Gibson Guitar iPhone App

For guitarist, how cool is this and it's free.

via Sonic State

Gibson has introduced the Gibson App for iPhone and iPod Touch, a multi-purpose and fully interactive guitar application which they say can be used at home, on the road or in the Studio. Gibson believe that the free App is a must-have for guitarists of all abilitites and styles. Here's what they have to say about it in their own words...

Gibson is proud to announce the highly anticipated launch of the Gibson App. This free to download App is available exclusively for all Apple iPhone and iPod Touch users directly from the Apple App Store. This is one App every guitarist and fan of Gibson Guitar must own. Over the past two years over 3 Billion Apps have been downloaded around the world, the Gibson Guitar App cements Gibson's reputation as the industry's leader in innovation and music technology.

The Gibson Guitar App includes a number of special features, such as a traditional chromatic tuner which starts in "All Notes" mode that tracks whatever is played. Owners of the App can choose a tuning on the "Mode" page so the tuner will only track notes for that particular tuning. Also included is a traditional chromatic tuner, a simple tuner which allows less advanced users to tune to Standard tuning Open G, Open D etc by touching the key. For iPhone users, the Gibson headstock inlay will automatically change colour indicating if the string is sharp, flat or in tune. For iTouch users they can turn the "Play Notes" option on so they can hear the appropriate since they do not have a microphone facility.

The Gibson app also features a standard metronome that allows users to choose a specific BPM or tap the screen three times to automatically set the tempo. Other key features of the app include over 30 chord charts with finger markings to help the user with mastering the chord. For those who prefer to learn new guitar riffs, licks or chord sequences via video tuition can now have that option from their Gibson App. The app will be updated frequently with new video content so users of all guitar ability can improve their technique from the comfort of their home.

For those who want to keep up with everything Gibson Guitar related including the announcement of new products, artist activity, news stories, interesting and factual features, exclusive contests and special events to name a few can now do this via the Gibson.com option. By popular demand the Gibson Guitar App is multi-purpose and fully interactive which can be used at home, on the road or in the Studio. It's a must have free download for guitarists of all ability and style, get yours today.

For more info and to download app:
Gibson.com

Pocket Sitar On Your iPhone

via press release

VENTURA, Calif., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- MachCUBED today launches the Pocket Sitar, an application for iPhone and iPod Touch that gives both longtime lovers and newcomers to the fabled Indian string instrument the chance to learn and play a sitar on a mobile device.

From the makers of the Pocket Tabla, the Pocket Sitar lets anyone strum away or create the distinctive sound of bending a sitar's strings – known as a meend – on a multi-touch interface on the iPhone. The Pocket Sitar is available for 99 cents on Apple's iTunes store.

Pocket Sitar developer MachCUBED enlisted sitar Maestro Aloke Dasgupta, the versatile, genre-jumping musician, to create the sounds on the application. The seasoned world music artist received the prestigious SOPAN Award, presented by leading intellectuals of Bengal, for creative excellence in music. He also played on the multimillion-selling disc "Tragic Kingdom," by No Doubt, and at the Hollywood Bowl as a part of "Sgt. Pepper's at 40 ... A Beatles Celebration," featuring Cheap Trick. Aloke has performed across the globe and for TV audiences on the Disney Channel ("The Suite Life on Deck"), NBC, CBS and ESPN.

"The Pocket Sitar lets anyone experience the thrill of playing the sitar, whether as a training program for the sitar or just for the fun of it,'' said designer and Pocket Sitar developer Alonzo Machiraju. "I hope this can expose the sitar to an even larger audience and perhaps even inspire more people to pick up the actual instrument."

The modern day sitar, the most widely played instrument of its kind, has a history dating back to Middle Ages. A staple of Hindustani classical music, it was more recently embraced by Western audiences through both traditional ensembles and rock and jazz acts that since the 1960s have adopted the instrument.

A sitar has 21 to 23 strings, with six to seven of them strung over frets. As a plucked string reverberates, its length changes slightly as its edge touches the instrument's bridge, creating overtones and giving the sitar sound its distinctive tone. Anyone with a Pocket Sitar can learn to successfully create these effects by deftly touching the iPhone's face.

"I'm thrilled to contribute the music to the Pocket Sitar," said Dasgupta. "I have long embraced the idea of exposing this wonderful art form to a wide range of audiences, whether by performing traditional concerts around the world or by playing the sitar on jazz or rock recordings. The Pocket Sitar continues this by making the application available to anyone with an iPhone or iPod Touch."

RZA: New iPhone App iDrum

via the Wall Street Journal

RZA has brought his beats to the iPhone App Store. The famed hip-hop producer and rapper from the Wu-Tang Clan has released a branded edition of iZotope’s popular iDrum application.

The iDrum app is a consumer version iZotope’s professional grade software. The application allows users to combine pre-recorded beats and loops to compose original music with much more control than was possible in previous music making programs. For CEO Mark Ethier, the iPhone edition of the software is meant to fill a niche between games like Guitar Hero and high-end audio-engineering programs, like ProTools.

Previous versions of the app allowed users to produce music in genres like rock or club music. iZotope also began partnering with established musicians, such as Depeche Mode and Ministry of Sound to use elements from their music. The RZA edition includes a mix of 17 new and classic beats that users can use as a foundation for their own creations.

For artists, the chance to release elements of music through iDrum presents an opportunity to promote their music in a new format and to increase sales at a time music business is struggling. Depeche Mode took advantage of the opportunity by releasing their version of iDrum along with their latest album.

RZA says that the benefits of releasing original loops to the public doesn’t have any obvious economic benefit for him, besides the contract he has with iZotope. He doesn’t have a new album out and isn’t putting together a concert tour. But he thinks that, “eventually it will all come back around” by introducing new people to his back catalog. RZA said that it took him and his engineer eight days to dig through old digital audio tapes and floppy disks and to create new sounds in his studio.

The app, which costs $4.99, was released in late November. Though iZotope wouldn’t say how many times it has been downloaded, the company says the RZA edition is its popular iDrum yet and is planning to partner with more artists in the future.