iPhones: The New 4 Tracks?
July 16, 2009 4:42 PM
iPhones: The New 4 Tracks?
I just wanted to post this, because I'm extremely impressed with the iPhone's abilities as a quick-and-dirty 4 track recorder, particularly with the GigBaby application. This application provides a basic drum machine - a few dozen built in beats, they're not great, but good enough to play along to - and the ability to record up to 4 tracks of audio, then upload them to your desktop.
So tried it out, and I'm extremely pleased with the result. This track is really just a test, it's not polished enough to post to Mefi Music proper. 20 minutes spent laying down 3 guitar tracks and a keyboard track on the phone, then I transferred the tracks to FruityLoops and spent 10 minutes adding a better drum track.
The app cost, like $4? It's more efficient, easier (and more portable) than my old Tascam 4-track cassette recorder ever was. I'm impressed with the quality of the phone's built-in mic for this purpose. And I'm impressed with the lack of latency issues - Lacking a decent ASIO sound card, I can never get audio tracks this in sync when I've tried recording directly to my PC, which causes endless frustration. There are a number of multi-track recording apps for the iPhone, but this one is inexpensive, and it seems to work well. This is definitely going to encourage me to get off my PC and play more guitar...
posted by Jimbob (7 comments total)
3 users marked this as a favorite
I just wanted to post this, because I'm extremely impressed with the iPhone's abilities as a quick-and-dirty 4 track recorder, particularly with the GigBaby application. This application provides a basic drum machine - a few dozen built in beats, they're not great, but good enough to play along to - and the ability to record up to 4 tracks of audio, then upload them to your desktop.
So tried it out, and I'm extremely pleased with the result. This track is really just a test, it's not polished enough to post to Mefi Music proper. 20 minutes spent laying down 3 guitar tracks and a keyboard track on the phone, then I transferred the tracks to FruityLoops and spent 10 minutes adding a better drum track.
The app cost, like $4? It's more efficient, easier (and more portable) than my old Tascam 4-track cassette recorder ever was. I'm impressed with the quality of the phone's built-in mic for this purpose. And I'm impressed with the lack of latency issues - Lacking a decent ASIO sound card, I can never get audio tracks this in sync when I've tried recording directly to my PC, which causes endless frustration. There are a number of multi-track recording apps for the iPhone, but this one is inexpensive, and it seems to work well. This is definitely going to encourage me to get off my PC and play more guitar...
...a few dozen built in beats, they're not great, but good enough to play along to...
Hey, just like Charlie Watts!
*ducks
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:11 AM on July 17, 2009 [2 favorites]
Hey, just like Charlie Watts!
*ducks
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:11 AM on July 17, 2009 [2 favorites]
I love GigBaby with the fire of a thousand suns. And the results are better than what I get singing into my iSight mic (yeah, I know). Very easy to use, and it's really lovely to have a little tool waiting to record inspiration wherever it strikes.
posted by annathea at 7:10 AM on July 17, 2009
posted by annathea at 7:10 AM on July 17, 2009
Charlie Watts? few dozen built in beats?
You must have him confused with someone else. Charlie Watts has no where near a dozen built in beats.
posted by mexican at 7:51 AM on July 17, 2009 [1 favorite]
You must have him confused with someone else. Charlie Watts has no where near a dozen built in beats.
posted by mexican at 7:51 AM on July 17, 2009 [1 favorite]
...no where near a dozen built in beats
Haha! Perhaps I should clarify: it was much more the "not great, but good enough to play along to" part that made me think of ol' Charlie.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:11 AM on July 17, 2009
Haha! Perhaps I should clarify: it was much more the "not great, but good enough to play along to" part that made me think of ol' Charlie.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:11 AM on July 17, 2009
Yeah, Apple products typically have onboard mics and sound processing of "pretty amazing for a non-specialized device" quality.
As for latency, I've felt around 200ms-250ms (a fourth or fifth of a second) on an iPhone 3G depending on the context and with most memory free. Usable, but you can definitely feel the lag in all onscreen-instrument apps.
posted by kalapierson at 1:59 PM on August 4, 2009
As for latency, I've felt around 200ms-250ms (a fourth or fifth of a second) on an iPhone 3G depending on the context and with most memory free. Usable, but you can definitely feel the lag in all onscreen-instrument apps.
posted by kalapierson at 1:59 PM on August 4, 2009
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Makes me want to give a try with my HTC Android phone...and so I shall. If I end up doing it really soon, I'll post the results here.
posted by nosila at 7:26 PM on July 16, 2009