New Music Gear Monday: Brian Eno's "Scape"

Not only one of the coolest iPad apps, but one of the coolest sound generation tools that I've seen in a long time is Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers' Scape. What makes it unique is that not only how it allows a user to easily connect different software sound generators and modifiers, but how they interact with one another as well. This interaction means that each time a composition is played, it's unique, but has the same general personality as the original composition.

While Scape seems like the perfect compositional tool for atmospheric/ambient music like Eno's Music For Airports, Discreet Music or his new album Lux, I can see it being used as a pad element for other types of music as well. Regardless of the type of music you create, it's an exciting new way to compose, taking the visual element that table-top software synths have had for a while and elevating the idea to a new level.

Scape is available for $5.99 from the iTunes App Store. You can read more about Scape and other apps from Eno and Chilvers at generativemusic.com.

Here's a great introduction video to how Scape works.

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New Musical Instrument Monday: Auria iPad DAW

For those of you who love your iPad and want to do more actual audio work on it, here's an amazing digital audio workstation app by WaveMachine Labs called Auria. It's easy to take a mere iPad app lightly when it comes to some heavy duty audio lifting, but Auria can play back up to 48 mono or stereo channels at up to 96kHz/24 bit, and can record up to 24 tracks at the same time, as well as having a feature list that can rival many widely used DAWs.

The Auria DAW has both a full channel strip and master strip package designed by the clever guys at PSP Audioware (thanks, Antoni, for turning me on to this gem). It's excellent in both look and function, and sounds great, just like all PSP plugins. I only wish that they were available as a plugin for Pro Tools as well.

But the Auria is not only a full-on mixer, it's an editor too, just like your favorite computer-based DAW. It's a little clunkier to do with your finger and a touch screen, but you can always use an Apple wireless mouse for more precision if needed.

The Auria iPad DAW is available from the App Store for only $49. There's a variety of approved interfaces that work with it (some a little easier than others), but just about anything will work as long as it works with Core Audio and doesn't require a driver.

Check out the video.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

New Musical Instrument Monday: The Tonara App

For those of you who don't read music this won't be too earth shattering, but if you do, you know the problems of having to turn the pages of music while you're playing. Even worse, with a number of the sheet music apps available, if you don't swipe your iPad correctly, you can move pages ahead and never be able to easily find your place again.

That's where Tonara comes in. It's an intelligent music page turning app that actually follows the music as you're playing and automatically turns the page at just the right time, regardless of the tempo that you're playing at. Even better, it can even be used with multiple instruments.

Check out the video.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

A 48 Track DAW For The iPad

Createdigitalmusic.com recently posted an article on a full-blown 48 track DAW for the iPad that looks pretty awesome. The app comes from a new company called Auria, and isn't available quite yet, but it's features are very complete, as you can see from the following:

• "48 mono/stereo, 24-bit/44.1kHz tracks, with recording for up to 24 tracks (you’ll obviously need a USB audio interface that can do that.)

• 64-bit, double precision mix architecture (something that just came out in the latest version of Pro Tools)

• Full delay compensation

• “Vintage-inspired” channel strips, with a desktop-like UI and VU/RMS switching

• Plug-in support. Out of the gate, PSPaudioware, Overloud, Fab Filter and Drumagog all work. You need to do custom wrapping of plug-ins for this host; standard plug-ins won’t work. The format is based on VST, but it’s not VST in the traditional sense in that they have to be custom-wrapped for sale through the app. 

• Dropbox, SoundCloud, AAF, MP3 export

• Advanced channel strips, EQ, expansion/compression and dynamic controls ready to go

• Convolution reverb. (This one blows my mind.)

• AAF import/export, making one definite application using this as a satellite for your desktop DAW"

Check out the video.


I expect this Winter NAMM show to be a big one for iPad apps, and as always, I'll report on everything I see. In the meantime, the Auria app is a good start.

You can read the entire article from createdigitalmusic.com here.