Reviews, tutorials and news (previously: IT Enquirer)
The iRig Pro I/O is the successor of the iRig Pro. It’s slightly bigger but offers higher specs and more professional capabilities, including headphones monitoring and a dedicated power supply that charges your iPad while recording.
Suites for mastering audio exist in all shapes and forms. IK Multimedia developed a mastering suite together with Gavin Lurssen, the owner of a multiple Grammy award winning mastering studio. It looks exactly like the real thing and is based on Lurssen's studio equipment. The app annexe DAW plug-in incorporates the best practices of the studio.
If you use your iPad for audio recording or music making with any of the power consuming iRig devices, IK Multimedia has a solution for you: the iRig PowerBridge, a continuous charging system for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch while connected to digital iRig accessories. Unfortunately, some people do not fully understand how the iRig PowerBridge works, resulting in disappointment. iRig PowerBridge is not a pure iOS device charger, it’s different.
Creating virtual system-level devices from apps and audio equipment with Loopback is a breeze.
The USB MIDI keyboards I’ve tested so far were all spring-loaded and therefore quite light and indifferent to the touch. The Impact LX88+ is an 88-key semi-weighted MIDI keyboard/controller. Its keys are part spring-loaded, part weighted. You instantly feel the difference.
The mother of all synthesisers and the one all others try to beat must be the Moog. Moog, the company, still manufacture the actual synths, which are quite expensive. The Moog Model 15 is a digital recreation of a box the size of a small refrigerator. Now I've only heard recordings of music created with a Moog, so I can't tell you what it sounds like when you're standing beside the real thing, but I can tell you this: the recordings of the iPad Moog Model 15 app that I made come close to the recordings of the real thing.
Audiophiles swear that cables can change your musical experience. They believe cables can make or break the sound coming from your expensive amplifier. People who know better argue that cables costing north of let’s say €200 won’t do you any good.
Integrating with Logic Pro X, Reason, Cubase, ProTools and many other DAWs while offering an excellent keyboard experience seems to be Nektar Technologys’ goal in life. They’ve just released the Impact GX49 MIDI keyboard/controller.
It comes with its own batteries to drive 48V phantom powered microphones, has two Neutrik XLR/TRS audio jacks for mics and instruments, two MIDI ports, two speaker output ports and a headphone interface. The iRig Pro Duo is a cross-platform portable recording unit and I was curious to hear how well it sounds.
No matter how good an audio sample may sound, there are always notes that sound synthetic and with instruments like a grand piano subtleties and musicality are inevitably lost. It’s a problem that can be solved by not sampling an instrument but using true physical modelling. That’s what Pianoteq from French company Modartt seeks out to do — and from what I’ve experienced: with success.
