didn't make the cut for our top five list of iPhone guitar tools.
Guitarists are typically a pretty hesitant bunch when it comes to adopting new tech. In fact, most guitarists I know spend their time lusting after vintage guitars and vacuum tube amps--casting disdainful sneers at anything that looks as though it were invented after 1980.
That said, the majority of my musician friends are also iPhone owners. Their excuse for allowing a smartphone into their otherwise low-tech lifestyle is that they want to stay connected with their fans via e-mail, SMS, Twitter, or whatever app of the month might help them promote their music and their shows.
If you're a guitarist with an iPhone or iPod Touch, you may be interested to know that there's a handful of helpful apps out there made just for you. Useful tools such as chord finders, guitar tuners, multitrack recorders, and scale libraries, can all be had for just a few bucks.
To get a sense of some of the better iPhone apps on offer for guitar players, we've put together a roundup of five of our faves.
The best sounding songs you'll ever hear are the ones you record yourself. Just like amateur photography or amateur film making, amateur musicians take a lot of pride in their art and are always looking for new, affordable tools to take things to the next level.
If you're a musician or podcaster looking for a rock-solid, four-channel pocket recorder, the Zoom H4n is the best we've seen for the money.
(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET)Computer-based recording software, such as Pro Tools and Garage Band, have gone a long way to help today's musicians create digital recordings that rival the results from professional recording studios. But even the best laptop-based recording rig can be limited by battery life and a less-than-convenient jumble of components (external sound cards, mixers, microphones). For the sake of convenience, some musicians and podcasters have turned to popular standalone portable recorders, such as the Edirol R-09HR and Sony PCM-D50.
Historically, the trade-off you make by using a handheld recorder is limited support for additional microphones and the restriction of recording only two tracks (stereo) simultaneously. The minute you want to use three microphones to record your band (or an interview), things start to get complicated. That is, unless you're using the Zoom H4n.
The H4n is a solidly-built portable audio recorder that retails for about $350, and lets you record four channels of audio (two stereo files) simultaneously. It's a brilliant feature that's a little hard to describe, so why not let the audio speak for itself? To hear the difference four channel recording can make compared to standard stereo recording, we enlisted the help of Alan Stewart and Jesse Clark from the Bay Area music group Agents Del Futuro. The guys set up an impromptu rehearsal at their recording studio to let us capture the sound of a variety of instruments.
To hear the results, check under the Performance section of my Zoom H4n review, or click through the following audio-enhanced slideshow.
Warning: actual guitar talent required. Click to view our Guitar Rig 3: Kontrol Edition photo gallery.
(Credit: Native Instruments)
Ready to toss off the training wheels of Guitar Hero and learn to play an actual guitar? Maybe you already know how to play guitar, but your wife hates it when you turn on your crappy old practice amp and treat the neighbors to your rendition of Slayer's Raining Blood. My comrade in rock, welcome to Guitar Rig 3: Kontrol Edition.
Citrus? If you get the joke, Guitar Rig was made just for you.
(Credit: Native Instruments)Wondering what the hell I'm talking about? Guitar Rig 3 turns your computer into the guitar amplifier of your dreams, and the Kontrol Edition comes bundled with a sweet foot controller that doubles as a USB audio card. We've got our full review, video First Look, and photo gallery poised and ready to show you the best thing to happen to guitar nerds since the distortion pedal.
Homegrown music talents in the Asia-Pacific region now have a new platform to showcase their latest song creations. The Independent Artists Club Web site launched recently by Nokia aims to promote local artists in the region by allowing them to upload their songs on the Web for music fans around the world to enjoy.
The IAC program will launched in Singapore and Thailand first, before being rolled out over the next six months to selected Asia-Pacific countries including Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand.
With each IAC country launch, selected local artists will initially be invited to upload their tracks. After which the Web site will be open to all artists for song uploading. The Singapore IAC site is expected to open up for the public to upload their songs in mid-December.
Music lovers visiting the IAC Web site can then rate, sample (30-second previews) and download MP3 tracks. The artists best rated for their songs will be listed on Nokia's IAC charts, which will in turn be distributed regularly to the industry. These artists will also be invited to perform at Nokia-sponsored events as well as IAC-related activities.
One of the key unique features of the IAC Web site is that fans can not only access it via PC, they can also surf the site via their handsets. The mobile phone platform, however, allows for only preview streaming and downloading of songs (data charges apply).
According to Lim Wee Khee, senior marketing manager for Nokia Singapore, uploading of songs is currently not available using the phone. She added that the tracks are all Digital Rights Management (DRM)-free and come in the popular MP3 format which is playable on most portable music players.
The only seeming catch for music fans is that you can download only 10 tracks a month for free if you own a Nokia device. Non-Nokia device owners are limited to five downloads per month. There are currently no plans by the Finnish company to charge users for additional downloads, so do choose your songs wisely. Then again, you can always sign up for more than one account.
In line with its Ovi Internet services platform announced earlier this year, Nokia has said it will be rolling out the Nokia Music Store in 2008.
(Source: Crave Asia)
(Credit:
Fareastgizmos)
This whole air guitar thing is apparently getting a wee bit out of control (not to be confused with Wii). It all started last year with the air guitar T-shirt but has since spawned other virtual devices such as the "Air Guitar Pro" neck and, most recently, an electric pick.
At least the last few iterations have borne some characteristics of the actual instrument, albeit in amputated form. The latest toy, however, does away with any aspects of the guitar altogether under the guise of a wristband, of all things. Maybe it's supposed to honor Avril Lavigne. Or something.
Like other simulated instruments, the "AirMusician" has built-in sensors that detect arm movements, but this one doesn't play mangled tunes based on your own picks. Instead, according to Fareastgizmos, it simply plays one of five pre-programmed songs, including "Smoke on the Water," upon sensing your motions. Which prompts us to ask: Is there anything that doesn't play "Smoke on the Water"? That's what we thought.
The perfect tool for mixing that Deanna Troi tribute album you've been working on.
(Credit: Jazz Mutant)Before Apple came along and integrated multitouch-screen technology into the iPhone, one of the first companies to weave multitouch into a commercial product was a boutique music controller company named JazzMutant. Their first product, the Lemur, was an extremely niche (and pricey) product that allowed musicians to use the Lemur's suite of touch-screen tools to play and tweak their music. You know its cool if Bjork takes it out on tour.
Dexter, JazzMutant's latest product, promises to bring multitouch technology to a wider audience. Released just a few days ago, Dexter is aimed at recording studio engineers and music remixers looking for a unique, and hopefully more efficient replacement for a mixing board. If the demo video is any indication, at least it bestows onto its user the design appeal of a Star Trek: TNG control panel. Price looks to be around $3,600. Ouch.
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