iPhoning It In

Jun 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Mike Levine

           
 

MUSIC APPS ARE PLENTIFUL FOR THE IPHONE AND IPOD TOUCH—BUT WHICH ONES ARE WORTH BUYING?

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Software developers are taking advantage of the audio, visual, and touch-sensor capabilities of the Apple iPhone and iPod touch to crank out a steady stream of music applications for those devices. The apps, which are distributed through Apple's iTunes Store, are compatible with both units' operating systems, and are typically quite inexpensive; most cost less than $10, and many are less than $5.

Although the majority of these apps are designed primarily for fun rather than music production, there are some serious musical tools available, including recording, beat-programming, controller, and utility programs. Many of these apps offer relatively frequent free updates (as compared to conventional computer software), which can be downloaded easily right into your phone.

The number of music apps is constantly expanding. When I started researching this story, there were 35 pages of 20 apps each in the music category on the iTunes Store. As I write this four weeks later, there are now 41 pages. By the time you read this, there will surely be many more.

One of the dilemmas you face when contemplating purchasing one of these apps is that there's often no way to know for sure before buying it how useful it will be. So my aim here was to scout through this jumble of applications, looking for ones EM readers might find beneficial. I mainly focused on apps that have at least some practical utility, although I couldn't resist including a few of the purely fun ones, as well.

Hitting Record

There are plenty of mono audio-recorder apps, and all the ones I've tried record uncompressed WAV or AIFF files at 16-bit, 44.1 kHz quality. Many also have lower-fidelity settings to save disk space. Note that while the recording apps are compatible with both the original and 3G iPhones, they only work with second-generation iPod touches, not the first-generation models.

You can record directly into the iPhone through its built-in mono mic, and it provides serviceable sound for voice recordings or for capturing song ideas or rehearsals. You could also use the mic on the Apple headset that comes with your iPhone, although the sound quality is not as good. The iPod touch has no built-in mic, so you'll need a third-party model such as the Alesis ProTrack or the Blue Mikey to get audio into your device. These mics, which can also be used with the iPhone (see sidebar “Take Two” for more information), plug into the dock connector and support stereo recording, assuming you're using recording software that does, as well.

FIG. 1: The BIAS iProRecorder provides a wide range of features including stereo support (when used with a compatible stereo mic).

Most of the recording applications offer Wi-Fi synching to transfer files to and from the computer, which is typically an easy process. A number of the programs require that you install a Helper application on your computer for file transfer. Some let you email files up to a certain size. As this story was going to press, Apple announced Version 3 of its OS for iPhone/iPod touch, and one of the features is built-in voice memos with file-trimming and emailing capabilities. Version 3 is scheduled to be released sometime this summer.

Probably the most feature-rich recording app is iProRecorder (V. 1.3, BIAS; $4.99; see Fig. 1). Not only does it support stereo recording (when used with compatible hardware), it offers location stamping, a scroll wheel, and the ability to append to an existing recording. It also lets you attach photos to recordings, organize your files into categories, email files up to 100 MB, sync using Wi-Fi, and send files directly to BIAS' Peak audio editor (Mac). It also has a record timer, accurate stereo meters, variable playback speed, and more.

If you just need a simple recorder for mono voice recordings and to use as a musical sketch pad, Recorder (V. 7, Retronyms; $0.99), which also offers Wi-Fi sync and emailing of files, is both inexpensive and easy to use. Just hit the big, red Record button and go. A good free option is iTalk Recorder (V. 1.04, Griffin), which also is designed for fast-and-easy recording. It gives you three quality settings, offers an Append feature, and transfers files using Griffin's free iTalk Sync app for Mac or Windows.

Multitrack Recorders

A number of 4-track recorder apps are now available. All let you record four separate mono tracks (stereo recording isn't supported) and offer Wi-Fi export of the individual files to your computer. Although you wouldn't want to track your new CD on one of these apps, they're useful as scratch pads for songwriters on the go.

My favorite of the bunch is FourTrack (V. 1.2, Sonoma Wire Works; $9.99; see Fig. 2, next page), which provides solid functionality and is the only one of the 4-track apps with pan controls. It also lets you upload tracks to your computer as WAV files (or directly to the company's RiffWorks software for Mac and Windows) using Wi-Fi sync. FourTrack has no internal bounce-to-disk function (none of the 4-track apps I found do), but Sonoma Wire Works is planning one for a future update. I really like the simplicity and responsiveness of FourTrack's controls. It has meters that seem fairly accurate, which is important because the iPhone's built-in mic has no gain control so it's easy to overload it. FourTrack even lets you do manual punch-ins. Right now, it doesn't have a metronome, so you'll have to do a spoken count-off if one is needed, but a click-track feature is planned for an upcoming release.