Meet the new iRig PRE from IK Multimedia, a microphone preamplifier (preamp) that works with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. This thing is, as usual from IK Multimedia, awesome. It allows you to plug any microphone (I’ll say that again in case it didn’t sink in…”any microphone”) into your iOS device.
So how is this different from the iRig Mic (see our review of that product here: Review of iRig Mic)? the big difference is, in case you missed it above, that whereas the iRig Mic is a special microphone you get from IK Multimedia that can plug into your iOS device, the iRig PRE is a piece of hardware that allows you to plug any microphone into your iOS device. See the picture to the left. The iRig PRE is the thing in the middle, the little box that has an XLR (standard 3-pin mic connector) female receptacle on one side, and the cord that fits into your iOS device on the other. There is also (and this is ever so cool) a gain control knob/wheel on the iRig PRE.
It uses a 9-volt battery, which also serves as phantom power to condenser mics. The battery life is 40 hours with dynamic mics and 15 hours with condensers.
You can use it with the two free apps iRig Recorder and VocaLive by IK Multimedia. But you should also be able to use it with any app that accepts audio input.
Perhaps the best thing about the iRig Pre is its cost, which is only $39.99. To find out more, or to order your own, Click Here.
iOS recording
IK Multimedia Just Released the iRig MIX Mobile DJ Mixer
IK Multimedia, maker of many excellent audio products but most recently some fabulous iOS apps, have just announced that they have released not one but several new mobile music apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch (I’ll just abbreviate that lat bit by saying “iOS” from here on out). One of these latest releases is called the iRig MIX. It is essentially a professional DJ mixer that you can stick in your pocket (if you have to). AS with many of the IK iOS products, this one combines a piece of hardware with an app that you can download – usually for free – sometimes with an option to upgrade to a paid version.
In this case the hardware part is a very small but powerful 2-channel mixer with crossfade, cue, EQ, panning and volume controls. You can use it with iOS apps for DJ mixing or with several other apps. It can also be used to mix ANY type of audio source, meaning mp3 players, CD player outputs, etc. with an iOS device and use the beat-syncing and tempo-matching capabilities.
It comes with 4 free apps that you can get from the iTunes app store: the DJ Rig mixing app, Amplitube (which I reviewed here: iRig Amplitube Review), VocalLive singer processing app, and GrooveMaker loop/groove/beat making app. So this thing is not just for DJs!
Get more information here: www.irigmix.com
Cheers!
Review of iRig MIDI by IK Multimedia
IK multimedia has added yet another cool product that can turn you iPHone, iPod Touch or iPad into a professional audio recording tool. This time it’s the iRig MIDI interface ($69.99), which allows you to connect a MIDI keyboard (or other MIDI device like drum machines, guitar and floor controllers, etc.) to your iOS device. For my review I used my iPhone 4. The iRig MIDI works with iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3rd and 4th generations, and both iPad versions. The primary use for this thing, at least from a home recording perspective, is as a virtual instrument. You can use it with several different instrument apps for the iPhone/iPad, but IK Multimedia’s own SampleTank app was designed specifically to work in connection with it. The standard, computer-based SampleTank virtual instrument program costs close to $200. But with the iRig MIDI you can start using it free by downloading the SampleTankFreeapp onto your device. SampleTankFree comes with 8 sounds (2 drum kits, 1 electric piano, 2 bass guitars, 1 guitar, 1 keyboard synth, and 1 oboe). If you download the full SampleTank app for $19.99, you get 72 instruments.
Connecting Everything
The main hardware is called ultra-compact on the IK Multimedia website. It is a square plastic housing measuring 1.75 inches by 1.75 inches with a standard male iPod/iPhone connector, a power input, and 3 midi ports (IN, THRU and OUT). Make sure you have ample space to connect everything. My home recording work space is pretty small by design, and my MIDI keyboard (Korg microKontrol) takes up most of the room. My mouse, mouse pad, monitor stand and desktop microphone take up most of the remaining space. This became a logistical problem when trying to hook up the iRig MIDI.
The main problem I had was with the power plug for the tiny unit. You can charge it up with the included micro USB cable, but I had just opened the box, so I needed to have it plugged in to use it, which was a problem because the cable is only 15 inches long. In the end I had to bring a laptop computer into the studio and grab a TV tray to set next to my keyboard in order for the cable to reach AND to keep my iPhone in front of me. You can avoid this if you charge the little device up before hand though.
The other main connections remaining were the MIDI cable and headphones, which you technically don’t need, but to really appreciate the awesome sounds in SampleTank you should use them. Alternatively you can connect them directly into your audio mixing setup if you have one. Anyway, I used one of the two provided MIDI cables (standard 5-pin MIDI connector on one end and tiny RTS (ring/tip/sleeve) pins on the other). Here’s where I ran into another glitch, which is not a slam against the product, but was something I didn’t know until I spent a bunch of time doing trial-and-error. My Korg keyboard has both USB and standard 5-pin MIDI cable connections. The USB connector also can power the keyboard. So I had packed a
way my power cable. No problem I thought, I’ll simply plug the iRig MIDI cable into the Korg’s MIDI OUT jack and we’ll be in business. Not so. The iRig MIDI has a triangular light above both the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT ports to indicate when data is being went or received. With my Korg connected to the iRIG MIDI IN port, the light above that port should have been blinking red. I even went and got the the power cable for my Korg and hooked it up. Still no blinking red light. Next, I moved the switch on the back of the Korg. Still nothing. It wasn’t until I physically disconnected the USB cable on my Korg keyboard that the light started to blink. It would have been helpful to know this in advance, though it is not unreasonable for IK Multimedia not to have specs on every conceivable MIDI keyboard out there.
Now I was ready to rock and roll.
Playing The SampleTank Free Instruments
Now it was time to play. The free SampleTank app comes with 8 instruments as I listed above. However, you can listen to ALL of the sounds play loop patterns, even the ones you don’t technically “have.” In the “Sounds” window you can tell which sounds you have because it will appear in white, plus it will have the word FREE next to it (which are yours if you just have the Sampl
eTankFree app). Well, yours truly did figure this out for about an hour. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t play the sounds with my Korg keyboard, especially since I could hear the sounds using the Play button in the Sounds screen. After much confused frustration I noticed that the sounds I didn’t technically own were grayed out. Normally when something is grayed out on a computer screen, it means it cannot be selected or used in any way, which as I mentioned, was not the case with the SampleTank app. The grayed-out instrument sounds could both be selected AND heard if only to audition. Hence my confusion. When I finally selected one of the FREE sounds, voila! I was able to play the sounds with my Korg keyboard.
Now that I finally had crested the learning curve for getting started, things were very cool. I played around with the acoustic guitar for awhile. Take a listen to some of what I recorded here:
[jwplayer config=”Custom Audio Player-250″ mediaid=”8659″]
This is only one of the instruments, obviously. The built-in recorder allows you to overdub and do 4-track recording, with a different instrument in each track (“part), like bass, drums, guitar, and piano.
You can record your performances and then export them as stereo AAC audio files, either via e-mail or the iTunes File Sharing app.
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Cool iOS Recording and Music Apps
Here are a few fun and useful apps for iOS – iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
iShred
For the musicians out there, or just for those who like music but maybe don’t actually play an instrument, there is iShred. This app was used as the electric guitar on a viral YouTube video by Atomic Tom. You can see that video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19KBAcJ53akAs with most of these types of music apps, this one is pretty inexpensive at just $4.99. there are two versions of this, the iShred and the iShred Live. Let’s just focus on the iShred for right now as the Live version is mainly for the iPad and mainly for folks who play “actual” guitar, turning it into a collection of effects that can be used on stage in live performances. The iShred is a “playing surface,” which basically means that once it’s loaded onto your device’s screen, you can play the instrument just by touching/strumming the face of your iPhone. If you look at the picture above, take a look at the image on the left. You’ll see 6 strings just like on a real guitar. You play the instrument by strumming these virtual strings. Above the strings is a set of buttons that represent chords. Just tell iShred what chords you want to play. Then all you have to do is play and iShred does the chord fingering for you! You can also determine which fret to play on the neck and then pick individual notes instead of strumming. iShred also comes with built-in stomp-box effects as well as the ability to change pickup selection like a real electric guitar. This thing is really a lot of fun. Plus you can record your performances and maybe even use them in a song, bringing the app out of just the realm of fun and into being a real honest-to-goodness tool.
This thing is really a lot of fun. Plus you can record your performances and maybe even use them in a song, bringing the app out of just the realm of fun and into being a real honest-to-goodness tool.
The Korg iELECTRIBE
Korg used to make some very cool beat boxes. Now you can one that looks like their ELECTRIBE SXSD hardware sample playback beatbox on your iPad. The app is $19.99. You can get started making awesome beats right away just by playing around with the interface (see the picture on the left). Just select a sound, tap the steps to create a pattern (those of you who ever worked with any kind of drum machine back in the 80s will know how to do this already) and you’re off to the races. There is a manual available that is excellent also, which is web-based and requires an internet connection. So if you’re not connected via WiFi, you won’t have access to it. But as with most of these iOS music apps, they are both fun AND useful for creating real music.
Quiztones
I’ve written several times about equalization, usually just shortened to EQ. The problem with understanding EQ for most folks is not having enough of a frame of reference for what certain frequencies sound like. Most folks can tell the difference between bass and treble (low and high) frequencies and that’s just about the extent of it. To get better at shaping sounds in our recordings, we need to have the ability to discriminate between progressively smaller slices of the sound spectrum, perhaps starting with low, mids and highs, then getting into the actual frequency numbers themselves. Quiztones will quickly allow you to train your ear to recognize these frequencies. Plug in your earbuds or headphones, and the app will play you a series of tones (sine wave tones), and after each one you pick from four possible choices (e.g. 800 Hz, 200 Hz, 1 KHz and 8 KHz). And you’ll be told whether you were correct or not. You can also choose music clips instead of sine waves. Do this often enough and you’ll get much better at wielding EQ in your recordings.
These are just a few of the many incredible iOS apps out there to help you in your audio recording endeavors. Watch this space for more apps.
Cheers!
Ken
The New iOS Music Release From IK Multimedia – iRig MIDI and SampleTank
I’ll be doing the review on this next week (completed – see the review here: Review of iRig MIDI by IK Multimedia, but for now, here is the official announcement from IK Multimedia on the release of their new iRig MIDI and SampleTank. These iOS music releases are giving us lots of ideas for home recording studio tips.
The iRig MIDI is a physical device that you can use to hook up a MIDI keyboard to your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. This will, of course mean nothing unless you have something MIDI-controllable on your iOS device. Fortunately IK MM has also just released SampleTank of iOS, which, if it is anything like the software version of SampleTank, is filled with awesome sampled/virtual instruments.
The free SampleTank app for iOS is available from the Apple app store: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/app/audiobus/id558513570?mt=8&at=10l4CP&ct=website
Get all the details about SampleTank for iOS here: http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/sampletankios/
If you’re interested in the full version of SampleTank for your desktop, go here SampleTank 2.5 XL.